FOOLCiRCLE

On Saturday, I finally bottled the Oatmeal Stout Experiment. I typically don’t look forward to bottling days, and I was especially not looking forward to this one. Bottling is my least favorite aspect of this hobby, but it is the cheapest and most convienient for distribution.

There were two main issues that I thought of that would make this worse than a typical bottling day. 1 – Typically I use 4oz of corn sugar for priming a 5 gallon batch, this time I had to figure out how to split 4oz five ways for 5 one gallon batches. And 2 – I would unfortunetly have to do a lot more cleaning and sanatizing, like instead of once for the whole batch, more like 5 times inbetween each mini-batch.

The first issue I resolved easily with common sense as soon as I thought about it. Normally I take the 4oz of corn sugar and dissolve it in 2 cups of water and bring it to a boil creating a simple syrup. So, instead of worring about the amount of corn sugar I could make it easier and worry about the amount of simple syrup. So instead of 2 cups, I used 2 and half cups of water, so when it came time to bottle each 1 gallon fermenters worth of beer received a half cup of simple syrup priming solution, simple problem resolved.

The second issue wasn’t horrible, just extra work. The good thing was after I thought about it I figured I could actually skip cleaning and sanitizing inbetween some of the batches. For example, I bottled the “plain” Oatmeal Stout first. No need to rinse after that one because that is the beer they are all based off of. So it went like this OS > Cocoa Pebble OS > rinse/sanitize > Vanilla OS > Bourbon OS > rinse/sanitize > Coffee OS. The yield wasn’t too bad either: 9 OS, 6 CPOS, 9 VOS, 10 BOS, & 10 COS.

Originally I had mentioned trying to get about a 6 pack from each fermenter and then reserving the rest to try and make some blends, for example a Vanilla Bourbon Oatmeal Stout or a Cocoa Coffee Oatmeal Stout (breakfast stout). I decided not to do that for a couple reasons, less likelihood of contamination and oxidation plus less mess and rinsing/sanatizing. But, if two or more various bottles are opened at the same time, some on-the-fly blending could definetly happen. Oh, by the way I tasted all of them, and here is my initial opinion from best to worst: BOS, VOS, OS, COS, CPOS > the Cocoa Pebble one may be nasty, we’ll have to wait and see, I feel bad for the judges for that pre-sweetened cereal category!

On Friday was one of the Iron Hill Brewery’s Mug Club Renewal Parties. I decided to go to the one at the Wilmington location (they do different ones at different locations) with Todd, who is also a Mug Club Member.

It was a good time, Iron Hill had several special beers on tap, free appatizers, and had a raffle with some give aways. Of the special beers they had Fe10 (yikes, 24oz mugs!), Bourbon Porter, Wee Heavy and an Irish Dry on nitro. I had a BP then an ID then another BP, it is too good!

There Mug Club is pretty good. It used to be $25 a year which was a steal, now it is $35 a year which is still a good price. These are some of the benefits:

• You receive a $25 Reward Certificate for every 300 points you accrue. Each dollar you spend at Iron Hill gets you 1 point (on food or drink), plus you get a bonus 200 points each year you sign up.


• You get invited to special Mug Club promotions, about twice a year, where they have deep discounts, special beers, and free grub.


• You are able to use your mug (24oz) for any pint specials they have.


• You get your mug filled for the price of a pint.


• You can use your card/mug at any Iron Hill location.


• At the end of the year you get to keep your mug! (It makes a great coffee mug.)

This is a totally better deal then the two other “local” brewpubs that I know about. Stewart’s is $50 a year and Dogfish Head is $150 (!!!) a year a believe, both with limited number of mugs and both sell out every year. I am glad to be an Iron Hill Mug Club member.

Imagine that! This time it is in preparation for the Oatmeal Stout Experiment. I’m hoping to get a six-pack from each gallon with a little left over in each container for some blending. Unfortunetly I am begging for oxidation and asking for infection, but with any luck and some good practices, I’ll come out on top.

Theoretically my brewness will be as follows for the next few days:

• Thurs. March 8th – Prepare bottles for bottling Oatmeal Stout Experiment (OSE). New beers tried: Stone Old Gaurdian Early ’06 Release & Flying Fish Espresso Porter 10th Anniversary Brew.
  
• Fri. March 9th – Go to Iron Hill Wilmington Mug Club Renewal Party, try IHW specialty beers. Prepare starter for English Pale Ale (EPA) to be brewed Sunday made with slurry from OSE, WLP002.
  
• Sat. – Bottle OSE, possibly go to Iron Hill Newark Mug Club Renewal Party – Possibly go to HDYB to pick up Gypsum for EPA. Drink growler of Blonde Barleywine from Iron Hill West Chester.
  
• Sun. – Brew English Pale Ale and plan out beers for the 2nd Annual Delaware Digital Scavenger Hunt – 2 maybe 3!

It’s time to revisit and post about the Homegrown Hop Ale, which later became named the Homegrown Mild, which later became named the Homegrown Session Ale (still referred this way sometimes), to finally the Homegrown American Brown Ale.

This beer was the first beer brewed at my new place, brewed back in January. Recently I have really been showcasing it, handing some out, taking some with me, enjoying a few while I can. Anyway, the beer pours appropriately into a Fool Circle pint glass a clear chestnut brown that transforms to a raspberry iced tea color when held to light. A nice fluffy one-finger toffee head rises on the beer, but fades after about five minutes or so. The appearance is very welcoming.

The aroma is more hoppy then I was expecting for homegrown hops, which is a good thing. In the past my HG hops have yielded very low in all things hoppy. After the initial intake of hoppy aroma other scents come through; grass and wood and old herbal tea residue and caramel all arise – all most likely stronger if this beer was left to warm. Over all a more complex aroma then often associated with an American Brown Ale. The mouthfeel is medium to medium-light with an “even” carbonation. The carbonation feels “right”, it is very difficult to explain easily. There is a little astringent bite, but not out of character.

The flavors cover the palate for such a “small” beer, only weighing in at about 4% alc. For me it is the malt that dominates the flavor complimented by the hops vs. the aroma I would say the opposite, which makes this quite joyous to drink. I pick up obvious notes of caramel with some bread crust and candied pears, followed by a light floral note that comes as you breath out the beer.

Overall, I’d love to really sit down and enjoy a session of this beer with someone or some people – maybe over cards, maybe over liar’s dice, or maybe just sitting around the chiminea. It seems to be easy drinking yet flavorful, and for me the fact it is made with my HG hops takes it to better place. The last HG hop ale was drinkable, but not this good. Can’t wait to revistit the next brew!

Today was the first Philly Craft Beer Festival, held at the Philadelphia Cruise Terminal at the Naval Yard. There were two sessions, 12-4 & 6-10 – I was at the 12-4 session.

I went up with Richard which was a great partner in crime to have. We showed up a little late which really wasn’t a big deal except for the huge line to get in – but that too seemed to move quickly. According to the information there were 50 breweries there, each with at least two beers. My first objective was to try and hit the odd-ball brews that people brought with them and then to try to hit new breweries to me or at least ones I don’t get to try often.

It didn’t seem that many people brought special brews, so that then lead us to step two, places we don’t get to try often. Some of these included: Appalachian Brewing Co., Independence, Legacy, Rock Art, Triumph, Cricket Hill, and Thomas Hooker. Of course I drank some of the good ol’ stand-by’s too: Dogfish Head, Iron Hill, Sly Fox, Victory, Troegs, and Weyerbacher.

Overall it really turned out to be a great fest. In door but with nice weather so everything was open, not long lines at the restrooms, food available if you wanted to buy it, no one out of control, and lines less then 10 people always, usually more like 2-4. My only real complaint was the lack of free water. For a $40 ticket (which I happen to get two for half price ;^)) there should be free bottles of water. It is only going to help people and there reputation. What is the most one person is going to drink, four – and how a bout the average person, one maybe. Overall good time, can’t wait till next year – or at least the next fest!

Don’t know if I’ll keep up with this or not, but this is the first time it is happening. Writer Stan Hieronymus suggested that all beer “bloggers” write about the same thing on the same day once a month, similar to what other groups have done. So, this is the first attempt, for March, The Session, Stouts.

This evening Karen and I went to Stoney’s British Pub on Concord Pike to enjoy some English fair, fish and chips and good English beer. While I was there I remembered about “The Session” and thought, ‘why not?’ I asked the waitress what was her favorite stout besides Guinness. She suggested St. Peter’s Cream Stout, sounds good to me.

The St. Peter’s CS comes in a cool 500ml bottle, sort of in the shape of an old school flask. The back label reads: ‘Fuggles’ and ‘Challenger’ hops plus a blend of 4 local barley malts create an aromatic, robust, dark chocolate cream stout with a satisfying bittersweet aftertaste.

Here’s my impression; the beer pours a light black color from the bottle with little to no head. Some foam lingers along the edges of the glass, but it is dull. When held to a light brown iced-tea highlights shine through. The aroma reminds me of sweet chocolate with a light malt back bone supporting it. There is more carbonation then expecting, taking away from the smooth factor I was ready for. The beer did still feel mostly smooth along the palate, just not silky, with a little bit of tang in the aftertaste. First impressions on flavor: roasty, creamy, a touch of burntness, some ripe berry, candied chocolate pudding.

I was just finishing up the beer when the food was arriving, it would have paired excellently with the home-made tarter sauce that accompanied the fish. Overall the Cream Stout was good, but not bragging good, and definetly not $10 good – which is what I found out when the bill came that Stoney’s charged, ouch! It would inspire me to try some of St. Peter’s other offerings though.

Should have tried and reviewed the Iron Hill Dry Irish Stout that went on tap today instead – oh well, more beer I say!

Well it’s that right time of the year to taste the tastey tastes of the strong wintery brews. So, I decided it is time to break open another bottle of the Gnarleywine and see how it is developing.

The Gnarleywine was brewed at the beginning of October in 2006, so it is roughly five months old now. I have probably sampled about 10 bottles so far, each time a different experience. I poured this beer into a big snifter and served it at “room temperature”, roughly 65F. I served it so “warm” to really try and pull out all the flavors I could, similar idea to letting a good cheese come up to temperature or letting a red wine breath.

The beer pours a blood-orange-ruby-copper color, a little cloudy – or better yet, not crystal clear. There is no visible head and no obvious hint of carbonation. Just a little side note, the lack of carbonation has been the thing holding this beer back from making its debute. That is definetly a big issue with bottle-conditioning “big beers”. Back to the beer, the beer looks both inviting and dull – a lovely lingering mousey head that left lace on the glass would sell this beer ten fold.

The aroma is all sweetness and all hops. Actually a neat combination considering hops provide zero sweetness to the beer. The sweetness reminds me of caramel, candied apple, and melting raw sugar. The apparent hop aroma consists of ripe oranges and spicy cookies, like ginger snaps, or the smell of a cloved orange thrown into a wassel.

The mouthfeel is degraded because of the lack of carbonation. But beyond that, the beer is thick and syrupy with a palate burn from both the alcohol and the high hopping levels. About the consistency of maple syrup cut 50% with water. Actually quite nice for a barleywine, but carbonation would benefit and so would some aging to help lessen the alcohol burn.

The flavor reminds me of Sierra Nevada’s Big Foot on a bad day. It’s rich, it’s toffee, it’s sweet, it’s bitter, it’s citus, it’s boozy, it’s . . . a barleywine. There is a little bit of an unbalanced “twang” that hits in the after swallow – something to do with the alcohol or the high hopping rate perhaps, not a negative just persistant.

I could easily enjoy one of these as a night cap or as a special treat with a nice heavy cheese plate or small rich dessert. Unfortunetly, I am going to continue to tuck this back, either until the carbonation comes up or until I decide it isn’t going to come up (can anyone say Double Dubble?). So, theoretically a “big beer” is going to become a yearly venture. 2006 was definetly an American Barleywine, 2007 an English Barleywine, after that . . . Old Ales, Wee Heavies, Russian Imperial Stouts, Imperial Whatever-The-Heck-The-Biggest-Rage-Is-Brew – personally I still like to enjoy my beer though.

Sometimes I get impatient. Sometimes I get bored. Other times I feel creative. Yet other times I am torn. I brewed an Oatmeal Stout about 2 weeks ago. It was a fine brew day, nothing to brag about, and I had thought about splitting the batch of beer later to try a couple different flavors from one batch.

Well, when the time came around to split the batch, I couldn’t make up my mind – so I split the batch 5 ways – 5 one gallon secondaries. I think it is going to be a cool idea in the long run, sure there is a higher chance of infection and oxydation by messing around with the beer so much, and bottling day is going to be a royal pain in the ass, but it is a neat idea to be able to squeeze 5 different yet similar beers from one batch. Honestly, the only thing I’d do differently is acquire one gallon glass jugs versus using plastic again.

Originally I was thinking of splitting the batch and making half of it a Vanilla Bourbon Oaked Oatmeal Stout. Sounds pretty tasty to me. But, then I started reading about a specialty category in the More Beer competition coming up in May. Basically they are going to have a seperate category for beers made with pre-sweetened cereals. Well, I thought this sounded like fun, but didn’t want to blow a whole batch if it came out tasting like ass – so I thought, ‘what if I pull off one gallon from this batch and just mess with that?’ Well, that thought then lead me to the thought of splitting it five ways and playing around quite a bit.

These are the flavors I decided to go with: -1- an “Ordinary” Oatmeal Stout, this one is kind of my control to compare and contrast the others to, nothing extra was added to this beer in secondary. -2- A Vanilla Oatmeal Stout, for this one I used one half of a fresh vanilla bean, split, scraped and cut and added to the secondary. -3- A Bourbon Oaked Oatmeal Stout, for this one I soaked medium roast French oak chips on Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon for a week, I then added approximately three table spoons of soaked chips and one table spoon of oaked liquid bourbon to the secondary. -4- A Cocoa Pebble Oatmeal Stout, for this one I soaked one gallon of beer on one box (13oz.) of Cocoa Pebbles for approximately ten minutes and the liquid reserve was added to the secondary. A third to a quarter of a gallon was absorbed by the Pebbles. and finally -5- A Coffee Oatmeal Stout, sounds like breakfast to me, for this one I added four table spoons of fresh ground French roast coffee to the secondary, some people have called this “dry beaning”. Most of these additions are pure guesses for the volume needed to add to reach the desired results – we’ll see!

I have hope for all of the different flavors, I’m thinking some blending could even happen on bottling day – well hope for them all besides the Cocoa Pebble one, that one is more or less a shot in the dark. I figured I’d let everything hang out in the secondary for at least a week maybe two, it really all depends on how much time I have – I’d also like to brew either this coming weekend or the next. Next batch will be an English Pale Ale – maybe I’ll pull a gallon of that and throw it on some Fruit Loops or Lucky Charms – or maybe not!

Pretty cool, I received an email yesterday stating that I have be selected as a judge for the Mid-Atlantic Region for the 2007 National Homebrew Competition.

I’m sure every BJCP certified judge in this region was sent the same email, but it was still cool to feel chosen. I almost judged for it last year, but I was out of town. Nationally they received 4,548 entried last year, split over 10 regions (that’s if they were even) would roughly be 455 entries we’ll be judging, not too bad.

Here’s part of the original email if you are interested:

Congratulations.  You have been selected as a judge for the Mid-Atlantic

Regional 1st Round of the National Homebrew Competition.   We will be

sending out more details as we get closer to the event but we want you to

reserve the weekend of April 20th-21st to come to Philadelphia to judge in

this first round at the Independence Brewpub right in downtown Philly.

This is just upstairs from the Galleria stop of the regional trains and

subways.  It’s across the street from the Marriott.   It’s a brief walk to

Monks and numerous other pubs.  And of course it’s right in the Independence

Brewpub!    We plan on judging on Friday evening, starting about 7:00pm, and

on Saturday, starting about 9:00am. 
Regards,

David Houseman

Judge Coordinator

Double meaning I suppose. But anyway, basically when I bottled my first mead, the Tupelo Mead – named both after the honey used and the road I lived on at the time, I bottled it in 24 12oz bottles and 11 750ml bottles. I figured the 24 smaller bottles would be for drinking, distribution amoung friends and competitions. The bigger bottles I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with the, but I wanted them to be special.

After thinking about it I decided I would wax dip the bottles. For me I knew the look I wanted, the heavy wax dip look like Makers Mark or Dark Lord, not the shitty, thin, chippy wax some places use like New Glarus. So I went to the LHBS to pick up wax hoping they weren’t suckas and got the real-deal. The wax took longer than I expected to melt and I needed more than I realized. I bought a pound and used about half of it. So as not to ruin anything, I used an empty soup can with the wax in it in a pot of boiling water, like a double boiler. This way the can was disposable if need be and the pot could still be used for cooking.

I wound up giving the bottles a double dip. I held them in upside-down for about 10 seconds, then raised them and let the excess wax drip off, then fully dipped again and inverted hoping for some nice drip affects. This seemed to work OK but I thought the wax could still be thicker. So, after double dipping all the bottles, I melted more wax and re-double dipped all the bottles. They looked much better after the second round.

I also wanted to make the labels a little different then usual, so I made a more simplistic more wine-like label, at least that’s what it reminded me of. I started by using parchment paper and printing the design on them. Basically the label states information, “Tupelo Mead – Brewed October 22, 2005 – Bottled October 15, 2006 – Batch 80 – Bottle 1 of 11 – Honey Wine – Fool Circle Brewery”. After the design was printed I cut the labels out and moistened the edges. I then took a lighter and lit all the edges of the label, giving it more of an antiquated or pirate-map type look. The labels were then sprayed with spray adhesive and applied. Then I took sealing wax and a wax seal we have with an “M” on it and placed a wax seal-mark on each label. I think they turned out pretty nice.

Since there is only 11 bottles and there is a lot of aging and work that went into this batch I am going to pick and choose where these bottles go. Also, mead should age like wine so it shouldn’t be a problem if the bottles are around 1, 5, 10+ years. Basically if you want to have a bottle, your going to have to be my close friend and then do something dramatic, like have a child or get married or hit the lottery. Otherwise, ask me for a sample from a 12ozer. So far, my brother and his wife have been the only ones to acquire a bottle, bottle 1 of 11, with the birth of their son Colin.