Russian River Consecration Tasting

Stopping back through Chicago at the end of our summer travels, Mrs. Absalom and I were once again gracefully accepted under the roof of Br. & Mrs. Thelonious.  In celebration, Br. Thelonious and I shared a bottle I discovered in Philadelphia, Russian River's Consecration, their strong sour ale aged with currants in cabernet barrels.  This not being something one can find in the Midwest (or most other places) and being such a marvelous, complex sour, it was a rare treat, and very satisfying to share with a fellow member of the Order.

Date: 30 July 2012

Venue: Damen Abbey (Br. Thelonious's)

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Appearance: Clear cherry amber; head burns off quickly.

Smell: Berry, lots of warm mellow wood, a little tartness.  This is the first beer to which I can actually attribute a measure of "barnyard" aroma; it's only slight, and in no way objectionable.

Taste: Sourness right from the start.  Tart cherry continues to intensify through the entire draught, deep oak & red wine in the middle to the end.  Despite being 10%, the alcohol does not show itself here.  The tart to tannic transition is seamless; very well integrated.

Mouthfeel: Prickly carbonation lifts the winey finish, keeping it from hanging on too long.

Overall: An incredible, complex beer that really shows the cab barrel character.  A shame the distribution for this is so limited; just about has me ready to road trip out to California for more right now.

- Br. Absalom

#IPADay Cometh

If you hadn't heard already--and I'm sure nearly all of my fellow beer geeks out there have--today, 2 August 2012, is the second annual IPA Day.  While it's meant bring focus and increase excitement to the general craft beer movement, IPAs are specifically chosen for celebration because of their iconic status in the craft community.  There are a whole lot of great posts out today bringing focus to the various and sundry aspects of the "humble" India pale ale; for my part, just off the road yesterday after six weeks away from home, I can muster the strength to offer up a couple homebrew recipes from my archives--one extract and one all-grain--that have been among my favourites.  Here's to all of us taking a moment to enjoy a nicely hoppy beer today!

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Hop-On Ale (extract)

I first brewed this as my third-ever batch four years ago while living in Hawai`i.  It turned out so well I did a rebrew when I moved to Chicago and split the batch to experiment with different yeast characters.  Unfortunately, two of the splits picked up acetobacter infections; the last bottle of the third split, cracked open with the now-Mrs. Absalom and my father after several months of aging, was downright glorious.

Batch size: 6 gallons
Projected OG: 1.068
Projected SRM: 7.2
Projected IBU:61.0
Boil time: 60 minutes

Grains/Fermentables
7 lb Extra Light DME (added at 15 min)
3.3 lb Wheat LME
10 oz Munich
10 oz Crystal 10

Hops
2 oz Cascade (6.3%) (60 min)
1 oz Cascade (20 min)
1 oz Cascade (5 min)
1 oz Cascade (dry hop)

Yeast
WY1056 American Ale

Furious-ish Clone (AG)

Having sampled (and loved) MN-born Surly Brewing Co's aggressive flagship IPA, I went hunting for mystical internet speculation to help me formulate this recipe (for the record, this was before Northern Brewer came out with their Pro Series kits).  Looking at it now, there's a HELL of a lot of crystal malt, but it seemed to balance pretty well.  While I ended up kind of turned off to Simcoe hops for a while after a fellow homebrewer described their dank flavour as tasting of "sweat and piss", this was a great beer.  Why the heck haven't I brewed this again?

Batch size: 5 gallons
Projected OG: 1.072
Projected SRM: 13.2
Projected IBU: 68.5
Boil time: 60 minutes
Brewhouse efficiency: 65%

Grains/Fermentables
71.4% - 10 lb Maris Otter
14.4% - 2 lb Crystal 40
7.1% - 1 lb Carapils
7.1% - 1 lb Light brown sugar (10 min)

Hops
.5 oz        Columbus (14.4%) (60 min)
.5 oz        Millennium (17.1%) (60 min)
.2 oz        Amarillo (8%) (20 min)
.2 oz        Simcoe (12.9 %) (20 min)
.2 oz        Amarillo (15 min)
.2 oz        Simcoe (15 min)
.2 oz        Amarillo (10 min)
.2 oz        Simcoe (10 min)
.2 oz        Amarillo (5 min)
.2 oz        Simcoe (5 min)
.2 oz        Amarillo (0 min)
.2 oz        Simcoe (0 min)
1 oz        Amarillo (dry hop)
1 oz        Simcoe (dry hop)

Yeast
1.5 pkgs US-05

- Br. Absalom

Square One Taurus IPA tasting

Mrs. Absalom and I are just about halfway through the middle of a cross-country road trip that has already taken us through one-fifth of the Union, with more to come.  Some quick tasting notes from the road are in order, however, from the brewpub of Square One Brewery and Distillery in St. Louis, which we visited on Br. Abelard's suggestion.  The food was well prepared and tasty, and their American pale ale slipped down my throat faster than I could believe.  Intrigued by the current offering in their single-hop IPA series, featuring a varietal about which I've never heard--unsurprising given its incredible scarcity--I took a few notes as I went.

Date - 27 June 2012

Venue - Square One brewpub

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Appearance - Glowing orange, a little murky, wispy head that drops after a minute.

Smell - Very light; initially I couldn't smell it over the plate of wings that had just arrived!  A little malt, lightly herbal.

Taste - Even maltiness and almost light orange on the front, followed by a solid herbal bitterness with a little lingering spice.  It wraps up quickly, without a long aftertaste.  The bitterness is balanced very well; it doesn't taste anywhere near the purported 85+ IBUs.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied, light carbonation; very fitting.

Overall - A solid, satisfying beer, though certainly not what's always expected as an IPA.  Wish I got more from this unique hop, which was very delicate and had a hard time getting across.  While good, I'd have probably preferred another of the APA to another of this.  Either way, I'd love to get back to this excellent, inviting brewpub sooner rather than later.

-Br. Absalom

Small Batch Yeast Rejuvenation

Paying a visit to a new (to me) homebrew shop in the area last week--unbelievably, there are three here that are within easy driving distance--I discovered a box of expired yeast vials and smack packs, all marked half off.  "Great for yeast starters!" the note on the box proclaimed.  Indeed, I replied.  In the box was a vial of WLP862, Charlie Papazian's Cry Havoc strain; I've never used it, but have been interested since Br. Abelard put it to work on his recent kolsch.  I hadn't yet settled on a yeast for an upcoming imperial porter, and growing up this vial seemed like a good possibility.  Of course, the "best by" date on the vial was 10 March, solidly three months ago; according to Jamil Zainasheff's pitching rate calculator, it was only 10% viable when I bought it.  Nothing like a challenge.

On hand at home were partial ounces of Galena, Warrior, and Nugget hops, and just over a quart of starter wort from the end of my recent Burton ale mash.  Add a pound of DME, some water, yeast energizer, and a short boil, and we have a gallon of hopbursted IPA.  It came together almost too easily, and into a little fermenter it went.

It took a couple days to get going, during which time I moved it into a glass fermenter and put it on the stirplate, much to its benefit.  This strain is known to have a bit of a lag starting fermentation even under optimal conditions, and I didn't entirely set it up for success.  It would've been smarter to start off with a much smaller starter of lower-gravity wort; next time I'll probably build it up with just a cup of 1.030 wort before this size starter batch.  Thankfully, by yesterday afternoon it was chugging away, making up for lost time; I had to slip it into a swamp cooler to keep it under control.  This is a way to take advantage of a good deal on yeast, fully utilize the resources already around, and get a micro batch of semi-experimental beer out of the deal.  There's not time now to propagate enough yeast for my imperial porter, but that just means the Cry Havoc will be available for something a little further down the brew docket.  In the meantime, I'm planning to stop by that LHBS again; they seemed to be suffering from an overabundance of expired Pacman smack packs...

Starter IPA
1 gallon
OG: 1.056
IBU: 39.1

1 qt Starter wort
1 lb Muntons Extra light DME

.1 oz Galena (13.2%) (15 min)
.2 oz Nugget (12.4%) (10 min)
.2 oz Warrior (16.7%) (5 min)
1.1 oz Galena-Nugget-Warrior blend (0 min - hop stand 30 min)

Pinch Yeast energizer
WLP862 Cry Havoc

- Br. Absalom

Casking on the Cheap

I don't recall exactly when I was introduced to cask beer, or real ale as it's termed by CAMRA, but I've long enjoyed this departure from the normal draught experience.  There are certainly those who don't care for this "warm, flat" beer; for me, the cellar-level serving temperature allows more aromatics and flavours to emerge, and the reduced carbonation lends a fuller, richer mouthfeel to lower-gravity ales.

My home serving setup has not progressed to kegging yet, let alone setting up a firkin with a handpump (though there are some interesting DIY ideas for doing this).  A while back, though, Northern Brewer started carrying an innovative solution for those who wanted to have real ale at home.  Cubitainers are expandable, reusable plastic containers that are available in a number of sizes and can take a tap attachment.  They can't take a very high level of pressure, which makes them perfect for serving cask-style beer via simple gravity feed.  I picked up a few of the one-gallon size a year or two ago, but had only tried using them once before.  When my recent English summer ale was ready for bottling, it seemed like a perfect time to put one back in action.

Since the volume going into bottles was going to have a higher level of carbonation, I filled the cubitainer before adding my priming solution to the bottling bucket; the cask portion received a separate preparation of priming sugar to lend it a more appropriate amount of pressure (and to prevent the thin plastic container from, y'know, exploding).  This was kind of a test run for the cubitainer cask method, so no finings were added to the "cask".

After a week in my warm brew closet, during which time the cubitainer expanded and the yeast flocculated solidly, I let it chill in the fridge for a while and we had a small cask release party.  Real ale traditionally sits well for just a couple days once tapped, after which it begins to turn, so the thing to do seemed to have most of it in one go.  The results: mixed.

It was difficult to reach a real "cellar" temperature; with spring in full effect, even our basement was relatively warm, but in the fridge for even an hour or so seemed to bring it down a bit too far.  While not bad, it was just...off...a little.  The bigger effect was in the mouthfeel.  While the cubitainer had built up significant internal pressure, the beer in the glass was pretty much wine flat.  Again, while not the worst thing in the world, it still wasn't quite right.  Beyond that, the summer ale itself was pretty green; the mineral quality of the yeast (Wyeast 1028) was very assertive, giving the beer a lager-like quality.  This is still present in the mature bottles, though it's mellowed.

While this wasn't quite a rousing success, it was still encouraging; I will do this again.  Some considerations for next time:

- More priming sugar.  I'm fairly certain that BeerSmith, which I use to estimate carbonation as well as build recipes, accounts for some CO2 left in solution after fermentation; however, in rousing the yeast to ensure fermentation was complete, much of that was probably driven out.  Going a little heavier on the priming solution (within reason) should cover the issue.

- More carb time.  Giving the cask more time to allow the generated CO2 to get back in solution should also improve the carbonation levels.

- Improved "cellar temperature" method.  Instead of moving in and out of the fridge, a small insulated box with room for the cask and one (or maybe two) ice pack(s) might keep the beer at a better "cellar" temp.

- More appropriate beer style.  Admittedly, the beer in question was probably not the best one for casking: it was a light wheat beer, and the higher carbonation of the bottles seems to suit it much better than the low-carb cask did.  In addition, the young yeast character was a bit overwhelming.  An all-barley bitter or porter, possibly with a fruitier yeast, will probably turn out quite nice served this way.

- Cask hopping.  A few whole hops, maybe in a hop bag, would really make this something special.

Half the fun of these projects for me is trying out homespun methods to imitate or commercial process or product, or even to come up with something even more interesting.  Keep innovating, and find your bliss.

- Br. Absalom

Brother Thelonious Visits for a Brew Weekend

After a great deal of anticipation and back-and-forth planning, Br. Thelonius made it up to the Northwoods of Wisconsin for a weekend of brewing. There was a great deal of eating (of good food), good discussion, good baseball listening, good beer, and of course, good brewing. The weekend exceeded expectations; an impressive achievement given the hype!

The docket consisted of two 2.5 gallon batches: a Tripel for the Friday evening brew session and an English IPA for the Saturday brew session. For these batches I wanted to try out two styles I had never brewed before, and also make crisp and refreshing beers for the warm months ahead. To that end, I've made the decision to use my beer ledger in the ol' budget for only homebrew and the purchase of special beer that I'd like to age/cellar. This idea stems from trying to brew (and drink) more to the season; brew more in general, and; with the dearth of great choices at the store (aside from some of New Glarus' offerings), save my money to buy some excellent beer when I do have the opportunity.

Both of the brews went according to plan and really involved very little dramatics or cursing. I was a little worried with the 3787 as it started out REALLY slow, but it picked up nicely. The interesting part for both beers was fermentation: it was too cool in the basement to ferment the English IPA, and I didn't have a bath setup in the closet upstairs, so the result of fermentation was this:

Note the gunk all over the side.

Happily for the Tripel, I had a nice fermwrap setup for that, and got to utilize the temperature control to its fullest extent:

I guess I didn't have to worry about the 3787.

To ensure that it didn't produce too harsh an alcohol flavor and also finished dry enough, I started the fermentation at 66F, and raised the temperature over the course of 7 days up to 77F. Now, the results from both brews:

Velvet Hammer Tripel

Batch size: 2.5 gallons
Pre-boil: 1.063
OG: 1.089
FG: 1.012
ABV: 10.9%
ADF: 88%
SRM: 4.5
IBU: 34
Mash: 148.5F for 90 minutes
Efficiency: 75.7%
Boil: 90 minutes

Grains and Additions
79%- 7 lbs German Pilsner
2%- .25 lbs Aromatic
19%- 1.25 lbs cane sugar

Hops
1.15 ounces Tetnang (4%), 60 minutes
.25 ounces Tetnang (4%), 10 minutes

Yeast
1.3 L starter of Wyeast 3787, 12:12 AM, 5/19/12
1/4 tsp yeast nutrient in starter; 2 tsp in boil
Pitched at 66F; raised to 77F over the course of 1 week

Notes
Blowoff hose necessary by 5/19/12, 2:05 PM
Fermentation complete by 5/30/12; replaced with airlock
Hydrometer sample is full of citrus and spice; the alcohol seems well hidden to my palate.

English IPA

Batch size: 2.5 gallons
Pre-boil: 1.053
OG: 1.065
SRM:11
IBU:50
Mash: 151F for 60 minutes
Efficiency: 65%
Boil: 60 minutes

Grains
78.7%- 6 lbs Maris Otter
13.1%-   1 lb White Wheat
3.3%- .25 lbs Victory
2.4%- .18 lbs C-40
2.5%- .19 lbs C-120

Hops
1 ounce Northern Brewer (8.6%), 60 minutes
.78 ounces Willamette (4%), 10 minutes
.85 ounces Tetnang and Willamette (4%), 0 minutes

Yeast
1L starter of WLP013 London Ale, 6:50 PM, 5/19/12
1/4 tsp yeast nutrient in starter; 2 tsp in boil
Pitched at 70F ambient. No temperature control.

Notes
Extremely vigorous fermentation. Visible activity had ceased by 3rd or 4th day.


~Br. Abelard

New Glarus Unplugged Enigma 2010 tasting

It's been a treat to revisit these New Glarus beers; due to their WI-only availability, we haven't had  any of these since we first tried them on our honeymoon.  This final beer, Enigma, was a bit different from my recollection, but in no way a letdown.

Date - 20 May 2012

Venue - My house

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Appearance - Deep gold/amber, thin film of off-white head, brilliant red highlights.

Smell - Cherry with some acidity that brightens the sensation, some vanilla, prominent oak.

Taste - Lots of oak and vanilla with an even tanginess; balanced acidity leads to a rounded berry flavour.  Clean tannic finish.

Mouthfeel - Medium-low carbonation with a medium body; disappears easily.

Overall - Dan Carey knows how to get cherry to come across loud and clear, even when it's not the main event.  This one is very easy to drink, with a round, fruity, oak flavour.  It's not as sour as I recall, but the sourness that is present acts more to balance the beer than to strip enamel.  Will definitely keep my eyes out for this one in Wisconsin, whenever we end up back there.

- Br. Absalom

New Glarus Unplugged Old English Porter tasting

Finished up a long, somewhat excruciating brewday a little while ago.  Back to tasting notes!  Here's the second in the series of two-year-old New Glarus limited releases opened last weekend; this time it's the Old English Porter.

Date - 19 May 2012

Venue - My house

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Appearance - Clear, tawny brown body with orange highlights.  The thin tan head drops quickly but leaves some lacing down most of the glass.

Smell - Oak is prominent, followed by faint vanilla.  Acidity starts out faint, but comes out more as it warms.

Taste -Moderate acidity (not too citric and biting) washes over the palate; oak emerges after that along with vanilla undertones.  Roast is distant, far from prevalent.  Finishes clean.

Mouthfeel - Low-medium carbonation complementing a light body.  Very brown porter-ish of it.

Overall - This isn't a crazy big imperial/Baltic porter, but the acidity makes this low-gravity beer a sipper on par with something much more alcoholic.  It's an interesting take on the historical "vatted" porter style that makes me want to try more aged/soured small beers.

- Br. Absalom

New Glarus Unplugged Cherry Stout 2010 tasting

 
Following recent discussions within the Order regarding our personal storehouses, I thought it was just about time to pull something from the "cellar".  Three selections from New Glarus's Unplugged Series have been lurking in those shadows (quite literally) for the last two years; it seemed only right to let them see the light of day this weekend.

The first to be sampled was the Cherry Stout; my recollection from the summer of 2010 was that there wasn't a lot of "stout" to this beer.  My recollection did not lie.

Date - 19 May 2012

Venue - My house

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Appearance - Dark brown, nearly black on first glance; held to the light, however, it's shot through with clear ruby highlights.  The small light tan head falls back quickly.

Smell - Sweet cherry front and center, jumping right out of the glass.  Really that's the overriding aroma; maybe a little barrel quality hiding behind it, but the cherry really dominates.

Taste - Tons of cherry here from start to finish; notes of oak, bourbon, and vanilla at the end.  Very full and sweet without being cloying.  Complete and utter lack of stout roastiness.

Mouthfeel - Solid, sparkly carbonation.  Especially given the sweetness of the cherry here, it could very well come across as soda-like with much more; keeping it under that threshold reminds you you're still drinking beer.

Overall - Up front, I'll admit I have a ridiculous sweet tooth.  In no way does this come across as a stout, but I love the hell out of it.  The huge cherry aroma and flavour are great, but the complexity of the oak qualities really enhance this beer; it's getting the wheels spinning in my head for what to brew come fall.  DeAunn's summation was "Yumtastic!!!"; I have to agree.

- Br. Absalom

Fresher produce

Mrs. Absalom's done a fair bit of gardening over the last couple summers in the limited space we had in our former domicile in Chicago.  Every last tomato fell prey to the neighbourhood squirrels, but the basil fared much better, producing plenty of pesto, caprese salads, and pizza toppings.  This spring she embarked on an ambitious program of growing a wide variety of vegetables from seeds, starting them inside.  Unfortunately, they did none too well when they were moved outside; we were forced to scrap them all and regroup.  Our new plants - including basil, bell peppers, hot peppers, strawberries, and several varieties of tomatoes - are sprouting happily and showing prodigious progress every day.

In the meantime, our friends Craig and Caitlyn, who've done a lot of planting on their property last year and this spring (including a few fruit trees), gifted us an ample bag of mint leaves they harvested.  We love having great, fresh produce from our friends' garden, but we've really had to dig for ideas on how to use all of this mint.  We're not big mixed drink fans normally, so I don't foresee a lot of mint juleps or mojitos in our future.  After a bit of online research, Mrs. Absalom decided to candy a few of the leaves, then use them as a garnish on toasted graham crackers with quality chocolate and organic strawberries and blueberries.  To say this turned out well would be an understatement.

More ideas for getting the most out of the rest of this crop would be greatly welcomed.  If nothing else, I'll make a tincture with it to give brewing a mint stout another shot next winter.

This has brought me back to thinking on the issue of eating organic versus local foods.  Much as Brs. Abelard and Thelonious have mentioned here recently, we've really come to value knowing the origins and treatment of what we eat in the last few years.  Mrs. Absalom and I usually select as much certified organic food, especially produce, as possible; avoiding extra chemicals is certainly better for our personal health.  Ideally, we'd like to be able to buy organic and local - reducing the distance our food travels and supporting local businesses would definitely be our preference - but it seems like it's difficult to have it both ways at this point, especially in a climate that's less than ideal for farming of even moderate scale.

Fortunately, we're not without options altogether here, most notably Wyomatoes (their basil is also great) and Creminelli Meats; in addition, our local Whole Foods occasionally offers locally raised heritage meats.  The Order has discussed recently what it would take to find locally produced organic brewing ingredients; Dave Logsdon of Logsdon Farmhouse Ales (and founder of Wyeast) just spoke of his own work on this in a Q&A on sour beer blog Embrace the Funk.  And on the East Coast there's Valley Malt, whose Malt of the Month Club makes me wish I were back in New England.  At this point, it's tough to be a year-round organic locavore in many areas; for now, though, we'll keep growing in our small space and making the best-informed choices we can.


- Br. Absalom

Frankenmash IPA

American IPA is one of my most-brewed styles. I really love the taste of a super-fresh IPA, although ironically enough, I find that homebrewed IPAs definitely tend to lose their hop aromas and flavors much quicker than commercial examples. That said, it doesn't stop me from brewing it: it just means I had better drink it up!

My usual recipe, however, was at a loss because I didn't have the amount of 2-row I thought I did, or Munich, or C-20...at least I still had the hops. Time for improvisation! I ended up supplementing with some wheat and victory malt to match the usual amount of grain and also hit the gravity numbers so it matched up with the IBUs. Oh and some black barley that got mixed in with my 2-row at the homebrew store when I went to crush the grain. Always make sure to give the little flap a good knock before starting up your own grind!

Of course, I prefer to have additional things to stress me out during a brewday; it helps me to achieve what Mrs. Brother Abelard likes to call my "Brewday face". The yeast was at its best-by date, so luckily I was able to worry about yeast health for awhile, at least until I got home from work to brew, and found out it started up just fine after all:

Finally, of course, there was the little moment of panic when I opened up my kettle filled with filtered water to find white stuff floating around. My initial thought was mold, but it smelled fine and tasted okay too. As it turns out, the white stuff was simply calcium that had fallen out of solution over time. Once I had heated the water and dumped it into the mash, the remaining stuff in the kettle dried into a fine, chalky powder. Disaster averted.

After all that, I ended up pitching the yeast at 11:59 PM, and it has been fermenting quite happily ever since. So happily, in fact, that I had to replace the airlock when I got home from work this evening because the first one became clogged with beer. In conclusion, the usual mantra follows: "Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew". 

Frankenmash IPA
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Projected Pre-boil: 1.056
Projected OG: 1.065
Projected SRM:9
Projected IBU:71
Mash: 149F for 90 minutes
Boil: 60 minutes
Efficiency: 72.6%

Grains
82.2%- American 2-row Pale, 12 lbs
4.8%- Wheat, .70 lbs
4.7%- Munich, .68 lbs
4.5%- Victory, .65 lbs
2.1%- C-20, .31 lbs
1.7%- C-40, .25 lbs
.3%- Bits of Black Barley that got mixed in with my 2-row at the store, .05 lbs (estimate)

Hops
1.18 oz. Falconer's Flight (11%), 60 minutes
1.0 oz. Falconer's Flight (10.2%), 10 minutes
1.0 oz. Falconer's Flight (10.2%), 5 minutes
1.0 oz. Falconer's Flight (10.2%), 0 minutes
1.0 oz. Falconer's Flight (10.2%), Dry Hop

Yeast
2 liter starter of WLP001
1/4 tsp yeast nutrient in starter; 5 tsp in boil

Notes:
Pitched yeast at 59F ambient; beer was 68F.
Temperature control set to 67F.
Fermentation large and in charge: had to replace airlock on 5/14 with new airlock.

~Br. Abelard

New Pot Windscreen

I finally got around to putting together a windscreen for my new 9-gallon ported kettle, all for real-like (i.e., not held together with duct tape).  Given the size of the kettle, this one was much easier to build; the favoured design here was a simple cylinder that fits tightly to the corners of the turkey fryer body.  A couple notches for the gas line and the kettle ports and we're done.  The next step is to avoid accidentally folding the damn thing in half when it's not in use.  Let's hear it for ease of lighting and heating efficiency!

-Br. Absalom

Simply a lovely spring day

I'll admit it: I'm relieved to be done with doctoral study for the summer.  Having survived the hurdles of writing back-to-back double-digit-page papers two weeks ago and finals (with sometimes downright insane "drop the needle" listening portions) this past week, it's good to put it down for a while.  Not that there's nothing to do until September; there are a few more studio projects to wrap up in the next week, and DeAunn and I are getting to work to find ways to make a summer living as musicians, sussing out new students and cajoling libraries, nursing homes, and any other venue we can think of to pay us to perform.

Having started early and fought the good fight earlier today, I found myself on my own for the afternoon and evening; DeAunn played a recording session this afternoon, will play the opera downtown tonight, and taught a lesson out of town in between.  Stopping

at Whole Foods on the way back from logging some studio time, I found their salmon steaks on sale for nearly half off.  What was there to do but have one for late lunch/early supper, pour a beer, and sit out in the beautiful spring sunshine?

I don't have a lot of experience cooking fish--I've never eaten it regularly--so after some online perusing I seared it with a little olive oil and the inimitable Spice House's Lake Shore Drive Seasoning, then baked it for a few minutes to cook it through.  A few slices of raw tomato and a sauteed chopped green onion finished the plate; I laid on too much lemon juice, but it was still excellent.  Accompanying the salmon, the dog, and myself on the porch was a glass of my "new" old ale (formerly known as my IIPA).

It still gets chilly at night, but the days are getting increasingly warmer, a trend that's right in line with my own constitution.  I look forward to more glorious days like this, hopefully including a few back in the Midwest with my fellow brothers of the Order this summer.

-Br. Absalom

A Garden Meal

Okay, so it wasn't precisely a garden meal; after all, there was actually only one ingredient from the garden which actually was ready to be in the meal, but still, it was the first harvest from our garden, so I thought I'd write up a post about it...especially considering Br. Thelonious and I were recently lamenting about the lack of cooking/food posts on the site.

There was a time, in the not-so-distant past (6 years ago), in which I would not have batted an eye at eating a meal where all of the offerings had come already prepared from a box, tube, jar, or some other container. Add water, heat, and "enjoy". Fortunately I've traveled a long way since then, to the point where it's highly unlikely that anything in a meal has been pre-prepared, pre-made, etc. For the vast percentage of Americans, however, this is not their reality, and it hurts my soul to think about. Wendell Berry sums it up best when he writes:

"The passive American consumer, sitting down to a meal of pre-prepared food, confronts inert, anonymous, substances that have been processed, dyed, breaded, sauced, gravied, ground, pulped, strained, blended, prettified, and sanitized beyond resemblance to any part of any creature that ever lived. The products of nature and agriculture have been made, to all appearances, the products of industry. Both eater and eaten are thus in exile from biological reality."

Yes, it can take time to make a meal from scratch (though it doesn't always have to), but the reward of knowing every ingredient that is in the meal, and hopefully from where it came and how it was produced, far outweighs the reward of convenience.

This meal consisted of two offerings: a Spring garden salad with goat cheese, and oven-baked macaroni and cheese. For the salad, Katherine and I harvested radishes from our garden and to them added carrots which we had peeled into thin slices. "But where are the greens!?", I hear you asking frantically. Worry not: we simply cut off the tops of the radishes, chopped them up, and used those as the greens. To that we added goat cheese, then combined lemon juice, melted butter, salt, and pepper and tossed it all together. The result, of course, was delicious:

 

The macaroni and cheese was also fairly simple (Katherine suggested this), which required neither a bechamel sauce nor par-boiling the pasta: combine the liquid with the pasta and the cheese; bake it, and you're good to go. I ended up blending milk, yogurt, butter, spices (I used salt, pepper, nutmeg, and habanero powder), then mixing in the pasta with some smoked cheddar and provolone, and baking for an hour in the oven. Again, the result, paired with Sierra Nevada Torpedo (seen in background):

It was a fantastic meal, made even more so because it utilized our first garden harvest. I look forward to the day when we can harvest multiple things at once, and make an entire meal from them all. 

~Br. Abelard

First Brewday, New Place

Kolsch, to me, is one of those styles which always seem to be overlooked when considering one's brewing docket. It either doesn't seem to be the right time of year to brew one, or I am too impatient to wait the additional time it takes to lager it, or I want to brew something intensely malty, or...well, you get the idea. This lack of initiative on my part is odd, considering the first time I truly enjoyed a lager-type beer was Goose Island's Summertime, a Kolsch-style beer. In fact, I believe I first drank it on Brother Thelonious' patio at his (old) Damen apartment, after an afternoon spent watching a Sox/Twins game and grilling hot dogs. Well, things have changed since then: I no longer drink Summertime; my hot dog consumption has been reduced significantly since switching over to only meat which I know from where it came, and how it was produced; and the Sox and Twins both are not nearly as good this season as they were in 2006.

For my first brew in the new place, I wanted to create a beer which would take advantage of the cooler temperatures in my basement, my new *gasp* temperature control system, convert some of my Wisconsin friends to craft beer, and also be a good quaffer for those hot summer days just over the horizon, threatening, ever threatening. Kolsch seemed an excellent fit for those parameters. Done well, I think the style has a balance to it which appeals to the craft beer drinker and macro beer drinker alike: subtle enough to appreciate the balance and craftsmanship for the former; and subtle enough so as to make it approachable to the latter.

I brewed the beer this past Sunday (4/29), after dragging out all of my equipment, cleaning it up, and stressing out over the best-by date on my package of yeast (April 9th). For this beer, I wanted to try out WLP862, better known as Cry Havoc, Charlie P's house strain of yeast and marketed to be good for lagers and ales. Given that it was past its best-by date and (in some camps) purported to be a slow starter, I made a 2-liter starter to compensate. Thankfully, it was chugging away by the morning of my brewday, less than 16 hours after I made it.

Next up to stress out about, of course was the temperature controller, my Johnson A419, coupled with a FermWrap to keep things warm in the cool basement.

The instructions, unfortunately, were very technical (for me), and I was in the middle of the mash and had very little time to decipher them as fully as I liked. I eventually determined I needed to shift some of the jumpers over from an open position to a close position on the internal circuitry to reflect what I wanted to accomplish, which was overriding a heating element, and instructing it to cut out (shut off) when it reached a certain temperature.

The rest of the brewday was uneventful, thankfully, given the new place and unfamiliar (and steep!) steps down to the basement. My wort chiller hooked up to the outside hose properly, chilled it down within 15 minutes, and was hustled inside before the coming storms could conspire to dump bacteria-laden water into my beer.

Above is my setup, which seems to be working well. Four days into the fermentation and it is still fermenting nicely, holding steady at 60F. Ambient temperature as of two hours ago was just around 56F. Below, the recipe specifications:

Ted's Kolsch
Batch size: 5.25 gallons
Pre-boil gravity: 1.039
Efficiency: 70.8%
Original gravity: 1.050
SRM: 4
IBU: 31
Mash: 90 minutes at 149F, for maximum conversion
Boil: 90 minutes, to drive off DMS precursors

Grains
95.4%- 10.3 lbs Pilsner malt
4.6%- .50 lbs Vienna malt

Hops
2.0 oz Hallertau (4.3% AA) (60 min)

Yeast
2 Liter starter of WLP862 (Cry Havoc)
5 tsp. yeast nutrient

Fermented at 60F

~Br. Abelard

Goodbye Winter, Hello...Summer?

Disclaimer: I wrote this exactly six weeks ago, on March 15, and forgot to click "Publish." D'oh!

Two weeks ago I was wearing double layers of external winter wear. And I was enjoying my seasonally appropriate stouts and porters, unable to whet my appetite for what has traditionally been my favorite style: the hoppy, pale variety. Today, and for the last two weeks or so, daytime temperatures have hovered in the 60s, 70s, and occasionally breaking 80.

Bacon, mushroom, and onion omelet, with a baby greens salad and
homemade balsamic vinaigrette. But that's not just any old bacon. That's
lamb bacon from Indianapolis' Smoking Goose, a "meatery" that specializes
in artisanal meat products that come from from heritage animals, properly
pasture-raised on local family farms.

A few days ago, intent on taking full advantage of our premature summer, I was enjoying a day off at home doing the usual "day off at home" things that I enjoy doing: cooking meals (like my omelets that, thanks to Jacques Pépin, are better than any I've ever had in a restaurant), drinking beer, listening to music, and doing chores with every door and window in the apartment wide open. The inherent warm-weather ability to do such things provides the possibility of chance encounters with neighbors - otherwise highly unlikely. (Two nights ago the smell of hotdogs and hamburgers sizzling over burning charcoal lured me out onto my deck to find my downstairs neighbor intent on taking full advantage of our impromptu June as well.) While cleaning dishes after cooking a delicious breakfast, I overheard voices outside spouting off names of very familiar-sounding beers. Turns out some upstairs neighbors of mine, while on their way out, spotted the ad-hoc collection of bottles that had accumulated on my back porch over the winter. Ommegang Adoration...My Antonia, that's Dogfish Head's Imperial Pilsener...hey these are some good beers! I quietly thought to myself, indeed they are. Hey wait a second...they - whoever they are - are looking at my beers! As I was poking my head out to see who these kindred spirits were, they were doing just the same; walking up to my back door to see just who, once upon a time, had enjoyed all these good beers. "Looks like you've had some good stuff here," they said. "Hey, if you're interested, City Provisions has a couple bottles of Founders KBS left. Are you familiar with that one?" "Yeah sure," I said, being unfamiliar with it. "Get over there soon if you want one. The owner is also pouring a collaboration brew he did with New Holland." "Oh you mean, Cleetus?," I replied. "Yeah! So you know..." Kindred spirits indeed.

Cleetus Friedman, a "politically-incorrect-white-jewish-ambisexual-hip-hop-artist"-comedian-chef-conceptual brewmaster, owns City Provisions, a deli-cafe-catering company that focuses on local, seasonal, sustainable, expertly prepared, awesome food. No surprise that Cleetus also has a thing for such beer. Each month, he collaborates with a different local brewery to produce a small batch of beer, often inspired by the season, something he's cooking, or his whim. By his own admission, he doesn't know much about brewing, but he knows the character he's going for, and what he wants his beers to taste like. He's recently worked with such breweries as Metropolitan, Finch's, Greenbush, Dark Horse, Two Brothers, and right now he's pouring a beer titled "Marsha Mallow's Malted Milk Stout" that he made with the powerhouse craft-brewery in Holland, Michigan: New Holland. Apparently - according to ZombiesAteMyDog, the lone reviewer of the beer on Beer Advocate - the beer was "Named after the infamous Marsha Mallow, of the NHB [New Holland Brewing] staff holiday party, 2012." I don't know if it's true or not, or whatever Ms. Mallow may have done to gain infamy, but who cares. Marshmallows, chocolate malts, milkshakes - this beer evokes them all.

But that wasn't even what I went over there for. I went for the Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout (which I had just figured out was what the "KBS" stood for). What my neighbors didn't tell me was the price of admission. About an hour after their admonition to make haste, I called up City Provisions to ask if they had any KBS left. "We do," the guy on the phone said, "but do you know the deal?" No, I did not know the deal. "The manager wants you to drop an old-school rap line in order to get one." Ok. No problem. I'm not a rap aficionado or anything, but I'm sure I can come up with a single line from a Dr. Dre, Snoop, Gangstarr, Ice Cube, someone's song. When I got there, I panicked. I asked "who I was supposed to tell that we've been spendin' all this time livin' in a gangster's paradise." Ugh. Coolio?! And it had to be the song in which he shamefully ripped off a great Stevie Wonder tune? Shame on me. I could see that Cleetus was not impressed either. He is a hip-hop artist himself, after all. But hell, it got me some KBS. And hey offered me a glass of the milk stout too. Not a taste, mind you, but a whole glass. For free. Of course I went back later that night with a friend to purchase two more, because that's what you do when you have a guy like Cleetus and a place like City Provisions in your neighborhood. You go there.

-Br. Thelonious

Session Beer Day - 7 April

There's always more to learn out there.  Thanks to the Northern Brewer blog for introducing me to the Session Beer Project and the welcome concept of Session Beer Day, which will be tomorrow, 7 April.  It will celebrate Little Repeal Day, when 4% ABV beer became legal ahead of the full repeal of Prohibition.  Beer of this low alcohol can easily come across as thin and insipid; it's much easier to pack a lot of body and flavour into a big IPA or imperial stout.  However, every rich beer culture of which I can think (Britain, Belgium, Germany, heck even America...sometimes) has a hallowed place for tasty beers of which you can consume pint after pint without needing to be taken home in a wheelbarrow.

Being in Utah presently, drinking session beer tomorrow will be pretty easy; thanks to the incredibly antiquated "3.2 Law", there's not a draft beer in the state above 4% ABV.  By no means has that slowed down resident brewers and beer enthusiasts; while I don't hold with all the local draft offerings, the microbrew scene here flourishes based on exactly this strength of beer.  What I really wish is that I had the opportunity to brew a session beer tomorrow.  Paper research takes precedence there, but I do have yet another ordinary bitter recipe in the works for the near future.  Hope you're able to get out there tomorrow and, one way or another, get sessionable.

-Br. Absalom

Uinta Brewing Co. Tour

This past Saturday, I took part in a Whole Foods "Microbrews for Microloans" fundraiser: a tour of the largest local brewery, Uinta Brewing Company.  DeAunn and I have visited the taproom once before, and had an all right time for it being pretty quiet.  Their output is decent and pretty consistent; in particular I've enjoyed their pale and kolsch, as well as the extra pale and Belgian blond from their organic line.  Right in line with their organic beers is their commitment to sustainable energy; most of their power is generated by wind turbines, which has been recently supplemented by solar.  Utah's 3.2% ABW limit on draft beer (I don't believe there are limits on what comes in bottles) puts some pretty solid constraints on what a production brewery can put out to get on tap in this state, but Uinta has managed to field a generally solid portfolio.

The brewery's kind of out on the edge of town; fortunately, that doesn't mean it's terribly hard to reach here in Salt Lake. Right inside the door, after checking in, Whole Foods had set up seven local food producers to sample their wares, covering everything from cheese to sausage to hummus.  Filling up a small plate, I headed into the taproom for the open bar.  They were pouring most of their regular line, along with a couple of their organics and a seasonal.  I stuck with half pours prior to the tour, opening with their winter lager; I usually go for ales over lagers, but this one was pretty tasty.

A full pint of Wyld in hand, I went with the first tour group of the day.  We checked out their 60-bbl brewhouse, 240-bbl fermenters, and the bottling & kegging line; our guide, a former brewer now turned area rep, did a pretty good job supplying the basic brewing information without dumbing it down too far.  I met a couple in my group who actually moved out here from Chicago at the same time DeAunn and I did, and to attend the U, to boot.  Another guy in my tour (a fellow homebrewer, it turned out later) hung back to chat with one of the brewers at the fermenters and was treated to a glass of their new IPA, Hop Notch, straight from the conical.  Even more fun, though, was getting a moment to check out their barrel room.  They have a modest barrel program going, most of the barrels coming from the local High West Distillery.  They're currently barrel aging several of their Crooked Line bottle series, including an excellent bourbon barrel barleywine.

After the tour, it was back to the taproom for more chatting, food, and beer sampling.  I had a chance to pester my guide, now pouring at the bar, with a few technical questions on their process.  Far from being put out, he was happy to answer, and eventually took me out to hang with Jeremy Gross, one of the brewers.  Jeremy was super cool, very obliging, and welcoming of my questions as he simultaneously started one boil and another mash.  Originally from Park City, he's also spent time brewing for another local, Bohemian. He was nice enough to pull me a pint of his homebrewed DIPA from a keg he brought to share at work.  Heavy with Sorachi Ace, Citra, and Simcoe, the word that came to mind was "bright"; this was a really phenomenal hop monster that belied its 8.5-9% ABV.

On top of that, after having hung out with him for the best part of an hour and a half, he sent me home with a short-fill bottle of their new 19th anniversary sour cherry ale.  The bottling date was only two days prior to when I was there; it's so fresh that it still needs to sit for a couple weeks to finish naturally carbonating.  If I see Jeremy out at the bar, I owe that guy a round.

Between the beer, food, hang, and atmosphere, it was a great time, and the best brewery tour experience I've had to date.  A big thanks goes out to Whole Foods, the local food vendors, and Jeremy and everyone at Uinta.  It reminded me of some of the things I love about beer and the process of homebrewing: the lowering of guards, the conviviality, and the friendliness of fellow brewers.  I took home several bottles, but I'll definitely be back for more of Uinta.

- Br. Absalom

Squatter's Fifth Element 2012 tasting

This is from Squatter's Reserve Series; it took Gold at the 2011 GABF in the Lambic/Sour category.  It definitely falls under the "funky saison" heading.  I picked up the bottle from the downtown SLC brewpub earlier this week.

Date - 29 March 2012

Venue - My house

==========

Appearance - Yellow-gold with lots of small bubbles that cling to the sides of the goblet.  The big pillowy foam hangs around for several minutes, but doesn't leave as much lacing as I thought it might.

Aroma - Tart lemon, spicy, a little barnyard, a touch of soapiness.  Very intense in its lightness.

Taste - Immediate funk, oak, and mellow citrus.  The sour/tart sensation has a light touch, but lingers in the aftertaste.  No alcohol burn detected.

Mouthfeel - Just a bit heavier than truly light, with effervescent carbonation; very lifting and spritzy.

Overall - This is way too refreshing for an 8% beer!  It's light, characterful, and drinks much easier than its ABV suggests; while it goes down easily, though, its effect isn't slow in arriving.  The funk and sourness are main players, but aren't overdone.  Definitely worth repeated sampling!

- Br. Absalom

DMA Recital - Sunday 25 March 2012

It's been pretty quiet here for a while; time to break the silence with some music news, a first for this blog.

I'm giving the first recital of my doctoral degree this Sunday at the University of Utah.  You can find the details on the included posters; below is the program:

Burlesque (1995) - Robert Gulya
Autumn (2008) - John Stevens
Sonate b-moll, BWV 1030 (~1720) - J.S. Bach
      - intermission -
Dialogue for Horn, Tuba & Piano (1992) - Anthony Plog
Dance of the Ocean Breeze (1979) - Roger Kellaway
Adagio und Allegro, op. 70 (1849) - Robert Schumann

While DeAunn and I moved out here for school for a number of reasons (to get our terminal degrees that are expected when applying for college teaching jobs, to master the art of winning orchestral auditions, etc.) this is one part I eagerly anticipated when we signed on for the program.  I really enjoy performing solo repertoire, and I haven't had the opportunity to play a full solo recital in quite a while.  I did play a half-hour slot at the Midwest Regional Tuba-Euph Conference (MWRTEC) in Michigan just over a year ago, and DeAunn and I played a joint unaccompanied recital just before we moved in August, but the width, breadth, and depth of the repertoire, resources, and time commitment involved for this upcoming event are much different.

As much as I like solo playing, and as much as I've looked forward to doing this, it really wasn't until a couple months ago that I started going through my library to pick out a program.  All told, I didn't start working up this until just over a month ago.  Some of the works I've had kind of on the back burner for a long time, but most are brand new to me.  It's been a month of ass kicking, to be certain.  I've performed the Gulya twice before, but it's an undertaking every time, and the Bach turned out to be a much more involved and expansive piece than I'd planned.  The other pieces are not short on musical and technical challenges, either; I don't really care for playing too much filler or third-rate dreck.  Would I like to have planned in more prep time?  No doubt.  As it is, though, I should be just about at peak performance when I hit the stage Sunday.

As you can tell from the program, most of the rep is modern.  What else you'd expect from an instrument that didn't have any serious repertoire written for it prior to the '50s, I don't know.  As a fun bit of trivia and happenstance, all but the two transcriptions on the program (i.e., the Bach and Schumann) come from the same Swiss publisher; I could nearly call this the "Editions BIM" recital.  However, all the pieces came onto my radar on their own from a myriad of sources over the past few years.

The Schumann was recorded by one of my teachers, former San Francisco Symphony Principal Tuba Floyd Cooley, in the early '90s; that CD was extremely influential to me in my early undergrad years.  As it happens, Floyd was also the one who brought the Bach to my attention.  It was a recording of my friend Mark Fabulich's graduate recital at NEC that turned me on to the Gulya; it's pretty athletic and more than a bit schizophrenic, but it makes for a hell of an opener.  The Stevens is a solo & piano version of the third movement of one of his brass quintets, Seasons; it was by far my favourite movement of that piece when I heard the original, and I was excited to find the transcription on the solo competition list for this summer's International Tuba-Euph Conference in Austria.  DeAunn and I learned of Tony Plog's duet with piano talking to the composer himself after a master class he gave here at the U this past fall; we've both enjoyed performing his other works, and this seemed like a perfect fit for us.  I rediscovered the Kellaway while searching for "just one more" piece to meet the time requirements for the recital.  Another piece for horn, tuba, and piano, it was commissioned and recorded by premiere tuba soloist Roger Bobo (along with the ridiculous Norwegian hornist Frøydis Ree Wekre and Kellaway on piano) on an album that I also picked up in my early undergrad years but haven't listened to in the best part of a decade.  Much better than I remember.

While I know my brothers-in-monastic-observance and most others who read this blog won't be able to attend in person, I'm making an attempt to live stream the recital here.  I know I'm looking forward to it.

- Br. Absalom

Uinta Organic Wyld tasting

We invited over a few friends last night to have a tasting of my blueberry stout that just carbed up.  Among the other beers had also had on hand was a mixed pack from local Uinta Brewing Company's Organic line.  Included in it was their extra pale ale, Wyld, which I really enjoyed when we visited Uinta's taproom in the fall.  While a lot of the local beers haven't done a lot for us, it's nice to come across something really nice like this.

Date - 18 February 2012

Venue - My house
==========

Appearance - Clear, golden, with just a little head developing.

Aroma - Lots of stone fruit (apricot, peach); bread is also prominent.

Taste - Fresh, clean malt with a moderate assertive bitterness.  Breadiness in the nose is very prominent in the aftertaste.  It leaves quickly and cleanly, though a light bitterness lingers.

Mouthfeel - Light and easygoing; moderate carbonation.

Overall - This is a really great session beer; it's almost too drinkable.  Light and refreshing, with a lot of flavour.  I really like the bready quality, though it might get old after a few pints.

- Br. Absalom

Squatter’s Barrel of Russians tasting

DeAunn and I had an early dinner at SLC brewpub Squatter’s the other night, and brought home this specimen for further research.  A Russian imperial stout brewed with licorice root, aged in rye whiskey barrels from the local High West Distillery, and clocking in at 10.5% ABV, it’s right up our collective alley, particularly this time of year.

Date - 13 February 2012

Venue - My house

==========

Appearance - Inky black with a deep brown head of small to medium bubbles that dropped back to a ring after several minutes.

Aroma - Perfumey, muted oak, hints of molasses and chocolate.

Taste - This one immediately goes to the back of the tongue with definite alcohol and licorice.  Notes of dark chocolate, subdued oak, and low roast; a little acrid.  More chocolate and a balanced sweetness as it warms.

Mouthfeel - Rich and creamy on the front of the tongue; full bodied.

Overall - A big, tasty beer for ski season (should the snow ever arrive in force); dark and acrid in the right ways.  Considering picking up another bottle or two to lay down for a year.

- Br. Absalom

Epic/Crooked Stave Elder Brett tasting

I learned of this new collaboration between SLC’s Epic & Colorado’s Brettanomyces-focused Crooked Stave earlier this week via the Utah Beer blog.  It’s fairly big saison that was then aged with four strains of Brett in white wine barrels that previously held Epic’s Belgian golden strong ale fermented with peaches, Brainless on Peaches.  Snagged a bottle of this yesterday, and after allowing it time to settle and chill at home, enjoyed it last night.  It certainly made an interesting accompaniment to watching The Two Towers.

Date - 27 January 2012

Venue - My house

==========

Poured gold with a substantial head that collapsed after a couple minutes.  White wine and green apple in the nose; the taste brought more white wine, phenolics from the  yeast, light tartness, and maybe a little fruit.  The mouthfeel was pretty light, with medium carbonation; it didn’t sit heavy in the mouth, and definitely didn’t come across as nearly 9%.  Overall, it was interesting, but didn’t deliver the funk I was expecting.  That may simply mean I need more experience with various strains of Brett, but for me, this beer was dominated by the wine that was originally in the barrels.  Given that there’s been a full run of another strong beer through those barrels prior to this, that wine character really seems to be going the distance.  I’ll be curious to learn if the Brett is still active in the bottles; if so, I’ll probably pick up a couple more bottles to age and see if any more barnyard/musty/funk character develops.

- Br. Absalom