Hump's Brewing

I plan on brewing a Belgian Wit this weekend. I went by the homebrew store, Just Brew It!, this week and picked up ingredients for it. I also took my CO₂ setup in, and Doug, the proprietor, got it reconnected with a T-joint so I can use the one CO₂ canister to push two kegs. I’ll be moving the Dry Stout into keg #2 tomorrow or Saturday…

I’m already excited to brew this next recipe. After comparing this recipe to my previous attempt at a Witbier (from 2001) and reading my tasting notes from that old recipe, I’m certain that this upcoming batch will be better. It’s going to taste great! And just in time for the warm weather, too. Although a cold front is coming in, and it is supposed to be retarded cold for the weekend… (Of course, retarded cold for Georgia is pretty mild for most places – but certainly colder than last week)

I’ve already started planning my next batch after this one: I’ll brew an IPA in May. I have some left-over hops (Cascade, East Kent Goldings, and US Goldings) that I can use in that brew. That will nearly clear out my “old hops” inventory. I’ll only have an ounce of Hallertauer left. A very old ounce at that: I received it in a mail-order kit in 2004 and tossed into the freezer for safe keeping. I plan to do a Weizen in June, so I can use those aging hops in that recipe.

Hopefully I’ll soon have some tasting notes to post for my latest batch of stout.

Speaking of stouts and tasting notes: I recently tried Sweetwater’s Happy Ending. Sweetwater is a local microbrewery here in Atlanta. Their Happy Ending is an imperial stout that absolutely wreaks of sticky hops… but in a good way! My first impression of it was that it reminded me quite a bit of my Full Moon Stout. But when I tasted them side by side, I found that theirs is way hoppier than mine. They must have used a ton of dry-hops! I think my recipe stands up pretty well to it though. After the side-by-side taste-test, I was happy with the flavor, complexity, and smoothness of my homebrew. But I still want my Evil Empire Stout recipe to be even bigger and bolder – and perhaps along the lines of Happy Ending in its hoppiness.

This evening I racked the dry stout that I brewed last weekend. It has attenuated decently. At first it had an off-putting aroma that contained some solvent-like alcohol smells, but this was not present in the taste. I noticed this same artifact in the American Schwarzbier, too, but it never surfaced after the beer was kegged. So I’ll hope for similar fortune with this batch.

The stout tasted nice and roasty with some decent hop flavor, too. This is a rare occurrence: the recipe I formulated has resulted in a beer that is exactly as I imagined. Hopefully this beer won’t change too much after it is kegged – and if it does, hopefully it will be for the better.

Speaking of beers that change after they’ve been kegged, the Humble Hop Juice got a little too bubbly over the past week. I had the regulator set a little high so that it would force-carbonate quickly, but then I left it like that for too long. So I’ve now released all pressure from the keg and have turned off the CO₂ with the hopes that the excess carbonation will leave the precious liquid. But back to my previous thoughts: the beer no longer tastes as dreamy as it first did. The strong Centennial flavor has grown a little too strong and has hints of sour grassiness. The beer still has a pleasant fresh hop aroma, a decent malt backbone, and a nice bitterness. But the developing hop flavor has pulled this brew out of its spotlight.

On to a different subject: the other day my wife, son, and I ate at a fancy-schmancy restaurant called Muss and Turner’s. We were hoping to eat at Doc Chey’s Noodle House, but apparently the Vinings location has closed. So we walked to a nearby upscale delicatessen (where we’ve eaten before and where we knew we could get a tasty lunch). It was actually almost 5pm, but we hadn’t eaten lunch that day, so I’ll continue to call this meal “lunch”. We had very good sandwiches and were pleasantly surprised to see a nice assortment of draft beer – and draft samplers on the menu. So we ordered a sampler – three ounces each of all six of their draft offerings:

• Terrapin Rye² Imperial Pale Ale
• Dogfish Head 90-Minute IPA
• Dale’s Pale Ale
• Ommegang Rare Vos
• Val-Dieu Brune
• La Chouffe

Their draft setup was a little peculiar – none of the beers were heavily carbonated, and most had a subtle buttery flavor to them. Nevertheless, all six tasted good. Warning to those who might seek out Muss and Turner’s: it is a pricey place – this sampler alone was $12.50.

Here is a picture of this delectable spread:

I tried a taste of my Humble Hop Juice (which I just kegged on Sunday). It isn’t 100% carbonated yet, but it is still palatable.

In fact, it is delicious. The name is quite appropriate. It is very hoppy – although not immensely bitter. It has a honey-like sweetness balanced by a firm but far-from-overpowering bite of hop bitterness. But the star of the show is the Centennial hop aroma and flavor – quite smooth, citrusy, and pungent.

On another note, I was happy to discover the batch of Hump’s Dry Stout I brewed on Sunday is showing serious signs of fermentation (the huge foamy, bubbly krausen and the bubbles trickling from the fermentation lock). Apparently I did not mistakenly murder my yeast population – what a relief!

With luck, I can rack it to the secondary next Monday or Tuesday evening, and then keg it the following Sunday (April 1^st). To do so, I’ll first have to go to Just Brew It! so that I can augment my kegging rig to run two kegs instead of just one.

When I went to the homebrew store yesterday, Just Brew It! in Fayetteville, I heard some of the most depressing news I’ve heard in awhile. Due to many factors, some personal and some business, Doug (the proprietor and friendly operator of the store) will likely be selling the business. I can only hope that someone will come along that is as friendly to customers and as dedicated to maintaining a great store as Doug is. If this does come to pass, I will certainly miss chatting with him when I go in. The worst part is that the place may simply close outright. If that happens, I may have to acquire ingredients online. And two of my favorite homebrew stores in Atlanta will have closed (my other favorite was Marietta Homebrew, which closed several years ago).

The story about Marietta Homebrew was even sadder: the proprietor and very friendly operator, Dennis, died of cancer in 2002. That was a very sad day. He was an awesome homebrew shop owner. He was very friendly, was great to talk to, liked to talk about beer, frequently had some of his homebrew on tap for a taste while shopping, and was knowledgeable and helpful. After he passed away, the store wasn’t the same – the folks that ran the place after that were not nearly as friendly or helpful. Apparently other customers felt the same way because the place eventually closed.

Doug is also an awesome homebrew shop owner. It will be sad to see him move on to other things. He has transformed Just Brew It! from a ‘usually adequate’ homebrew shop to a great homebrew shop. He is friendly, great to talk to, and the most knowledgeable homebrewer I’ve ever had the pleasure of talking to. I could ask him pretty much anything about homebrew – issues or concerns I might have about a batch, questions about upgrading equipment, or anything else. And he could invariably answer.

On top of hearing that news about Just Brew It!, my son was sick this weekend, too. So I didn’t get a chance to brew on St. Patrick’s Day. Instead, today was beer day. I kegged the Humble Hop Juice: it tastes good, so I’m eagerly awaiting it to be carbonated. I also brewed the dry stout. After brewing, I ate a lovely dinner of fish and chips (one day later than planned).

Unfortunately, the sanitizing formula I prepared for my equipment was too hot (likely > 120 degrees Fahrenheit), and I may have left the yeast package in there too long. So now I’m anxiously waiting to see if I killed the yeast. Hopefully not… But only time will tell. If I see no fermentation activity after 48 hours then I’ll have to return to the brew store to get more yeast :(

To commemorate Saint Patrick’s Day 2007 I plan on brewing an Irish Dry Stout tomorrow. That choice of style also has a little to do with the fact that my current project at work is for a client in Ireland. In fact, I’ll be traveling to Ireland for work in a few weeks; I’ll be in Belfast, in the North, the week of April 9^th.

So I’ll make a trip to the homebrew store tomorrow, brew up some beer, and then have a classic Irish dinner of fish and chips (and perhaps wash it down with a glass of Guinness). And the fish and chips will be in the style of Ireland – meaning the batter for the fish will have no beer in it. (Only the English would waste beer in such a way!)

I will also be kegging the batch that I currently have in secondary: Hump’s Humble Hop Juice. It is currently aging over a 1/2 ounce of Centennial hops. I can’t wait until it’s kegged, carbonated, and ready to be sampled!

So, happy St. Pat’s, everyone!

I managed to get my hands on some Dogfish Head beer today. The Greene’s on Ponce was the only place that had a good selection in stock: most of the stores near me had either already sold out or couldn’t get any (apparently the distributor emptied their stock very quickly). I think that is good news: with demand for their beer this high, Dogfish Head will keep the supply to Georgia flowing. Hopefully it will also be a good sign to some other great brewers to start sending their beers this way (particularly Victory and Stone).What I was able to nab should last me awhile. Most of it is in my basement now:

• ApriHop (4 pack of 12 oz. bottles)
• Burton Baton (also a 4-pack of 12 oz.bottles)
• Pangaea (750 ml bottle) – Finding this was a pleasant surprise!
• Red and White (also a 750 ml bottle)

I only got the seasonals since they are only available for limited times. The other brews available here are brewed year-round, so I can pick those up any time. I’m excited to try these. When I do, I’ll post my reviews to RateBeer.com (you can see my profile there to see my reviews).

In other news, I racked and dry-hopped my batch of “Humble Hop Juice”. It has not attenuated well (1.022 after four weeks), but smells and tastes good.

I realized this week that Dogfish Head beers should now be available in Georgia. The brewer sent me an e-mail in February indicating that their launch in Georgia would be March 1^st. Calling around the package stores in my area, I discovered that many of their beers now in fact are available here. Delightful! I will have to go pick some up tomorrow. The beers that are available in Georgia follow:

• 60-Minute IPA: Their flagship pale ale
• 90-Minute IPA: A stronger version of their flagship – an imperial pale ale
• Indian Brown Ale: A strong, hoppy, brown ale
• Midas Touch: A recreation of beer that was drunk during the time of King Midas
• Raison D’Être: A complex Belgian-style ale made with raisins
• Burton Baton: A seasonal beer that is a strong and complex imperial pale ale
• Red and White: A cross between red wine and a Belgian white beer – strong, spicy, and aged in pinot noir barrels
• ApriHop: A seasonal IPA made with apricots

Several of their most renowned and ambitious brews, unfortunately, will not be available here. When Georgia legislature changed the laws so that stronger beers (> 6.5%) could be sold here, they only raised the limit to 14%. Dogfish Head happens to make several crazy brews that are stronger than this:

• 120-Minute IPA: Colossal Pale Ale – 21% !!
• Fort: A very strong, wine-like raspberry beer – 18%
• Olde School Barleywine: A strong barleywine brewed with dates and figs – 15%
• Raison D’Extra: A stronger version of Raison D’Être – 18.5%
• Word Wide Stout: A blissful imperial stout – 18%

Hopefully I can snag at least one of these monstrous brews when I’m in North Carolina this month (although they might not be allowed there either…).

Not too long ago Malin and I tried a sampler of brews from Brauerie Schloss Eggenberg. Here are some pictures of the beers:

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Instead of boring all of my friends and family members with my homebrew hobby (or at least the few who actually read my blog), I’ve decided to just bore you. Don’t you feel special already?

I’ll be moving over some content from my other blog – posts that were mostly about beer and my geeking out over beer. I also hope to have info about all of the beers I’ve made, including comments, tasting notes, and bottle labels of my own design.

Note: This post is the first one made to this site. All posts that are timestamped older than this one were moved over from the other blog.

If you homebrew, then hopefully you will enjoy reading about my travails in the hobby. Please feel free to e-mail me. Be warned that I get a lot of junk-mail at this address, so I may not see your message. Make sure to put something in the subject that I won’t confuse as junk mail (otherwise, I tend to just delete messages from names I don’t recognize).

I figured I would share a label I just made for a beer I have not yet made. After recently brewing and bottling the Full Moon Stout, I wanted to craft something even more ambitious: a really big, strong, dark, crazy stout… even bigger, stronger, darker, and crazier than the recent werewolf-inspired brew. I’ve now formulated a recipe, and here is its eventual label:

I have a good friend who is a huge Star Wars fan. Hopefully he’ll get a kick out of this intimidating ale’s label.