100 Bottles of Beer - School Days

The first two installments of this epic covered the roots of my love of beer and my introduction to home brewing including the Christmas gift that actually started it all. We shared my first two home brews and the subsequent remakes of the second brew. We still have a long road ahead of us; 96 brews still on the wall.

But, before we proceed, we must go to school. You may recall from the first installment, the home brewing class which I was planning on attending with a couple of co-workers, Mike and Lee.

I don't remember the exact dates and no longer have much of the course content beyond a few notes and handouts. The course was held at Arapahoe Community College in Littleton. It was one night per week; I think it was Monday night, for eight weeks. And, just by coincidence, the instructor was Keith; sorry I do not recall his last name, who also happened to be the proprietor of the afore-mentioned Highlander Home Brew shop.

There were about 16 students in the class including us three. I don't specifically remember any of the other students. Keith gave lively, informative lectures beginning with an over-view of beer styles, proceeding into the ingredients necessary for making various styles. He passed around samples of several different malts, encouraging everyone to taste them to understand the differences. The toasty Grape Nuts flavor of malted barley. The sweet nutty flavor of crystal malts. The bitter chocolate coffee flavor of dark roasted malts like chocolate and black patent. We became familiar with the pungent earthy aroma of hops and the differences between whole cone and hop pellets.

We learned of the many available styles of malt extracts and brewed and bottled an extract beer in class. I do not remember what style it was but do remember it was good. We also brewed an all grain which we did not have enough time in class to complete. Keith completed it and brought it back to the final class for sampling. It was still flat as it had not had enough time to bottle condition but the flavor was good. I do particularly remember the wonderful aroma of the mash and the boiling wort and hops wafting through the halls of the college. The myriad reactions from students in other classes, ranging from disgust to indifference to delight and amazement, were priceless.

Keith had many home brewing stories and anecdotes to share. His advice on how to use liquid malt extract (LME) was hilarious and very true. This is not an exact quote but conveys the same message. "Remove the lid, throw away the package of dry yeast, and read the instructions on the first can you ever use, tear off the label, crumple it up and throw it away. Yes, if you do follow those instructions, it will make beer; a thin, watery, lifeless beer which will leave everyone un-impressed." That is generally true as a single standard 3.3 lb can is not enough for 5 gallons of beer; at least two are required or a combination of LME and DME totaling anywhere from 6 to 10 lbs of extract.

Here are some of my favorite anecdotes as I recall them.

During a previous class, at the end of the evening when the class brewed the extract beer, Keith had the 5 gallon carboy buckled into the front seat of his truck for the ride home. As luck would have it, he got pulled over by a policeman, for what I do not recall. The officer asked him what was in the bottle. "Beer" To which the officer replied, "That's a mighty big open container there, son." Keith, being of quick wit and honesty said, "That's OK; there's no alcohol in it yet. Stop me next week on my way back to class." After a short explanation, the officer let him go.

A story of a scary situation one of his customers at the shop had happen made a good word of caution to all home brewers. This novice brewer decided to "dry hop" one of his first beers. This is a process of adding hops to the beer in the secondary fermenter. This adds very little bitterness to the final product as boiling is required to extract the bitter oils and acids from the hops. It does add a wonderful fresh hop aroma to the beer. However, this brewer apparently misunderstood the process. He added the dry hops to the primary at the same time he pitched the yeast. As the yeast began to ferment the wort, the increasing activity pushed the hops to the top of the carboy plugging the fermentation lock; with nowhere to go, the increasing CO2 pressure pushed the cork and lock out of the top of the carboy. Finding this an inconvenient annoyance, the brewer used some duct tape to secure the cork and lock. The hops again plugged the lock and the pressure continued to build. The carboy exploded. According to Keith, the force of the explosion sent shards of glass into the kitchen walls, cabinets, and even imbedded some in the refrigerator. Fortunately, no one was home at the time, so no one was hurt. The fermenting wort went everywhere, seeping under the linoleum floor where it continued to ferment making the floor bubble. A freak accident and a very expensive mistake.

One last story from Keith; another of his customers, a particularly burly fellow, complained to him about a problem he was having when bottling his beer. It is necessary to boil the bottle caps for about 5 minutes before capping the bottles. This both sanitizes the cap and softens the material on the underside of the cap to insure a good seal. This fellow's problem was; he keeps burning his fingers trying to pick the caps out of the boiling water! Keith explained it is OK to let them cool to the point you can handle them before capping. He held his laughter until after the customer left.

Some of my fondest memories of the class are convening to the closest brewery after class with several of our classmates. This was a small brewpub about two blocks or so from the college. Columbine Mill Brewery was situated in an old grain mill elevator with the tasting room area still surrounded by the rusted antique equipment of the mill, very rustic and perfect. It is still there, renamed 5280 Roadhouse and Brewery and is now a more upscale full bar and restaurant style of brewpub still located in the grain mill at 5798 South Rapp St. Littleton, CO. I have not been there in a long time and need to check it out again.

We would sample the six or so brews on tap at the time, discuss the various styles, their good and bad qualities, and leave looking forward to next week. I remember my friend Mike, expressing his dislike of the Hefeweizen in very colorful terms leaving no doubt as to his disgust with the style in general. It was funny but I disagreed.

By this time I am brewing two or three times a month, mostly from Charlie Papazian's "The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing" and now keeping detailed notes on each brew as suggested by Charlie's book. Each brew experiments with something new and different. The following are the recipes and summarized notes from a few of my next brews, good, bad, or indifferent. The recipes vary from Charlie's due to availability at Highlander Home Brew.

Wise Ass Red Bitter

3.3 lbs M&F hopped light LME

1.4 lbs Alexander's LME

1/8 lb (1/2 cup) roasted barley

2 oz Cascade whole cone hops (45 min boil)

1.2 oz Hallertau hop pellets (1 min finishing)

1 1/2 tsp Irish Moss (15 min boil)

Wyeast 1098 British Ale Yeast

¾ cup corn sugar (priming)

This was my first use of Irish Moss, a dried, ground seaweed product which makes proteins in the wort coagulate and settle out resulting in a clearer final product. Irish Moss is also known as carrageen.

It was also my first use of liquid yeast and making a yeast starter. Wyeast comes in a foil packet containing a little wort and a sealed packet of yeast. These are called smack-packs because you need to smack it to break open the packet of yeast and release it into the wort where it starts fermenting. The packet swells as the wort ferments. It is usually ready overnight. In this case I started the smack-pack two nights before the brew. After it was ready I opened it and added to wort prepared with 1 qt. water and 2 oz. plain light DME. This produces a larger pitchable quantity of yeast which is meant to get the primary fermentation going faster. I don't normally do this any more because newer packages of liquid yeast contain a pitchable quantity already.

Also, I went back to priming with just the ¾ cup corn sugar to be sure my idea of mixing both corn sugar and DME as I did in the first Sparrow Hawk Porter really did make a difference. It did.

This turned out not as bitter as expected but still quite good. It cleared well to a nice dark reddish-brown color. It was good but nothing to get too excited over.

I did a remake of this brew about 2 years later. It is an original recipe based on the concept of the Wise Ass. This time calling it Dumb Ass Red Bitter:

3.3 lbs M&F Light LME

3 lbs M&F Light DME

3 oz. British roasted barley

2 oz. Galena hop pellets (45 min boil)

1 oz. Hallertau Hersbruker hop pellets (2 min finishing)

1 tsp Irish Moss

1 pkg (1/3 oz.) Burton Water Salts

2 pkg (23g) EDME ale yeast

¾ cup corn sugar and ¼ cup light DME (priming)

As you can see I increased the malt extracts and the roasted barley and changed the hops and the yeast. I also added Burton Water Salts which is used to treat the water increasing its mineral content to come close to duplicating the hard water found in England. It was added to 2 gallons cold water in which the roasted barley was brought to a boil and removed prior to adding the extracts.

This version came out far better than the original. By the way Dumb Ass was my 38^th brew while Wise Ass was my third.

My fourth brew was also taken from Charlie's Bible and was my first use of honey in a brew.

Rocky Raccoon's Crystal Honey Lager

3 1/2 lbs plain light DME

2 1/2 lbs light clover honey

1 1/2 oz Cascade hops pellets 60 min

1/2 oz Cascade hops pellets 3 min

Superior Australian Lager yeast

Honey can add a dry crispness to a beer, lighter body and increased alcohol due its high fermentability. It is used just like LME in a beer. When our journey takes us there I will discuss mead, a fermented honey beverage. Mead is not beer, but is brewed very similar to beer.

Rocky Raccoon turned out to be OK, very drinkable but not one of the stars of the show. Had I been able to ferment it at lower temperature to accommodate the lager yeast, it likely would have been much better.

Now that I have brought it up, let's talk about the difference between ale yeasts and lager yeasts. Ale yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) are known as "top fermenting" because they tend to gather, or flocculate, at the top of the wort during fermentation and settle out only after fermentation is complete. They are happiest in a temperature range of 55-75 degrees F. Lager yeasts (Saccharomyces carlsbergensis) are known as "bottom fermenting" because they tend to flocculate at the bottom of the wort. They are happiest in a temperature range of 32-55 degrees F. In all honesty, when watching a brew during fermentation, I cannot tell any difference between top and bottom fermenting yeast. The entire quantity of wort is bubbling, swirling, and churning with action and in the end, they all settle to the bottom except for few ale yeasts which stay suspended, typically used in Hefeweizen.

This brings us to my fifth home brew which was somewhat of a revelation for me and an affirmation that I am beginning to understand what I am doing. This also comes from Charlie's "Joy..."

Palilalia India Pale Ale

7 lbs plain light DME

1 lb 40L Crystal Malt

1/2 lb toasted malted barley

2 tsp gypsum

1 1/2 oz Northern Brewer (45 min boil)

1 oz Cascade (2 min boil)

2 oz oak chips

Whitbread ale yeast

1 ½ cup light DME (priming)

A brief history lesson on India Pale Ale or IPA:

IPA has a unique historical significance. It is a style originally developed in the late 18^th century by British brewers to supply beer to the British troops occupying the then British colony of India. In those days, with the lack of modern refrigeration, beer was unable to withstand the long tropical ocean voyage from England, down around the southern tip of Africa, and back up to India. The beer would arrive flat, stale, and spoiled. IPA was developed to be higher alcohol strength, typically 6-10% alcohol by volume or ABV. The higher alcohol level would help protect against spoilage and bacterial contamination. The real key to this style is the high hopping rate. This helps protect against spoilage as some of the natural chemical compounds in the hops act as preservatives. But, more importantly, the increased hop aroma, flavor, and bitterness can mask any off flavors which may begin to develop. The combination of higher alcohol and hop bitterness was so popular with the troops that when they returned home they still demanded IPA.

IPA has become one of the most popular styles for American Craft Brewers and home brewers as well. They can range anywhere from as low as 4% (not a true IPA in my opinion) all they way up 14-15% Double IPA hop monsters.

This recipe, being my first IPA, is more at the low end of the ABV.

Begin by toasting the malted barley or 2-row pale malt in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until it begins to turn a slight reddish brown. The aroma will be amazing. Then crush the grains and add to the already crushed crystal malt. Crystal malt is categorized by how dark it has been roasted which also indicates how much of the sugar content in the malt has been caramelized. Caramelized sugars are unfermentable and will add body and sweetness to the beer. The degree of roasting is rated in degrees Lovibond, the higher the number, the darker the crystal malt and is usually stated as 40L, meaning 40 degrees Lovibond. Crystal malt is usually available from 10L to 120L.

Add all crushed grains to 1 ½ gallons cold water and bring to boil. Strain out the grains and return to boil adding the gypsum and DME. Gypsum is used to increase the mineral content of the water just as the Burton Water Salts previously discussed. Add hops for times indicated.

After primary fermentation is completed, rack to secondary fermenter with sanitized oak chips. The chips can be sanitized by steaming or boiling for a short time. This will add the flavor of an old-time wooden beer barrel.

I bottled this one with just the DME and no corn sugar. I was still playing with carbonation levels.

When I sampled this beer I was somewhat unimpressed. It had a flavor I could not identify, not bad, just different. It had a slight clove flavor which I later learned was probably the oak but there was another mystery flavor.

I took a bottle in to Keith at Highlander and at first taste he exclaimed, "Oh, this is good! I could drink a lot of this! Look at that head!" He couldn't really taste any oak or clove but identified my mystery flavor for me, "Like a fresh baked crusty biscuit." That described it exactly. It was the toasted barley malt. This was the first time someone I considered to be somewhat of an expert had tasted one of my brews and I was thrilled to get such a positive reaction. I gained a new found appreciation for IPA and now it is one of my favorite styles.

I revisited this recipe about 11 years later on brew #96, Pacific Palisades Pale Ale. This is an original recipe loosely based on Palilalia using some new varieties of hops that were not available at that time and some homegrown hops, more on that when we get there.

7 lbs plain light DME

1 lb British 53L Crystal Malt

1 lb toasted British Pale/2-row

2 tsp gypsum

1.25 oz Pacific Gem hop pellets (60 min)

.75 oz Palisades whole cone hops (60 min)

1 oz Pacific Gem hop pellets (20 min)

1 oz Palisades whole cone hops (20 min)

.25 oz Homegrown Cascade whole cone hops (5 min)

1 oz Pacific Gem hop pellets (dry hop in secondary)

1 tsp Irish Moss (15 min)

2 vials UCCS 1098 British Ale yeast

3 oz French oak chips (blend of 1 oz large medium toast and 2 oz small dark toast)

½ cup corn Sugar and ½ cup DME (priming)

This made a wonderful, oaky, toasty, hoppy Pale Ale. With the ABV just under 4%, I could not call it an IPA.

Well, there you have it for this installment. We have taken 5 more down, passed them around, 91 bottles of beer on the wall...

Happy Brewing!

To be continued...

References:

Charlie Papazian, The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing, 2^nd edition, October 1991