Arizona Beer Week!!!
We are only 5 days away from the start of the 2nd Annual Arizona Beer Week, and I couldn’t be more excited. Every single day from Saturday to Saturday there are dozens of beer events around town; beer dinners, beer-food pairings, keg tappings, brewer meet & greets, etc etc.
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Water Chemistry – How to Build Your Water
I’m sure you’ve heard it before: Beer is over 90% water. That little adage would lead you to believe that quality water is the most important factor in good beer. I won’t go that far, but quality water does help. Aside from temperature controlled fermentations, starting with reverse osmosis water and building back minerals has made the biggest difference in the quality and consistency of my brews. The best part is, it’s really not that difficult or confusing. It’s easier for me to do this in a Q&A format, so i’ll be asking my self questions =)
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American Amber Ale Brew Day
Today was an absolutely perfect day in Phoenix, 70* and sunny; hard to beat that for February. With the Super Bowl tomorrow, today was also a great day to squeeze in a brew day.
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How to Fix and Prevent Chill Haze
No one likes hazy beer. Other than styles like hefeweizens and wits that are supposed to be turbid, haze is a put-off to most people. Most haze in beer has no taste or flavor, but let’s face it, we drink with our eyes first. There’s nothing more inviting than a sparkling clear beer just begging to be drank. Unfortunately, without filtration, bright beer can be difficult to achieve for many home brewers, but I’m here to help.
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Small Snifters
Lots of people will tell you that specific glassware can enhance the beer drinking experience. I’m not a beer snob, but I will admit that a snifter really does help capture the aroma of a beer. And considering I drink a boat load of hoppy beers, this is a good thing.
Most nights, I often don’t want a full pint of beer, rather I just want to taste one of my beer to see how it’s coming along. The snifters I’ve seen online hold 12oz or more, and just aren’t practical for me. Many breweries use little 4-5oz snifters for tastings, but I couldn’t seem to find them for sale indivudually. They sell online for around $30 shipped for a case of 12 (not a bad deal), but I don’t exactly need 12. So last night after dinner, my girlfriend and I were perusing a little glass shop in downtown Chandler, and low-and-behold they had the perfect little glasses! Then I saw the price – 4 glasses for $5. Sold!
While I’ll admit, they do look a little snobby and douchey, these are still pretty freaking sweet glasses, and the perfect size too!
DIY Tap Handles
I love DIY projects, and I’ve really been wanting to make some tap handles for my kegerator. I was considering making some ones out of wood, or possibly buying some of the beautiful wooden, hand-turned handles, but I couldn’t really justify the price. Recently while cruising the web, I saw someone make tap handles from used White Labs yeast vials. Brilliant! So I stole the idea, and took some pictures of the process.
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Fixing Esters
Every now and again a batch I brew doesn’t turn out quite as I hoped. Contrary to popular belief, most flaws in beer don’t occur during wort production, they occur during fermentation. When I brewed the Honey Blonde Ale for the Crossfit competition, I split ten gallons into two fermenters. One fermenter went into my temperature controlled mini-fridge, the other went into a water bath that I tried to keep around 65* using cold water and ice cubes. The five gallons from the mini-fridge turned out excellent, and that was the batch that I served at the Crossfit event. The five gallons from the water bath are another story.
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If Pliny the Younger and 120 Minute had a baby…
Last July I took on the monumental challenge of cloning Dogfish Head’s 120 Minute IPA. I documented the entire process here and it turned out really well. It tastes just like the older 20%+ ABV versions of 120 Minute. Mine topped out at 21.1% calculated ABV, but considering volatilization of alcohol, I called it 20% for good measure. I drank a few bottles, gave away a few bottles, and now have about 30 left that I’m going to stash away for a long time to mature.
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Bertus Porter Brew Day
Whew! Yesterday was a busy, exhausting, but fun day. Woke up very sore for Friday’s crossfit workout, ran some errands, then played golf at noon. Grabbed a quick bite at five and took off to Greg’s to brew a Robust Porter. Got home around 10:45 feeling absolutely beat, but productive.
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Commerical Brews
Despite my best efforts, I don’t always have home brew on tap, at least not in as well-conditioned state as I would like it to be. Patience is something that I typically find fleeting, but when it comes to waiting for a beer to condition, I can stick it out. Thankfully, the solution to this little conundrum is as easy as a trip to liquor store.
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