http://www.smallscreennetwork.com/ http://www.smallscreennetwork.com/blogs/561eat_beer/less_is_more/ http://www.smallscreennetwork.com/blogs/561eat_beer/less_is_more/ Like many homebrewers, when I come up with a new recipe I do a lot of research online. I spend hours reviewing dozens of recipes posted on websites and forums by hundreds of homebrewers. This is a great way to see the nearly infinite ways there are to brew almost any type of beer, true to style or not. But one thing I always come away with, no matter the style of beer I am looking to brew, is how many homebrewers incorporate far too many ingredients into their beers. There is a huge difference in how homebrewers make their beers and how breweries make theirs. This is not to say that how we make our beers at home is wrong, just that it is much easier to throw a whole bunch of ingredients in home brewed beers because the amount of money to create a five or ten gallon batch is nothing compared to a brewery making six, ten or 100 barrels of beer. But still I wonder why so many homebrewers feel it necessary to throw in everything but the kitchen sink. By comparison when you visit the websites of most breweries they usually list only two to four malts in their beers and a short list of hops. In my conversations with professional brewers they have all told me that "less is more." They all say that yes, it's fine to be as creative as you want and throw all the colors on the canvas, but if you are interested at all in starting your own brewery, or getting your beer(s) brewed at a brewery (major bragging rights are earned for a homebrewer if a brewery brews their recipe), you need to pay attention to economy of scale. The professional brewery, for the most part, is not interested in adding a beer to the line that requires a large investment in long list of ingredients. At the same time, when a homebrewer tries to make a beer that a brewery will take on, he won't like having his recipe changed. When a brewery goes to a competition looking for a homebrewer's beer to put on their line, they aren't just looking for a great tasting beer, but also for one that is cheap and easy to make. Profit margin, the bottom line, etc. At a recent homebrew club meeting we tried a bunch of beers, and typically most of them had a fairly extensive grain and hop bill, but there was one that stood out for me. It was a light wheat with only two malts in the grain bill, and if I remember right, just one hop was used. I commented to the brewer that I thought it was a very good beer and very economical, too. He replied that he hadn't even thought about that aspect of the recipe and seemed to have a real revelation of how to go about creating new recipes from that point on. One advantage to making a beer with a long list of ingredients it gives you much more room to hide the flaws. But when you have very few ingredients the flaws in the beer stand out much more, making technique, cleanliness and process much more important. For example, a big dark stout gives you plenty of room to hide in the darkness, but a pilsner is up front and out there with the spot light on. While it's true that for some kinds of beer you can use just one kind of grain and one kind of hop, it usually requires more than that to create the complexity of flavors we usually like to have in our beers. It's more difficult, and a better challenge as a brewer to get the same beer out of less stuff and we all geek out a bit when it comes to seeing that challenge bubbling away in the fermenter. For now I have been sticking to an informal rule of three or four grains and two hops to make my beers. You always need a base malt or two for fermentables and one or two get the color and distinct malt profile and character. As hops are concerned, you need at least one hop to cover bittering, flavor and aroma, but again, more than one type of hop gives you that much more complexity in flavors, but too many is just overkill. While my long term goal may be to become professional brewer, my short term goals are little more modest; I just want to create the best beers I can with the equipment I have, and I want a brewery to add my best recipe to their portfolio of beers. I really want those bragging rights! EAT BEER! Here is a helpful article about recipe design and brewing techniques: http://www.beersmith.com/blog/2010/01/27/beer-recipe-design/ and check out "Designing Great Beers" by Ray Daniels http://www.beersmith.com/blog/2008/03/12/designing-great-beers-by-ray-daniels-a-book-review/ Fri, 06 May 2011 14:46:55 +0000 http://www.smallscreennetwork.com/blogs/529eat_beer/situation_rebrew/ http://www.smallscreennetwork.com/blogs/529eat_beer/situation_rebrew/ Like they say, "You win some, you lose some." My biggest win since I began brewing again a few months ago was just that, the fact that I started brewing again. The most recent loss, however, was a night a few weeks ago when I opened all the bottles from two entire batches and dumped them down the drain. Why would I do such a thing? Well, as the most critical of my own work, I just wasn't happy with the final outcome of these beers. I have only brewed a handful of batches since starting up a few months back, but I had much higher expectations of my abilities as a homebrewer. But when you fall, you must stand back up, dust yourself off and move forward. And that is exactly what I intend to do. Since then I have been, to borrow a phrase, "winning" with brewing. My first run of my latest beer, Overcast Wheat Ale, a combination of American Wheat and German Hefeweizen turned out quite well and has received great reviews from brew club members, family and friends. And it's all gone. I listened intently to all the feedback, compared the beer to many others in the style that I really enjoy (Pyramid Haywire, Paulaner Hefeweizen, Hale's El Jefe Weizen and others) and I have made a few minor tweaks to the recipe to brew again. Soon. One of the bonuses of getting this beer to come out exactly how I wanted it is that I now understand the mistakes I made on those batches I poured down the drain. I am adjusting the recipes for those, too, and will get those in the cycle as soon as possible. Eat Beer! Pyramid Haywire, Paulaner Hefeweizen, Hale's El Jefe Weizen and others) and I have made a few minor tweaks to the recipe to brew again. Soon. One of the bonuses of getting this beer to come out exactly how I wanted it is that I now understand the mistakes I made on those batches I poured down the drain. I am adjusting the recipes for those, too, and will get those in the cycle as soon as possible. Eat Beer!]]> Tue, 05 Apr 2011 13:45:03 +0000 http://www.smallscreennetwork.com/blogs/501eat_beer/the_neighborhood_pub/ http://www.smallscreennetwork.com/blogs/501eat_beer/the_neighborhood_pub/ A life philosophy that I try to elevate in my life every day is something I call "The Four Fs – Family, Friends, Food & Fun." Besides the obvious things we need to live, like basic nutrition, water and shelter, these things are vital for our survival, and we don't truly need much more than that. But in this country, with all of our technology and materialism, a philosophy so simple seems harder to maintain with every passing day. The neighborhood pub helps me include these things in my life. Last time, I spoke about spending years worth of Fridays at the McMenamin's Six Arms on Capitol Hill. Still there of course, the Six Arms was the neighborhood pub of choice for me and my coworkers nearly every Friday night after work for years. We would walk from the Kinko's at the Convention Center and order pint after pint after pint and smoke entire packs of cigarettes; contributing plenty of secondhand smoke to our friends working there and all the other regulars. Plenty of time was spent bitching about work, but that would usually be replaced with plenty of social ribbing and comic levity. Once we were all well-lubed there would typically be some kind of heavy conversation about religion or politics supplanted with more ribbing and comic levity. Friendships made at work were deepened while consuming gallons of beer and sharing a large tab with recent paychecks. The friends I made then make up a significant part of my social circle to this day, more than fifteen years later – some of the best friends a person could ask for. In 2007, my wife, my two young sons and I moved half way around the world. We sold our house and our car, gave up our pets, packed and stored or shipped everything we owned, and moved to Edinburgh, Scotland; one of the most exciting, nerve-racking, and incredible things I have ever done. One of the things that made it all easier was my neighborhood pub! Our first apartment, while only temporary, was at the other end of the block. Once or twice a week I walked down and had a bite and a few pints, and soon was regular enough to make conversation with some of the other regulars. After a month we moved. We found a new flat and it was close enough for me not to need to change pubs. I still went once or twice a week, watched some footy on the telly (um, "soccer"), met new people, told my story, listened to theirs, made casual friends, and the whole thing made me feel more welcome in a foreign land. These pub goers are pros, by the way. It didn't matter what day I happened to choose to go, the true regulars of the Hopetoun Inn in Edinburgh were there! 4:00pm on a Sunday? Yes. 6:30 to 11:30 on a Tuesday? Yes. A select few would be there for hours every single night. Yeah, I know we consider that a problem, or we would call them drunks, but the pub was their home while not at home. They would laugh together, fight over football, get into it with each other, and bear hug each other as they left to go home. I barely understood a word they said, but that was part of the fun. Yes, it's probably not the healthiest life to live, but it's their version of The Four Fs. And now, here I sit at The Pub at Third Place in the Ravenna neighborhood in Seattle, WA, writing the week's blog in a hard wooden chair, enjoying some great pub food and great beer, as I hear friends doing the same all around me. They are here, too, enjoying each others' company over pints of great beer. Some are planning bike trips to France and Belgium; others are loudly teasing each other and heartily laughing at each others' faults; while others quietly play cards or bury their noses in their laptops; all members of the local community, family and friends, coming together with one common purpose - to share good food and drink and their lives together in a public place … the neighborhood pub. And that's how it should be. I just wish I didn't have to drive here. Eat Beer! Tue, 08 Feb 2011 19:44:33 +0000 http://www.smallscreennetwork.com/blogs/494eat_beer/blog_eat_beer_rmy_beer_story/ http://www.smallscreennetwork.com/blogs/494eat_beer/blog_eat_beer_rmy_beer_story/ One year, while working and going to college in Rhode Island, I came back to Bainbridge Island to visit my parents. They took me to a new pub on the island and I ordered something called a "microbrew." It was a pint of Hales Pale Ale. After years of blissful ignorance drinking mass-produced beers it was like the roof and clouds above me opened up and a light shined down onto my head and the ale glass in my hands. It was full of the elixir of the gods. It was a moment of enlightenment; a moment of clarity. A rush of awareness flowed through my mouth and down my throat, into my veins and swirled around in my brain. It was as if my whole world was changing. To this day, whenever I get a six pack of that beautiful American Pale Ale I am instantly transported back to that first sip of "real" beer. Going back to Rhode Island a week later was torture. Where was I going find something as delicious for my body and soul? For years I survived on the same old Pete's Wicked, Sam Adams, Bass and Guinness, but I longed for that special Northwest style craft ale. Every time I came back to Seattle, I would try as many new and wonderful beers as I could get my hands on; local craft beers, regional microbrews, imports, etc.  After college I moved back to Seattle. Right up the street from work was the Six Arms. Years worth of Friday nights were spent there with work friends over endless pints while smelling the beer brewing in the back. One night a few of those friends and I started chatting about learning how to make our own beer. One of us had heard of Liberty Malt Supply located down at the market. And so it began.  Those friends and I all bought starter kits and started out brewing all extract beers. This was all pretty low end brewing for a while. We learned partial mash brewing and finally a few all grain batches were attempted. We carried on for a few years culminating in two annual all homebrew Oktoberfests in my back yard. In 2000 and 2001 our small homebrew club, the Lame Duck Brew Club, brewed a ton of beer over the course of several months. Preparation for both of these parties included the creation of 18 (2000) and 21 (2001) five gallon batches of beer, all in bottles, ranging from Pilsners all the way to ridiculous stouts. We made a website as an invitation, a passport listing all the beers and recipes that could be stamped as you tried each beer, six ounce glasses with the club logo etched on the side, tables and tents, food, a port-a-potty, etc. More than 150 people came to each party and drank a ton of beer, ate a ton of food and had a great time. These parties were a great success and are still talked about today. After the Oktoberfest in 2001, my brewing tapered off and eventually stopped. Circumstances for everyone else started to change and there was a decrease in brewing for several of us in the club and there hasn't been Oktoberfest round 3. Yet. For me, starting a family, buying a house, selling the house and moving overseas, giving away my gear, and a host of other factors, all led to me not brewing for more than nine years. During that time I had an ever increasing distaste for the work I was doing, and I was searching on the other side of the fence for those proverbial greener pastures, but never finding them. Every time my wife and I would talk about what else I could do with the skills I had, the subjects of cooking and brewing, among other things, always came up in the conversation. It took a long time for that to sink in, but I finally realized that the answer to my question was staring right at me the entire time: I want to be a brewer! So here we are in 2011, and I have found my calling. I'm brewing regularly again (strictly all grain beers), reading brewing books, joining homebrew clubs, entering competitions, started a twitter page and a blog, volunteering at breweries, and doing whatever I can to improve my skills so that I can make the best beer I can with the gear I've got. Not only to master the hobby, but also to get to a point where I can turn a hobby I love into my professional career. In regular blogs that will follow I will comment on my experiences in brewing, offer recipes and techniques, review beers that I have tried for the first time and others that I love, and I will share my experience in educating myself in my effort to become a professional brewer. Eat Beer! Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:30:09 +0000