Remembering The Early Years, Part 1

The first batch of beer I was involved with was helping my high school friend make some "Holiday Cheer" in his parents' kitchen. Even though we were only 18, my friend's dad figured that we were better off drinking homebrew than shoulder-tapping older kids for alcohol. That, and he got to drink some of the beer too.
"Holiday Cheer", as detailed on page #225 in Charlie Papazian's "The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing", is a beer with the kitchen sink thrown into it: Malt extract, honey, black patent malt, grated ginger, cinnamon, orange peel, and lightly hopped with Cascades and Saaz. Despite my friend having a pretty gung-ho attitude towards sanitation (I believe we "cleaned" out his plastic carboy with a garden hose, then topped up the concentrated wort with the same garden hose), I recall that the brew turned out fairly drinkable for being knocked out by a couple of beginners. I don't believe there was any sort of record keeping or measuring of gravities or other similar activities which I take pretty seriously today, but back then it was all about the wonder of making your own booze. Another friend of mine from high school started home brewing before any of us, albeit without the approval of his parents. I remember going over to his house and being barricaded in his room so that the stinky blowoff wouldn't waft into the hallway. I don't believe I ever got to taste any of his homebrew, but he definitely put it into my head that all of these things were attainable to an enterprising teenager. I'm not sure if homebrew supply shops card suspiciously young-looking customers, but it wasn't an issue when I was younger. Business is business, and the shops weren't technically selling minors anything alcoholic. Besides, teenagers aren't drawn to activities where they're required to clean, so that in itself is a bit of a deterrant.
It would be about 3 years later before I got my own gear and started brewing myself. I suppose that will be a good starting point for Part 2.

Gravity Corrections

As any homebrewer has likely experienced, it can be pretty hard to get boiled wort down to a temperature of 60˚F, what many of our hydrometers require for accuracy. Like the IBU Calculator, I was able to easily find a web tool that will adjust your gravities in specific gravity or Plato.
So, my 1.052 reading on the S B IPA is a corrected 1.053.6. Not bad. Hope this calibration page helps you homebrewing readers out!

Lautering Can

In addition to being a pretty good cheap beer, a can of Peter's Brand came in handy when I was lautering to the kettle yesterday. I simply cut the top off, poked a couple dozen little holes around the bottom, and stuck it into the mash when I was ready to transfer (sanitized, of course!). I did have to tape the racking cane to the mash pot handle and with some siphoning issues it took me awhile to fill the kettle pot, but otherwise it worked splendidly! And it's a very inexpensive way to clarify your wort.

Cheap Beer-Peter's Brand Dutch Classics

This is a simple Dutch style Pilsner that I'm able to get at $6.29 for a six-pack of 16 oz. tall boys. The chain specialty grocery I get these used to sell them at $5.99, but like with any product these days, prices are creeping up. Still, $1.05 a can, or about 7¢ an ounce is still pretty decent, about the same for what St. Pauli Girl's going for. The beer is an improvement over the German lager which I'd credit to the non-lightstruck beer inside the aluminum can, but it also seems to taste more full-bodied. I give this beer a solid B. Bear in mind, these are grades relative to cheap beer. Throw these up against a fresh, local micro brew and the curve affects greatly. So, a C would be more like low D. Not the greatest system, but maybe I'll refine when I've covered enough beers.

Homebrew-Starving Brewer IPA

There's 5 gallons of freshly made India Pale Ale. The recipe:

7 # Briess dry light malt extract
2.4 # British Crystal 50-60L
2 tsp. Gypsum
1 tsp. Kosher salt
2.25 oz. Fuggles pellets, 4.6% A.A.
1.25 oz. Styrian Goldings pellets, 3.5% A.A.
1/4 tsp. Irish Moss
2 packets Danstar "Windsor" dry yeast

Mash British Crystal with 1 gal. 170˚F water (with gypsum & salt).
Hold at 158˚F for 45 minutes, then lauter to kettle with 170˚F sparge water.
Dissolve malt extract with wort and fill to a volume of about 3 gal.
Bring to boil and add 1 oz of Fuggles pellets at start. Add 1.25 oz. Fuggles 60 min. into boil.
As the wort condensed I topped up to 3 gal. with boiled water, about a quart at a time.
The last hop addition is the 1.25 oz. of Styrian Goldings 75 min. into the boil. Put the Irish Moss in at 80 min. into boil, and remove from heat at 90 minutes.
Whirlpool and rest. If you have a wort chiller, bring the temperature below 80˚F.
Rack to carboy, straining out trub, and top up to 5 gal.
Prestart yeast in 2/3 cup 80˚F water.
Stir wort and take gravity sample. This batch had an O.G. of 1.052 (13˚P).
Pitch the yeast and get it going!

This was a pretty good brew, with only a couple of minor problems during the process. The first was trying to get the siphoning going with my new stainless steel racking cane. It's a lot longer than the plastic one I used to have so it took a bit of getting used to. Luckily, I had some time to practice and plenty of iodine solution to siphon.
The second was the water filter I was using being so slow. By the time I figured that it wouldn't be able to run enough water through by wort cooling time, I was able to boil enough water in my mash pot to handle topping up. I just dropped my wort chiller into the boiled water after I was done with the kettle pot and racked that when the wort was finished.
Like Charlie sez: Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew!

s b

Cheap Beer-St. Pauli Girl

While trying to find decent deals for somewhat decent beer, I discovered the local chain of convenience stores is selling St. Pauli Girl lager for $9.88 a twelve pack. At about 82¢ a bottle, it supplies a little more flavor than domestic macrolagers, and without the adjuncts. Still, the flavor is oxidized, but I seem to handle that issue alright. I generally drink my beer with food, so as long as it's cold and crisp the green bottle funk is manageable.
As a grade I'd give the beer a C+, and coupled with the value it gets a B- on the desirability scale. Not great, but the Germans get it done fairly well for this budgeting drinker.

Hop Calculator

While trying to figure out the bitterness of my upcoming IPA brew, I came upon this site that shows you a formula for doing so. Even better it also has a Java IBU calculator, extra handy in that you can type in hop additions separately so the utilization is more accurately forecasted. So nice to have good tools!

Starving Brewer Rising

This is here to document the rising of a down and out craftbrewer on the west coast.
I am here to share my happiness with the people around me. I like to make beer and I'll do what I can to keep making that continue.
In about forty hours I plan on mashing in my first homebrew in over 8 years. I have every confidence it'll be fun and help me rebuild my confidence as being a brewer.
It's one thing to know what you love and another to make a living doing that thing you love.
I'm throwing together an IPA based on a recipe I've brewed up before. Lightening up a bit on the malt extract, and adjusted the hops for a little more aroma. I'm mostly happy that my homebrew gear is still in decent condition and that it took considerably less than I figured to get ably started again.
Besides my homebrewing notes, I plan on typing out ideas I have regarding the industry. Luckily there are many things to think about regarding beer.
Be seeing you...

s b