Archive for the ‘Homebrew’ category

Beer Judge Certification Program

February 22nd, 2011

As part of the immersion process of my ongoing studies in the art of homebrewing, I am now training to judge beer at brewing events. I’ve not decided if I want to get a certification to become a certified beer Judge, like attending a Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP), but it is always an option.

BJCP  is the ultimate tool for perfecting as well as learning styles of beer for judging ales and largers, as well as meads, specialty brews and others. Click on the BJCP link for more information about the judging requirements.

I decided that in order to be able to perfect my craft, learning the nuiances of each style was the best way to achieve the desired results in what the baseline was for a particular style, and then adapting it to my particular pallet.

I heard a concept today while I was training about how there are 2 types of people with regards to how people identify food and drink. Those that taste a dish and say Yes, that taste like the dish I was expecting, others will break down the ingredients in the dish and identify with the subtleties of the dish . Using Fettuccine Alfredo as an example, there are some people that will say, Yes, that is what Fettuccine Alfredo is supposed to taste like and others will taste the cream, Parmesan, and can even discern between the addition of Romano and white pepper.

The ability to distinguish between aromas, flavors, and other characteristics of a craft brew can be learned. It does help if you have a good sence of taste and smell to be able to pick out certain aromas and flavors of the  style of beer you are sampling.

One method that has been used to aid in the senses is through the use of the  Sensory Training Kit. As the names suggests, the kit comes with pre-measured “standards” representing some of the most important flavors and aromatics found in beer. The standards are in a ready-to-use liquid form, making them as easy to use as possible. These standards help you train your senses by sampling 24 variants that you find in most beer.

Judging does have it’s benefits. Today, there are great kits and extracts to help aid in brewing a truly palatable beer. Therefore, I am excited to sample other brewers creations, building my palet profile, and learning as I hope to teach. In the interim, and depending on where I will be judging, I am fully prepared to taste some really bad beer.

I’ve heard stories from those that have been judging for decades, about beers that shoot out of the bottle like a rocket. Chunky beer. Flat beer. Beer with hop rings around the inside of the bottleneck.  And beer so bad, that you have to ask the Head Judge, if you can disqualify the beer on visual inspection and smell.  It’s all part of the process, and the skills it takes to be able to critique the beers, while offering subtle suggestions on how to improve the the next batch, are what in my opinion makes a good judge.

Over time, and training, you can start to really define what makes up a style and how it reflects the guidelines set for that particular style of beer by the BJCP.

Our training started off with general guidelines on how the North Texas Homebrewers Associations follows the BJCP guidelines. In this training session, we were broken up into 3 teams  of 4 judges, sampling 4 different styles of beers by sub categories.

Using the standard BJCP score sheet we rated each entrant on aroma, appearance, flavor, mouth feel (overall smooth finish) and overall impression, while following the guide to insure that sub category criteria was accurately reflected in accordance with the guidelines.   My team judged an American Ale as our style with a sub category of American Pale Ale.  Since 2 of the 4 were commercial brews, we were able to start to develop an understanding of what makes up a good American Pale Ale or APA.

One of the samples was a craft brew, provided by a North Texas Homebrewer Association member, followed by a wild card. The wild card was a mis categorized sub category of American Ale.

If you are interested in learning to judge, head over the the BJCP web site and sign up for the training.

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Guidelines for BJCP process

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Tumultuous Squirrel Ball Bag Porter AKA Tumultuous Porter from the 1800’s

January 24th, 2011

One of the great benefits of homebrewing is the endless number of web sites, Web TV/Radio stations, and forums, to draw inspiration and recipes, help aid you in your brewing decision.

As part of my ongoing studies in the art of homebrewing, I purchased “The Complete Joy of Homebrewing” by Charlie Papazian. Using Papazians’ recipe, I was able to attempt an old style porter from the early 1800′s known as a Tumultuous Porter. My version was based on Charlie’s Goat Scrotum recipe, which is touted as being one of the most creative, adventurous, and wonderful hoomebrews that allows you to add everything including the kitchen sink, to your particular recipe.

Ingredients used in Papazians’ version of the original recipe from hundreds of years ago were freshly grated ginger root, licorice or bruised licorice root, spruce essence from the new growth from a spruce tree, Szechuan chili peppers, juniper berries and chocolate. Despite the books suggestion of adding a few or all of the ingredients; I chose not to add the kitchen sink, but created an adaptation of the original recipe, by melding flavor of Oats, Black Patent Malt & Roasted Barley, with Chocolate, Cranberry, Ginger, and Molasses.

The dryness was achieved with a touch of Honey, and then fortified with a cranberry infused spirit. 3 weeks before starting my yeast propagation, I added 2 cups of vodka, to 1 cup of dried cranberries, and allowed the mixture to blend until I was ready to bottle. The final creation was a rich mahogany color and a creamy head that was a well balanced, slightly sweet with interesting nuances.

I plan on letting a few bottles age until March, and entering them in the 2011 Bluebonnet Brew off. This year’s event will be held at the Westin DFW North, located at W. John Carpenter Freeway, in Irving TX. For reservations call 888–627-8617 and ask for the Bluebonnet Brew-off rate, which is $94 per night. You can also make your reservations online at BLUEBONNET BREW-OFF.

Hope to see you there.

Until then!

Groov’n and Salivations

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Posted in Foodie, Homebrew, Spirits

da Marco Stout Beer Recipes

December 14th, 2010

I enjoy cooking with wine, and as someone once said, sometimes I even add it to food. The same can said of cooking with beer.

The function of cooking down an alcoholic beverage; be it wine, beer or spirits is to intensify, enhance, and accent the flavor as well as the aroma of food. You are not trying to mask the flavor of what you are cooking. Think of this in terms of fortifying the dish.

My rule of thumb is to never use a beer, spirit, or wine in any dish that you would not drink. If you do not like the taste of the beer, spirit, or wine, you will not like the dish you choose to use it in.

There are a number of recipes that call for beer, and this version of stout should be perfect complement as well as enhance any meal – take a look at the following video from Gordon Elliott as he visits the Guinness brewery in Dublin, explaining a great beef dishes that this stout can be used with.

Also within this post there are two recipes. One recipe is for a Brew house Mustard from the cooking channel; I am definitely going to have to try this mustard with my Easter Lamb… The last recipe is for black beans, my own personal creation!

Brewhouse Mustard

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup mustard seeds
  • 2 cups lager beer ( I will use my Guinness-Style Stout here)
  • 1 1/3 cups malt vinegar (I have a bottle of my Guinness-Style converting into malt –  see tip)
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 1/4 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon dry mustard
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 2 tablespoons horseradish

DIRECTIONS

In a small bowl combine the mustard seeds, lager, and malt vinegar.

Tip here

If you have a few extra beers, you can make your own malt from your home brew. Check the home brew stores or pick up a bottle of unpasteurized or unfiltered vinegar as your starter. Leave it for at least six months before using. (You could use it right away but aging the vinegar will make it smoother).


Cover and soak overnight.

Strain the liquid and reserve in a separate container. Place the soaked seeds in a food processor and pulse 7 to 8 times. In a double boiler, place the cracked seeds, adding the strained liquid, allspice, pepper, salt, sugar, dry mustard, garlic, and horseradish. Cook about 90 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, let cool, then refrigerate.

Black Beans da Marco

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 cups organic black beans (See Note)
  • 2 slices of thick cut smoked bacon (diced in ¼” cubes)
  • 1 small onion diced
  • 1 TBSP chopped garlic
  • 2 12 – 14 oz bottles of beer
  • 1/2 TSP each cumin, Italian parsley, oregano, and red pepper

Natural organic black beans make for an extremely healthy side dish. Packed with protein and iron, I use black beans in a variety of ways, aside from complimenting a Mexican dish I also make burritos with black beans and rice and grilled onions and pepper, to a soup with my own beef or pork stock, and additional spices.

Recently, I used equal parts of left over black beans, mixed with rice and added to 1½ – 2 pounds of browned ground turkey to a bowl. Next I seasoned the mix and stuffed the red, yellow, and orange baby bell peppers for roasting until the mix and the peppers with slightly charred. This stuffed pepper dish has great flavors, as well as being very healthy, now that we are approaching the holiday season; and over indulgence is the cry of the land.

DIRECTIONS

Soak beans overnight.

Start by browning the diced bacon in a large pot over high heat. Add onion and garlic after the bacon has browned. When the onion and garlic are translucent, add the beer, and beans, scrapping up the browned pieces from the bottom of the pot. Once the beans start to foam from beer, reduce the heat to low and add spices. Salt and pepper to taste.

Cook 30 minutes, to several hours, depending on if you prefer an undercooked bean dish or thick gravy.

Note: One note to point out when using dried beans, my preference is to always soak dried beans for a minimum of 12 – 24 hours.

Two reasons, I like fresh beans, almost to the point of germination, and in my personal opinion, the negative results associated with beans – think Mongo and the Blazing saddles camp fire scene… reduces embarrassing mixed company explanations.

Until then!

Groov’n and Salivations

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Posted in Foodie, Guinness Sytle, Homebrew

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The Taste Test

December 8th, 2010

Last week, I demonstrated the process I went through creating my version of a Guinness-Style stout, following a very simple beer brewer’s guide.

This week, as the next to final chapter on my 1st attempt into what will become a long and pleasurable travel into the annuls of my personal brewing history, I want to start building a process to taste, test, and improve my beers, while adapting those recipes into my cooking.

Over the coming months, and possibly years, I will move into the more difficult versions of working with raw products. Through additional steps of crushing barley’s to be steeped, and moving away from extracts, my margin of error will undoubtedly shrink.  As always, the focus will be on looking at ways to improve my craft while enjoying my homebrews in a number of ways.

If you are interested in what the difference is in using an extract versus crushing and steeping barleys as well as adding hops, you may want order Charlie Papazian’s “The Complete Joy of Homebrewing” on Amazon.

The Test

1st find 4 or more willing and able testers that will give you an unbiased, and albeit candid assessment of your final product.

Next, devise a grading system, using a simple scaling system based on conversations with the tester after each sample. I preferred a simple method of testing the stout, based on aroma, appearance, flavor, and overall impression. For a more detailed scaling system, you may want to Google the Americans Homebrewers Association for their Check List.

When comparing the 2 samples, I simply called the 1st version that I added the CO2 to the keg ”Kegged” and the bottled version where I allowed the CO2 to develop naturally, over a week and a half as “Bottled”; uber-technical I know, but effective.

Both the kegged version and the bottled version had a similar appearance in color of brownish black. Check.

Both had a malty aroma, although the bottled version appeared to be a bit more pronounced.  Check, Check.

Both had a slight sour taste that you notice with Guinness, albeit a not as full as I would have preferred. The bottled version had a much richer flavor when tasted, with a sweeter finish as the kegged version was a bit lighter, almost a watered down effect similar to a Michelob Dark.

If you liked dark beer, but did not like the fullness of a true stout, then most would have preferred the kegged sample. If you knew the nuisances of Guinness Extra Stout, you would have been the preferred the bottled version as it was more in keeping with the expectation of a true stout.

Grading this 1st attempt was pretty much unanimous, resulting in a score of 5 out of 10 points, because both were missing the richness and coffee notes that I was hoping for. Yet both were slightly fuller than a Shiner Bock, using Shiner as the median.

Skunk Scale

One lesson that I will take back is the proper use of CO2 when charging the 5 gallon keg – although not an art form, it does take a bit of practice.

Fortunately, it was definitely not skunked as a number of home brewers 1st attempts. All in all, the beer was good, but just not good enough to rock my world.  Obviously, my 4 taste testers had similar opinions.

None the less, even as a 5 on my skunk scale, it was still better, in my opinion than Shiner Bock, Michelob Dark, or a number of commercial dark beers being sold.

For those not familiar with the term Skunking, when frighten a skunk, you’ll be covered in a spray of methyl, butane, and thiol.  When beer goes bad, either through poor bottling techniques, or exposure to direct sunlight, thiol is generated, thereby giving beer the literal odor of skunk. Trivial I know, but interesting…

So what am I going to do with the reminder of the 5 gallons of Guinness-style stout? Well the short answer is; drink it of course, give some away, but the other answer is also cook with it. Next week, I will provide a few interesting recipes to choose from using a stout.

Until then!

Groov’n and Salivations

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Posted in Danese Meats, Foodie, Guinness Sytle, Homebrew

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da Marco’s 1st attempt at a Guinness – Style Stout

December 7th, 2010

As I mentioned in my last post; homebrewing is an individual’s attempt to meld flavors of barley, wheat, hops, and various flavors to come up with a uniquely original beverage that compliments their individual preference while staying true to the styles of beer that they prefer.


In the Dallas Metroplex, we are fortunate to have a number of brew clubs and competitive brew-off events, like the North Texas Homebrewers Association (NTHA), and the Bluebonnet Brew-Off, one of the largest single site homebrew competitions in the United States.


As a member, and having access to NTHA and the Bluebonnet Brew-Off, provides a great venue to learn and sample different styles of beer from ones 1st attempts, like the following; to beers that have actually been incorporated into large production styles breweries, based on the new and original recipes.


This past Saturday, December, 4th, I attended the NTHA Annual Christmas party, and was fortunate enough to sample some really great home brews. True to form, I had to start with a porter, then a milk stout, and followed up with several IPA’s. All in all it was a great beer tasting night. But I digress.


In lieu of going into each step of homebrewing, I will provide a highly condensed description of the process below.  For a higher degree of detail on the process, you can click on Charlie Gottenkieny’s Homebrewing 101 – An Introduction to Making Your Own Beer guide.


To begin, I followed a basic format in Charlie’s guide using an extract. The alternative was a time consuming and complicated process of crushing, steeping, sparging, and boiling barley, malts, and malt syrups for hours. A bit much I thought for my first endeavor into home brewing.

Step 1: Get organized


One step that cannot be stressed enough is having everything you need ready when you begin brewing. This saved me a great deal of time and kept me on track on what was needed in each subsequent step.


Brew Pot


Step 2: Preparing your equipment.


Getting your equipment ready before you brew is just as important as having all your ingredients ready to go. A generous amount of Clorox diluted in water, using ½ Cup Clorox to 1 – 2 Gallons of water was adequate, but when I was washing out my keg, I used an iodine solution.


You can check out the Homebrew Headquarters for more information as to why use certain cleansers with certain equipment. The Homebrew HQ is also a great local Dallas haunt for purchasing everything you can imagine around brewing, as well as kits for wine, and cheese making. My brewing package was a bit over $150, as I added some specialized purchases; I knew I would be using in future brews.

Step 3: Start the boil.


I started by heating 5 gallons of water in my stockpot to 150 degrees, followed by adding the malt and the Irish Style Stout Extract; bringing the liquid to a boil and boiling for 60 minutes. One thing that Charlie stressed while I was watching the pot, so to speak, was to keep a diligent eye on the initial boil to make sure it does not boil over. At this stage of preparation, the water and mix can change and boil over without a moment’s notice.

Step 4: Cool the wort.


It’s important to cool the wort down as quickly as possible to below 800F so that I could add the yeast (which will not survive in temperatures above 800F), this also the time when bacteria can be introduced through the air or an unclean utensil and taint your beer causing it to develop some pretty awful taste.


Immersion copper cooling coil


As part of the kit I purchased from the Homebrew HQ, I also purchased an immersion copper cooling coil that allowed water to circulate through copper pipes without commingling with the wort.


The Homebrewing 101 guide goes into greater detail as to why this is an important process, but the net of the process, is once the wort has cooled to 600, I was able to take a reading with my hydrometer to determine the begging gravity of 10.44; more about this later.

Step 5: Adding the yeast


Add yeast to wort before filling the carboy while you are aerating. This was kind of a neat step. When you slap the activator package, you are actually activating yeast by collapsing aActivator membrane that will mix with the liquid in the package and start to swell as the yeast grows.


At this stage, the airlock is used on your carboy, to allow the CO2 to escape from the fermentation process, changing the sugar to alcohol, over a period of 10 days to 2 weeks.

Step 6: Ferment for 10 days to 2 weeks.


Carboy with wortAfter the sugar has been depleted, what remains, is a blend of beer and some level of alcohol. To determine when I was ready to bottle, I looked for the aerator to stop bubbling for a period of time, longer than 5 minutes.


Before I bottled, I needed to find the ending or final gravity. In order to find the ABV, taking my hydrometer once again, I measured the beer at 600 , and found my final gravity was 10.13.

Step 7: Time to bottle

Once fermentation is complete, I could either keg the stout in a 5 gallon keg adding CO2 from a canister before refrigerating, or I could boil corn sugar with water adding it to the brew bucket before bottling. I opted for both.


By subtracting the ending gravity of 10.13 from my starting gravity of 10.44, and multiplying that sum by the formula described in the Home brewing 101 guide, I was able to see how close I came to theCO2 and 5 GAL keg Guinness-style stout ABV. The calculation revealed my alcohol content was approximately 4.1% ABV, about 1% lower than the US Guinness Extra Stout of 5% ABV, and on par with German standards of 4.1%, but .1% lower than the Irish or English style stout of 4.2%.


The final step before bottling was to add the 18 ounces of soured wort that I had reserved during the initial brewing. The sour brew was made by keeping the beer in a cool dark place for 2 weeks; my intentions were to recreate the sour flavor that Guinness is known for.


Before I added the sour beer to the bottling bucket, the sour beer had to be pasteurized. The pasteurization process simply means heating the beer to a 1650 temperature and killing the bacteria in the process.


Once I agitated the bottling bucket, I poured about 2/3rd of the stout into a 5 gal keg, adding CO2 from the gas canister, shaking the keg vigorously for several minutes followed by placing the keg and CO2 cartridge in the refrigerator, and then left a bit behind to bottle once I added the boiled corn sugar syrup, to create the natural occurring CO2.


Having 2 types of stout was an excellent opportunity to conduct a taste test.  In keeping with learning what worked for this batch, and what I can change for my next batch I will ask some close friends to sample the kegged and bottled stout and compare the two.


Next week, I will go into what my taste test included and the ultimate rating I was awarded.


Until then!



Groov’n and Salivations

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Posted in Danese Meats, Foodie, Guinness Sytle, Homebrew

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da Marco’s Stout di Santo Giacome Cancello

December 2nd, 2010

Those of you following this blog are probably ready to chastise me on my timing.

Yes, I know that this post was promised 3 weeks ago. The truth is I wanted to insure I captured the true essence of this subject matter, as it has been one of my more enjoyable forays into home brewing.

Also, after having actually drafted a version of this initial blog, it became apparent it needed to be broken into smaller segments. Therefore, in the interest of expediency, I am breaking the original into 4 bite sized posts.

This overview will set the stage of what is to come, followed by 3 more weekly post, breaking down the subject matter into beer brewing, taste testing, and finally a few stout recipes.

To start, I’ve always had a singular thought on what beer was or should be. Blame it on growing up in America with frequent jaunts to Italy – where to my detriment, neither of my cross-continental experiences in beer consumption went any farther than the average American or Italian lager.

I had tried the standards, Bud, Schlitz, even a pilfered Colt 45 Malt Liquor, and a handful of others, thereby thinking I was a beer connoisseur when I drank my first Birra Moretti or Heineken in Italy; coincidently Heineken International now owns Moretti, under the brand name Birra Castello S.p.A. I guess that is why I couldn’t really ever tell the difference between the two.

It was not until I was actually drinking age, that I really tasted some remarkable beers, and found that I preferred a hoppier, or bitter dark beers, such as porters and stouts.

Through the years, I have been attracted to microbrew beers, and will take a porter or stout over an ale or lager. When not available, my preferred standby had always been Guinness both in the US and when I was traveling to the U.K.

While in Europe, I noticed that there was a marked difference in the flavors of Guinness, of what I experienced at my local US Pub. The European versions contained less alcohol than the 5-6% alcohol by volume (ABV), that we drink here. The dry stout or Irish stouts have a hoppier character and are less malty.

Having only recently experienced home brewers working their craft, I have truly developed an appreciation for the art of melding flavors of hops, wheat, barley, and various flavors to come up with a palatable beverage that did not make you want to gag.

My decision to make a Guinness-Style stout was based on 2 criteria, 1st there was an Irish Extract that would be the basis of my initial entry into brewing my 1st solo attempt at homebrewing, which translates into a lesser chance of making a grave error, if I followed the procedures correctly.

2nd having been a judge at the March 2010 Bluebonnet Homebrewers Brew–Off competitions, I tasted varieties of Imperial Stouts, that were more in line with what I wanted to create. I also sampled a number of incredibly great ales, ciders, non-alcoholic root and ginger beers, and everything in between.

In naming the stout I was creating, I knew I wanted show reverence to my Italian heritage, while simultaneously, creating a pun, and stroke the narcissistic side of my ego. The irony here is that until recently with the advent of the Italian Microbreweries, beers like Birra Morretti, Peroni, and Castello were the most well known Italian beers, albeit, fairly abysmal.

How better to accomplish these two endeavors than name the post “da Marco’s Stout di Santo Giacome Cancello”.

For those not fluent in Italian, “da Marco’s Stout di Santo Giacome Cancello” translates loosely to “Mark’s stout from Saint James Gate”. The title allows me to pay homage to my family in Italy, while stroking my ego and describing the origin of this stout.

Saint James Gate is in Dublin, Ireland where Guinness has been brewed since 1763.  In the late 1700’s this style of beer was crafted for the local masses. Beer was taxed based on the ingredients. Roasted barley, which is not malted, was originally added to the stout because unmalted grains were not taxed. The roasted barley is what gives this stout the dark roast coffee dryness.

For many years, a portion of aged Guinness was blended with freshly brewed product to produce a sharp lactic flavor.  This sharp flavor was what porter drinkers expected back then. The thick creamy head of Guinness is the result of beer being mixed with nitrogen when being poured.
Charlie Gottenkieny

A few weeks back, my good friend and beer brewing mentor Charlie Gottenkieny; an award winning Master Brewer, was in town. Charlie offered to tutor me on my solo attempt at making a Guinness-style stout. Everything that is being described in next week’s post can be viewed in its entirety by clicking on Charlie’s Homebrewing 101 – An Introduction to Making Your Own Beer guide.

The version of Guinness-style stout that I wanted to create was more in line with the Guinness sold in Europe.  Opting for more authenticity in flavor than style, I decided to sour 18 ounces of the wort for about 2 weeks, to be added to the brew pot, after pasteurizing. To achieve the true Guinness-style stout, I would have needed to purchase a G-mix tank, consisting of a CO2 and nitrogen apparatus, to get the creamy head Guinness is noted for. I decided on economy versus style in this case.

Following next week’s post, I will provide a review of the beer in a taste test, and a few Stout Beer Cooking Recipes, that will surely provide some interesting discussions.

Until then!

Groov’n and Salivations

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Posted in Chill Services, Foodie, Guinness Sytle, Homebrew

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