Weizenbock Bottling Day

This weekend I bottled up our Weizenbock to give it some bottle time before its winter debut.  I used our logo caps on the 22s (labels to follow) and standard oxy-barrier caps on the 12s.  While we usually keg our beers using co2 to force carbonate, some styles are better conditioned naturally in the bottle and wheat beers are one of those styles.  This is a big, complex wheat beer. A slight caramel sweetness and spicy clove-like flavors from the weizen yeast, this beer is much smoother than the 9.6% abv will lead you to believe.  This beer will be ready just in time for late fall/winter...(supper club???).

Dispun

Another wedding brew project completed. I dropped off the bottles last night, and everyone was all smiles. We sampled a bottle, and everyone had their mind blown. The concept for the label was based off of Andy's hypebeast obsession with beer. It was only fitting that I take the most recognizable street wear brand logo and do it up for his label.



I created two different types of labels with the same concept. For the 12oz bottles I used Avery, and for the 22oz bottles I used Neato labels. I wanted the 22oz bottles to be special so I blew up Andy's face, moved the logo to the side, and added a nice message to remember the day. We opted to wax the tops of the 22oz bottles to add that extra appeal and maximize the shelf life for aging.



If you're lucky enough to get a bottle you will not be disappointed. Scott and I are definitely feeling this brew, so it will make an appearance again. Sorry Andy.

Double Batch IIPA Brew Day

Jet burner keeping the kettle boiling into dusk.

Yesterday was our first double batch brew day.  I started early in the morning and brewing went well into the evening hours.  I'm working on nailing down a IIPA that I'm happy with keeping as a staple.  The main problem is that I'm really picky about it.  For this effort, I started with the same recipe and created one with all malt and one with some adjuct sugars, keeping the hopping the same.  My goal is to sample each, determine which I like better, and further develop on that recipe.

The mash temp showing a constant 148F and the sparge water up to temp and ready to go.

Batch one is comprised of a combination of american 2-row and munich malts as a base with a small amount of medium/light crystal.  Batch two is the same, but I reduced the base malts slightly and added 100% fermentable sugars to keep the starting gravity the same.  I also added a small amount of carapils to the second batch.  These beers are borderline insanely hoppy.  I used Magnum for bittering, and a blend of Cascade, Summit, Columbus and Simcoe for flavor and aroma additions.  I will dry hop these beers with a blend of Summit, Columbus and Simcoe.

When I said these are insanely hoppy, I meant it. I used over a pound of hops for each 5 gallon batch.  To put into perspective, the dry-hop addition alone equates to over 2 pounds per barrel.  Due to mash tun limitations, and the fact that these are test batches, I brewed both to get 6 gallons into the fermentors.  After loss during fermentation and hop absorption from dry hopping, I should get a solid 5 gallons of each into the kegs.  Once all is said and done, both batches should finish in the 9% ABV range and are close to 100IBUs.  A San Diego IPA indeed.

Supper Club - 2012 Summer Edition Brewer's Notes

For this edition of Supper Club, we served 3 beers.  Two were paired with food, and the third was served as people arrived.

The arrival beer was our Brown Ale (second edition if you're following the blog).  It's an English style nut brown ale, with low alcohol (4.6%) and a smooth creamy texture.  It has a sweet caramel aroma with a nutty backbone and hints of chocolate.  This beer was well received, with the earliest attendees requesting additional pours.

The first beer for the pairing, was paired with both the appetizer and the dessert.  It's our cream ale.  Being a pre-prohibition style cream ale (as opposed to the classic cream ale commonly found), it has a slightly higher alcohol level at just over 5% and a malty finish.  Despite these things, it remains light, crisp, clean, and easy to drink, while maintaining its full flavor.People enjoyed this one, and it definitely went down smooth on such a warm evening.  We're dubbing this a Summer Ale, although since we're in SD, it'll be available year round.

The second beer, we paired with the main course.  This was our SD Session.  Clocking in at a whopping 4.1% ABV, this light session IPA is perfect for summer and paired beautifully with the pork tenderloin.

As you can tell, there was a theme here...low alcohol beers.  We thought this would work best for our summer session and it did.  But really, a 12% stout doesn't exactly quench your thirst during a heat wave.

SPOILER ALERT: 2012 Winter Supper Club will not be following this theme...can't wait.

Supper Club - 2012 Summer Edition

Starter. Pork belly lettuce wrap with a miso apple and fennel slaw. Paired with the Summer Ale.

We brined the pork belly overnight then finished it off in the broiler until golden brown. We used white miso as a base of the sauce, and tossed it with the fennel. We layered everything and garnished it with micro greens lightly tossed with some olive and oil and citrus.

The Summer Ale paired well with the starter. The heaviness of the pork and miso slaw played nicely with the clean and crispness of the ale.



Main. Pork tenderloin with roasted parsnip and sweet potato puree, and caramelized onion pan jus. Paired with SD Session.

I sous vide the pork tenderloin with a dry rub for 2.5 hours at 141F. I personally like it a little medium rare but I opted for a higher temp and longer duration to get it to medium. I finished the tenderloin on the grill searing each side for 3 minutes to develop that smokey flavor.

For the sauce I caramelized onions and set them aside. I poured the cooking liquid from the sous vide bags, added our Brown Ale and honey, reduced down, and finished off with a stick of butter.

The main paired perfectly with the SD Session. It was smooth and crisp with hints of mango and grapefruit. It held down the heaviness of the dish with each refreshing sip.



Dessert. Coconut tres leches cake with a warm berry compote. Paired with the Summer Ale.

The cake itself didn't have any coconut in it. It was all in the leches. The three milk mix had sweetened condensed and evaporated milk, and coconut milk. It was subtle, but was a nice touch. The warm berry compote had raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. I wanted it a little tart to counter punch the moist creaminess of the tres leches cake.

The dessert paired nicely with the Summer Ale. It didn't overpower the dessert, and the malty finish of the ale added a nice touch.


Our next session will be in December. I can't reveal them all, but our flag ship brew, Blackout, will be making an appearance. Stay up to date on the blog.

Waxing

Today we waxed the 22oz bottles of the beer we brewed for our friends wedding.  The 12s will have the IMBC caps, but we wanted to wax the 22s for better presentation and prolonged aging.  Labeling will occur next week, then delivery.