The Beer Hall

I finally have my computer back. It’s nice to have a screen that isn’t screwed up, but the Fruit Store has got to be the most screwed up place. The way they run that place is completely alienating. No sense of service, nor do they give any sign that the people walking in are human beings. I think Fruit Computer has genetically engineered a race of emotionless nerd clones to run their mall shops. What pissed me off is that they didn’t even bother to call me after they fixed my computer. They just assumed that I would be able to go online and check the status of my repair. Hello idiots! You have my f-ing computer!

What I was going to tell you about was the successful brewing of W3, the third installment in my Wit Project. The yeasts are very happy in their new wort.

This means that I’ve kegged W2 and have been drinking it all weekend. W2 is still too dry and too bitter to be a good Wit, but it’s a drinkable beer. Not a great beer, but it serves it’s purpose. I’ve identified some aspects of the brewing process that I’ll change for W4. I noticed that my electric brew kettle isn’t a very good mash tun. The temperature controller is inaccurate. So part of the problem with W2 was bad temperature control during the mash. The other problem was my method for lautering. Rinsing the grains (as opposed to sparging) makes for a quick brew day, but there’s a lot of particulate matter in the beer, more than you’d expect in a Wit. I’m not sure how much this is really affecting the flavor though. It’s possible that half an ounce of Perle hops in a 2.5 gallon batch is just too much. My perception is that the beer is too hoppy, or is it the coriander? I’ll have to keep experimenting.

Turn off your computer and go to the pub.  Why are you still reading?  I said, Go to the pub!  Talk to somebody real.  Start a conversation.  Now turn this bloody thing off!

Tom Hodgkinson: “I despise Facebook. This enormously successful American business describes itself as ‘a social utility that connects you with the people around you’. But hang on. Why on God’s earth would I need a computer to connect with the people around me? Why should my relationships be mediated through the imagination of a bunch of supergeeks in California? What was wrong with the pub?

“And does Facebook really connect people? Doesn’t it rather disconnect us, since instead of doing something enjoyable such as talking and eating and dancing and drinking with my friends, I am merely sending them little ungrammatical notes and amusing photos in cyberspace, while chained to my desk? A friend of mine recently told me that he had spent a Saturday night at home alone on Facebook, drinking at his desk. What a gloomy image. Far from connecting us, Facebook actually isolates us at our workstations.” [published in The Guardian on Monday, January 14, 2008]

Are you still here?

Hey boys and girls.  My laptop is in the dock.  I’ve had some issues with the screen for almost a year and have been putting off doing anything about it, until last week, when I realized that my “warranty” was about to expire.  I had to chuck my commitment to procrastination and laziness (and compulsive mall avoidance) and get my computer to the repair “bar.”  That was last week.  I thought I’d have the silly laptop back by now, but the bumblers at the Fruit Store can’t seem to figure out how to attach the new screen.

I suppose I could have been posting to this blog about all sorts of interesting beer and brewing events, but I decided that I was not being a very good idler and I should view the absent laptop situation as an opportunity to do some slacking.

In case you are interested, I have a delicious Mild on tap at my house right now.  I’ve been pouring Imperial pints each evening and putting my nose in a book.

In a year where drinking my own beer is the focus, what is a better compliment to that than trying to nail the details of brewing a style of beer that you like?

The Wit Project got off to a bit of a rough start. I put together a small single infusion mashing system with parts I bought at the hardware store. I mashed four and a quart pounds of grain. Boiled it on the stove top. Added crushed coriander. Added fresh orange peel zest. Then pitched a vial of very old WLP400 (the “best by” date was July 30, 2006). It was a slow start and took more than a week to ferment out, but the yeast did their job. The only problem with this first batch was that I used twice as much spice and orange zest than I intended and ended up with half the volume of beer. How did this happen? I scaled my Wit recipe down to 2.5 gallons from 5, but forgot to adjust the spice levels. (How do you “forget” something like this?) The volume problem was a result of too vigorous of a boil in the kettle. Don’t ask me why I didn’t realize that was on a route to boiling away half my liquid. I should have supplemented with water, but I didn’t have any clean water on hand (tap water is not ideal because of chlorine issues).

To be honest I didn’t really think that W1 (this first batch of Wit in the Project) was going to turn out. I was afraid the yeast was too old. I figured the spices would be way out of hand. I wasn’t looking forward to tasting it, of course, I knew I had to taste it.

Last Friday night, while I was brewing W2, I kegged W1 hit it with some CO2 and poured myself a glass. The orange character is overwhelming, but it has that spicy Wit flavor. It’s a shade too dark from the kettle caramelization, but over all I’d have to say that (even allowing for the yeast not being fresh) the beer was/is a success. In fact, I decided to give the yeast another chance and pitched the yeast slurry from W1 into W2. I had activity almost immediately. The next morning W2 had a beautiful foam cap and is bubbling away.

The Blind Bat Brewery LLC had been granted Federal licensing several months ago, but the state of New York has been sitting on their collective ass while we thirsty Long Islanders wait for our first taste of Blind Bat beer.  Well we have have some good news today.

The state license was approved by the New York State Liquor Authority on Wednesday, April 16th.

Paul Dlugokencky, the brewmaster and owner, reportedly will be doing test batches and submitting labels for approval. Congratulations to Paul and to Long Island’s newest brewery. I wish him the very best. Look for a Blind Bat tap at DEKS as soon as it can be arranged!

This week’s promotional push includes announcements for the Firkin Friday at DEKS tomorrow and a Sixpoint event at Bellport Beer. A bunch of us from the Long Island Beer & Malt Enthusiasts will be at both events, so it should be a very good time indeed. Hope to see you there.

Also, the Long Island Beer Scene is growing. If you haven’t signed up, check it out. There’s a new Beer Supper Club group that’s planning some beer dinners. These will be real beer dinners put together by enthusiasts, so you won’t want to miss this series. Anyone can join the Beer Supper Club.

Another popular group on the Long Island Beer Scene is The Sushi Pigs. Turns out that a lot of us beer-centric folk also enjoy ourselves some fancy raw fish. We’re pushing to get good craft beer into fine sushi places. There’s a spread this month in Draft magazine about craft beer pairings with sushi. Check it out. Maybe we can do a combined Beer Supper Club/Sushi Pigs event?

As it stands, the Beer Church group I started still has one lone member (me). I can’t get any response out of the official Beer Church out in Seattle, but that’s not stopping me. Beer is my religion and through beer we can all make the world a better place.

One thing I have mentioned on this blog before is that this year (2008) I’m only drinking homebrewed beer at home. No commercial beer will touch my lips while I’m at home. If I drink beer at home, it has to be beer that I’ve made myself or with a fellow brewer, or by an amateur craftbrewer.

Why am I doing this? (1) I want/need to brew more often so that I become a better brewer. (2) Focusing my attention on my beer forces me to be more aware of the effects that the brewing process has on the end product. I become more aware of the life cycle of my beer. (3) It imposes a level of seriousness on my brewing. Brewing is fun, but it’s a skill/art that has to be developed like playing a piano.

Sure it’s difficult not to have commercial craft beers, especially when Denise is doing the liquid tour of Belgium. The other night she uncorked a Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen-Weisse and, yeah, it was tempting to have just a splash. Technically, it’s probably not necessary that I forgo commercial craftbrew in order to accomplish the same ends, but it makes for a good story if I have some gimmick I can tell people about.

While Denise was sipping the Brooklyner-Schneider collaboration, I was working on a pint of my Pale Ale (also on the hoppy side). Denise said, “Your beer is as good as this.” She’s right. I’m not missing out on anything.

Currently on tap at Donavan’s house: W1 of the Wit Project and batch #4 of Mike and Donavan’s signature Mild.

In the fermenter: Bavarian Pils, Tamarack Pale Ale, and W2 of the Wit Project.

If you want to learn more about brewing your own beer at home, come out to the B.E.E.R. meeting next Monday (the 21st). We’re meeting at the Brickhouse in Patchogue. Show up around 7:30 pm. Grab a pint. The meeting will be upstairs.

The next Firkin Friday at DEKS is coming up soon; it’s this Friday, the 18th. A firkin of Green Flash Hop Head Red is on its way from Vista, California for our cask conditioned drinking pleasure. Hop Head Red is “a deliciously full-bodied and appropriately hoppy ale,” according to Celebrator Beer News. It earned the silver medal in the American-Style Amber/Red Ale category in the 2007 Great American Beer Festival, the USA’s oldest and most prestigious craft beer competition. As far as I can tell, this may be Hop Head Red’s Long Island premier (in a firkin, at least). This is a Long Island Beer & Malt Enthusiast sanctioned event. Come on out and meet a bunch of fellow beer lovers. If you are new to the scene, make sure you introduce yourself. I’ll be wearing my RadioBeerHall.com button, but you can always ask for me at the bar. Everyone at DEKS knows Donavan.

Since I mentioned Rich and Dave in the previous post, I might as well also say that Rich is the new manager of Bellport Beer. Congratulations to both Rich and Dave. Rich is now officially part of the craft beer business and Dave has the best possible store manager. Rich is going to be busy building enthusiasm for craft beer nearly 24/7 now. If you haven’t met Rich in person yet, drop by Bellport Beer and introduce yourself. You’ll definitely want to drop by Bellport Beer this Saturday. Sixpoint Craft Ales will be there with a record number of taps. That event starts at 1 pm. Don’t miss an opportunity to try some new/rare Sixpoint offerings while chatting with the new Bellport Beer Guru.

I got an email from Rich the other morning wanting to know if I’ve fallen off the face of the Earth. Dave recently accused me of being AWOL. Just about. I’ve got about two hours each morning that I can use for creative writing (that includes the beer writing and staying on top of The Beer Hall) and I’ve been using that two hours to writing some things that I’ve been putting off for a few months. You’ll see the fruit of that labor soon.

Last night, I brewed up the second installment in my Wit Project. I’ve talked about this project on my podcast, but I don’t think I’ve written about it yet. Let this serve as the literary introduction.

Two years ago (I think) Brewer’s Publications released a set of three books by prominent brewers and beer writers on Belgian and French ales. At the time Stan Hieronymus, author of Brew Like a Monk, pointed out that there aren’t really any good books on brewing Wit (or White beer). I like Wit beers a lot. Stan’s statement (while not intended as a challenge) planted the seed for the Wit Project. It’s very simple. The goal is to brew a batch of Wit (approximately) once a week (Friday night?), take copious notes, and record my experiences and observations in a book (and on this blog/podcast).