A Y E A R O F B E E R Reflections On Our First Year Of Brewing by Mark Mueller & Brian Bartle What follows is an attempt to organize our somewhat sketchy notes from the twenty-odd 5-gallon batches we brewed up during our first year of homebrewing (and some of the batches were VERY odd indeed!). Our original notes were jotted down on a pad of yellow college-ruled paper and we put down whatever we remembered while we were brewing. Sometimes we didn't remember much more than what the ingredients were. We were very lax about specific gravity readings, time measurements, temperature of fermentation, what kind of yeast was used; you know, all those little things that influence the taste of the final product. Fortunately, only a few batches turned out to be stinkers, and even more fortunate is the fact that the really good batches we made were ones that we collected fairly good notes on. A brief biography might be in order at this point. We met in August, 1990, at Ron Goode Toyota (located in beautiful Alame- da, California) when Brian joined Mark in the service department. We both are Assistant Service Managers, which means we're the ones people talk to when they drop their cars off to get fixed, and the ones they yell at when they yell at whenever we have to give them bad news ("What do you mean I need a new engine!? I just changed the oil last year!!"). All this makes for very long, stressful days and we used to often go out for a malt beverage after work. One of the places we frequented was one of Mark's watering spots in Oakland, Pacific Coast Brewing Co., which is one of the best pubs in the San Francisco bay area. We got to talking about beers and Mark said, "Yeah, I used to brew beer, but when I moved about 5 years ago, I didn't have the space anymore, and I gave all the equipment to my brother to store in his garage," to which Brian replied, "Well, that sounds like a lot of fun, and I've got a big house and a big garage and when can you get the stuff back from your brother?" The rest, as they say, is history. * * * * * * * * * * * A brief note on the layout - We've tried to keep the origi- nal notes (that is, what was actually written down on paper) distinct from our recollections. The way we've chosen to do this is to set off all other material with an arrow [====>] or by the use of brackets. We hope it doesn't confuse you as much as it confused us. Mark & Brian [First Brew] 2-4-91 Specific Gravity (Initial) = 1.043 - 1.044 1 can Cooper's "Bitter Ale" conc + 2.5 lbs (approximately) Australian Dry Malt Extract (light) 1 oz Cluster hops (10 minutes at end of 1 hour boil) Bottled 2-17-91, final gravity = 1.010 @ 70F ====> Our first beer. We didn't take many notes, because we never dreamed at the time that we would ever want to look back on them to see what we did (right and wrong). It wasn't a bad beer - maybe a little underhopped because we didn't know anything about alpha or beta acids at the time and Cluster probably wasn't a very good choice as a finishing hop, but all things considered, a pretty darn good first effort. ***************************************************************** [#2 "Death Brew"] 2-17-91 Specific Gravity (initial) = 1.060 @ 60F 6 lbs Edme light malt extract (DME) .5 lbs (approx) Australian light DME boiled with 2.5 gal water for 60 min 1.5 oz cluster hops for 60 min .75 oz cluster hops for 20 min .375 oz cluster hops for 10 min .375 oz cluster hops (dry hopped) wYeast American Ale yeast #1056 specific gravity = 1.010 @ 70F (2-27-91) bottled 3-5-91 (terminal gravity = 1.010 @ 70F) ====> We don't know exactly what happened with this batch, but although it was beautiful to behold - clear, clean light amber colored with a full, creamy white head - it was also completely undrinkable. The first impression as the aroma hit the nose was of paint thinner, an impression that tasting reinforced. We bottled all of the beer; about forty bottles were poured into the gutter in front of Brian's house. Mark still has four bottles left to open in case we get too cocky about how good we are.... *********************************************************** [#3] "Big Bob `English' Ale" 3-10-91 1/2# Crystal Malt (whole) steeped until 170f 8# Australian Light Malt Extract (syrup) in 3 gal 1tsp Gypsum 1.5 oz Cascade hop flowers (60min) 1/2 tsp Irish moss @ 45min 3/4 oz Cascade hop flowers @ 50min 3/4 oz Cascade hop flowers @ end of boil (10 min) strained into fermenter specific gravity at 60f = 1.050 racked to secondary 3/15/91 (SG = 1.014 ====> This is the first beer we put a name to; we called it "Big Bob" in tribute to Bob Birak, one of the technicians at work (although Bob never tasted this ale - in fact, he's never tasted ANY of our beers...). This is the ale we are quaffing in our first "Mark & Brian" photo.... *********************************************************** [#4] 3/23/91 2 cans (8# total) Yellow Dog Malt Extract 2 oz cascade hop flowers for boil (60 min) 1 oz cascade hop flowers for last 15min 1/2 tsp Irish moss for last 15 min 1 oz cascade hop flowers when heat off (30 min) 1 pt starter from wYeast #1056 plastic primary racked to secondary 3/30/91 (oops! no gravity readings anywhere!) ====> Once again, limited notes and the passage of time have left doubt as to what this beer tasted like...the only memory Mark has of this is Brian calling to say that the krausen had foamed up through the airlock and filled the top of the primary lid before flowing down the sides and soaking the towels the primary was resting on.... *********************************************************** [#5 Sometime in April - Light Ale w/Dry Rice Extract (no notes on this one)] *********************************************************** [#6] 4/28/91 5 oz black patent malt (cracked) \ 5 oz chocolate malt (cracked) \ > steeped 'til 170f 2 oz roasted barley (cracked) / 1 lb crystal malt (cracked) / 1/2 lb Aussie dry malt 2 cans (8#) yellow dog malt extract 3 tsp gypsum 3/4 oz chinook pellets (60 min) 1 oz cascade flowers (30 min) 1/2 tsp Irish moss (15 min) 1/4 oz Kent Goldings (5 min) 1/4 oz Willamette (heat off) ===> oops! forgot specific gravity readings again! racked to secondary - 5/2/91 ====>Our first stab at a strong dark beer. We modified a recipe in The Home Brewery catalog and came up with a really strong, (Brian added a OG reading of 1.070 - 70f to the notes) full- bodied porter. We drank a lot of this beer, gave some to Mike Powell for his bachelor party and had a couple bottles left which we entered in the Alameda County Fair. Even though one of the bottles had what looked like a bit of paper in it ("paper in the porter - oh no!) we still took the Silver Medal.... ************************************************************** [#7] 5/10/91 1/2 lb crystal malt - steeped til 170f 4# yellow dog malt extract (1 can) 1/2 lb Australian DME (light) 2 lbs honey (30 min boil) 2 tsp gypsum 1/4 oz chinook pellets (10.8%) for 60 min 1/2 oz cascade pellets (4.9%) for 60 min 1/4 oz Kent goldings (4.5%) for 60 min 1/2 oz willamette pellets (4.0%) for 30 min 1/4 oz hallertauer pellets (3.0%) with heat off ====> no specific gravity readings, no mention if Irish moss added, no notes on transfer to secondary.....Jeez! This beer came out on the "cidery" side, probably due to the high fermentation temperature (in the 70's) and the large quanti- ty (for us, at least) of adjunct (honey). Mark still wants to try this one again, but as a lager which should let the honey character come through. We drank it all, anyway.... *********************************************************** [#8] 5/22/91 7.5 # Australian Malt extract (Extra) 10 oz Australian DME 1 pkt Burton Salts 1 pkt Heading / Nutrient 3/8 oz Eroica (10.4%) at start of boil (60 min boil) 3/8 oz Galena (11.9%) at start of boil 3/8 oz cluster (6.9%) at 30 min 3/8 oz cascade (4.9%) at 15 min 3/8 oz Willamette (4.0%) at end of boil 3/8 oz Kent goldings (4.5%) at end of boil specific gravity = 1.060 @ 68f =====> no other notes present This is the first of a batch of "banana beer" ales that we made during the summer. We fermented everything in Brian's garage, and the average temperature was in the mid-70's for most of the time. The beers cleared out nicely, though, and we drank every one. Len Goode got a 2 liter bottle of this (which didn't get opened until September....). *********************************************************** [#9 Sometime in June.... Yellow Dog Pils ====>We picked up a second-hand refrigerator from someplace out in Concord (Mark drove out after work and loaded it into the back of his truck while Brian cleared a space in the garage). We didn't take any notes on it, but Mark remembers that we used Sam Wammack's recipe from The Home Brewery and it went something like this: 2 cans Yellow Dog Malt Extract (4# each) 1 oz Saaz for the boil (although I'm sure we used at least 1.5 oz, and probably 2) No finishing hops No gypsum or salts wYeast Bohemian Lager yeast ====>By this time, we were using a King Kooker propane burner and a 33 quart enameled kettle and brewing out in the garage. We used a 6.5 gal glass carboy (used to be an acid bottle) for the primary and racked to secondary. The wort stayed in the refrig- erator (after Brian cleaned it out - it was a mess!) for 6 weeks and never cleared out; it was still murky and cloudy well into July when we finally dumped it into the gutter. It didn't smell anything like the ales we'd been making (although, it did smell almost exactly like a lager) and we never figured out why it didn't work....must have been the yeast....It's also pretty unlikely that we used any Yellow Dog in this recipe - certainly not 2 cans because we have used 5 cans in the previous recipes (and there's one can unaccounted for....)] *********************************************************** [#10] 7/7/91 "Kirkliston Best Bitter" 1/2# whole Crystal Malt steeped to 170f 1 - 7# container of Kirkliston Special Bitter Hopped Extract 3 tsp Gypsum 1.5 tsp yeast nutrient 1/2 oz Kent Goldings (4.5%) @ 15 minutes into boil 1/2 tsp Irish Moss @ 20 min into boil 1/2 oz Fuggles (3.4%) @ 30 min (heat off) Rest for 75 minutes, then stir to separate trub Siphon through wort chiller 1 package of rehydrated Edme Ale yeast OG = 1.045 @ 60f.......TG = 1.011 @ 65-70f (1.012) Mold in secondary ====>Another banana beer. Not much to remember about this one, other than the observation that it wasn't our best bitter, nor was it particularly "special"....Mark doesn't recall if there was any mold in the bottles or not.... *********************************************************** [#11] 7/8/91 [The next day...] EDME 10 oz Crystal malt (steeped to 170f) 4 oz Chocolate malt (steeped to 170f) 3 tsp gypsum 2.5 tsp yeast nutrient 6# EDME Plain Light Malt Extract (syrup) 1/2 oz Galena (11.9%) for 60 min 1/2 oz Northern Brewer (6.9%) for 20 min 1/2 tsp Irish Moss for 20 min 1/2 oz Cascade @ end of boil [1 package rehydrated EDME ale yeast, Mark thinks] Wort chiller [this may have marked the introduction of our home- made immersion wort chiller - pretty sure it is...] OG = 1.042 @ 75f (1.0435); TG = 1.011 @ 75f (1.0125) ====>Again, nothing particularly noteworthy about this batch, other than the fact that this is the day we went out to Pleasan- ton to pick up our medals...This batch threw an ungodly amount of trub, probably about 3-4 inches in the bottom of the carboy (we used a 5 gal carboy with a blow-off tube...). Another banana beer. *********************************************************** [#12] 7/26/91 "Wonderful Dry Light #2" 3# "Wonderful" Dry Malt Extract 1.5# Dry Rice Extract 1/2# Crystal Malt (10l) light - not cracked [*actually, since a notation of the degrees lovibond is made, this must have been purchased at Brewmaster in San Leandro and was undoubtedly sold in a 1# plastic bag - cracked many moons earlier] steeped - 170f 3 tsp Gypsum 2 tsp Yeast Nutrient 1/2 oz Galena (11.9%) for boil (60 min) 1/4 oz Cascade (4.9%) @ 30 min 1/4 oz Willamette (4.0%) @ end of boil Wort chiller to 80f "Poured the whole damn thing into 5 gal carboy w/ blow-off tube" OG = 1.045 ====>Mysteries abound here. The title on the notes is "Wonderful Dry Light #2" which obviously implies that we made a #1 at some point in the past. The notes also say that we used a 5 gal carboy with a blow-off tube instead of the 6.5 gal primary.... Well, we did make an earlier version of this beer, sometime around the time we made the honey beer (batch #6, 5/10/92) be- cause we remember that it was substantially overhopped. Mark thinks that it was probably made in March or early April and that it was made with a 3# bag of Aussie DME, 1.5# DRE and too much hops. As for why we didn't use the glass primary for this batch, your guess is as good as ours.... One thing we do remember is that this batch was very clean tasting, and a bit on the bland side due to the extremely low quantity of hops used (only 1/2 oz for the boil with 1/4 oz of Cascade for flavor @ 30 min). What we were trying for was some- thing that wasn't so assertive as our first batch - we got it (our first "wimp" beer). *********************************************************** [#13] 9/12/92 8 oz Crystal Malt (20 l) steeped to 170f 3 tsp gypsum 2 tsp yeast nutrient 2 oz dextrin powder 6# Teleford Plain Light Malt extract (syrup) 1 oz Chinook (10.8%) @ 7:00 pm 1/4 tsp Irish Moss @ 7:35 pm 1/2 oz Mt. Hood (?%) @ 7:45 pm ----End of boil @ 7:55 pm OG = 1.052 @ 60f ====> Banana time again. This beer developed a bit of mold in the bottle that we think came from dry-hopping and a prolonged stay in the secondary. Len Goode got a big bottle of this, while most of it went to Bill (the laundry man at work). *********************************************************** [#14] 9/19/91 "Teleford Extra Pale Malt Extract"[*] 6 gal water 1/2# Crystal Malt (10l) to 170f 3 tsp gypsum 3 tsp yeast nutrient 6# Teleford Extra Pale Malt Extract @ 6:30 pm 1/2# (approx) Aussie Lt. DME 1 oz Dextrin powder 1/2 oz Mt. Hood (3.3%) @ 7:15 1/4 oz Irish moss @ 7:15 1 package of Ironmaster ale yeast (rehydrated) OG = 1.053 ====>This was our first contract beer - Bill (from the beer above) gave us money to buy materials with and we brewed this beer for him. He didn't like it - said it was "too strong." So, we swapped this batch for the moldy beer (we never heard how he liked that batch). Actually, the beer wasn't too strong, just that the yeast we used (Ironmaster - never again) took ages to mellow out in the bottle (it cleared up ok, but the sharp yeast tang didn't go away until about Christmas). *This stuff was sold to us as unhopped. It was in fact VERY hoppy. When we brought this up to the staff at Brewmaster, the kid's response was "Oh, yeah, we didn't find out until people started telling us - it's still good, though." Maybe, but not what we wanted; our first (but not last) reaming from Brewmaster. [#15] ====>On Monday, 9/30/91, we left from Brian's house in Hayward at about 6:30 am for Santa Cruz and Mark's first try at surfing. We got in the water at about 9:30 and after an hour Mark's arms had turned to rubber. We packed up by 11:30 and headed for one of Brian's surfer hangouts, Seabright Brewery (home of the Mason jar-with-a-handle to go). One of the beers we had there (and we had many) was a reddish amber ale that had a great balance of hops, malt and roast flavors. We hadn't experimented with roast- ed barley before (we'd put some in our porter, but that was part of a recipe) and wanted to make something like the beer we'd had at Seabright. 10/1/91 "Teleford Plain Amber Malt Extract" 5+ gal water 1# Crystal Malt (20 l) to 170f 4 oz roasted barley (cracked) to 170f 1 tsp gypsum 6# Teleford Plain Amber Malt Extract; back to boil @ 7:05pm 1/4 oz Chinook (10.8%) @ 7:05 3/4 oz Galena (11.9%) @ 7:05 3/4 oz Hallertauer (3.0%) @ 7:35 3/8 tsp Irish moss @ 7:55 1/2 oz Hallertauer @ 8:00 wort chiller to 75f OG = 1.047 @ 60f ====>All in all, this was a pretty successful brew. We had a bit more esters than Seabright and the roast component wasn't quite as pronounced, but a very good drinking beer. Mark lost a bottle and didn't find it until January. It had cleaned out to a crys- tal clear amber color and was superb, but by that time, all the rest of it was gone.... *********************************************************** [#16] 10/11/91 STOUT (Aussie) 1# Dark Crystal (cracked) to 170f 3 oz Chocolate malt (crkd) - 170f 3 oz Black Patent (crkd) to 170f 3 oz roasted Barley (crkd) - 170f 1 oz Dextrin powder 6# Dark Malt extract (syrup) 1 lb light DME 2.5 oz Kent Goldings (5.5%) @ 6:00pm 1 oz Kent Goldings @ 6:45 1 oz Perle (6.8%) & 1/4 oz Cascade (4.9%) @ 6:45 1/4 tsp Irish moss @ 6:45 1/2 oz Kent @ 7:00 (heat off) OG = 1.059 @ 76f (1.0605) ====>This came out as more of a porter than a stout as the rela- tively low quantity of roasted barley would indicate (it was all we had at the time) and was quite successful, although it did have a tendency to "gush" when opened. What we ended up doing was to decant a bottle into a pitcher and then pour it into a glass when the head had dropped down. We'd been using our normal 3/4 cup corn sugar to prime - the only thing we could figure was that the quantity of wort had dropped enough through transferring from primary to secondary to bottling that our corn sugar ratio was too high.... *********************************************************** [#17] 11/8/91 "How Wheat It Is...." 2 cans Pub Draught Guinness (for consumption during brewing) 1/2# Crystal Malt (10l) to 170f 3 tsp rock salt 6# Teleford Wheat Malt Extract 1 oz Eroica (10.4%) for 60 minutes 1/4 tsp Irish moss for last 15 min ====>No notes on what yeast we used, specific gravities, etc. What we were trying to do was to make a beer using the same ingredients as Kellogg's Grape Nuts (except for the hops, of course). What we ended up with was a beer that looked beautiful with a creamy lacy head that tasted so salty that we were tempted to throw it out (we didn't). Actually, it wasn't THAT salty - 3 tsp in 5 gallons of anything isn't all that much - but the per- ception of salt was quite overwhelming in the head. It also made a great marinade and cooking ale.... *********************************************************** [#18] 1/5/92 "Logger Lager" For 5 gal 1# Crystal Malt (10l) to 170f 6# Teleford DME 1.25 oz Hallertauer (3.2%) for 60 min 1/2 oz Hallertauer - - - for 30 min 1/4 oz Tettnanger (4.8%) for 15 min 1/2 oz Hersbrucker (3.2%) for 15 min 1/4 tsp Irish moss for 15 min 1/4 oz Hallertauer at end of boil Immersion wort chiller to 80f wYeast American Lager Yeast (about 1 cup starter) OG = 1.041 @ 68f (1.042) TG = 1.011 @ 50f (1.010) Kegged on 1-26-92 with 1/2 cup dextrose ====>What a difference a keg makes! This was the first batch we had kegged (although we had bought the keg back in November). Only 1 bottle to sanitize (the keg); only 1 bottle to fill (the keg); only 1 bottle to store (the keg). It took 20 minutes from start to finish (including cleaning out the carboy and racking equipment) instead of the hour and a half for bottling. The beer was as clear as we expected it to be by the 3rd week of February and tasted great. The one thing we weren't expecting (but should have known considering the amount of draft beer we've consumed) was the almost total lack of head after only a few minutes in the glass. This batch made up for the one we pitched into the street last July.... *********************************************************** [#19] 1/26/92 "Porter" 3 oz Black Patent (cracked) \ 3 oz Roasted Barley (cracked) \ steeped 8 oz Chocolate Malt (cracked) / to 170f 1# Crystal Malt (120l) (crkd)/ 1 pack each Burton salts, Heading salts & yeast nutrient 8# Teleford Amber Malt Extract \ 10 oz Australian light DME at 14:45 1.5 oz Fresh Northern Brewer / ------> back to boil at 15:00 1/2 oz N.B. pellets (6.9%) @ 15:00 1/4 tsp Irish moss @ 15:45 1/2 oz fresh N.B. @ 16:00 (end of boil); rest for 10 minutes chilled with wort chiller to 75f; rest again for 20 minutes Strained into primary (6.5 gal glass) pitched about 1 cup wYeast American Ale Yeast starter OG = 1.080 @ 60f ====> This was by far the strongest beer we had ever brewed (the second strongest was our "Paper in the Porter" from April, 1991). I don't know why alarm bells didn't start going off in our heads when that SG came out so high - it was probably euphoria induced by our success at kegging....Brian's brother Buzz brought back a huge plastic sack filled with freshly dried Northern Brewer hops and we wanted to use them in a recipe....unfortunately, we had no way of knowing how "hoppy" they were - and although they were great in volume, they turned out to be not so great in weight... we ended up with only about 2 oz hops for the boil - not nearly enough to balance the amount of malt we started with (almost 10 pounds of fermentables!) Maybe we can try to make a really aggressively hoppy IPA for some killer black and tans.... *********************************************************** [#20 & 21] 2/1/92 "American Beer" | 4 oz Crystal malt (20l) - 170f |4 oz Crystal Malt (20l) - 170f |1 oz whole roast 1 pkg nutrient/heading salt |1 pkg nutrient/heading salt |1 pkg Burton salts 4.5# Yellow Dog DME* \for |4.5# Xtra Light Calif. Beer+\for 1# Teleford Wheat extract |60 |1# Teleford Wheat extract |60 1 oz Cascade (?%) /min |1 oz Cascade (?%) /min 1/4 tsp Irish moss @ 45 min |1/4 tsp Irish moss @ 45 min 1/2 oz Cascade @ end of boil |1/2 oz Cascade @ end of boil American Lager yeast** @ 80f |American Ale yeast++ @ 80f 5 gal carboy w/blow-off |6.5 gal carboy w/airlock OG = 1.042 @95f (1.0455) |OG = 1.043 @ 85f (1.0455) Golden honey color |Golden honey color, too Water for lager started at 10:00; boil at 10:30. Water for ale started at 12:30; boil at 13:00. Cleaned up and in two carboys by 15:00... [Hops used were from Brewmaster (who don't bother to tell you what the alpha acids are)...Crystal malt was pre-cracked (don't ask when).] *3# Edme Light DME; 1.5# DRE +3# Wonderful Lt DME; 1.5# DRE ** wYeast #2035 ++ wYeast #1056 ====> This was a science experiment with two purposes - we wanted to see what differences the two yeast and beer production methods created (lager vs. ale) and also to prove to ourselves that we could make a great tasting "light" beer (well, light by OUR standards). Both beers came out great. The lager came out so clear and smooth that both of us think "That's it." We may fool around a bit with some different hops, but the proportions are absolutely balanced. Great honey gold color, fantastic creamy head with full lace, good mouth feel, full body, good aroma - this is the best lager either of us have ever tasted. The ale - not quite the perfection of the lager, but pretty darn close. It's not quite as clear and the head isn't nearly as full, but that could be a product of the different malt extract (cheaper Wonderful vs. Edme) or the addition of the whole roast....it may just need to sit a bit longer, too....