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By D Self, on October 24th, 2011
 The other Wednesday, for the second straight year, I competed in the Homebrewing Showcase at Little Havanas as a part of Baltimore Beer Week. I am sad to say that this was the only event that I visited during BBW 2011 but, I think, if you are going to go to just one event, this is not the worst you could do.
The event works like this: a bunch of homebrewers bring kegs (or bottles) of their beer to Little Havanas and anyone who is feeling adventurous comes and donates $5 to BARCS to try as many of the beers as they would like. Last year I entered two beers, a hoppy red and a coffee stout. Those beers placed last and third to last in voting. This year the event seemed to be a little bigger. There were more beers and more people there to taste them.
As you may know, I was planning on bringing a chai-flavored beer to this event but none of my trials went that well. Instead, I brewed the last beer I made that turned out good: the green pepper pale ale. Although I brewed and kegged on a procrastinators schedule, the beer turned out great. More importantly, people at the event seemed to really like it. Responses ranged from disbelief that you could but bell peppers in a beer to astonishment at the aroma and taste of the beer. As the night went on, more and more people came up to try the beer or tell me that they had heard good things about it or that they were planning on voting on it. A friend in the crowd even told me that she heard from Reagan of Jojo & Reagan (never heard of them) who was in attendance that night, that my beer was one of the most “buzzed about” beers of the evening. I was pleased by all of this and even more pleased when, at the end of the night, my beer won fourth place (out of 30 or so beers). As my prize I selected a $50 gift certificate to Maryland Homebrew.
I think I can say that I have learned a few things from my two years doing this competition. This is one of those things. In the crowd you have those who are into it, i.e. brewers, enthusiasts, or others who can more or less distinguish between well and poorly brewed classic styles of beer, those who are there to have a good time, i.e. people who like the event or trying new things or just happened to be at Little Havanas, and those who are in your pocket, i.e. the people who you invited who will most likely vote for your beer no mater how bad it tastes. To have the best chance of winning you need to brew something that will impress the most people. I found that the second group contains the largest number of people, followed by the first group and (unless you are very popular) then the third group. In this type of competition you should try to impress those groups in that order. If you can impress the first two groups equally, you will probably win. I think the winner, a super-delicious saison brewed by the guy next to me was able to impress the first two groups because a good saison is a good beer. Anyone can tell that. On the other hand, you shouldn’t underestimate group three. I won fourth place by one point. I invited three people who voted for my beer as a first place beer. If they weren’t there, I would have gotten sixth or seventh. Although you have to assume that every brewer there had at least one person voting for them regardless so it kind of evens out.
They are already talking about next Baltimore Beer Week and I am already thinking about what I can bring to Havanas that will be able to impress the critical and intrigue the skeptics and what I can do get more people that I know to come to the event. See you next year.
By D Self, on October 10th, 2011
RE: Burial of Olde School
A little more than one year ago, my fellow second floor brewer and I buried two bottles of Dogfish Olde School in a secret location. The other day we returned to the spot of the burial with a few shovels and this blog as our only reference. We had a few questions. Would we be able to find the two bottles? It seemed obvious in retrospect that I should have put a stake in the ground or somehow marked the burial spot. It turns out that the same spot of earth can look pretty different from year to year. If we were able to find them, would they still be intact? A lot has happened since we buried them. Here is a list of things that happened in the world while these bottles were in the ground, by no means complete:
- Hurricanes Irene and Lee
- Death of Osama Bin Laden
- Arab Spring
- Leslie Nielsen Died
- South Sudan
- Will & Kate
- Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami/Nuclear Disaster
- End of the Space Shuttle Program
- Wikileaks Cables Released
- Chillean Miners
- East Coast Earthquake
As the dig started, I was confident that the bottles would be exactly where I thought they were and that they would be ground-chilled and ready to drink. An hour and a few holes later I had still not found the bottles. Was I in the right place? Did they shatter in the earthquake? Did I crush them with my shovel? Would my thirst for dirt-aged barleywine ever be quenched?!?
Then it happened. I saw a bit of blue plastic. I saw the neon warning cap. A glint of sunlight reflected off the bottle. I found them! They were both still whole. They were both room temperature. They were both very dirty. They both had no labels. I pulled the bottles from the earth and brought them inside. The labels were the most unexpected part. They were gone! It looked like someone had peeled them off. Al you could see was a few sticky lines of white. I guess they decomposed. I have seen a few videos of people burying these beers but never one of someone digging them up. I put them both in the fridge and a few hours later, drank one. Almost needless to say, it was delicious.
By SFBadmin, on October 3rd, 2011
Yassas!
My girlfriend and I just got back from Greece. It was great. There were columns, feta, goats, boats, mountains, pistachios, churches, ouzo, massive strikes, etc… To drink I had good and bad wine, good grappa, good raki. They have beer there too. Most of it is macro-lager super crapola. Mythos. Fix. Alfa. They all taste more or less like Bud Light.
But don’t worry, there is also craft beer! Its called “Craft.” Check it out. You couldn’t get it everywhere but where I did, it was a welcome change. I liked the Hefeweisen. It was sunny and full of bread and citrus. I didn’t like the Pilsner. It was a little too close to the rest of the Greek beer peloton, if you will.
I wish that there was more for me to say about the beer in Greece. If there is, I would love to hear about it. Instead, enjoy this little peeing child Dionysus image. Does it bug you like it bugs me that the barrel and the baby are peeing at the same time and at about the same rate? There is something unnatural about that.
By D Self, on September 26th, 2011
 Later on I tried the same thing with four more beers.
The first pair is a pair of Belgian-style ales. My thinking was this: since Belgians already use spices, perhaps the addition of chai spices would be welcome. I chose Ommegang’s Abby Ale and Weyerbacher’s Merry Monks for my tests because they seem to me excellent examples of the style I was looking for. In both I found that the chai spices mixed well enough that I would add much more than two tablespoons to the beers without overwhelming them. Overall the Belgian flavors worked well with the chai to create a unique flavor. I just don’t know if that unique flavor is a super-delicious one.
For the second pair of beers, I chose Great Divide’s English Pale and and Anderson Valley’s Oatmeal Stout. Both beers seemed like good candidates. The pale ale mixed better than I thought. The oatmeal stout was a good mix
Although I didn’t really want to do a chai stout because it seems obvious, in the end I decided that something sorta like the Oatmeal tasted the best with the spices. A stout with low roast and good mouthfeel seemed to taste the best. Next comes the question of how to add the spices. Should I add the chai spices at the end of the boil or should I mix a pre-made chai with the finished beer? I did test batches using both techniques. Both beers had ingredients that would add extra mouthfeel. A few weeks later…
 Both beers turned out good: great color, great head, great mouthfeel. I thought that the the mix of pre-made chai and finished beer would turn out the better of the two but it was the stout brewed with chai spices that was the clear winner. The chai/stout mix had no real aroma, chai or otherwise, and tasted mildly like soap. The stout with chai spices had a low chai aroma and a low chai taste. Meh. If I would try to do make a chai stout again I would find some way to intensify the chai aroma and flavor in the beer. I think the chai flavors would also work well in an pale ale like the Denver Pale Ale.
After all this, neither one really seemed worthy of anything more than evening couch sipping so I will fall back to the last good beer I made, a green pepper ale inspired by Wynkoop’s Patti’s Chili Ale.
By D Self, on September 1st, 2011
So this is the influence that Brewmasters had on me.
For the upcoming Baltimore Beer Week I am planning on participating (once again) in the homebrewers’ showcase at Little Havana. But what to brew? The old addage is : I like the taste of this therefore it will be good in bere. I like masala chai especially when it is hot and peppery. Next time you are in Portland, stop by Stumptown for a cup or two. Therefore it will be good in a beer.
A chai stout is the first thing that comes to mind but I wonder what other styles masala chai would taste good in. Stout? Belgian? English Pale Ale? Not sure. So Katy and I tried, like Brewmasters, adding pre-brewed chai to several commercial beers. Chai Files.
But how to add the chai? Some recommend a cold extract. I tried that and found that the tea taste came through while the spice taste did not. So I brewed a bunch of chai per the instructions on the bag and added that to the beer. What I am looking for is a beer to emulate that goes well with chai.
 Part 1: Sierra Nevada Stout and Lancaster Milk Stout
Why these beers? Stout was my initial thought and I thought that the Sierra Nevada stout would be a good all-around stout. The milk stout adds in lactose for a creamier, fuller drink.
One tablespoon of chai in two ounces of beer. This was my first guess at a ratio but it turned out well. For most of the beers, it added just enough chai flavor and aroma.
SN Stout: Delicious but the roastiness in this beer took over any chai flavoe.
Lancaster Milk Stout: Delicious without the chai and delicious with the chai. E-mmediate leader. This beer was thick and delicious and the chai flavors added extra complexity.
I tried extra chai in the SN Stout but I was not able to overcome the roast. Extra chai in the milk stout didn’t add much. Overall, SN Stout is defeated, Lancaster milk stout moves on.
By D Self, on August 8th, 2011
 My girlfriend and I went to Rehoboth Beach for a beachy weekend recently.
On the way we made the cursory stop in Milton at the Dogfish Head Brewery. This was our first visit to the brewery. Short version: I give the tour a 5/10. For reference, the best brewery tours I’ve ever been on are Cantillion (worldwide) and Sam Adams (stateside). Just a bit longer version: it was hot, it was loud, and we didn’t many interesting parts of the brewery.
Of course some of these complaints are situation. If it wasn’t a Friday in July things may have been different. I did get to see the original Sir Hops-A-Lot and Sam’s original Brew Magic system (pictured). So that was cool. The guide made some interesting comments about r usability and sustainability. For instance, Dogfish gives spent grain to local farmers who feed it to their cows and pigs which is nothing new. However, the beef and pork served at the brewpub is from those same farms. The best part of the tour was the tasting afterwords.
While in Rehoboth, we ate dinner at Brewing and Eats. We have eaten there each time we have been in Rehoboth. Its always good. To drink I had a 75 minute IPA on cask dubbed “Johnny Cask.” I also had “Black and Red” a minty, cherry, stout. Both were good. I give the edge to Johnny. My favorite moment in the pub was witnessing someone come up the the bar and order a Bud Light bottle for “a girl likes Bud Light.” The bartender handled it well.
While the tour was a little disappointing (maybe because you expect a lot from Dogfish) the beer never disappoints. If you are going to be in the area, make a reservation, see the brewery, do a tasting, and get some brewpub exclusives.
By D Self, on August 1st, 2011
 First post in five months: new job, new house, crazy dog, shit happens, procrastination abounds. Hopefully, more will come. SFB is still brewing, still learning and will hopefuly have a cellar party sometime this summer. What up with that?- DuClaw H.E.R.O. contest not picking my beer: I can’t be too upset about this one because the winner sounds terrific. I though my honey basil beer was delicious and worth of a top three finish. Although its sometimes hard to say what people are looking for in the contests, I know I had a good one there. What up with that DuClaw?
- 98 Rock King of Baltimore home brew contest not picking my beer: So I brewed a beer with dandelions that I picked from the side of the road and it didn’t win a contest. At least the 98 Rock guys thought I looked the part. What up with that 98 Rock?
- Brews of Late: Right now I’m drinking a Green Pepper beer that I brewed to be as similar as possible to Patty’s Chili Beer I drank last GABF at Wynkoop in Denver. Its pretty delicious. In bottles on the second floor there is a saison with some raspberries added. I’m not sure how that one is going to turn out but so far so good. This was one of my first beers brewed with a specialty liquid yeast and a starter. The fermentation was quick very thorough. I don’t know why I haven’t used this method before. What up with that?
- On the horizon: I’m in the process of upgrading my equipment. What to get? Probably a pump, probably some new pots, probably a filter and some additional kegging equipment. Dang, those Blichmann products are expensive. What up with that Blichman?
By D Self, on March 15th, 2011
 Oh good, its been a month, I guess can post again. I never mentioned on the blog that we did a double brew a while back. I don’t think I updated the much-neglected “Beers” page either. I will get on that.
One of the beers for our double brew was an American Wheat for my sisters birthday. It got a little bit infected and while it still had some of the citrus smell and taste that you might expect from a beer of this style, it had a nice little tang that I don’t think was supposed to be there. Maybe next year.
The other beer was as much as a success as the wheat was a failure. We did an IPA and dry hopped with leaf hops instead of pellet hops for the first time. I was impressed with this beer although I guess I should have known it was going to be good. Answer me this: can my recipe be considered original if I started with a Zymurgy-published Pliny the Elder recipe, kept the malt percentages but changed a few malt types, kept the hop varieties (when available), and cut the hop schedule back to make a standard IPA? I think that is just inspiration. Anyway, my beer naming machine kept with the historical theme, calling our beer “Genghis Khan.” Anyway, it had a great hop aroma and bitterness that was just enough to taste good, not so much that it strips all moisture from the back of your throat on the way down. It has lost some of its freshness after a month in the bottle. I don’t know how the pro brewers keep ‘em fresh but I need to work on that.
Coming next: an entry in the DuClaw HERO homebrew contest. While I will say that DuClaw is not my favorite local brewery (mostly because of their super-intense naming standards), I will like them a whole lot more if they pick my beer to brew and distribute. Spoiler alert: DuClaw doesn’t feature too many beers with fresh, food-type ingredients. My main ingredient for that entry is going to be buckwheat honey. Buckwheat honey is like caramel, molasses, and clover honey mixed together. It is so pungent and rich. I must use it in a beer. As of now I am still undecided on any other ingredients but I had a possible epiphany last night on one more fresh ingredient. The beers is most likely going to be a porter and hopefully it will be super delicious. I tried adding small amounts of the honey to store-bought porters to get a sense of how it would taste ala Brewmasters but lets just say that it didn’t go well at all.
By D Self, on February 15th, 2011
As you may or may not be able to see on the recipometer (but surely by the expression on my face), I have brewed only three recipes since my last post. I went on vacation for a couple weeks and had to travel for work so I am behind. Right now, on the two beers a week schdule, I should have brewed 14 beers already this year. I have brewed seven…
- Flanders Brown Ale (Oud Bruin – pg 224)
- Lambicus Piatzii (Straight Lambic – pg 228)
- Its All in the Details (Belgian Golden Strong Ale – pg 242)
- Brew like a Homebrewing (Belgian Dark Strong Ale – pg 244)
- No Short Measure (Standard Bitter – pg 117)
- I’m Not Bitter, I’m Thirsty (Special Bitter – pg 119)
- Programmer’s Elbow (Extra Special Bitter – pg 121)
I have bottled three and tried two of those. Both of those — the Belgian Dark and Golden — had low carbonation which I was worried about because this was the first time I have primed this little beer. Until I get my process down, which I think I should be by the time I bottle the bitter, I am blaming everything that is wrong in the final product on my piecemeal brewing system. I think that the The Belgian Golden Strong, which tasted similar to Delerium Tremens, was a good signal of how good these recipes can be. The Oud Bruin, which I tasted pre-bottling, and had little to no sour flavor, will be an example of how bad I can mess up these recipes.
I recently purchased some more fermentation vessels so I will be able to brew six more beers sometime between tomorrow (when the homebrew store opens) and Sunday (when I have to travel for work). The only piece of equipment I still need is some sort of lagering space. Anyone out there who wants to lend me a chest freezer or extra mini fridge for the rest of the year, please comment with details.
As I said, I have brewed seven of the 94 recipes I am planning to brew this year. Thats about 7.5% of the recipes and we are already through about 12.5% of the year. The agenda is obvious but what may not be presented overtly by this project is its purpose. I am doing this to gain experience about the brewing process, about styles of beer that I have not brewed before, about techniques that I have not used. I’m behind schedule but have already added a bunch to what I will call my “beer instincts.” The more you brew, the more likely you are to know what to do in a certain situation, which shortcuts you can take and which you can’t, what will ruin a beer and what will save it, etc…
By D Self, on February 14th, 2011
 My girlfriend and I recently returned from a trip to South America, specifically Patagonian Chile and Argentina. The views and the hiking were wonderful. Although it is practically a sin to summarize the majesty of the views and the hiking in one short sentence, it has become such that when I go on any vacation, I am wondering about where I will be able to try some new, hopefully local, and well-made beer. This is a homebrewing blog after all. Before leaving I found out about Jerome (“Herome”?) Brewing in Mendoza but did not find this Midnight Sun post about beer bars in Buenos Aires from when Sam Sessa went to BA last January.
So I went with an open eye but not expecting too much beyond Quilmes. I was especially surprised and delighed to find a very small cerveceria in a very small town in Patagonia. The food here was great and while they only had two styles of beer, a bock and a pilsner, they were both well made and served quickly. I have included a map of Argentina with this post to illustrate the location of this cerveceria. The red “X” marks its location. It is in the town of El Chalten at the base of Mt Fitz Roy and if I didn’t search for it and find this website, I wouldn’t belive that it has an address or a name other than “the Cerveceria.” Check out the Galeria de Fotos on their webiste for a nice little tour. The interior and exterior of the building are wood. There is room for 30 people sitting at the dozen or so tables and room for a few more at the small bar. You can see the grain mill and an unidentified tun if you look beyond the door behind the bar. Everything on the menu that we had — we visited four times in three days — was delicious. The staff is courteous and it is always full of trekkers just off the mountain. If you are in the area, you need to stop there.
Another one of my favorite beers of the trip was Austral’s Calafate beer. This ale is flavored with the Calafate berry, a local berry that looks like a blueberry but has many more seeds than a blueberry and not as strong a taste. In the beer, however, the Calafate berry’s flavor is brought out brilliantly.
While it seemed to me that southern South America does not have the brewing roots, especially among its native peoples, that northern South America has, Patagonia is far from a beer wasteland. Chile in particular has some breweries worth discovering. Frankly, the entire region is beautiful enough that you should go there at least once no matter your drink of choice.
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The other Wednesday, for the second straight year, I competed in the Homebrewing Showcase at Little Havanas as a part of Baltimore Beer Week. I am sad to say that this was the only event that I visited during BBW 2011 but, I think, if you are going to go to just one event, this is not the worst you could do.
