2nd Batch of Cider, RIP Dec 2010-May 2011

This is a sad occasion. Back in December my friend John and I attempted our second batch of hard cider. This past weekend he told me that it had come out ultra-carbonated (Like champagne shooting out the bottle) and it lacked sweetness and had an overpowering coriander flavor. He was disheartened at the fact and ended up throwing his part of the batch out.

Today I tried my own share, and he was completely correct. The cider had way too much coriander in it, and we learned the hard way that you simply do not put your seasoning ingredients in the primary. We also made the error of adding pectin enzyme to the secondary when it should go into the primary. Other errors were adding brown sugar to the racking phase for carbonation (Possible impurities possibly affected this batch and this probably blew up the fizz) when we ran out of cane sugar, not taking any gravity measurements (That would’ve helped tracking the fermentation process and the ABV), and not keeping better account of our measurements of ingredients – especially the cinnamon and coriander.

The third batch will be a much more basic affair. This time since some of the harder beginner lessons out of the way, this one will be carefully measured and tracked, along with keeping the extras to a minimum. I really want to get filtration down so that yucky stuff stays out of the bottles. I’m also doing this one solo, because I know have my own brewing stuff at my house.

Kay Sara Sara though, lessons learned, time to learn some new ones….

 

Beer Is Good For You

I apologize because this is a bit of blogspam, but I wanted to pass it on to anyone who might occasionally read this.

Back in 1980 during an archaeological expedition in Sudan, a Nubian mummy was dug up that had traces of tetracycline in its bones. Tetracycline, if you aren’t aware, is an antibiotic. At the time the researchers theorized the chemical got there due to it latching onto the calcium within the bones. It was basically brushed off as a side affect of the long term processes of time.

Well turns out it may have been put there through beer consumption. The ancient Nubians, rivals to the great Egyptians in their day, were known to be master brewers. It is possible the Nubians were able to create beer using a grain contaminated with an antibiotic producing bacteria.

Scientific American has a podcast on this recent study. Mercury News has an in-depth article on the revelations this gives to us about antiquity. To put it simply, this changes what we thought we knew about the history of medicine. If the Nubians indeed brewed a medicinal beer, then humankind’s knowledge of antibiotics goes back further than we realized. Though the Nubians lacked the ability to identify the specific, chemical compounds and bacteria that caused the healing affects of antibiotics, they did seem to have figured out that using a specific kind of grain, and fermenting it through their brewing process, produced medicinal effects.

To note I doubt you’ll see any craft brewers trying to replicate ancient, Egyptian and Nubian recipes. This ancient beer lacked any hops, meaning the beer was sour and malty (Though you might a sour beer fan so that might be such a bad thing), but it also had the consistency of watery oatmeal. That last part probably won’t get it stewing in the tanks of an Oregonian brewery any time soon.

 

Quickies

20 Things to Know to Make Great Beer, pt 1 (Beer College)

Pick Punch, the personal pick maker

DIY Juice to Alcohol Kit (Think Geek)

 

Oh shit…

From Slash/Food:

This is Guinness gone craft beer.

 

Lucky Bucket’s Evil Halloween

For Omaha locals: the poster says it all. I think you can make solid plans for Halloween now.

Lucky Bucket site

 

Cider Log: October

I first made hard cider for the first time back in June. It’s currently in secondary fermentation in my closet. I’ve steadily learned a lot since then, and it’s been a really fun process. Here is a snapshot of sorts recording where this started, where I’m at now, and where I plan to go.

June

My buddy John and I decided to make cider.

Our first batch consisted of store-bought Whole Foods natural cider and cinnamon added for seasoning. We named our cider “Frankenstein.”

Our supplies came from Cornhusker Beverage and Bridal. Oh and Amazon too.

The first source we used for cider making instructions came from a page on Instructables.

The cider aged in primary for 1 month, per the Instructables page, and we racked in July.

July

Racking was done with no filtration. We didn’t know how to do it anyway and wanted to see what raw, unfiltered cider tasted like.

We used bottles bought from Cornhusker Beverage, but started saving our empties from other beers to recycle.

John couldn’t keep his hands out of the cookie jar and opened up his cider in August. I think his half of the batch is gone now.

My half went back to my home, where it’s still fermenting.

August

John started drinking his cider.

We both sampled the cider. It was cloudy and had a yeasty aftertaste, but was otherwise dry, somewhat similar to an English hard cider.

I could tell it needed more aging when I tasted it, but wasn’t sure how much longer I should let it go. I planned at this point to let the cider go for 6 months.

September

We made our 2nd cider batch. This time we used both cinnamon and coriander, along with Musselman’s natural cider.

Our goal for this batch was to learn more about filtration. We also started to research apple presses and crushers.

I started going to Reddit’s homebrewing page and lurking, scooping up tips and stories about homebrewing.

We went to Brew Haha to taste some local craft brewers and rate them for “homework.”

We both decide to rack the 2nd cider batch in October.

October

I posted a thread on Reddit’s homebrewing page asking about filtering. The Redditors were helpful. The most common suggestions were:

- Using pectin enzyme

- Triple racking the cider

- Fermenting the cider longer in the primary stage

- Fermenting the cider longer in the secondary stage

We’re putting all those to work on our 2nd batch and to the 1st where applicable.

We now plan on making our 3rd batch. John wants an “apple pie” cider similar to Woodchuck’s fall cider. I’m thinking nutmeg, cloves, allspice and cinnamon will help us achieve something close to the apple pie flavor he wants.

The Future:

- Purchasing a crusher and press

- Purchasing orchard-grown apples

- Testing blends of apples for cider flavors

- Racking the 2nd batch for secondary

- Putting the 3rd batch in primary

- Devising our 4th batch and beyond

I’ll put another log up once our 2nd batch is racked.

 

More Beer in Space

In space, no one can hear you act drunk

According to MSNBC the group Astronauts4Hire are testing an Australian-originated beer recipe that should withstand low gravity environments.

In the past space beer has been negatively affected by low to zero gravity. It first glops out of the container in wet, sticky orbs, makes you burp a lot and loses a lot of flavor. The Dutch tested beer on the International Space Station and it did not go over well. This Aussie group though claims to have figured out how to make beer retain it’s good flavor and to release its gases, ensuring the drinking experience is retained for spaceborne astronauts.

4 Pines Brewing of Sydney developed the beer and Saber Astronautics worked with them to make the beer suitable for transport to space. Zero Gravity Corp. will take the beer to a microgravity environment (Essentially an altitude over 80,000 ft) and there Astronauts4Hire will pop open a cold one and taste the results.

All this together is more for a burgeoning space tourism industry, for in countries like America state-sponsored space exploration budgets have been cut in favor of unmanned probes, but rich people still want to go to space. Thus there is interest in a private space exploration and travel market. Naturally the people dropping hundreds of thousands on a trip to space will want to get drunk, so good on ‘em.

 

Where is this? I want it.

It’s a Porter! It’s an IPA! It’s an American Porter India Pale Ale! The craft brewing community hasn’t made up its mind yet, but so far a uniquely American beer concoction called Cascadian Dark Ale is stunning beer lovers and judges. CDA combines the sharpness of an IPA with the looks of a Porter or dark ale. It’s name betrays the origin, the Pacific Northwest, and allegedly its flavors evoke ginger, rosemary and mint. (Links about CDA’s are here, here, here and here)

Nomenclature, not flavor, is what’s up for debate, as some beer orgs prefer to call the style a Black India Pale ale or other such combination of American, black and IPA. Cascadian Dark Ale is the shortest and perhaps most accurate name for it though, for this recipe did berth from the efforts of PNW brewers like Rogue and Walking Man.

Aside from that, it’s a treasure to American craft brewers that a truly unique, American style is growing from craft brewing’s hot zone. It’s a style I will eagerly track down in my local store, and hope Midwestern brewers take on the challenge of making it soon. But beer snobs, please, just call the damn thing Cascadian Dark Ale and put it to rest. We should be making and drinking beer not quarreling over it.

 

New Batch, New Commitment

As I write this another fresh batch of cider is sitting and fermenting in my friend’s basement. The last one was split between us, and he chose to imbibe while my share is still aging for another three months. I’ve tried our cider and it’s a bit on the yeasty side, but there is a slight English, dry characteristic to its flavor. This is good for I’d feared that it would come out too fruity and sweet. For this batch I want to research filtration. Also I want to know whether it’s better to season and spice the cider before fermentation, or to add such spices later in the process after filtration. Cider is a different creature than beer. It’s a shorter process, about three steps instead of seven, but there are many nuances to this procedure about which I’m still learning. It’s an exciting process really.

With that said my friend and I have decided to commit and look into a crusher and press, so we can commence using orchard apples in the summer. I figured that using store-bought cider usually makes 48, 12 oz bottles of cider come to $0.55 per bottle out of our pockets, so it costs us around $26.40 to make cider each time out. It also takes 180 apples to make a batch of 5 gal of cider. So the question is whether it’s cheaper or not to buy apples from a local orchard, or to continue buying cider from the grocer? I digress though. My point was I’ve found what seems to be a good starter kit at Cabela’s. It’s a $369.98 investment, but we’d be able to fully create our own, original recipes, which is something I anticipate greatly. Our most recent batch contains cinnamon, vanilla extract and coriander, and there are other spice combos I’d like to try as well.

So with Christmas coming up, well, I’m not asking for money or something for free, but I would love you forever. Just sayin’.

 

2010 Brew Haha Reviews

Photo: Nebraska Brewing Co.

Last Thursday when I was making a big to-do about the NFL season opener, I also happened to attend a beer tasting that night. It was a charitable event that I quite enjoyed, and I’d like to share some observations and reviews of what I saw and the beer I drank.

Event: Brew Haha, put on by Habitat For Humanity Omaha, sponsored by 96.1 the Brew.

Features: Beer Tasting (More below) from local craft brewers and sellers, food by local restaurants and grocery stores. Silent auction for artwork made by Univ. Nebraska-Omaha students.

There were 35 beers by about 11 different companies or organizations. I didn’t try them all, because several I had already drank before and saw no point sampling, but I did sample 7 beers that I hadn’t tried before (Note: one was actually a hard cider).

The Brew Haha staff handed all attendees a beer rating sheet listing all the beers, with boxes for Appearance, Aroma, Flavor and Overall. I graded Overall but calculating the average of the other 3 scores.

Gottberg Brew Pub (Columbus, NE) Oktoberfest: given the timing, many of the booths had fall seasonals for sampling and most had the “Oktoberfest,” moniker, including the well-known Samuel Adams take on the Oktoberfest brew. It’s got to be a uniquely American craft brewing thing, for in Germany I venture that most Germans just drink regular beer during Oktoberfest. But I digress; anyway, based on a 1-5 score, here is how I rated Gottberg’s Oktoberfest beer.

Appearance – 4/ Aroma – 3/ Flavor – 4/ Overall – 3.5

Gottberg’s Oktoberfest was above average to me and while it wasn’t bad by any means, the aroma didn’t do much for me. Appearance is kind of a hard one for me because beer is typically limited to small ranger of colors and the head to me doesn’t matter. I usually try to avoid pouring too much head and really, aesthetics is all we’re talking here so I never understood why that category mattered enough to rate. That’s what was on my score sheet though so I gave it a 4. The thing that matters, the taste, was also a 4 because I wasn’t blown away but wasn’t turned off either, and there wasn’t anything negative about the flavor. It just wasn’t special enough to rate a 5.

Lucky Bucket Brewery (LaVista, NE) Oktoberfest: Another one of several Oktoberfest brews, I was looking forward to having Lucky Bucket’s, for I really enjoy their lager and I love their sister company Solas’ vodka. I was actually pretty let down.

Appearance – 4/ Aroma – 2/ Flavor – 3/ Overall – 3

Now the thing is, aroma may have been affected by the fact I had been reusing my tasting cup and hadn’t rinsed it out to that point. Mixing beer in the same glass pretty much ruins aroma. So really take the 2 with a grain of salt, but it did pull the overall score down to a 3. That said the flavor really was, well, pretty thin and weak. Oktoberfest beers are usually pretty flavorful red ales and lagers, and Lucky Bucket’s was just totally “meh.” It didn’t rate a 2 only because it didn’t evoke a aversive reaction, just a very unimpressed one from me. Lucky Bucket is doing really well with their Lager in the Omaha metro, so its’ a shame to see they didn’t hit the mark with Oktoberfest.

New Belgium (Ft. Collins, CO) Hoptober: New Belgium is one of those craft brewers doing really well with its Fat Tire ale, and I’m a fan of their Tripel – it’s a much cheaper way to enjoy a Belgian-style, triple fermented ale and still get some of the quality. Hoptober is their entry into the fall seasonal bracket. I was over the moon for this damn thing, and that only happened once more during the whole tasting.

Appearance – 5/ Aroma – 5/ Flavor – 5/ Overall – 5

Hoptober struck me out of the blew right away for being the first beer I’ve had that was quite hoppy in aftertaste and aroma, but drank like a blonde ale: smooth at the start, hoppy at the finish. The bitterness of many hoppy ales like IPAs and such is there but in the background. It’s a subtlety I seldom encounter. I love this beer, that’s all I can say.

Woodchuck Cider (Middlebury, VT) Fall Cider: Oh man. This thing was just beautiful. If I wasn’t sticking to the 1-5 scale, I would’ve given it a 6 for flavor.

Appearance – 5/ Aroma – 5/ Flavor – 5/ Overall – 5

This cider literally smells like fall and apple pie. You are taken to New England just by smelling it. It’s the Yankee Candle of ciders. There are spices jumping right out of this thing, and one wonders if they liberally applied the nutmeg, ginger and allspice to get this one to come out like that. If one posited the question, “What does a season taste like?” I’d hand them Woodchuck’s Fall Cider and say, “Here. This is what autumn tastes like.”

Rock Bottom Brewery (Various, chain) Red Rocks: This is an amber ale that to me looked more on the reddish side, but that could’ve been because it was overcast outside during the event. Rock Bottom is a brewpub chain, which is kind of a new thing, because while there are plenty of large restaurant chains, I haven’t encountered one that makes its own beer until Rock Bottom came along. Their food seems no different from TGI-Rubychilibee’s, and the beer basically carried the same characteristics of the food from these places: it looks and smells good, but you can taste the SYSCO all over it.

Appearance – 4/ Aroma – 5/ Flavor – 3/ Overall 4

Red Rocks was right in the “meh” category for taste. I suppose If I was at Rock Bottom eating Generic, Midwesterner-Friendly Buffalo Wings or Healthy-Looking Meat Wrap #3, I’d like to wash the goliath portions I’d be served down with this beer.

Tallgrass (Manhattan, KS) IPA: Tallgrass needs no introduction here. I wrote a review on them and they sent me free beer. I thanked the booth attendee and told him to tell whomever sent the beer I am very appreciative. That said to this point I’ve never had their IPA nor their Oasis Double IPA. I tried both that night.

Appearance – 4/ Aroma – 3/ Flavor – 4/ Overall – 4.5

The IPA came in that colorful, tall boy can Tallgrass is so fond of, and even from the can it still tasted pretty damn good. Their IPA is not as bitter to me as some I’ve had, and I gave it a 5 in appearance for both the golden-hued beer itself and the green, striped can with the elephant on it. Tallgrass has some of the best-looking packaging in the craft brewing business. Anyway the flavor rated right at a 4. Again good, not above and beyond though like their Buffalo Sweat stout.

Tallgrass Oasis Double IPA: I have no basis of comparison for a “double” IPA, because I’d never had one until I tried Tallgrass’. That said I enjoyed pretty much everything about the beer except the smell.

Appearance – 4/ Aroma – 3/ Flavor – 5/ Overall – 4

Oasis comes in a yellow can, and the aroma is pretty unremarkable. It looks very golden and yellowy in your cup, and the flavor knocked me out. This is a great-tasting beer, and I mean that in the most serious way I can put it. Even from a can this beer tasted fantastic.

Final verdict: it seems that in my opinion, the out of state beers did better than the Nebraska ones; however, I must note that Nebraska Brewing Co, Upstream Brewing, Schilling Bridge and Empyrean Brewing were all there also. I didn’t review their beers because I had already tried the beers they supplied to the Brew Haha, and I already like all of them. In fact in terms of quality, Empyrean and NBC in particular easily match and even surpass some of the beers I reviewed. The important thing was that all the admission and proceeds from the auction (I won one of the artworks, as a matter of fact) went to Habitat for Humanity Omaha. Thanks to that group for what they do for the poor and for putting on the Brew Haha.