2013 reflections: Take some time with this one!

1st ...

 

Seriously tho...

A little out of order:

Citra hops, I found them too. Don't skimp or you're just foolin' yourself. Can't say if they age worth a darn because they didn't last long enough to hit the three month mark.

I should consider entering a competition. I think rather than simply entering a BJCP type thingie, I'd do better to enter a "everybody starts with X" and you wing it from there type of thing. Maybe next year.

I admit to being behind on my real goal for the year, which was my 10 gallon brew system and completion of the brewhaus / mancave. However, I have been gathering equipment, parts, materials, and now I'm damn close to hitting critical mass. In truth, it's not something that needed to be rushed. I want it to be badass, not just barely functional enough to choke out a batch. And it will be. It's going to be both air conditioned and heated, with a great wood burning stove already in place, and the insulation ready to go. The roof has two sunlights, and the actual burners/brewkegs will have their own special deck for brewing, with insulated, heat-shielded burners, and labor-reduced flow of materials and finished product. I just picked up the heat shields, bringing back the welder and bad-ass quick-drive screwgun to complete the project in good time. It will be extensively tested and made sure to work like a champ, and will even be an "evolving" project, in that if a better way to do something is discovered later, modifications can be made.

School has kinda slowed me down both on brewing and on the mancave, but I gotta do what I gotta do there. I'm taking fewer credits next time around, so we'll see what happens on that.

Hopefully I can finally reach my goal of playing bass in a big metal band and going on tour, and spending all day hanging out and having hott chicks chase me, fighting over who gets to have me next. Truthfully, I'd ditch it all for this, all you scallywags, school, brewing, everything, mostly I just want to play bass in a metal band. My band is getting damn good tho, maybe it will be us who goes on tour next. You gotta chase your dreams, man!

But meanwhile, I've brewed some good stuff this year. Maybe not the best of the best of what I could do tho. Perhaps I need to step it up. Mancave. Mini-goal for the immediate future.

 

Things I'm proud of... successfully brewing my first set of sours (Flanders Reds) and aging them in Cabernet barrels, and brewing some tasty beers (Chai Milk Stout, Imperial Red with Rye, NZ & US IPAs). Getting a beer published in the BA magazine was pretty cool as well! (Thanks Drewbage!). Brewing some big batches for friends weddings (20 gallon batches of IPAs, Pale Ales, Milk Stouts and Hefes). And finally, nailing a couple double decoction mashes.

Things I'm doing next year... brewing a lot more. I essentially shut down brewing in early May, and just brewed for the first time last week. Now that the thesis is done and the baby is here, I can spend some more time brewing and getting back to entering comps. I'll be done a bunch of sours this coming year, along with some big beers and barrel aging.

Things to improve upon... be more quantitative, better control fermentation temps and oxygenation rates, really nail down a solid flander's red and finally try out some different pitching rates in hoppy beers (Apparently sculpin is fairly underpitched).

Things I'll never do again... Enter the Stone Homebrew comp. This year my chai spiced milk stout finished second to the coconut IPA back in March, then a couple weeks ago my brother in law emails me and says "Hey, is Stone brewing your Chai Milk Stout?" Turns out if you finish second, they'll go ahead and brew your beer anyway:

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/107386
http://www.stonebrewing.com/calendar/default.asp?intEventsID=3504

 

Two Notables:

1) Visited Total Wine to buy some unique Belgians (for professional development). It's over a 100 mile trip, so I printed out my wish-list and was organized. I am very familiar with their layout but had trouble finding items listed as in stock, so I enlisted the help of one of the Managers. But he was a "wine-man" and had little knowledge of what I was after. He looked at my list and could not have been more confused if it was in Arabic, could not even understand the difference in brewery, name of beer, or style. But he got on the computer and found the sku numbers and we did a frontal attack on aisle 9. I end up sitting on the floor, grabbing bottles that have been improperly stocked in the rear of the bottom shelf. Gradually my cart is filling up with 750s of items the Manager had never seen, heard of, or even knew were in inventory. I politely explain the attributes of "oud bruin", "trappist", and "bier de garde" . . . mid-way through my explanation he offered me a job in the beer department!

2) Beer-cycled through Flanders and the Ardennes . . . trip of a lifetime.

 

Achievements

Entered 12 beers in BJCP comps this year
- 3 scored in the "good" range
- 6 scored in the "very good" range
- 3 scored in the "excellent" range

Bronze Medal in a BJCP Comp for an English Mild
- My 47th batch of homebrew
- My first BJCP Comp Medal
- Earned it just before my 2 year brewing anniversary

Gold Medal in a BJCP Comp for a Belgian Golden Strong Ale
- My 50th batch of homebrew
- My second BJCP Comp Medal
- My first Gold Medal

Served my homebrew at a Major Annual Beer Festival for the first time
Attended my first National Homebrewing Conference (and also served my beer at that festival as well)
Got offered the chance to brew one of my recipes on a pilot system @ a commercial brewery
Partigyled for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd time this year
Made my 1st and 2nd cider this year
Made my 1st lager this year
Made my 1st sour ale this year (with my homebrew club)
Bottled my 1st batch in 750ml Corked and Caged bottles
Brewed 22 batches in 2013 (not including the sour ale I made with my brew club or the 2 ciders I made)
Brewed 16 different styles (out of those 22 batches) in 2013

Brews I'm proud of
Dark English Mild
Belgian Golden Strong Ale
Belgian Oddball
Belgian Pale Ale
Pineapple Kolsch
Simcoe Amarillo Wheat Pale Ale
Black IPA
A few different American IPA's
Chipotle Session Porter
Ancho Session Porter

Things I'll never do again
Buy a full case of D2 Candi Syrup

 

My best accomplishment this year was making my first lager, an Oktoberfest. In making this beer I also rang in a lot of firsts, including decoction mashing, building a custom water profile, lagering, and a forced ferment test. I am extremely happy with the beer, wishing I knew where to enter it in a competition.

 

I retired at the beginning of the year, and I discovered that all of this extra time that I thought I'd have to brew more often was not there at all. Too many other things to do were waiting in the wings, plus I've discovered that I can't drink the beer or give it away fast enough to justify brewing more. Maybe I just need to get my priorities straight, huh?

 

Big changes led to less brewing in 2013. A 6-month job search cut deeply into my summer and fall brewing. The search ended, I landed a cool job that feels like "the one," but I made only 35 gallons of brew. The start of 2014 will be dominated by relocation but I should find time to get back on my pony by Springtime. Lots on my list for the new year but time will tell whether I'll get to most of it or not.

I ended up brewing 7 batches of beer. Best beers for me were a special bitter featuring golden naked oats (Grain of the Year), an Averagely Perfect IPA, and a little something I called Belgian cream ale. Biggest disappointment was a sour brown from '12 that got oxidized and needs dumping.

 

http://www.bjcp.org/apps/comp_schedule/competition_schedule.php

 

Entered one beer in a BJCP this year. Won a gold medal. It will likely be my last competition. I hope to steward and/or judge a few this year though.

I'd say I brewed about 20-25 beers this year. Hoping to brew even more next year.

The quality of every beer I've made has gotten better. My palate has improved. I'm very, very critical of my beers, and I've reached the point that if I don't find flaws in them, I'm fairly sure they are good.

I've fairly mastered water chemistry this year (although I still need to read Water). The main thing I've learned this year is that ABV is about the least important thing when it comes to beer. Controlling FG, preventing oxidation, and controlling fermentation (whether clean/American or funky/Belgian) are the most important things to me now.

Want to keep learning and keep getting better. Thanks to the folks that contribute to this forum, I'm glad its here.

 

Had the usual great time at NHC. Met Jack and Vikeman there, along with many from other forums. My beer in the second round did not medal, but a friend's did, and the look on his face when his name was called was priceless. The Ninkasi winner was someone I know from previous conferences, so that was cool, David is a good guy.

Worked as a poorer at all 4 Michigan Brewers Guild fests. The one in Marquette is my favorite. Speaking of the UP, made it to Eagle River and the Fitz 3 times this summer, highly recommended if you are traveling that way.

I have been traveling more this year, which allows for taking in soon events like Sierra Nevada's Oktoberfest and Bells Eccentric Day.

For brewing, I have a cooler with SS braid I have used for batch sparging simple ales which only need a single mash temp. I still step mash and fly sparge for many beers.

At a couple of events/competitions I won some stuff this year in raffles. One was a 10.5 gallon SS pot, so Iam putting together a 5 gallon system just because. The other was a bucket, that had 10 lbs of MO grain and a stir starter. That stirstarter gets the total to 3 stir plates, which comes in handy for lager yeasts.

 

Hahaha!! That's awesome!

I've had sorta-job-esque type thingies 'advising' two different stores about beers they should order (i.e. beers I wanted, beers highly sought after yet that would undoubtedly sell well, stock Stone beers etc etc). No pay, but a nice payoff, if you know what I mean.

 

First year brewing. Got out 10 batches in as many months, most of which were decent at least. Moved from extract to all grain and DIY'ed much of the equipment.

Looking forward to about a batch a month in 2014 and working more on honing in water chemistry. More Milds, more hops and maybe even a partigyle.

 

Gimme some achievements
- 11 batches this year. Previous best was 8.
brews you're proud of
- Storm King clone
- Hefeweizen (50% each Pilsner and wheat malt)
things you'll never do again
- Use Windsor yeast
things you're quasi embarrassed to talk about,
- I got to 11 batches by dumping beer
- The homebrewing skill that I can't seem to master is rehydration of dry yeast
and anything semi relevant and memorable to your brewing in 2013.
- This is my first year in which all batches were made on the same system
- The BCS-462 rocks

 

I've used windsor about six times, always works like a champ. Not as attenuative as US-05, but less "English" than S-04. Perhaps rehydration is more of an issue for you than yeast selection?

 

Speak more of the UP. My new job will be taking me to Land O Lakes, WI, right on the border of WI and the UP. I am a bit familiar with some beery opportunities in that part of WI, but less so for the UP. Whadyaknow?

 

Probably. I am on a well so the waters I have to choose from are skanky softened well water or RO water. I have had no problem in the past using well water to rehydrate US05, but Windsor likes neither. However RO water + DME makes reliable liquid yeast starters so I think I will stop swimming upstream.

 

The Fitz is a beer destination on the Keweenaw. In Houghton there is Keweenaw Brewing and the Library.

Marquette has Blackrocks, OreDock, and the Vierling (more of a restaurant, beer is good).

Those are the ones I know the best.