Great American Beer Festival 2010

My wife and I just ordered tickets to the 2010 Great American Beer Festival. 2008 was the first year we went and the plan is to go every other year. When we went in 2008 my wife was fresh out of knee surgery so she was still on crutches. We rented a Rascal-type scooter for her to ride around the festival (I'm surprised she didn't get a DUI). It was a blast but it would have been more fun if she was more mobile. I got to try Sam Adams' Utopia which was awesome. Other notables were Maui Brewing Company's Coconut Porter, and orange blossom ales from several different breweries.

This year she's totally healthy so we're really looking forward to it. Some of our friends are joining us so that's an added bonus. In 2008 we did the Saturday Member Session. This year we're doing the Thursday night session. I've heard people say that sometimes the Friday and Saturday night sessions can turn into drunken frat parties, so since the Member Session was sold out, we opted for the Thursday night session. If you've never been the the GABF, I highly recommend it. It's a great time for serious beer enthusiasts and a great way to introduce newbies to the world of craft beer.

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New Domain!!...and Turbodog update

So I finally bit the bullet and sank a whole whopping $10 to register the microbusbrewery.org domain. .com was taken, but maybe it'll be available at some point.

Turbodog Update: The Turbodog turned out really well. My friend from Louisiana said flavor-wise it was indiscernible from the commercial version. The only real difference was he said the body/mouthfeel was slightly lighter than the commercial version. That can be tweaked fairly easily, so I'd call this a success.

I really liked this brew. I was a little concerned about tannins since the sparge was a few degrees higher than other recipes I've made. There are definitely some chocolate notes here, but it's not overpowering. The hops are there as well, but in a very complimentary way and not overpowering either. There are some really balanced flavors going on here. I'd give this brew a B+

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Turbodog Clone

A friend of mine at work is from the New Orleans area and raved about Abita Brewing Company's Turbodog Brown Ale. I tried some of their brews at the 2008 GABF but to be honest it was at the end of the session when things were a bit hazy and I can't really remember exactly which ones I tried.

Abita describes it as:

Turbodog is a dark brown ale brewed with Willamette hops and a combination of pale, crystal and chocolate malts. This combination gives Turbodog its rich body and color and a sweet chocolate toffee-like flavor. Turbodog began as a specialty ale but has gained a huge loyal following and has become one of our flagship brews.

This ale pairs well with most meats and is great served with hamburgers or sausages. It is a good match with smoked fish and can even stand up to wild game dishes. Turbodog is also great for marinating and braising meats and cooking such things as cabbage and greens. Colby, Gloucester, Cheddar and Blue cheeses go nicely with Turbodog. It’s perfect with spicy Louisiana jambalaya or Spanish paella. Some even like it paired with chocolate!

I cracked open BYO's 150 Classic Clone Recipes and since I haven't brewed a brown ale for a long time I figured it'd be a great time to try this brew. The recipe as I'm brewing it is as follows:

9.75 lbs Munton's Pale 2 row

1.25 lbs Briess Crystal 80 (BYO's calls for Crystal 100 but my LHBS doesn't carry it so I went with 80)

.5 lbs Briess Chocolate Malt

.6 oz Chinook hops (90 minutes)

1.25 oz Williamette hops (5 mins)

1.5 oz Williamette hops (0 mins)

White Labs WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast

Mash with 17.25 quarts of water at 152 F for 45 minutes then raise the temp to 172 F for five minutes, then sparge at 172 F.

Follow the above hop schedule letting the wort rest for 15 minutes before chilling after the last hop addition.

Ferment at 65 F for 5-6 days. Cool to 45 F for 7 days then keg/bottle.

Rating: B+

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Berliner Weisse

I got to try a Berliner Weisse inspired brew at the 2008 GABF. The tartness reminded me of a lambic which is another style that I really enjoy and plan on brewing sometime in the next year (I have a couple bags of homegrown hops "aging" in the garage). I brewed the following recipe back in late April. I bottled it about a month ago but I suspect it will need to age at least three months to get the amount of sourness I'm looking for.

3 lbs pilsner malt

2.5 pounds pale wheat malt

.5 oz Kent Goldings for 15 min

White Labs WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch yeast

White Labs WLP677 Lactobacillus Bacteria

I mashed at 149 F for 90 minutes then collected approx 3 gallons of wort. I added water for about 5.3 gallons boil volume and performed a 15 minute boil. I pitched the lacto after chilling to about 80 F then pitched the yeast a day later. I'll post a follow-up in July or August after this has had some time to age and hopefully get nice and sour.

Update 8/2/2010: I tried some of this on 7/4/2010 and again on 8/1/2010. It's still not quite as tart as I'd like, but it was noticeably more tart on 8/1/2010 than 7/4/2010. I like this but it's different than the Berliner Weisse inspired brew that I had at the 2008 GABF. It definitely has some funk going on, but in a good way. In one sense, it has some similarities to some of the Belgian styles. I think this will improve with age and I'd make it again but will probably do a little tweaking. As of 8/1/2010, I'd rate this a C+/B-

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Blanche De Chambly Clone

The basement project is finally wrapping up which hopefully means I'll have time to brew more. Yesterday I brewed a clone of Blanche De Chambly from Unibroue. My wife and I had the opportunity to try this beer last summer at Uva Bar located in Downtown Disney in Anaheim, CA. The brewer describes this beer as:

"Blanche de Chambly has an alluring pale golden color, effervescent foam and a subtle bouquet of spice and citrus notes. It is a mildly malty, sightly sweet and refreshingly thirst-quenching."

I searched the net for a clone recipe and ended up combining a couple.

• 5 lbs Pilsen (Dingemans) (1.6 SRM)
• 4 lbs 8.0 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)
• 1.00 oz Hersbrucker [4.25 %] (60 min) Hops 14.5 IBU (my LHBS was out of Hersbrucker so I substituted Strisselspalt)
• 0.13 oz Ginger, Grated (Boil 10.0 min)
• 0.25 oz Coriander Seed, crushed (Boil 10.0 min)
• 0.25 oz Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 10.0 min)
• 8.0 oz Candi Sugar, Clear (0.5 SRM)
• 1 Pkgs Belgian Wit Ale (White Labs #WLP400)

I mashed in 3 gallons of water at 152 for 70 minutes. I sparged with 5 gallons at 169. In hindsight I think I should have increased my water to grain ratio because I was barely able to collect enough wort.

The brew showed active signs of fermentation this morning and by the time I got home from work today it was going like crazy. The fermentation was so active that I ended up swapping the airlock for a blow-off tube.

Update: I didn't do a side by side tasting, but I'd say this is very very close in appearance and flavor to Blanche De Chambly. This will be one that I will brew again for sure, so I highly recommend it. We've had it on tap for a few weeks now and my wife commented that it's like "summer in a glass". We also had some friends over for a beer tasting party and everyone raved about it. I'd rate this an A

Update 8/9/2010: I brewed this one again today. The LHBS was out of Hersbrucker and Strisselspalt this time, so I went with Mt. Hood.

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