Brew Dudes Homebrewing Blog

2013 Year In Review

On December 31, 2013

On this last day of 2013, I am reflecting on what we did over the past twelve months as most people do. I know I had some Brew Year’s resolutions that I wanted to complete.

I (sorta) went 3 for 3 on them.

The site was redesigned and water chemistry was better understood and some new styles were brewed (Scottish Ale, Braggot, Black Lager, German Pilsner) but I did not get to brew any German ales like I had planned. I guess there is always next year.

I won a few awards for my brews which is always nice. I did get a first place showing in the NERHBC for my Vienna Lager so I brewed it again for the Masters Championship of Amateur Brewing that is happening in 2014.

We discussed the idea of starting a hombrew club which is definitely something we want to do in the new year.

The other thing that you helped me to decide was to buy a grain mill for my next big homebrewing purchase. I will be buying that fairly soon, within the first 2 months of the year, so stay tuned for information about that purchase.

The Brew Dudes also ramped up our video production. We put out a video every Wednesday this year which was a worthy challenge. I will have to look at the numbers but I think our subscriber count grew fairly dramatically over the past 12 months. Without peeking, I think we are over 150 subscribers. That’s better than the 30 or so we had when we started the year. Good times.

I’ll finish this post up by thanking you for reading and visiting the site when you could. We appreciate your time and hope you have enjoyed what we have put out there.

Let us know how your 2013 was by leaving a comment below!

Did you get better at brewing?

Did you learn something about brewing beer at home that you would like to share?

Do you want to ask Mike about his Yule lager?

Leave a comment below!

Cheers to you and yours – Brew on.

Happy Holidays

By Mike

On December 25, 2013

In Videos

Hopefully by now a busy day is winding down. Its time to reward yourself with a good beer.

From our neck of the woods to your corner of the world, Cheers!

Sylva Hops

By John Krochune

On December 20, 2013

In Hops

The Saaz variety has been the parent of many different varieties. The last two hops profiles I have written were about Saaz-derived varieties – Premiant and Rubin hops.

Sylva hops are bred in Australia and are on the spicy side as you would think with Saaz as a parent.

They are marketed as an aroma hop and the name means “of the forest”. I did see some sources calling them Southern Saaz but I am not sure if that was a previous brand name or just a nickname.

So you have to love the combination of continental European hops living it up in the land Down Under. Australian hops tend to have all kinds of fruity flavors but all the descriptions I have seen state that the aromas and flavors are subtle.

Here are the details of this aroma hop:

Origin: Australia

Aroma/Flavor: Aroma is refined with some floral notes. There are also phrases like “forest floor” and “fresh sawn timber” that are used to describe the aroma and flavor of the variety. It’s an herbal, woody hop. It looks like there is a strong connection to the Saaz hop profile and the terrior only contributes a little bit of difference.

Alpha Acid: Most ranges were between 4.6 – 7.0%

Typical Usage: Flavor and aroma in pilsners and pale ales. Whatever recipe you have that calls for Saaz, try Sylva hops instead. I always think Saaz are a spicy hop. The woody descriptions of this hop make me think of Northern Brewer and how that variety tastes in a California Common style. Maybe Sylva could work in that style as well.

They are available for sale online at homebrew shops around the USA. Thankfully, you don’t need to look high and low for them. Also, ask your local homebrew shop if they can order some for you the next time you are in buying ingredients.

Brewing in Winter

By Mike

On December 18, 2013

In Videos

I’ve been a little delayed getting my Yule lager going due to life’s little distractions, especially in December. Anyhow, my delays have now compounded into more obstacles. Here in the Northern suburbs of Massachusetts we’ve got 10 inches of snow. Over the last few days the temps have dropped into the teens. This morning my truck was telling me it was -1F out when I left for work. As I write this post another 6-8inches are falling.

But let me back up. Two weeks ago I planned to get my Yule Lager session going. I wanted to test something with my brew kettle before I started and I ended up filling it to the top with 14 gallons of water. I also left my garden hose hooked up to the outside faucet on the house. Well two days before the first blast of winter weather, the hose was still attached to the house and filled with water.

Now I have a hose that is frozen in some sort of distorted train track series of loops and twists. Useless. Next that 14 gallons of water has frozen nearly solid in my keggle!!! The damn keg is must weigh close to 90lbs and is a real bear to move. Useless!

So I am stuck with a frozen brew kettle and a frozen hose. I can probably slowly heat the kettle on a burner. However, that hose will remain a twisted mess until it warms up enough to lay it out on the black top driveway.

Being a homebrewer though, its time to get resourceful. Its a perfect time to try and do some small batch brewing. I have a mini beverage cooler with about a 2 gallon capacity. I should be able to mash about 4 gallons of grain at a max and produce a decent gravity for a 2 gallon pre boil wort. Doing some small batch brewing means I can heat water and set up my mash in the house. I have a deck right out the back door so I plan to boil out there. I can always grab a bucket of snow and make a ice cold water bath to chill old school style in the sink.

I hope to give this small batch approach a try very soon. As long as the weather stays cold and snowy, maybe I can cruise through several experimental batches in the comfort of my house.

I put a little video together this week to show my equipment issues and the conditions outside.

So how do you deal with brewing in winter? Do you brew like crazy in the fall to stock up. Do you brave the cold and bundle up outside? Maybe you have a heated garage or brew shack. Maybe you moved to Florida just to be able to brew year round. Let us know.

BREW ON!

Vienna Lager Brew Again Session

By John Krochune

On December 16, 2013

In Brew Log

In the last few weeks of the year, I have been busy brewing. The black lager that I brewed two weeks ago was ready to be racked. Once it was racked to a secondary vessel, that wonderful yeast cake could be used for my Vienna Lager.

This is the second time I am brewing this recipe, as I had mentioned in the video on the tasting post.

I like the style and I have a chance to enter it into a national competition so I have two good reasons to brew it again.

After ten inches of snow, the session was delayed an hour or two while I shoveled out our cars and stairs. I thought ahead and put a shovel near the back door where I brew so I could quickly clear out some space and get my kettle going.

The snow started to melt away as the burner was heating up my wort. Soon I had another problem, which was a large puddle of water. Using the shovel, I moved most of the water out of the way so I wasn’t constantly splashing around while I was getting ingredients, putting the chiller into the kettle, adjusting the propane, etc.

Overall, this brew session was successful. I felt like I was able to hit and maintain my mash temperature. There were no boil overs, no malfunctions with the equipment, no mistakes during the boil.

The only miscalculation I had was the temperature of the wort when I racked it out of the kettle and into my fermentor. Although my thermometer said it was between 40° and 50° F, the thermometer strip on the carboy said it was more like 55° F. It wasn’t a total disaster but it could have been avoided with some further investigation into the temperature.

Now the Vienna lager is fermenting nicely. The black lager has been moved to another fridge (my brother’s) for a few weeks while this beer sits at 50°F in mine.

It’s going to be a lager-y spring.

Brew On