Recapping a Batch

After talking to the helpful people at my local homebrew supply store I decided to re-cap my (currently) disastrous batch four. First I stuck all the bottles in the fridge for a couple of hours so the C02 would be less likely to come out of solution. Then I grabbed one and popped the cap. No foam came out and I though I was good to go. I set the bottle down and turned to do something else for a minute, and when I came back foam was coming out at a good clip. Pretty soon the level of the beer was well below the bottom of the neck. Once the foaming stopped I poured the remaining beer into a glass and tried it. It wasn't great but I've bought worse.

With the rest I decided to just barely crack the seal, hoping that a slower release would result in less beer loss. It worked, though I ended up having to give each cap several gentle prys until I got the optimal opening. Even with patience a couple of bottles lost about a quarter of their contents, and all lost some. Once the flow stopped from the bottles I boiled some caps and re-sealed the bottles. I put the batch back in the basement to cool-ish condition for a week and I will sample it again in week or so.

Hopefully this is the first and last time I have to perform a re-capping.

Otter Creek Brewing Roundup

Otter Creek Brewing makes two lines of beer, the other being Wolaver's Organic Ales. Most of beers marketed under the main line were decent and drinkable, without any bad flavors but also unexceptional, like the organics. As with the beers sampled under the last round of testing, several of these were pretty old and may not have had optimal flavor - especially the Copper Ale, which poured completely flat. I will get some fresh product and do a re-taste later in the summer.

Otter Creek Brewing beers
Otter Creek Vermont Lager
Otter Creek ESB
Otter Creek Pale Ale
Otter Creek Copper Ale
Otter Creek White Sail
Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter

Notes: Otter Creek recently installed a new bottling line for both of their brands. As of my last trip to the bevvy the new labels don't have date codes on them anywhere, nor do the bottles. In a few months the lack of dates could be seriously frustrating.

Otter Creek White Sail

Style: Belgian White
Appearance: Medium gold, fizzy during pour, white-colored head that subsided almost immediately, no lacings
Aroma: Sweet, orangey
Mouthfeel: Light, creamy
Taste: Sweet,
Verdict: A decent beer
Comments: I am unfamiliar with this style but the beer was good and had a refreshing flavor

Links: Otter Creek Brewing, Rate Beer, Beer Advocate

Otter Creek Copper Ale

Style: Amber
Appearance: Medium amber, no head, no lacings
Aroma: Sweet, caramel
Mouthfeel: Light
Taste: Sweet
Verdict: A tolerable amber ale
Comments: This ale was completely flat when poured and the flavor was rather simple.

Links: Otter Creek Brewing, Rate Beer, Beer Advocate

Notes: This can't be a typical bottle. I will re-sample and update at some point.

Otter Creek Pale Ale

Style: Pale Ale
Appearance: Medium amber, small white-colored head that subsided almost immediately, no lacings
Aroma: Floral, hoppy
Mouthfeel: Light
Taste: Slightly sweet, nice hop bite
Verdict: A decent pale ale
Comments: This pale ale is pretty good and has a pleasantly hoppy aroma and flavor.

Links: Otter Creek Brewing, Rate Beer, Beer Advocate

Otter Creek ESB

Style: ESB
Appearance: Medium amber, small white-colored head that subsided almost immediately, no lacings
Aroma: Hint of sweet and hops
Mouthfeel: Medium
Taste: Slightly sweet, moderately bitter
Verdict: A decent bitter
Comments: A decent, drinkable ale that has a bitter finish without the floral overtones of a pale ale.

Links: Otter Creek Brewing, Rate Beer, Beer Advocate

Otter Creek Vermont Lager

Style: Lager
Appearance: Medium gold, small white-colored head that subsided almost immediately, no lacings
Aroma: Hint of sweet
Mouthfeel: Light
Taste: Slightly sweet, slightly dry finish
Verdict: A decent lager
Comments: Though much better than a macrobrew, this lager is unexceptional.

Links: Otter Creek Brewing, Rate Beer, Beer Advocate

Brewing a Batch: Belgian Pale Ale

Brewing tonight's batch was pretty straightforward and the wonderful smell of malt now fills my humble abode. I have no idea what this style tastes like so I hope to have a pleasant surprise in a few weeks. Five different specialty grains totaling two pounds in weight should provide some interesting flavors.

Batch Three Update Three

Since the batch four brown ale turned out to be a total bust and I had drained the last of the pretty good batch two smoked porter last night, I decided try my batch three altbier again. I have been letting it coolish-condition in my basement since my last sampling on the advice of Chris in comments. Good advice, Chris. The beer had lost all of its yeasty aroma and turned into a really smooth and drinkable ale. It now has a little malt flavor in the body and just a bit of mouth-drying hops at the finish. It has touches of other flavors I can't quite identify as my taste buds are rather primitive. But my buds do know what they like, and they have pronounced this beer ready to be downed on a regular basis.

Batch Four

Style: Brown Ale
Grains: 18 oz., 60 minute soak in 1.5 gal.
Malt: 6.3 lbs Muntons light, 60 minute boil in 3.0 gal.
Hops: 1.0 oz. Styrian Goldings @ 60 minutes, 0.5 oz. Fuggles @ 30 minutes, 0.5 oz. Fuggles @ 5 minutes
Fermentation: 5.0 gal. total liquid, Wyeast London III
Yield: 47 12 oz. bottles, 3/4 cups corn sugar as primer

Appearance: Medium brown, cloudy, huge tan-colored head that subsided after several minutes, light lacings
Aroma: Trace of malt
Mouthfeel: Very full
Taste: Bitter, blah
Verdict: An unpleasant ale
Comments: Houston, we have a problem. Two, in fact.

First, the carbonation is excessive in this beer, and a normal pour results in a huge head. With a careful pour down the side and a judicious sip of foam near the end, I can work a whole beer into a glass. All the fizz ruins the mouthfeel and makes me look like rabid dog if swirl the beer around in my mouth a bit. Back when I was bottling this batch I complained about the lack of carbonation in previous batches but I was hoping to go from one to two, not from one to twenty.

Second, the taste is blah - slightly bitter at the beginning, slightly harsh at the end, and without much maltiness. Perhaps this is the style or recipe, but more likely is that whatever caused the carbonation problem also affected the taste.

One thing to note is that the problem is batch-wide. I tried three beers from one six-pack, and then two from elsewhere in the batch, and they all had the same problems. The last two behaved even worse as they were at room temperature when I opened them, and most of the beer promptly self-foamed out. This stirred up the fairly thick layer of sediment into the beer that remained, making it positively soupy instead of just cloudy.

So what went wrong? One possibility is that I bottled the beer too soon, when there was still a lot of fermentation to left to do. Another is that by cleaning my bottles a day early, they all had the chance to get contaminated by airborne nasties. Another is that it was contaminated elsewhere during the brewing or bottling process. I suspect the first, but I don't really know.

Well, I was bound to have a disappointing batch sometime. Still, it is frustrating. I've moved the batch to the basement to let it coolish-condition for a bit, and I will sample the batch again in two weeks. Fortunately I still have some tasty batch two porter left, and I am now off to drown my sorrows in that.

Wolaver's Organic Ales Roundup

Wolaver's is a second brand or line of beer from Otter Creek Brewing that prominently touts its organic wholesomeness. The beers I had tonight were all decent and drinkable, but unexceptional. I was somewhat puzzled by the Pale Ale and India Pale Ale, as the former was more hoppy and the later more malty - if anything I would expect the opposite. I am fairly sure I didn't switch the two as I reviewed all my pictures closely. Perhaps the age of the pale ale threw the flavor off a bit. As with the Trout River beers, I plan to get fresh product if it is offered at the brewery and then do a second round of tasting this summer.

Wolaver's Organic Ales beers
Wolaver's Pale Ale
Wolaver's Brown Ale
Wolaver's India Pale Ale
Wolaver's Oatmeal Stout

Notes: I ran into a Wolaver's/Otter Creek rep when I was shopping for these beers, and he said that the brewery just switched to twist-off long necks for their beers from the slightly-shorter-than-longneck bottle seen above.

Wolaver's Oatmeal Stout

Style: Oatmeal Stout
Appearance:Black, slightly fizzy during pour, brown-colored head that subsided in a few minutes, no lacings
Aroma: Smokey
Mouthfeel: Full
Taste: Smokey
Verdict: A decent oatmeal stout
Comments: This stout is dominated by smokey flavors, perhaps more so than any of the porters I've sampled. Good, but the flavor is strong and lingers.

Links: Wolaver's Organic Ales, Rate Beer, Beer Advocate

Wolaver's India Pale Ale

Style: India Pale Ale
Appearance: Light amber, clear, slightly fizzy during pour, white-colored head that subsided in a few minutes, light lacings
Aroma: Slightly sweet
Mouthfeel: Medium
Taste: Sweet, slightly bitter
Verdict: A decent IPA
Comments: This is a decent, drinkable beer but I am not sure should be called an IPA as the hop bite isn't that pronounced whereas the sweetness comes through.

Links: Wolaver's Organic Ales, Rate Beer, Beer Advocate

Wolaver's Brown Ale

Style: Brown Ale
Appearance: Dark amber, clear, tan-colored head that subsided in a few minutes, no lacings
Aroma: Touch of roasty sweetness
Mouthfeel: Moderately full
Taste: Slightly bitter, slightly sweet
Verdict: A decent brown ale
Comments: I don't know much about the style but this is a decent beer with just a hint of roasty flavor along with the malt and hops. The sweetness builds at the end along with the hops, which is different from a lot of ales.

Links: Wolaver's Organic Ales, Rate Beer, Beer Advocate

Wolaver's Pale Ale

Style: Pale Ale
Appearance: Medium amber, clear, white-colored head that subsided in a few minutes, light lacings
Aroma: Slightly hoppy
Mouthfeel: Medium
Taste: Slightly sweet, bitter
Verdict: A decent pale ale
Comments: Pale ales can seem rather blah alongside an IPA but a less aggressive hop bite is good at times. However, this beer's bite seemed more pronounced than the IPA from the same company. The date on this bottle indicats it was from last September, so perhaps fresher beer would taste different. It was still a drinkable beer.

Links: Wolaver's Organic Ales, Rate Beer, Beer Advocate

Bottling a Batch: Condensed Version

Even though Wednesday has been designated beer production day, I didn't get around to bottling my latest batch of porter until today. There was no floating crust on this batch, and the trub was stable and didn't get sucked into the bottling bucket. I could have gotten a tad more beer out of the bottling bucket but I was being overly cautious about the trub. That left my last bottle about half full, which I capped anyway just to see what will happen. Here are the steps I took, without last time's extended commentary.

-1) Locate 48 bottles and clean off any labels
0) Relax and have a homebrew (or sample some new beers)
1) Wash bottles in slightly soapy water, rinse, and drain
2) Mix 6 gallons of sanitizer in the bottling bucket
3) Force sanitizer through the autosiphon
4) Fill bottles with sanitizer
5) Rinse out bottling bucket and autosiphon
6) Pour sanitizer out of bottles and shake bottles dry
7) Boil 3/4 cup of sugar for a few minutes and pour into bottling bucket
8) Transfer beer from fermenting bucket to bottling bucket with autosiphon
9) Boil caps for a minute
10) Bottle beer
11) Cap beer bottles
12) Place beer back where it went through primary fermentation

Beer and the 2007 Vermont Legislative Session

Four bills of note to beer drinkers have been introduced in the Vermont Legislature so far this year. I will be writing to my representatives to urge their support for the changes as noted, based on my understanding of the legalese.

Support: H.94/S.28 would raise the maximum alcohol by volume for beer and other malt beverages from 8 to 16 percent. This would allow more "big" and exotic beers to be sold through regular distribution channels instead of through the state monopoly. This would be a very worthwhile change as wine up to 16 percent ABV does not need to go through the state system already. I don't know why a different level of alcohol came to be allowed in the two types of beverage, but the mismatch has never made sense to me since in my experience it is just as easy to get drunk off of one type as the other.

Support: S.029 would amend the law so that both in-state and out-of-state brewers could not hold a liquor serving license where they served their own beverages. I presume this means other than brewpubs and on-site pubs of brewers. Previously only in-state brewers were prevented from owning a liquor serving license. It is quite reasonable to make the law uniform, and in general I think it is a good idea to limit brewers from owning their own bars. This is especially true in Vermont, which is so small that a major could probably buy most of the bars in the state with the money they find in their accounting errors.

Neutral: H.034 would expand the bottle bill. Unfortunately the text is not online as of this writing, so I can't say for sure how I feel. I don't have an opinion on bottle bills as a whole because I haven't seen any evidence that they reduce litter, which is their main intent. However, the current deposit levels are undoubtedly low at $0.05 (at least for beer bottles), and if bottle bills do work this one should be updated to increase the deposit levels and cover as many types of containers as is reasonable. Since I am used to putting all my containers out for curbside recycling and have continued to do so since I moved here, and because I am not jerk who litters, the bottle bill doesn't have much influence on my personal actions.

Already Passed: H.157 explicitly allows homebrewers to transport their creations for competitions, and provides for regulation of other beer tasting events, both with restrictions. This bill passed with a few bit more red tape and limitations lodged in it than I would like, but I take it that homebrew events were operating in a grey area before, and so the bill made improvements. I think area of law should be revisited after a few years of practice, or if data becomes available on how well similar regulations in other states have worked.

Orlio India Pale Ale

Style: India Pale Ale
Appearance: Dark amber, clear, white colored head that subsided in a few minutes, no lacings
Aroma: Slightly hoppy, slightly sweet
Mouthfeel: Medium
Taste: Slightly sweet, bitter
Verdict: A decent IPA
Comments: Organic or not, this is a decent India pale ale. Tasty and drinkable, it has a nice hop bite and leaves the mouth a bit dry and eager for another sip.

Links: Orlio Organic Beer, Rate Beer (not yet), Beer Advocate

Notes: See previous entry.

Orlio Common Ale

Style: Common Ale
Appearance: Deep gold, crystal clear, fizzy during pour, white colored head that subsided in a few minutes, heavy lacings
Aroma: Floral, citrus
Mouthfeel: Light
Taste: Hoppy, slightly sweet, hop aftertaste
Verdict: A decent ale
Comments: Organic or not, this is a decent beer that is a little unusual. It may be a California Common Ale but the website does not indicate in what subtype of ale the brewer would classify the brew. It is similar in taste to Magic Hat's hI.P.A. but toned down a good bit.

Links: Orlio Organic Beer, Rate Beer (not yet), Beer Advocate

Notes: Orlio seems to be another brand of beers from Magic Hat, similar to how Otter Creek also produces the Wolaver's brand of organic beers. It's brewed at the Magic Hat brewery in South Burlington, it uses the same PR person, and like Magic Hat it has an annoying Flash-based website, which as of this writing is rather lame and incomplete. From poking around on the web I can't tell for sure if it is owned by the same people, but it is quacking enough to make that assumption.

Farewell, Batch One

With a little bit of sadness and a good deal of pleasure I downed the last bottle of my first batch of homebrewed beer tonight, along with some leftover masaman curry I happily rediscovered before it went bad. The beer remained quite good as it was bottled in late February. I am not sure if it improved over time but it certainly didn't acquire any off flavors. I didn't have a single contaminated bottle in the bunch, which surprised me as at the outset I was sure I would mess up on sanitization somewhere. While the first sip of the batch convinced me that homebrewing is something I wanted to make a major hobby, comparing my homebrewed beer to commercial beers made me a little proud (pat, pat) of how well I had done (or lucked out) with the first batch. Hopefully most of my batches will turn out as well as this one.

À votre santé!

Long Trail Double Bag

Style: Altbier
Appearance: Dark amber, clear, white colored head that subsided in a few minutes, light lacings
Aroma: Slightly hoppy
Mouthfeel: Medium
Taste: Slightly sweet, hoppy, smooth finish
Verdict: A decent ale
Comments: This is supposedly a stronger altbier but I would have mistaken it for a pale ale or India pale ale. The hop presence is noticeable but not overwhelming, and the relatively high alcohol content does not affect the test.

Links: Long Trail Brewing, Rate Beer, Beer Advocate

Notes: In stores this beer is usually priced a dollar or so more than other microbrews per six-pack. It is a very drinkable beer but I am not sure it should command a price premium. Is the additional malt content that expensive? I suppose I'll find out when I start brewing higher alcohol beers.

Minor Rant: Flash-based sites are annoying because it is impossible to link to specific content within the site (hint, hint, Long Trail).

Vermont Breweries Strong in 2006

Over on the Brookston Beer Bulletin I discovered that the Brewers Association had just released a list of the top 50 breweries (warning: PDF) by volume in 2006. I was pleased to discover that three Vermont breweries had made the list - Magic Hat at 24, Long Trail at 33, and Otter Creek at 50. Harpoon, which is based in Mass but has a big plant in Vermont, ranked 20th. Craft beer sales were up 17.8 percent as compared to 2.4 percent all beer and 5.1 percent for alcohol overall. Good news for beer fans in the Green Mountain state and beyond!

Trout River Brewing Roundup

Trout River is a pretty small outfit located way up in the most rural part of Vermont. I definately was disappointed with the beers I sampled. I tasted the lot together and then in comparison to two of my own brews, which were much better. Perhaps I managed to get a bad bottle of every one, but that seems unlikely. I plan on visiting the brewery later in the year and I will make sure to get some fresh product for another testing.

Trout River Brewing beers
Hoppin Mad Trout
Rainbow Red Ale
Scottish Style Ale
Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

Trout River Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

Style: Oatmeal Stout
Appearance: Dark red-brown, brown-colored head that subsided almost immediately, minimal lacings
Aroma:Smoky
Mouthfeel: Full
Taste: Smoky, hint of cocoa
Verdict: A decent stout
Comments: Porters and stouts are very similar styles and this could have passed as a porter.

Links: Trout River Brewing, Rate Beer, Beer Advocate

Notes: This is a seasonal beer so the far end of the link may change.

Trout River Scottish Style Ale

Style: Scottish Ale
Appearance: Dark amber, slightly hazy with fine sediment, white-colored head that subsided in a few minutes, minimal lacings
Aroma: Slight hint of smoke
Mouthfeel: Medium
Taste: Slightly harsh with alcohol
Verdict: A tolerable ale
Comments: There is a slightly funky aftertaste to this beer but that may be the style. The flavor isn't all that strong so the alcohol comes through

Links: Trout River Brewing, Rate Beer, Beer Advocate

Notes: I'm not really familiar with this style so I can't really say if it is poorly done or what is to be expected. I have no idea if sediment is normal in this beer.

Trout River Rainbow Red Ale

Style: Red Ale
Appearance: Medium amber, clear, minimal head, no lacings
Aroma: Slightly hoppy
Mouthfeel: Medium
Taste: Slightly bitter
Verdict: A tolerable red ale
Comments: This beer starts unexciting and has a slightly unpleasant finish.

Links: Trout River Brewing, Rate Beer, Beer Advocate

Trout River Hoppin Mad Trout

Style: India Pale Ale
Appearance: Dark gold, slightly cloudy with fine sediment, minimal head, no lacings
Aroma: Slightly hoppy
Mouthfeel: Medium
Taste: Touch of sweet followed by funk
Verdict: An unpleasant pale ale
Comments: This beer starts slightly sweet but has an unpleasant aftertaste, and really isn't any better than a macrobrew.

Links: Trout River Brewing, Rate Beer, Beer Advocate

Notes: I have no idea if sediment is normal in this beer.

Brewing a Batch: Condensed Version

Tonight I brewed my latest batch, which should turn into a malty porter. Here are the steps I took, with rather less blather than the previous edition.

-1) Activate the yeast pack the preceding day
0) Relax and have a homebrew *
1) Soak the grains in hot water in a pot
2) Dissolve the malt in hot water in the boiling pot
3) Wash the grains in a strainer over the boiling pot
4) Set the wort to boil
5) Sanitize the fermenting bucket, airlock, lid, thermometer, strainer, paddle, and brush
6) Add the hops at the beginning of the boil and near the end
7) Cool the wort in the sink
8) Pour the wort through the strain