Beercation: Stop #1 Portland, OR

So it seems that every blog that I read has just vacationed in Portland in the last week or so. Well there is good reason, the weather is traditionally nice in August. And our trip last weekend was no exception.

I knew I was going to like this place before we ever left and I knew I was going to want to come back. We were traveling with another couple and were only Portland for only a day and a half. We had to be at a  wedding in Northern Washington by Saturday.
We arrived pretty late on Wednesday night but also very hungry and for me thirsty. We threw our stuff into the hotel and started our hunt for rations. Portland is a very walkable city so we were soon at our first bar, Henry's Tavern. Nice, upscale place with a good bar area. The beer list was decent with no memorable beers but the food was great, I had fancy hotdog sliders (seriously tiny wieners, tiny buns).
We were on our way to the hotel since everything else seemed to be closed. When a nice business man suggested we try to get a drink on the 30th floor, called the Portland City Grill. Why not and up we went. What a view and a great way to get an idea of what the city looks like.

So the next day was our big day to see the city. We started with a quick walk over the Willamette to check out Hair of the Dog. Unfortunately the don't open for people ready to drink beer at 10:30 am on a Thursday. I'll be back for this one. After a hearty breakfast, we started on our epic brewery / brewpub crawl. Check out the map. These breweries don't necessarily have the best brews in Portland. But this was a good way to see a good handful while still having a nice walk through the city. (For example, I really would have liked to go to the Raccoon Lodge, where Cascade beers are made.)

So we decided to start with the long walk so when we were tired from drinking we would have a much shorter walk home..(Also as a Pre-Face I am not a Hop Head and this is big in the Pacific NW)
Stop#1 Laurelwood  - As we arrived the sun started shining and the two stand out beers here were there award winning Golden Ale and the ESB. Both had nice clean malt bills with a great taste/aroma of NW hops. $10 - 8 tasters.
Stop #2 Old New Lompoc - Just a few blocks north, and has a great patio with hop and grape vines everywhere. Another taster rack, not too impressed with this beer but the LSD was an interesting beer and may be fun to make a homebrew version of.
Stopped by the local farmer's market to taste fresh berries and some cider.

Stop#3 Lucky Labrador - Probably my favorite place on the trip when comparing the beer quality and the atmosphere of the place. People do really bring their dogs and it makes for a neat time. So here we tried a double taster of all 12 of their beers on tap. Most were NW hop bombs but a few I still really enjoyed. I think I had my favorite Bourbon Barrel beer, the Red Baron. It was also nice to taste this beer as it warmed up. This is the first bourbon barrel that the nose wasn't too boozy and truly blended with the beer. And another great ESB.
Stop#4 Bridgeport Brewing - This has more of a restaurant feel and had good food. They had all solid beers, kinda reminds me of a Karl Struass in San Diego. All brewed to style and high quality at that. Again the favorite was the ESB.

Stop#5 Rogue - Probably my other favorite on the crawl. And I knew it would be going in. They had a lot of beers on tap and allowed you to mix match your own samplers. They had a brand new beer just released that was a favorite of the whole day, their Double Chocolate Ale. The Morimoto Soba was quite nice and different.
Stop#6 Deschutes - This was our last brewery stop and that meant dinner time. Which was perfect because this Deschutes location is mostly a restaurant. Nothing new on tap here but I am a big fan of their beers.

Stop #7 Bailey's - just because I was really craving a sour beer. For some reason, they didn't have any Cascade beer. So we went with a nice bottle of Jolly Pumpkin Maracaibo Especial. It was new to me and I have been impressed with everyone of their beers so far.

Dreg Series: Belgian Single Sour

I have been waiting to make this one for some time. A good friend of mine bought me a 2009 Allagash Confluence Ale for my birthday this year.(Sidenote: amazing beer, the beer completely changes as it warms up from a great Belgian Strong to a nice funky almost Saison) I knew this was bottle conditioned and I also know that it is a mixed ferment with their house Belgian yeast and house Brett strain. What I didn't know is if the yeast in the bottle was this yeast or just some bottling yeast. Well one way to find out. Since this bottle was a 2009 I decided to make a small starter (1/4 cup DME, 1 cup Water). After about a week I really didn't see much activity but I decided to give it a good shake and I say CO2. So that was a good sign.

So with the starter already in a gallon jug. I poured off the wort from my Belgian Single after boiling for about 25 minutes into another jug. I cooled this quickly with an ice bath and poured it into the starter jug. And with 12 hours I had a pretty good fermentation. I really hope that this yeast is their house blend. I will keep you updated with notes.

Also I am debating increasing the gravity with a few additions of candi sugar overtime since the OG = 1.034.

Day 1

Day 3

Day 5

9/8/10 Gravity Reading - 1.000 - wow, that mixed culture is a monster. So it looks like there really isn't any more food for the Brett to keep funkifying the beer. Something will need to be added. Also tasted this beer and it was very clean and well boring. Ideas?

12/11/10 Gravity - .099 - Well the Brett is coming to play. It is starting to have a nice aroma but the flavor is still much to be desired. I just found some Muscat grape juice from a local vineyard. I added the whole 750 mL. And I am getting very excited about the possibilities. Check again in another 3 months.

Session Beer Series: Belgian Single, Patersbier, Enkel

Call it what you want to call it.
Here is another session beer. I am truly excited about this one. It seems like such a great style that appears to be completely over looked. It is not really made commercially. A few of the Trappists make this style but either don't distribute or distribute very locally. (Chimay Doree, Orval Petit, Witcap Paters, Westmalle Extra). Through my internet research there seems to be a bit of confusion as to what to label these beers and also what the difference is between each. So that's why the name has three titles just so I have my bases covered. Actually some also call it a Table beer.
The history I could find behind this beer is debatable like everything in history. One idea is that these beers were the second runnings from the Triples or even Dubbels that the breweries made for the public. They would ferment these beers the same but would just be for the Monks to drink. The low alcohol allowed them to drink while still working (I wish this would still fly).
I made mine a pale version but my research showed that they can vary greatly in grain bill. The other purpose for this batch is to propagate yeast for my whole line-up of Trappist beers. Also if interested in entering this is competition, you may get away with entering it as a Belgium Pale but it seems most enter into the Belgian Specialty Category.

This one was a fun one to research and I came up with the recipe with this thinking. Belgian Pilsner  for the base malt, no explanation needed. The Wheat Malt is mainly to add a bit of protein to help get that rocky Belgian head on the beer that I really like. The CaraMunich is used to add a bit of complexity and toastiness I also like in Pale beers. Then the Acidulated Malt is added for a few reasons, one is to lower my mash pH since this is such a pale beer, but it should also help the beer have a nice crisp finish. The more I read the more it seems like the bittering hop matters very little, for this batch I used Northern Brewer because it was left from my California Common. Then for the flavor/aroma hop I used Saaz as it should give me some nice spice to match up well with the Belgian yeast. Also this is my first Belgian style beer so I decided to start with WLP500 or the Chimay yeast. I like the idea of using this for the entire Trappist series. And my plan next year is to brew the same grain bill with another yeast like WLP550. It will be fun to see the differences and maybe even try a vertical tasting in a few years.

Recipe: Belgian Single / Patersbier / Enkel
O.G.-1.039  F.G.-TBD   IBU-16.6 
SRM-5   ABV-3.8-4.2%%   Cal-127

Grain Bill (75% Efficiency):
5 lb Belgian Pilsner Malt (71.4%)
1 lb Wheat Malt  (14.3%)
.5 lb CaraMunich Malt (7.1%)
.5 lb Acid Malt (7.1%)

Hops:
.25 oz Northern Brewer, 8.8%, pellet, 80 min 12.1 IBU
.5 oz Saaz, 6.4%, pellet, 15 min 4.5 IBU

Yeast:
White Labs WLP500 Trappist Ale (Chimay)

Brew Day:
Brewed: 8/14/10
Kegged: TBD

Water:
San Diego (Alvarado) Tap Water
1 campden tablet per 5 gal.

Mash Details:
H2O/Grain Ratio: 1.4 qt/lb
Mash Volume: 2.5 gal
Sacc Rest. Temp/Time: 152F @ 60min
Strike Temp: 164F
Batch Sparge Volume: 5 gal
Sparge Temp/Time: 170F @ 30min

Boil Details:
Boil Volume: 7 gal
Boil Time: 90min
Post Boil Volume: 5 gal

Ferment Details:
O.G.: 1.043 (I got 78% efficiency)
Ferment Temp: 66-69F
Length: 14 days in primary
F.G.: TBD

Day 2