Add the dissolved priming sugar and bottle. We recommend letting the bottles sit for a couple of months for conditioning (so the yeast continues to work, adding a depth of flavor to the beer) before serving.
BRIAN THOMPSON, TELEGRAPH BREWING COMPANY
Brian Thompson started Telegraph brewery with a focus on hand-crafted unique American ales that embrace the heritage of California’s early brewing pioneers. The brewery uses as many locally grown ingredients as it can, and its award-winning beers embody the philosophy that a local brewery should reflect the traditions of its region. We love the local focus of Telegraph’s beers, and you can find its California Ale and Stock Porter on tap all over Los Angeles.
We first met Brian in August 2007, when he was kind enough to attend one of our beer dinners at which we were featuring a couple of his delicious beers.
West Coast Belgian Ale
This beer is reminiscent of the kinds of beers that were being brewed on the West Coast during the gold-rush era of the 19th century, when American beers were spicy and earthy and represented local ingredients.
SPECIALTY GRAIN BILL
1 pound 40 Lovibond caramel malt
MALT SOURCE
8.25 pounds Pale liquid malt extract
HOPPING SCHEDULE
1. 2.0 ounces Cascade pellets, boil 60 minutes
2. 2.0 ounces Cascade pellets
SPECIAL INGREDIENTS
4 ounces orange peel
2 chamomile teabags
YEAST
Wyeast 1214 Belgian Ale or White Labs WLP530 Abbey Ale
FERMENTATION TEMPERATURE
70-75°F
PRIMING SUGAR
0.5 pound corn sugar dissolved in 1 cup boiling water and cooled to
room temperature
In a small pot, heat 3 or 4 quarts of water to around 150°F (bubbles start to form on the bottom). Remove from the heat, and stir in the specialty grain. Cover and steep for 20 to 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, fill a large brewpot half full with water, and bring to boil. When bubbles start to rise from the pot, turn off the heat and stir in the malt extract.
After the grains have steeped, pour the liquid and grains through a strainer directly into the main brewpot.
Add some hot water to the small pot, and rinse the grains with the strainer in the water to sparge. Add this liquid to the main brewpot.
Bring what is now called wort to a full, rolling boil. Watch for boilovers! Once the foaming stops, add the first hops addition and set the timer for 60 minutes.
Meanwhile, sanitize your fermenter, strainer, airlock, and stopper.
When the timer sounds, add the second hops addition and the special ingredients. Immediately remove from the heat, and let rest for 15 minutes.
Cool the pot in a sink until the sides are cool to the touch.
Pour the wort into the sanitized fermenter, add prechilled water to bring it up to 5 gallons at about 75°F, and pitch the yeast and ferment between 70°F and 75°F.
Bottle with dissolved priming sugar when fermentation is complete. (See Step Ten and Step Eleven on page 224.)
LARRY CALDWELL, HOMEBREWER AND GENERAL MANAGER, FATHER’S OFFICE
Not only is Larry Caldwell the current general manager and beer buyer at the famed Father’s Office in Santa Monica, California, but he also knows more about beer than almost anyone we’ve ever met. His passion and enthusiasm are contagious. He is an avid collector and an award-winning homebrewer. He has introduced us to many great beers, but one of the best ones was a stunning sweet and tart Pomegranate Ale. When we asked him who the brewer was, he said, “I am!” We were astounded and impressed and begged him for the recipe.
Pomegranate Tart
Larry says: This beer is based loosely on one of our favorite beers, New Glarus Brewing Company’s Wisconsin Belgian Red (see page 81), as well as its Raspberry Tart. Both are beers that feature the fruit strongly to the point of being something between a beer and a cider-style drink. This is a great dessert beer on its own, but also a great pairing with desserts like chocolate truffles and cheesecake.
SPECIALTY GRAIN BILL
12 ounces 60 Lovibond Belgian Caramunich
0.5 ounce Carafa III (huskless debittered black malt)
MALT SOURCE
2 pounds dry light extract
2 pounds dry wheat extract
HOPPING SCHEDULE
0.5 ounce Saaz Hops, boil 60 minutes
SPECIAL INGREDIENTS
1 tablet Whirlfloc (a clarifier)
1 pound pomegranate molasses5
1 gallon pomegranate juice6
YEAST
1 tube White Labs WLP400 Belgian Wit7
PRIMING SUGAR
4 ounces corn sugar dissolved in ½ cup boiling water and cooled to
room temperature
FERMENTATION TEMPERATURE
68-70°F
Heat 2 gallons of water in a steeping pot to 170°F to 172°F. Remove from the heat. Place the grains in a grain bag and add to the pot. The water temperature should drop to 153°F to 155°F once grain is added. The higher mash temperature will leave a fuller-bodied beer. Cover and steep (mash) for 30 minutes.
Bring 4.75 gallons of water to a boil in a large stockpot, and cool to 170°F.
After the grains have steeped, pull the bag out of the steeping pot and dip it in the stockpot (water temperature around 170°F).
Add the water from the steeping pot to the large stockpot, and return to a boil. Allow the grain bag to drain dry in the steeping pot. You can add the reserve liquid to the main boil later.
Just before the liquid in the stockpot comes to a boil, add the malt extracts. Be sure to stir thoroughly so that the extracts don’t clump up and are well integrated into the wort.
Bring the wort to a steady, rolling boil. Immediately add the hops. After 45 minutes, add the Whirlfloc tablet. After 15 minutes more, remove the stockpot from the heat and add the pomegranate molasses, stirring thoroughly to dissolve.
Cool the beer to 65°F to 68°F. Transfer the liquid from the stockpot to a food-grade plastic fermenter. Pitch the yeast. Close the lid, add the airlock, and shake vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes to aerate.
Ferment at the recommended temperature.
Once the fermentation is complete (7 to 10 days, when airlock is no longer bubbling), add the pomegranate juice. This will bring the beer up to 5 gallons. Because the juice is full of sugar, this will kick off another fermentation.
Once the second fermentation is complete (let the beer rest for 7 days to ensure all fermentation has subsided), transfer the beer to a bottling bucket, and add the corn sugar dissolved in ½ cup of water. Stir thoroughly, and bottle the beer.
The beer should be carbonated in about 2 weeks.
Note: The beauty of this recipe is that you can do this with any fruit you want. Cherry (sweet or tart), blueberry, and peach work well. Just make sure the juice you use isn’t full of preservatives and is 100% juice because you don’t want extra additives and flavorings. You can also substitute whole fruit for the juice. It’s a little messier and harder to handle, but it’s how the best breweries get their fruit flavors. A good rule of thumb is 2 pounds of fruit for every gallon of beer. I prefer using frozen fruit because it’s been cleaned and is rid of any wild yeasts that could affect the beer. Just thaw the fruit, and add it to the beer after the first fermentation is complete. Let it re-ferment and age for a short time, then filter out the fruit and bottle.
STONE BREWING COMPANY
The brainchild of cofounders Greg Koch and Steve Wagner, the Stone Brewing Company in Escondido, California, is at the forefront of the West Coast extreme beer movement. We describe undesirable beers as “fizzy yellow water” because Greg coined the phrase. In addition to its amazing array of beers, like Arrogant Bastard Ale and Stone Ruination IPA, Stone has built the Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens, where they take food pairing and beer education to new heights.
Stone Vertical Epic ’08
Greg
donated the recipe for Stone’s piney, resinous, and fruity beer Vertical Epic, which is a bottle-conditioned specialty beer that is brewed just once each year—one year, one month, and one day from the previous year’s edition. Greg gave us the all-grain recipe for the 2008 version, which was brewed on 08-08-08. Larry Caldwell, who donated the Pomegranate Tart recipe (page 255), was nice enough to render his extract interpretation of this special beer. To see the original all-grain recipe for all the Vertical Epic Ales, go to www.stonebrew.com/epic.
SPECIALTY GRAIN BILL
2 pounds Belgian Pils malt
1 pound flaked oats
MALT SOURCES
6 pounds dry malt extract8
HOPPING SCHEDULE
1. 0.5 ounce Warrior hops, boil 60 minutes
2. 0.5 ounce Simcoe hops and 0.5 ounce Amarillo hops, boil 15 minutes
3. 1 ounce Athanum hops, added at end of boil
ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS
1 tablet Whirlfloc (a clarifier)
1 pound white table sugar
YEAST
2 tubes of White Labs WLP570 Belgian Golden Ale
FERMENTATION TEMPERATURE
68-70°F
DRY-HOPPING
0.5 ounce Simcoe hops and 0.5 ounce Amarillo hops
PRIMING SUGAR
4 ounces corn sugar dissolved in ½ cup boiling water and cooled to
room temperature
Heat 1 gallon of water in a steeping pot to approximately 165°F. Remove the pot from the heat, and add the specialty grains to a grain bag. Add the bag to the pot; the water temperature should drop to 148°F to 150°F once the grain is added. Cover and steep the grains for 30 minutes.
Bring 5.5 gallons of water to a boil in a large stockpot. Let it cool to 170°F.
After the specialty grains have steeped, remove the grain bag and dip it in the stockpot to help rinse any extra sugars off of the grains.
Add the water from the steeping pot to the stockpot, and allow the grain bag to drain dry in the steeping pot. You can add the reserve liquid to the main boil later.
Return the stockpot to a boil. Just before the liquid boils, add the malt extract. Stir thoroughly so that the extract doesn’t clump and is well integrated into the wort.
Bring what is now wort to a steady, rolling boil. Immediately add the first hops addition. Set the timer for 45 minutes. When the timer sounds, add the second hops addition and set the timer for 15 minutes.
When you add the second hops addition, add the tablet of Whirlfloc, if desired. It will help clarify the beer during fermentation.
Turn off the boil and add the final hops addition.
Once the boil is done, add the table sugar. Stir thoroughly to dissolve. At this point the beer should have reduced to about 5 gallons.
Cool beer to 65°F to 68°F. Transfer the liquid from the stockpot to a food-grade plastic fermenter, and pitch the yeast. Close the lid, add the airlock, and shake vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes to aerate.
Ferment at the recommended temperature.
Once the fermentation is complete, add the dry-hopping addition. This imparts a strong aroma of hops to the finished beer. Let beer dry-hop for 7 days.
Transfer the beer to a bottling bucket, and add the corn sugar dissolved in ½ cup of water to the bucket. Stir thoroughly, and bottle the beer.
The beer should be carbonated in about 2 weeks.
Brewing Resources
You’ll need to read more about homebrew as you get into advanced brewing. Sometimes a handy guide can offer tips for troubleshooting. Maybe you want to geek out about the history of brewing. Or perhaps you are getting too good, and you want more information about opening a brewery of your own. Whatever your homebrew needs, here are some invaluable resources on the subject.
Books
Bennet, Judith M. Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. An insightful look into the history of brewing and the female role in the world of beer.
Calagione, Sam. Brewing Up a Business: Adventures in Entrepreneurship from the Founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2005. A popular brewer’s story about his experience starting up his brewery. Lots of great business advice mixed in with humorous personal trials and tribulations. A must-read for anyone who wants to start up a brewery.
Hieronymus, Stan. Brew Like a Monk: Trappist, Abbey, and Strong Belgian Ales and How to Brew Them. Boulder, CO: Brewers Publications, 2005. For advanced brewers who want to perfect Belgian styles, this is an in-depth journey into the hearts and minds—and recipes—of the best Belgian brewers out there.
Mosher, Randy. Radical Brewing: Recipes, Tales and World-Altering Meditations in a Glass. Boulder, CO: Brewers Publications, 2004. A creative look at brewing, with loads of history and a description of truly unique ales. Mosher offers an approach to brewing that encourages the rebel brewer in all of us.
Nachel, Marty. Homebrewing for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing, 2008. It’s what you think it is: some info for those of us who need to take it slow and simple.
Papazian, Charles. The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. President of the American Homebrewers Association and the Association of Brewers, this author offers everything you need to begin to brew. Recipes, charts, and guidelines for all styles are found within these pages.
Snyder, Stephen. The Brewmaster’s Bible: The Gold Standard for Home Brewers. New York: HarperCollins, 1997. This is for the beginner and more advanced brewer. The book has loads of recipes; style definitions; and detailed analyses of yeast, water, grains, adjuncts, and more.
Magazines
Brew Your Own (www.byo.com). The leading magazine for people who want to brew their own beer at home. It covers the entire hobby, from simple how-to tips to more advanced technical articles on brewing fine beer. Regular columns include “Tips from the Pros,” “Style of the Month,” “Recipe Exchange,” and “Help Me, Mr. Wizard.”
Zymurgy (www.beertown.org). Published by the American Homebrewers Association (AHA), a division of the Brewers Association, this bimonthly is for the brewer who has a few beers under his or her belt. Topical and timely, it stays on top of the trends, provides good recipe development suggestions, and publishes a timeline of beer competitions for when you’re a good enough homebrewer to say, “Hey, my beer rocks. Somebody should give me an award for this.” Free with membership to the AHA (www.beertown.org/homebrewing/membership.html).
Websites
Beer Tools (www.beertools.com). Great resources for brewers, including a recipe generator, a recipe calculator, and online brewing tutorials. BX Beer Depot (www.bxbeerdepot.com). Offers everything from kits to ingredients to equipment. Great pictures!
Homebrewers Outpost (www.homebrewers.com). Brew and winemaking supplies.
More Beer (www.morebeer.com). Absolutely everything for beer making. White Labs Pure Brewers Yeast (www.whitelabs.com). Where the real brewers go to get their yeast.
Now you’re really living it! You’ve fully incorporated beer into your life. If we knew you, we would be friends. In fact, do share your brews with us if you can. Trading homebrews with the neighbors is a bit better than sharing sugar. There is no better way to know beer than by creating it. You’ll learn more from your homebrew batch than from a million books, so get your tools ready and begin the exercise. We dub you “homebrewer.”
TEN
Entertaining with Beer
Fill with mingled cream and amber,
I will drain that glass again.
Such hilarious visions clamber
Through the chambers of my brain.
Quaintest thoughts—queerest fancies
Come to life and fade away;
What care I how time advances?
I am drinking ale today.
—EDGAR ALLAN POE
Nobody Puts Beer in a Corner
Now it’s time to share the love! The craft beer movement is thriving because of a kind
of grassroots movement. It’s simple economics. The more people know about craft beer, the more they will demand it in fine restaurants, bars, and gastropubs, and thus the more it will be supplied by distributors and importers alike! It’s time for you to become an active participant in this grassroots movement, a beer activist if you will. Invite your friends and colleagues into your newly adjusted craft beer friendly home and blow their minds. Use the beer recipes, brew up some beer, get the cheese pairings together, open up the beer cellar, and share your beer knowledge wealth with some of your favorite people.
Spread the Word: Hosting a Beer-Tasting Party
Beer tastings have been going on in the craft beer world for years, but they had little impact on the outside world until very recently. Craft beer is finally catching on in hipster circles and is becoming the latest greatest tipple in the fast and furious foodie world. Specialty and gourmet foods have become more available and popular with the rise of the celebrity chef and the advent of the Food Network and shows like Top Chef and Hell’s Kitchen. On the coattails of this foodie revolution rides craft beer. Now people young and old are seeking out great craft beer to entertain with, and this outside-the-box thinking is leading to altogether new and creative ways of entertaining. People are starting to throw beer-tasting parties the same way that they were hosting wine tastings 10 years ago.
The Naked Pint Page 24