HolzBrew is Moving!

Sadly the brewery has been packed up, but brewing will resume upon arrival in Bloomington, Indiana in a few weeks.  Stay tuned.

Lets go Hokies and Hoosiers!

HolzBrew

The Church Brew Works

A few weeks ago, Meg and I were up in Pittsburgh for a wedding and we had a little time before the service started. As you'd probably expect, my brain started thinking of a cool beer related thing to do. Several years ago I remembered reading an article in Beer Advocate magazine about a church that was converted into a brewery. Through the modern magic of the iPhone (Meg's not mine. I've got a BB, frowny face.) I was able to find the address and operating hours of the Church Brew Works. Upon entering, we were blown away by the shear sight of this fantastic establishment. The picture above is an accurate depiction of what the inside of this place looks like. Just stunning! They actually brew where the altar used to be.



We promptly got seated in an old converted pew and ordered lunch and brew (rhyme intended). We both order a Pittsburgh buffalo chicken salad which included French fries in the salad (people in the ‘burgh will put fries on freaking everything). The salads were tasty, but the brew was even better. I got the opportunity to try the Saaz Monster and the Dunkel. Both brews were incredible, but the Saaz Monster really stood out in my head, because it never occurred to me to highly hop a brew with Saaz hops before. I love using Saaz as aroma hops in Belgian ale, but I’ve never experimented with them in other beers.


A few days later I emailed the brewery and inquired about the recipe. Steve Sloan, the brewery manager, was kind enough to get back to me with some solid parameters to attempt a homebrew clone of this beer. If you are in Pittsburgh and have a couple of extra hours, find this place. You will not regret it! Below is my first shot at a Saaz Monster clone recipe. I hope to brew it sometime this fall.


Saaz Monster Clone


Style: Unassigned    
OG: 1.064
Type: All Grain    
FG: 1.016
ABV: 6.29 %
Calories: 209
IBU's: 42.86
Efficiency: 70 %
Boil Size: 5.83 Gal
Color: 6.8 SRM
Batch Size: 5.00 Gal

Boil Time: 60 minutes


Fermentation Steps

NameDays / Temp

Primary 7 days @ 62.0°F

Secondary 21 days @ 70.0°F


Grains & Adjuncts

Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity

13.00 lbs  92.86 % Pale Malt (2 Row) US60 mins 1.036

1.00 lbs  7.14 % Melanoiden Malt60 mins 1.037


Hops

Amount IBU's Name Time AA %

2.00 ozs 25.13 Saaz First Wort 4.00

2.00 ozs 15.22 Saaz 20 mins 4.00

2.00 ozs 0.00 Saaz 0 mins 4.00

2.00 ozs Saaz 7 days4.00


Yeasts

AmountNameLaboratory / ID

1.0 pkgKolsch YeastWyeast Labs 2565

Mash Profile

Medium Body Infusion In60 min @ 154.0°F

Add 17.50 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 170.9°F

Sparge

Sparge 15.10 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins

Social Networking for Beer Geeks

I discovered an app a couple of weeks ago that is pretty cool, Untappd.  I unfortunately do not have an iPhone or Droid device (sad to say that I am still a Blackberry user, ughh).  Currently I am using this app on my iPad.

Essentially its an app that lets you log in the brews you are drinking and give them a simple 1-5 rating and jot down some notes if you'd like.  Those "reviews" are then available to other friends also using Untappd.  It also links up with twitter, foursquare, and facebook fairly seamlessly.

Give it a try, it's free so why not?  If you end up using it, make sure to "friend" your boy.  My screen name is, you guessed it, HolzBrew.

Interview with a Brewery Owner: Port City Brewing

Several years ago, Bill Butcher recognized that there was a growing thirst for high quality beer in the DC area.  Further, upon assessing the landscape at the time he realized there was little in the way of local competition.  The result was the birth of Port City Brewing in Alexandria, VA.  You may consider him a savvy business man, but I say he's a local craft beer hero! Fortunately, Bill was kind enough to spend some time answering some of my questions.  Enjoy!

Holz: How did you guys get your start in professional brewing?

 

Bill: Jonathan Reeves is our Head Brewer. He has been brewing professionally for about 17 years, and has brewed up and down the East Coast. He has successfully managed startups in his career and has won 5 medals at the Great American Beer Festivals as well as dozens of regional awards. He is self taught, and got his start as an apprentice at a brewpub in Arlington, BARDO Rodeo, where many local brewers have begun their careers. 

Holz: Were you all homebrewers before going pro?  If so, how did you get started homebrewing?

Bill: Jonathan was a homebrewer before going pro. He found the flavors in craft beer fascinating and wanted to explore where they come from on his own.

Holz: So you all have been open for over a year now, what’s been the most pleasant surprise of running Port City to date?

Bill: We have had such a great response to the project from all across the DC metro region and the support of the local craft beer drinkers has been great. We have such great customers who advocate for our product and our brand, and it is truly humbling. We get calls from restaurants and retailers in DC, Maryland and Virginia who have told us that their customers have demanded that they bring in our beer. We are truly grateful for this support, and we are 100% committed to satisfying our customers.

Holz: What’s been the most significant challenge to date?

Bill: The financing of the project. Breweries are expensive to build and maintain, and the list of equipment that we need to continue to produce world class quality beer continues to grow. We planned this brewery in the midst of the credit crisis of 2008-2009, and it was very difficult even to get a bank to talk to us.

Holz: How did you go about deciding on Alexandria as the location for the brewery?

Bill: Before we opened, DC was the only major metro area in the country that did not have a packaging microbrewery. People find that hard to believe, but it’s true. I knew the business needed to be close in to DC, and inside the Beltway so that we can speak directly to DC area beer drinkers. We needed a location that was easily accessible to DC, Maryland and Northern Va., so that it was accessible to people across the region. Alexandria has significant brewing history as well, and pre-prohibition it was home to the largest brewery in the southern United States. I thought that it would be cool to revive, celebrate and continue this brewing tradition.

These are the business reasons, but I had personal reasons as well. Alexandria is my hometown, and my family has been here for over 100 years. My ancestors would probably roll over in their graves if I located the business anywhere else!

Holz: You guys currently brew four beers year-round, Optimal Wit, Essential Pale Ale, Monumental IPA, and the Porter, which beer has sold the best to date?

Bill: Optimal Wit is our best selling beer. The Porter overtook the top spot in January and February, but we sell more Optimal Wit than the others. Monumental IPA is a consistent close second.

Holz: My personal favorite is the Porter, have you considered changing the brewery’s name to “Porter City Brewing”?

Bill: Ha! I’ll take that under consideration…

Holz: When did you guys first conceive of the idea to open Port City and how long did it take, start to finish, to get the brewery up and running?

Bill: I first came up with the idea in 2008. My wife, Karen, and I have always enjoyed great beer. We try to purchase our produce from local growers and our meats from local farmers. It dawned on us that all of the beer we were buying was coming from the West Coast, and it seemed like we should explore more local options. As we looked up and down the East Coast, it seemed like the area could use more great local options. With more research we found that DC was the only top 25 metro area in the U.S. that did not have a packaging brewery selling to the local market. It took about 3 years to plan, finance, and build our state of the art brewery.

Holz: Do you all give tours of the brewery and are customers welcome to visit?

Bill: We love to entertain our customers! We conduct educational grain-to-glass brewery tours on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The tours are extremely popular, and we get over  500 visitors per week to tour the brewery and taste our beers. We were named in the Washingtonian Magazine’s “Best of” Issue as the Best Brewery Tour! We are proud to show off our facility and encourage people to come visit. Reservations are not needed, and the schedule is on our website.

Get Port City'd!

HolzBrew 

Wild Things

About two years ago I brewed a saison, La Tarte, that was a real hit. I personally enjoy saisons that are somewhat tart and funky. That being said there are clean non-funked saisons that are exceptional as well. At the time I was too impatient to spike my saison with brett and bugs and wait in order to bring out that lovely funkiness. So I ended up adding a small amount of lactic acid to the beer during secondary and managed to create some of that twang that I was looking for. But I always thought it could get better with a little time and some assistance from brettanomyces.

This time I went with a similar recipe and added the Wyeast 5526 Brettanomyces Lambicus strain in secondary. Arguably I could have waited longer to bottle this (secondary was approximately 150 days), but I thought it would make a proper spring time offering and the sourness and twang is starting to develop nicely. Further, these beers will continue to transform in the bottle over time.  In a couple of weeks, once these beers have settled in the bottle, I will try to remember to post proper tasting notes.

Additionally, I really like to use the Wyeast Belgian Saison strain in primary to do the heavy lifting.  I prefer the Belgian variety to the French variety, mainly because I think it naturally produces some slight sourness which I like.  The French Saison strain imparts more floral notes.  Additionally, I prefer the use of Saaz and Hallertaur hops versus a french variety like Strisselspalt.
 
La Sauvage


Style: Saison

Type: All Grain Calories: 160

Rating: 0.0 Efficiency: 70 %

IBU's: 40.60 Boil Size: 5.83 Gal

Color: 6.7 SRM Batch Size: 5.00 Gal

Boil Time: 60 minutes

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Estimated Actual

Brew Date: - 11/11/2011

OG: 1.049 1.050

FG: 1.011 1.005

ABV: 4.98 % 5.89 %

Serve Date: 04/23/2012 / /


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Fermentation Steps

Name Days / Temp Estimated Actual

Primary 14 days @ 72.0°F 11/11/2011 11/11/2011

Secondary 150 days @ 72.0°F 11/25/2011 -

Grains & Adjuncts

Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity

3.50 lbs 33.33 % Munich Malt 60 mins 1.037

6.00 lbs 57.14 % Pilsner (2 Row) Bel 60 mins 1.036

1.00 lbs 9.52 % Dingemans Pale Wheat 60 mins 1.038

Hops

Amount IBU's Name Time AA %

2.00 ozs 28.65 Saaz 60 mins 4.00

1.00 ozs 8.53 Hallertauer 15 mins 4.80

1.00 ozs 3.43 Hallertauer 5 mins 4.80

Yeasts

Amount Name Laboratory / ID

1.0 pkg Belgian Saison Wyeast Labs (null)

Additions

Amount Name Time Stage

1.00 oz Coriander Seed 15 mins Boil

2.00 each Lime zest 15 mins Boil

0.75 tsp Black Pepper 15 mins Boil


Mash Profile


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Medium Body Infusion In 60 min @ 155.0°F



Add 13.12 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 166.0°F


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparge


Sparge 17.65 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins


Get funked,

HolzBrew

Interview with The Mad Fermentationist

If you like sour ales and are into homebrewing, chances are that you've come across The Mad Fermentationist.  The blogger and brewer-in-chief of this fantastic resource is DC's own  Mike Tonsmeire.  Mike was kind enough to participate in an interview with yours truly.  Mike has a real talent for brewing creative ales and he's a pretty darn good writer as well.  I find myself checking out his blog several times a week and you should too.

Holz: Welcome Mike.  How long ago did you start brewing and what got you started? 

Mike:  I started brewing my senior year of college at Carnegie Mellon, about seven years ago. I had  gotten into craft beer a year earlier, and brewing seemed like a natural next step since I already loved cooking. I took a student taught course called Beer Brewing and Appreciation, where our midterm was to brew a brown ale.

            Holz: How did you become interested in blogging about your adventures in beer as ‘The Mad    

            Fermentationist’?

Mike: The blog started as an easy way to record recipes online so I could link to them on forum posts. I also started putting up tasting notes on my beers because I was sick of seeing hundreds of beer recipes online that had no indication of how good the results were. I started right after moving down to Washington, DC to start a new job, so it was a good outlet.

  

            Holz: Much of your brewing explores the realm of sour/wild ales.  Was there a particular commercial    

            beer or beers that originally piqued your interest in brewing these types of ales?

           Mike: Cantillon Kriek was the first really sour beer I tried, but it was too acidic for me at the time. I  

            came to sour beers over a year or two, but the one that really launched my obsession was the first batch 

            of Russian River Beatification. Unlike subsequent spontaneously fermented batches, this one was 

            Redemption (their Belgian single) aged for 23 months in barrels that previously held New Belgium’s La 

            Folie. It had a depth of flavor I had never experienced, lavender, lemon, vanilla, sour cherry etc. all 

            from the microbes and wood.         

          

            Holz: What is it about sour/wild ales that you love?

Mike: The variety of flavors from the base beer as well the microbes, wood, and fruit, is hard to compete with. Playing that guessing game of where a flavor came from. I also enjoy aging beers and seeing how they change. I also really like hoppy beers, for example, but they have a very short span when they are at their peak. 

            Holz: Have you brewed anything recently that you are particularly excited about?

Mike: My first truly wild beer, that is made with microbes I captured in my backyard, is just about ready to bottle. As soon as the fruit on my mulberry tree is ripe I’ll be adding a few pounds of it to half of the batch when I bottle the rest. I’m writing an article about the process for Brew Your Own magazine which will be in the July issue.

            Holz: So you are working on a homebrewing book, correct? What is the book about and what inspired 

            you to start writing?

Mike: Not a big surprise, but the book is about sour beer. I’m especially focused on American brewers. Their equipment and techniques seem much more applicable to homebrewers. After more than 500 posts on the blog it seemed like it was time to distill out what I have learned over the last six years into a more useful form. It also motivated me to talk to brewers I admire.  After talking to more than 20 (not to mention the people who run yeast labs, and award winning homebrewers), the biggest issue I have is too much content (I’m over 125,000 words at the moment).

My goal is to write something like John Palmer’s seminal How to Brew, but for sour beer. While I think Wild Brews is a terrific book, it is more focused on the culture and science of Belgian sour beers. I want to answer all of those practical questions that I get emailed to me every week (Which microbes should I pitch? What sort of airlock should I use? How do I prepare a barrel for filling? Etc.)

            Holz: Have you found a publisher yet?  If so, do you have an idea of the publication date?

Mike: I’m still waiting to hear the final word from Brewers Publications, but the more I think about it the more I am leaning towards self-publishing. As a blogger I like the idea of having complete control over the end product. After a year of working on the first draft I’d rather be able to just edit/format it and be done. 

Whereas Brewers Publications might take as long as three more years to get it out. Periodic revisions to the book, especially the insights I gain helping Modern Times Beer start their barrel program, would also be much simpler if I self-publish.

                      Holz: You’ve done quite a bit of experimenting with barrel-aging.  How do you go about selecting a   

            barrel?

 

Mike: The character of the barrel needs to suit the beer. For example a light pale sour beer would not be a good match for the bold coconut and vanilla flavors of a new bourbon barrel. It is also about accessibility, I’d rather get a barrel locally so I can get it and fill it as quickly as possible after it is emptied. Leaving a barrel empty for an extended period is asking for issues with leaks, mold, and Acetobacter.

            Holz: On ‘The Mad Fermentationist’ you frequently discuss different yeast strains and bacteria that 

            you  are currently using in your brews.  Where do you usually get your yeast and bacteria?  And how 

            do you go about selecting them?

Mike: That is a big question. I get my microbes from a huge number of places. Wyeast and White Labs make some terrific strains, and that is the easiest place to start. The yeast sediment (dregs) of unpasteurized sour beers are also a great place for microbes. I also get microbes isolated by microbiologist friends (I just bottled a tripel that had been aging on calvados soaked oak with a culture of Brett my friend Matt isolated from Russian River Temptation). Re-pitching yeast from previous batch is also good in a pinch.

            Selecting the right microbes takes experience. You can read descriptions, but without tasting the result it 

            difficult. It would be like reading descriptions of spices and trying to pick several to combine in 

            something you are cooking. That is one of the reasons I like bottle dregs, you can taste the beer that   

            those microbes helped produce. However, your results will not be exactly the same unless you mimic 

            that brewery’s production (pitching rate, aging time, wort production etc.), a nearly impossible task. 

        

            Holz: You just posted about an opportunity you have to do some brewery consulting.  Is it ultimately   

            your goal to become a professional brewer or are you happy to remain an (exceptional) amateur?

Mike: For the time being I’m happy to get my feet wet helping get Modern Times off the ground. I worry about ruining the hobby I love by turning it into a job. Depending on how consulting goes, how much I enjoy it, and the success of Modern Times, I’ll certainly be considering doing it full time. If I can turn the hobby I love into a job I love, that really is the goal.

The Odyssey of Sierra Nevada in Virginia

Great article from the Roanoke Times on southwest Virginia's efforts to lure Sierra Nevada:

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/305413

Apparently $13 million in incentives didn't cut it.  I'm sure someone will realize how great an area the Roanoke Valley would make for a significant brewing operation. 

Hopeful Hokie,
HolzBrew