For more on brew in a bag, check out These 2 podcasts, these are direct links to the brew in a bag topics. (Basic Brewing Radio – The Brewing Network)

So before my mash I washed the bags in hot water to remove any residue from manufacture and removed my manifold in the mash tun (You really don’t have to remove your manifold if you do not want to, but I did for the sake of the experiment). Below is what my 5 gallon setup looked like.

Mash in a bag

Mash in a bag 2

With all that in place I got my mash underway.

Mashing in the bag setup

As you can see below, the 1st running went through very well.

1st runnings

Drained Grain bed

Now, I would love to say this whole process went through without a hitch, but I did get a bit of a stuck sparge during my 2nd batch sparge. I think it was from grain and proteins that may have collected around the bottom of the bag hole. This was OK in a way, because I was a bit concerned with channeling and planned on doing this next step during my 3rd round of sparging, but I ended up doing it sooner. I simply lifted the bag up and slowly dunked it over and over in the hot sparge water, and that took care of the issue. The reason i wanted to do the dunk was to rework the grain bed in case of channeling and give everything a good chance at mixing.

So now comes the important part. What was my brewhouse efficiency. Well, normally I hover in the 72%-75% range fairly consistently with my setup. I will have to do a few more beers like this to be sure, but my efficiency for this experiment was 82%. So I gained 10%. This is more than likely from the rinse and dunk during the 2 stages of sparging and also because I was able to gently squeeze the bag getting just a bit more sugar out in the end. I still don’t want to aggressively squeeze it, still fearing some tannins even though others say that’s been debunked.

All in all I think this was a success and probably will brew this entire summer with this method. If I keep getting great results and decent efficiency, I will probably make this my default method for brewing. Oh, and for those who care, below is a picture of the beer mid-fermentation. I know some of us beer guys like looking at this sort of thing.

Skywalker's Legacy IPA (This beer took a 1st place as an IPA in the 2012 Titletown Open and a 3rd place as a pale in the same competition)

Aroma: The first thing I am hunting for is the typical American hop aroma, and not finding it. As a matter of fact, I’m not getting much in the way of intense hop aroma at all. I get some floral hops which is noticeable, but far from prominent to intense. There is a bit of bitter orange, and touch of peppery spice. The malt actually comes through easily and is a sweet caramel. The malt is a bit more forward than I would expect in an American IPA, if anything, the hops and malt are even and not hop forward. One other thing to notice is that the beer I have has an obvious hot alcohol presence, which is odd for 6.8% ABV beer. Usually, you can start to detect alcohol fairly easy at the 7% range, but this seems a bit too much for a beer this strength. Not really enjoying the aroma in here and sadly is not enticing me take that drink. (4 points)

Appearance: The beer pours a great stiff foamy head, and the head is extremely persistent. The color is simply beautiful. It is a glowing copper color and fairly hazy. Normally I would assume the haze is from dry hopping in an IPA but the lack of hop aroma leads me to believe otherwise. Still, the beer is pretty, it should be more clear. (2 points)

Flavor: The initial flavor of this IPA is OK, it is very mediocre. It’s a bit sweet up front, and has a nice caramel presence…..but this is an IPA. There is a lack of hop flavor in the beer, that is really no surprise based on the aroma. Generally, if you don’t get much hop aroma, the flavor will be lower as well. Then there is something very odd that happens. You get a great grapefruit bitterness in the finish that rolls on quickly into a bit of an intense and oddly flavorless bitterness. Sort of like that bitter flavor when you inhale hairspray. That bitterness is just simply bitter and does not have much flavor. Then as it fades I get some lingering malt sweetness. The alcohol is a bit noticeable in the middle as well. It’s not really an enjoyable IPA, which is sad for a commercial brewery. I expected a lot more. It’s redeeming quality is the malt profile is actually pretty nice. Caramel and the flavor of bread crust. But again, this is an IPA, the Hops are out of balance and not really enjoyable. (9 points)

Mouthfeel:The beer is medium body, and borderline Medium-high. The carbonation is a bit on the low side, which could be part of the reason there is not a lot of hop aroma. You want that carbonation to push the aromas out. (3 points)

Overall: Overall, this beer is a sad example of an American IPA. It is lacking hop flavor and aroma. It is not lacking the bitterness, but you need more than intense bitterness to make a good IPA. You need to have that flavor and aroma to balance out the malt. This beer is just bitter. I am surprised that a commercial brewery would actually put this product out to market. It seems like a first pass at a recipe that did not turn out. This beer would be good if you kept the same grain bill, but dialed back the bitterness and amped up the late addition hops…..a lot. This is one of the few beers that I would recommend not wasting your time on. Sorry , I’m going to finish this beer, but I’m not going to enjoy it. (4 points)

Total Score: 22 points which would be a D+ in my book.

Roasting Grain-The Reaction.
I covered this briefly in part 1 of my home roasting segment, but I will cover it a bit more in-depth here. Don’t worry, I will not be going into formulas and chemistry, I found that very boring. But understanding the reaction a bit more will help you come up with your own roasting varieties and experiments. The only process you really need to concern yourself with in home roasting malt is the Maillard reaction, which is not a single reaction but rather a grouping of complex chemical reactions between acids and carbohydrates. In short is a non-enzymatic browning by heat. During the Maillard reactions there are many different flavor compounds created, the number and type of compounds created depend on the food type being heated. For example when grilling a steak, you have the Maillard reactions taking place and while some of the aroma and flavor compounds may me the same as with grain, you are going to have some that are quite different and unique. This why you can make the connection between certain foods in flavor and aroma between beer. A classic is biscuits. A lot of beers have a biscuit flavor and aroma. That is the result of a Maillard reaction correlation between compounds in what makes the biscuit and your grains. It’s no surprise that since beer is mostly grain, we get a lot of similar flavor and aroma compounds between foods like breads, pastas, crackers, and so on in the malt profile of a beer. We even get caramelization, even though to get the caramelization in the truest sense, you have to bring the temperature of the sugar components up to 248-302 degrees F. In most cases what we get when we roast/toast grain is actually the formation of Melanoidins, which often bring a degree of caramelization-like flavors and aromas to the grain, even though it is not true caramelization of the sugars.  In short, the varying degree of pH (acidity), types of amino acids and sugars, temperature, time, presence or lack of oxygen, water, and other food components all are important in this Maillard Reactions in the grain. Changing one part of the whole process will give you a new degree of flavor and aroma, which is something I have been playing around with a lot lately. Generally the only part of the reaction process we can change when roasting/toasting grain is time, temperature, food component (type of grain used), water, and sugars (if you mash the grain first, and to what degree you mash). Does that makes sense? I hope so because that’s about as simple as I can make it.

To Mist or not to mist, that is a big question.
OK so now the big question that seems to be getting asked. Do you mist the grains with water or not? The answer is not so simple. You need to consider what you are trying to do. Misting the grain will introduce a water component to your process. I generally do not mist my grains and I get good results. Others claim that misting the grains prevents burning in some cases, reduces smoking, and prevents the grain from drying out too much. Since I mostly use roasted/toasted grain for specialty malts, I don’t have an issue with drying out the grain too much. I made a beer once with all home roasted malt as the base and had some issues with conversation, so I don’t recommend making a beer with all roasted malt anyway. For specialty grains, the moisture level of the grain is meaningless, unless  you are going to store it for a very long time. So I say misting the grain is up to you. When I do the grain in the oven I do not get a lot of smoke anyway. In the nut roaster, I get some smoke but by that time I’m usually at the end of the roast anyway. For chocolate or black malt, misting may be appropriate, but that would be a two-man job.

Nut Roaster or Oven?
So Below you will fin a bunch of pictures of what I am talking about in this segment, so if you want to skip this part, feel free. In a side by side comparison, I found that I was easily able to reproduce any grain in the nut roaster that I was in the oven. The key is to keep the grains moving and keep a close eye on the changes in color of the grain. Because the roasting goes so fast in a nut roaster (less than 5 minutes in most cases) it is very easy to get beyond the point you wish to get to, for example while making chocolate malt I easily went past my point and charred a few grains. I lost focus for only about 30 seconds as I stirred and watched what my son was doing for just a second. You also get a considerable about of smoke past a certain point, so if you don’t have a fan above your stove, you may be better off doing this outside. I found the best temperature to roast my grains in the nut roaster to get a decent even browning and not to over burn the grain or take forever to get to the browning point was at medium heat on my stove. I cannot stress enough that you really need to keep the grain moving. I did notice that you have 5 easily definable stages. The point you notice the grain starts to brown slightly, a slight crackled of the grain every now and again, a heavier crackle of the grain as it roasts, a light smoke, and a heavier smoking stage. The problem with using these stages though is that there is a lot of color change between each one, so you really need to mainly gauge the stage of the grain by your eye, unlike the oven where you can rely on time and temperature. I also found that the darker grains were much more even and had better flavor in the roaster than in the oven, even though it is much easier for the grain to get away from you once you hit that higher roasting stage. Below is a quick Pros and Cons of each roasting method.

Oven.
Pros: Easy Temperature control, time is easy to control, Roast/Toast is consistent with your system, easy to provide instruction to others (toast grain at 350 degrees for 30 minutes is easy instruction to pass on).
Cons: Roast can be uneven at times if you don’t stir often, stirring often can increase roast/toast time, takes a long time to achieve roast, darker roasts are near impossible.
Roaster
Pros:Faster Roast Time, Roast/Toast is more even, easy to get darker roasts not achievable in oven, visual gauging of the grain can give you a wider variety of roasts, handles dehusked or husk free grains a bit better.
Cons: Easy for the grain to get away from you (too dark or burned), grain can start to smoke, consistent roasts are hard when based solely on visual gauging, if roaster is too hot you will only brown the husk and not the starches inside.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to email me. Below are pictures of a few recent roasts as well as Marris Otter and White Wheat experiments. Note that in each picture I included a small amount of the unroasted grain for change comparison.

Now on to the photos

This is just a picture of the nut roaster. You could probably use a drum roaster, clean wok, or even a clean pat if you can keep the grain moving.

Golden Malt, in the oven (300 Degrees for 25-30 Min)

Deep Amber in the Oven (375 Degrees for 40-45 Min)

Brown Malt (400 degrees for 45-50 Min depending on you oven)

White Wheat in the oven (400 degrees for 15 Minutes) You need to remember that grains without husks will brown the starches faster and more direct.

White Wheat in the Nut Roaster till the grain starts to crackle.

Marris Otter in the Oven, amber Roast (350 degrees for 25-30 Minutes)

Marris Otter in the Nut Roaster till the grain crackles heavy.

Here is a pale chocolate roast of dehusked barley. I did this in the nut roaster until the grain got this dark color. Be careful because it will smoke.

I call this a stout roast. It's beyond brown malt and quite black. It was too bad a some of the grains got charred, You need to be careful to avoid charring too many grains.

This was a fun experiment. I have started mashing in a pot instead of soaking the grains and then mashing in the oven. It is easier to control the mash temps and it seems a bit easier. You don't have to worry about the grains at the top drying out. But this time around I also did a decoction style boil after the mash. This will help develop the melanoidin character in the grain. This was the result. A very caramel-like and sweet grain. The drying and post roasting process remains the same as it has in past posts.

Mashing in a small pot. Easier to control the mash temp of the grain.

Here I am boiling the grains in a thin decoction style mash. This helps develop true caramelization and melanoidin character.

Cay Light

Today I am trying another of the beers I got from a friend who visited the Cayman Islands. This one is Caybrew’s answer to Bud Light, Miller Lite, Coors Light, and so on. This is an American Lite/Light Lager. We can expect this review to be fairly short because this style does not have much to it, but I don’t think I have ever reviewed an American Light Lager on here before.

Aroma: I don’t find anything in the way of hop aroma. There is a dry grainy aroma and that’s just about it.  A good solid swirl in the glass does give way to a bit of DMS (canned corn) aroma. Normally this is a considered a fault, but it is allowed in low levels in this style. The grain becomes more dominant as the beer warmed. (8 points)

Appearance: A very pale yellow and crystal clear. It pours a decent head and there is a layer of foam that sticks around. A nice looking Light Lager. (3 points)

Flavor: This beer is the light lager for the beer lover because it actually has some interesting flavor. The hop bitterness is very low, I suspect it’s just enough to balance the small amount of malt in the beer. However, there is a very interesting cracked grain flavor. Normally when you think Bud Light or Miller Lite you are thinking everything is so in balance you don’t get much malt or any hops, and maybe a bit of corn if you are lucky. This beer is a bit different and actually brings a bit of grain flavor the table. The beer is very dry and nice and crisp. I suspect some people will find the grain flavor off putting for a light lager, but I welcome it. The high carbonation also brings a slight acidic twang as well. If this were to cross a table in homebrew competition, I suspect most judges would be happy with it because while it remains within the style guidelines, it still pushes the boundary of American Lite Lager and has some flavor. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a very flavorful beer, but compared to the hallmark examples of this style, I like it. I must note, that like most light lagers, as it warms it becomes a bit more unpleasant so drink it fairly cold. (15 points)

Mouthfeel: Very light body and has a watery feel, as it should per style. The carbonation is very high and crisp and gives a bit of acidic twang. (4 points)

Overall: The beer, for what it is, is impressive to me. For an American Light Lager it is very good, probably one of the best I have had. In all honesty I have not had as many Light Lagers as I have had IPA’s (Bud Light, Miller Lite, Coors Light, Beer 30 Light, and Sam Adams Light is all I can think of for beers I’ve had from this style off hand), but this is my favorite Light lager so far. It has it all. It is dry, crisp, low hop profile, low malt profile, it actually has some flavor and does not taste as much like water. However, you still need to drink it fairly cold and fairly fast. As it warms it becomes a bit more harder to drink. (8 points)

Score: 38 points which is an excellent example of the style. This would be a solid B if I were to assign a letter grade to it. Remember, this grade is a comparison according to the style guidelines. I’m not saying this is the best craft beer you are going to have, but compared to other Light Lagers, this is top notch.

Shock Top Wheat IPA

Today, instead of a beer I purchased, I have a beer that sent to me. Shock Top Wheat IPA sounds interesting, and I am more than willing to review it. According to the bottle, this is an Unfiltered IPA brewed with wheat, citrus peels, and coriander. It does not sound like a combination I would try, but it does sound interesting. I will be judging this in Category 23, specialty category with a base style of American IPA. I came to this decision because of the description. First it says it’s an unfiltered IPA which is why I chose that as the base. Since it is brewed with wheat, citrus peels, and coriander, it is part Belgian Wit as well. I am thinking since they encourage you to swirl the yeast and pout it into your glass, it is also part Bavarian Hefeweizen as well. First and foremost it needs to be an IPA, with the secondary and background characteristics being the wheat and spiced beers. That is what we are going to be looking at for this particular beer. With that said, let’s get this under way.

Aroma: For an IPA, the aroma is lacking. While I do get some floral and slightly piney hop aroma, there really is not enough to be considered a solid IPA in my opinion. That’s not to say the beer is not without some positive vibes in the aroma. The grains come though to be interesting. The wheat is very evident and dominates the aroma, it almost smells like a fresh wheat field. The hops and slightly sweet citrus notes take a backseat supporting role. It is a good smelling beer, I like it. But it is lacking the IPA portion of the aroma. If you put up front that it is an IPA, it needs to have a “prominent to intense hop aroma”. The hop aroma is moderate at best. The coriander does come through nicely as the beer warms up. It misses the mark big time though for IPA quality aroma. (5 points)

Appearance: For a wheat beer, the color is as you would expect, especially if you swirl and add the yeast. The color is strikingly beautiful. It is a deep hazy gold color and will make you want to drink it. It poured a very nice head that disappeared fairly quickly. It did leave a nice thin layer on top. (3 points)

Flavor: The flavor is interesting and complex. There are several layers (as you could expect from this array of ingredients). For an IPA, again the hop character is lacking.The hops seem to be of the orange and mostly grapefruit variety (your classic American “C” hops). The flavor could be coming from citrus peels as well, and who knows, maybe they called it citrus peels instead of orange peel because maybe they used orange and grapefruit peels to compliment the hops. Either way, the hop flavor is moderate and the bitterness is also in that medium range. The coriander does come through nicely in the middle. For me, the star of this show is the malt. There is a hint of sourdough bread, with a classic grainy wheat flavor you seek in a hefeweizen or other classic German wheat beer. There is a bit of sweetness, so I would bet there is a touch of caramel malt in the mix as well. The flavor is nice, just not near the IPA level. I do admit on a personal level that I like the beer. But calling it an IPA was a huge mistake. It is barely at the pale ale level for hop character, regardless of how well the flavors dance around in your mouth. (10 points)

Mouthfeel: The beer is solidly in the medium mouthfeel range and slightly creamy. It is well carbonated and is brewed very well. No astringency. (4 points)

Overall: First and foremost it is actually a tasty beer. With that said, it is too far out of style to even be called an IPA. It is even at the low end for a Pale Ale. If you compare this beer to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, which is at the high end of the Pale Ale Spectrum, you will notice the obvious difference in hop intensity. A true IPA should be even more hoppy than Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. The beer is not without some redeeming qualities though. The malt profile is interesting and I enjoy it. The spices are fairly subtle and take on the supporting role quite nicely. It’s easy drinking, and flavorful. But the misrepresentation of the IPA style is a bit annoying. While for the casual drinker, there may not be much to notice when you see IPA, until you decide you like this beer and make the connection with the IPA style. Then you head to the store to buy another IPA and find that beer to be way too intense, or worse yet they go telling people the love IPA and end up getting their hands on a Green Flash IPA and are either embarrassed that it was nothing what they expected, or decided that Green Flash IPA sucks. While this is a very tasty beer, and I enjoyed it. It’s a decent slightly hoppy wheat beer, it is not an IPA. (4 points)

Overall score: I gave this beer a 26, which still makes it a good beer. If you take a look at the lower left corner of a score sheet, you will see that a 26 is still a good beer, but “misses the mark on style and/or has minor flaws” which is the case with this beer missing the mark on calling itself an IPA.

It really gets under my skin to read reviews of beers that are clearly within style, clearly brewed well, then bashed because they are not hoppy enough or big enough even when the beer is not intended to be hoppy or big. Then to read about beers that I know are just brewed to be innovative and new, and get rave reviews from these people just because they are the newest fad. Again, I am not knocking the breweries for brewing them, or people who drink them. Hell, I am one of those guys myself. But you need to take a beer for what it is and judge or review it fairly. Something it seems so many of these self-proclaimed “beer connoisseurs” lack the ability to do. Below are is a sampling of some interesting numbers I gathered from Beer Advocate and the scores for the top rated beers for these styles. See if you notice a trend.

Standard American Lager (Adjunct Lager): Highest Rated Score=84
Cream Ale: Highest Rated Score=88
Light Lager: Highest Rated Score=81
Low Alcohol Beer: Highest Rated Score=77
American Amber/Red: Highest Rate Score=87
Euro Lager (like Becks, Heineken, St. Pauly Girl, ect): Highest Rated Score=87

English Barleywine: Highest Rated Score=100
American Barleywine: Highest Rated Score=96
American IPA: Highest Rated Score=98
Belgian Dark Strong: Highest Rated Score=96
Oud Bruin: Highest Rated Score=94
Belgian Lambic: Highest Rated Score=99

Now I chose the beers categories above for one reason, one group is considered “trash” by the elitist beer snob, the other group is the biggest of the big, the boldest of the bold, or considered styles that only “those in the know” would find appealing, like the sour beers. See the difference? Do you mean to tell me the BEST CREAM ALE in the world is at best a 88 out of 100? Look at those poor low alcohol beers? Not a good one in the bunch. I find that hard to believe if you were taking a beer for what it is supposed to be, the best of that style will always be world class examples of that style. Something many of the type who frequent these websites don’t seem to understand. If you are to consider yourself a connoisseur, you need to understand and respect a beer for what it is, not what you think is worthy of your palate.

With that said, there are some bloggers out there who will call a light lager garbage, or say they suck. I just don’t buy into that mentality. Granted, they are not my go to beer styles either because they just don’t excite me, but if I am going to review one, or judge one in competition, I will take the beer for what it is supposed to be. That is how a beer review should be done, regardless of whether or not you like it, as long as you judged it according to style, that is all that matters. I am NOT saying every beer is worthy of praise and bad beers should not be called bad beers. I feel the Alstrom Brothers from Beer Advocate do a great job of that, the members of their website, not so much. I have read some great, fair, and honest reviews according to what the beer is supposed to be. I respect those people for doing so. But sadly the elitists seem to outnumber the competent ones on there. If you are offended by that statement, all I can do is apologize and say you must be part of the problem, because if you are doing a fair review for what the beer is, then you should not be offended at all.  Also, I must add that I am not talking about the forums or conversations going on in there, I am talking strictly the beer reviews.

Bloggers also are not free from guilt on that matter. I have read several reviews that made me think, “What the hell were you comparing that beer to?” because I have read some reviews on some blogs that could be reviewing an English IPA for example, then according to their review list some of the attributes one would expect in an English Style IPA, like a nice malt backbone, moderate hop flavor, aroma, and bitterness and so on, then go on to say it’s one of the worst IPA’s they have ever had. It’s my opinion that you cannot compare an English IPA to an American IPA and bash it for being an English IPA. Sorry, but that’s like bashing the delicious chicken dish you ordered because you prefer steak.What really is even worse is when only beer from a certain brewery’s is considered good. That also gets me going. LOL.

In the end, my point is, not every beer is good and not every craft beer is great; but you do need to evaluate it according to what it is, not what style you prefer and every other beer that does not fit that flavor/aroma profile is a crappy beer. That’s just not fair evaluation. If you are or want to be a beer judge, you do need to let go of that mindset.

White Tip Lager

A friend of mine brought me back 4 beers from the Cayman Islands. This was one of them, White Tip Lager, which is billed as being brewed as a European Premium Lager, which in the BJCP world would still fall under the Premium American Lager category right along with Becks, Stella Artois, Corona, and Heineken. I am confident in the freshness of this beer seeing as the guy who brought it directly from the Caymans just returned 2 days ago.

One thing I don’t enjoy about reviewing light lagers is that you tend to get emails about how much they suck and on. But as a beer judge (especially if you are a beer lover who thinks that way) you need to put that beer snobbery away and judge the beer based upon what it is according to the guidelines, not your personal preference or thoughts on Light Lagers. Like it or not these beers are a part of the craft beer world, although they get little respect. So put those ideas aside, read over the guidelines and accept the beer for what it is, not what you wish it was. So, with that said, let’s review this beer as it would fall if it were in Homebrew Competition.

Aroma: Very low floral aroma, it comes through a lot more if you agitate the beer. There is a slightly sweet clover honey aroma as well. I get the faint aroma of fresh milled grains as well. Other than that, there is not a whole lot going on. Most of the aroma needs to be coaxed out the beer. If you pick it up after sitting a bit, there really is not much to find other than the slight honey aroma. For what it is, it is not bad. If you compare this to the likes of Becks, Stella, or Heineken you will be lacking that classic “skunky” aroma, which is a flaw from being lightstruck. I recall a time when someone would call that the “good stuff” because of that smell. I’m glad that for the most part many people have moved beyond that mindset and recognize that aroma for what it is, a downfall of shipping beer in green bottles across 2 continents.(9 points)

Appearance: This beer is very beautiful. It has a nice gold hue and pours a decent 3/4″ head. The beer is crystal clear. My favorite part comes about half way through the pint, there is a thin 1/8″ layer of foam still present. (3 points)

Flavor: The beer has a nice sweet honey-like flavor that I am digging. The hop flavor is slightly spicy and fairly low. The bitterness lays around the low to medium range and really flows well with the up front sweet flavor of the beer. The beer finishes a only slightly dry. It could be a bit dryer and have a bit more pop to it. It’s not as crisp and refreshing as I would hope. Still the overall flavor is very nice. This is what I find a bit discouraging about beer review sites like Beer Advocate and Rate beer. A majority of the people are rating the beers based on their taste. And many of those people have a taste for the big IPA’s, Barleywines, Belgain Dubbels, and so forth. Granted a beer like this pales in comparison to those extremely flavorful beers, but for what this beer is…..and what the brewery was shooting for, is pretty well done.(13 points)

Mouthfeel: White Tip falls in the medium range for mouthfeel for me. So it could be a touch thinner. That’s strictly by style, on a personal level I like it where it is, but by style it should be dryer so we will have to ding it for that. Carbonation is adequate but I would like to see it a bit higher. More carbonation would give it that pop and help give it a more dry quality as well.(2 points)

Overall: Overall, for an American Premium Lager (which I am comparing more to the other Imported versions we all know) this beer is head and shoulders above it’s competition. While it could thin out a bit, and have a bit more pop, I love the fact that it is not what we are used to for this particular style. I am sure there are plenty of craft brewed versions just as good or better, and it’s possible your local brewpub brews up a version of this style, but I think if you are in Caymans and this is on the beer menu, you will not be disappointed as long as you take it for what it is, a light lager.  (7 points)

Score: 34 points which is a “very good” beer. If I were to assign a letter grade to the beer this would be about a C+. With that, let the email commence about how much the beer sucks because it’s not hoppy enough or big enough.

The major draw for me in making my own specialty and roasted malts is that it adds another depth of homemade flare to my homebrew. The downfall is that unlike commercial malts, you don’t usually end up with the consistency of the commercial product. If you can overcome that hurdle, home roasting your malts can become addicting. But let’s be honest. As homebrewers we tend to be quite anal about consistency. From mash temps to alpha acids to fermentation temperatures. Any minor change in a process or recipe can give you an entirely different beer. You can produce consistent malts at home, but you also need to be OK with minor differences from time to time. Also, because I use an oven and a nut roaster, doesn’t mean that is the only method of roasting. You can try coffee roasters, a grill, or whatever else you think may produce the result you are looking for. With all that out of the way, let’s look at my first run at making Special B.

First I had to look at what Special B is like. Special B is an An extremely dark caramel malt with a sharp, almost toffee like flavor. It should have a heavy caramel taste and is often credited with the raisin-like flavors of some Belgian ales. It is also 147 degrees Lovibond. Since special B is a Belgian Malt, I chose to use Belgian Pale Ale Malt as my base. Since it is essentially a very dark caramel malt, I decided to take that Belgian pale ale malt and simply use my caramel malt process to make the grain. Originally I was going to roast at 400 degrees in the oven to get the dark color, but as you will see in the pictures later, after drying, the grain darkened enough that I reduced the roast time and temp from 400 degrees for 40 minutes in my plan, to 300 degrees for 30 minutes. As you can see, you should plan prior to making a specific malt. you can also just wing it and experiment with creating your own malts. During my Special B project, I also wanted to make a very very dark caramelized Munich malt. You will see pictures of that during this post as well. That is why I wanted to mention it. Making this grain was just for fun and not based on anything in particular.

I started out Special B by taking a pound of Belgian Pale Ale Malt and soaking it for 4 hours. Once the grain is all soft, it is time to start “mashing” it in the husk. I bring my stove up to 180 degrees and place a thermometer in the grain. It is important to make sure the grain is kept in a thick pile to prevent it from drying out. You can even keep a little water in the bottom of the pan and stir often during the mash to make sure the grain always stays wet. After about 2 hours (which is how long I mashed this batch) then you are going to want to transfer the grain to a flat cookie sheet or shallow jelly roll pan for drying.

I mash the grain in a cake pan lined with tin foil. This ensures that if there was any oils on the pan do not get on the grains

Drying the grain on a large cookie sheet. For drying, make sure you keep the grains spread as thin as possible.

When drying, you do not want to roast the grain yet. If you have a food dehydrator, you may be able to use that but I wonder if it would take too long. I dry in the oven at 250 degrees and stir the grain often. It usually takes about 3 hours (sometimes more) to dry the grain. Once the grain is dry, you can then start the roasting process. If you have a specific malt in mind, you may or may not have to adjust the roast based on how far along the grain came during drying. This happened to me on the Special B Project and I adjusted my process to what looked to me like it needed 300 degrees for 30 minutes instead of 400 at 40, which a general roast of already dry grains will get you into that 145 degree lovibond range. This case, the grain already darkened a bit during the drying process.

Below is a picture of when i should have stopped roasting my Special B. I pulled the grain out 20 minutes into the roast for another stir and it looked to be right on. I took a picture of it, in case my extra 10 minutes made a drastic change int he grain. While it did not make a drastic change, it did bring the grain in a shade darker than it should be.

Special B, 20 minutes into the 300 degree roast

After the full 30 minutes was up, you can see that my first run at Special B brought in the grain a bit darker than it should have been. However, the taste is very close. As a matter of fact when I placed a small bit of each grain in each side of my mouth, the difference was very slight. My version has a little more of a roasted flavor, but both seemed equally as sweet and had very similar flavor profiles. Below is a side by side of commercial Special B and my home made version, I placed some Special B in the bowl on the left half and my home made version on the right half of the bowl. I had a few more darkened grains than what you see in the commercial version as you can see. I really wish I would have stopped at 20 minutes.

Side by Side of commercial Special B and my version

So all in all, here was the grains I made that day. The commercial Special B is on the left, then my version in the middle, and a dark roasted caramel Munich malt on the far right.

Home Roasted grains.

So Below is my recommended process for making homemade Special B.

Soak 1 Pound of Belgian Pale Ale malt  for 4 hours in filtered water. Place the malt in a cake pan (or pour the grain into a pile) the place in a 180-200 degree oven for 2 hours. Monitor the grain, and if the grain temp gets above 160 degrees turn off the oven for a while. Keep the grain in that 150 degree range for 2 hours, stirring often (about every 15 minutes). Once the mash is done, spread the grain into the thin layer and dry in the oven at 250 degrees, again stirring often. Once the grain is dry, based on the finished color, ramp up the oven to 300 degrees and roast for 20 minutes (or when the grain looks done). Let it rest for 2 weeks before using in a beer.

Dark Caramelized Munich Malt

Soak 1 Pound of German Munich Malt for 4 hours in filtered water. Place the malt in a cake pan (or pour the grain into a pile) the place in a 180-200 degree oven for 2 hours. Monitor the grain, and if the grain temp gets above 160 degrees turn off the oven for a while. Keep the grain in that 150 degree range for 2 hours, stirring often (about every 15 minutes). Once the mash is done, spread the grain into the thin layer and dry in the oven at 250 degrees, again stirring often. Once the grain is dry, ramp up the oven to 325 degrees and roast for 25 minutes (or when the grain looks done, but not burned). Let it rest for 2 weeks before using in a beer.

Have fun, and Experiment!

I also mentioned that you can experiment with other things while roasting. You can add another depth of flavor to a stout or porter by roasting some oatmeal. It will give you the benefit of the creamy feel of the oats, and a touch of toasty flavor as well. You really want to try something good, use a pound of the roasted oats in a brown ale. Very tasty. Below is a picture of roasted oats.

Oats before roasting

(EDIT): I would like to address a few questions I got by email. The questions are very valid and I just want to answer them for anyone else wondering the same thing.

Can I just mash the whole kernel in mash temperature water? I suppose you could. The only reason I choose an oven is, because you usually mash for longer than a normal 60 minute mash, I choose to use the oven. If I had a mash that I could control temperatures without adding more water, I probably would. If you want to try that it is fine. My methods are only a suggestion, I in no way ever claim to have the only method. So in other words there is no scientific reason I use the oven instead of my mash tun other than for temperature control.

I tried your directions for roasted malt and ended up with grain much darker than your guide states. Where did I go wrong? You probably didn’t. Just like everyone’s brewing system acts differently and you have to tweak your process to match your equipment, same hold true for roasting grain. Your oven may be hotter or cooler than mine, even if you set it at 300 degrees. You need to just use my suggestions as a guideline. Pay attention to the grain and pull it when it appears ready. Do not be a stickler for exact temperature and times that work for me. Just use it as a starting point.

Is it important to use filtered water when making caramel malt? Can I just use tap water? You could, but municipal water tends to have either chlorine or chloromine in it. These will get into your grain and could cause some off flavors in the final product. For piece of mind, I’d stick with filtered or bottled water. If you must use tap water, I would let it sit overnight before using it. This will help if your water utility uses chlorine, but will do nothing for the chloromine.

ORIGINAL HOME ROASTING YOUR MALTS PART 1 Post

Roasting your own grains is an awesome way to add another personal touch to your homebrew. I love roasting my own malts and even make my own crystal malt from time to time. It is so easy, and all you need is an oven and some time. Roasting your malts doesn’t take more than an hour at the most, except for crystal malt. Be aware that early on, I had found from my experience that roasting your own malt seems to reduce the amount of sugars you get, but since then I have found this to not be the case. Still, home roasting adds some awesome malt flavor to your beer. I have made several beers using only home roasted malts for the specialty grains and even made a beer using all home roasted malt as the base malt, a single malt ale with amber malt. I have also won several awards with some of the beers that have home roasted malts in them. One of them is my highest scoring beer with a 43 out of 50. So great beer with home roasted malts is quite possible. Granted, you don’t have the consistency of professional malts, but you have added more home-made factor to your beer. For more on this topic or how to do your own crystal/caramel malts I suggest buying Randy Mosher’s Book Radical Brewing, which is where I based my roasting methods off of. I have added some pictures of home roasted malts in comparison to straight 2 row malted barley. See below for the pictures as proof you can make some beautiful home roasted malts.

Why it Works
The roasted grains you get from your homebrew shop, mostly start out exactly like the two or six you pale malt you are buying. The difference is how they are treating the grain afterwards. They have specific process that they follow each time and have exact temperatures and testing equipment to ensure a consistent and stable product. But in the end all they are doing with the malted grain is playing with the browning reaction called Malliard Reactions. Mainly this is an altering of the flavor and aroma of the grain by browning the starches and proteins inside the grain to a specific degree. The changes in color, again the browning of the starches and proteins change the chemical properties of the grain my changing the melanoidins in the malt. It is reported that this melanoidin change also helps preserve the beer by slowing the oxidation process of the beer.

Before We Begin
There have been some questions on whether it is necessary to let your grains rest for 2 weeks prior to using them. I highly suggest doing so, but if you find you can’t wait, just make sure you are using the lighter roasts. The rest time allows for unwanted aromas that are produced during the browning of the starches in the grain to dissipate. From what I can find, this is mostly for the darker roasts, possibly deep amber and above. I have found that as a general rule, the professional maltsters allow their roasted/toasted grains to rest for 4-6 weeks. I personally have used some grains after a week without any noticeable off flavors or aromas, but then again none of those were the richer roasts.

The Process

• For Pale Gold Malt (est. 10 L), which has a nutty but not toasty flavor, roast your base malt for 20 minutes at 250 Degrees F.
• For Gold Malt (est. 20 L) that is malty, caramelly and rich but not toasty roast your base malt for 25 minutes at 300 degrees F.
• For Amber Malt (est. 35 L) that is Nutty, Malty, and lightly toasty roast your base malt for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.
• For Deep Amber Malt (est. 65 L) that is nutty, toffee-like; with some crisp toastiness roast your base malt for 40 minutes at 375 degrees F. (This one has quickly become my favorite roast of all. I do this one often. It seems to be a well balanced specialty grain.)
• For Copper Malt (est. 100 L)that has a strong toasted flavor with some nutlike notes roast your base malt for 30 minutes at 400 degrees F.
• For Deep Copper Malt (est 125 L) that has a roasted, but not toasted flavor; roast your base malt for 40 minutes at 400 degrees F.
• For Brown Malt (est. 175 L) that has a strong roasted flavor, roast your base malt for 50 minutes at 400 degrees F.
• For Chocolate Malt (est 200+ L depending on time and heat): You need more heat and control than what you can get in the oven. For Chocolate malt use a clean stainless steel or cast iron fry pan on low heat, slowly bringing medium-high heat. You need to stir or shake the pan constantly and not let any kernels sit still or you will end up with scorching instead of dry roasting. I now use a nut roaster, so you can use that if you wish. I bet one could also use a clean wok if you have a gas stove. I have electric though. Here you are going to go more by color than time, but I find it takes about 25 minutes to 30 minutes to get the dark color I want. Remember, you are making chocolate malt, not burnt black malt. There is a difference. The key is keep the grain moving, be patient, and pull it when you think it’s done. Go too far and you will have an acrid and burnt grain that is not too pleasant. You can also make a very interesting sweeter chocolate malt by trying to soak it for a bit in water prior to roasting.
• For Crystal/Caramel Malt soak 1-2 lbs of pale 2 row in just enough water to cover plus about an inch (make sure you use distilled, filtered tap, or spring water). Let soak for a few hours, but no less than 2 hours and no more than 24, I soak for 3 hours. Then Put grains into a pan and keep grains about 2″ deep then place into a preheated 180 degree oven (make sure you have a probe thermometer in the oven and not to let the temps inside the stewing grain to go above 160. If they do reduce your ovens temperature) for 1 1/2 hours. Then spread out grain into 2 separate pans and make sure the grains are no more than 1″ deep. Then increase temperature in over to 250 and let bake for 2 hours or until dry. Then if desired remove from oven for light crystal, or use the roasting guide above to create your own darker versions of crystal malt. Personally I like the 350 degrees for 45 minutes for a sweet roasty crystal malt. Experiment with 1lb batches and see what you like. I find that 1.5lbs is perfect, 2lbs seems to take way to long to dry. To minimize any foul flavors, use distilled or filtered water. EDIT: I would like to add that based on some recent experiments, I am having much better results by Soaking my grain for 3 hours in filtered water, then transferring that grain and water to pot and bringing the temperature up to 154 degrees. Then let it rest at 154 for an hour (applying heat as needed if it dips below 149 degrees). Then Bring the grain up to a solid boil, then drain the water. Lay the grain in a thin layer and dry in the oven at 260 degrees. Then roast to desired color. This has been working much better than mashing in the oven. Pics will come in my 3rd installment on home roasting coming soon. I just wanted to post this prior to compiling my 3rd post on the topic.
• You can also do what I call Sudo-Caramel malts. To do these you just wet the grain a bit to change the flavor and aroma profile and add a bit of sweetness to the grain. You will not get as much sweetness as if you do a full caramel malt process above, but you will make a great grain for both all grain and steeping grain for extract. Generally what you are going to do is soak the grain for under an hour, I find a half hour works well to impart a bit of wetness to the grain. You can use the same temperatures above to produce similar grains but add a touch of sweetness.

In the end, everything is all up to you. Use these above processes as a guideline, but not as law. Have fun, try different temps and times. Play around with wet or dry roasts as well as caramel malt processes and develop your own specialty malts. There my friends, is a truly unique beer that will be difficult to reproduce. Just don’t fear roasting, your really can’t screw it up if you pay attention to temps and times.

The Photos. (you will notice I line my pans with tin foil to avoid getting any oil or grease from previous uses of the pans. You could use dedicated jelly roll pans if you want. But you do not want any oil or fat getting onto your grains)

This is our control picture. This is straight from the sack, 2-row Brewers malt. This is what it looks like before roasting.

This is Deep Amber Malt as described above halfway through the roasting process. I like to stir it halfway through to get a more even toast.

This is finished Deep Amber Malt as described above. This is probably my favorite roast to make.

This is Amber Malt as described above. Slightly lighter than the deep amber.

Here is a side by side of some pale golden malt as I have described above and some unroasted pale 2 row. It is hard to tell the differnece until you do a side by side, then it is obvious.

Golden Malt as I have described in the process at the top of the page.

Crystal Malt in Process.

I like to soak this way for three hours. Then I just pull up the collendar, and pour out the water, then let the malt drip dry for a while. It helps reduce the exess water. Generally, I do a pound to pound and half max.

This grain is not roasted, but it is wet grain. I place it in a small mound then cook it as I have described above. Essentially, you are mashing in the husk.

This is the finished crystal malt. The drying time is the longest part, but once dry and you start the roast, it's all up to you how to make your crystal/caramel malt. The one in the picture was roasted at 325 degrees for 30 minutes after drying.

Sprecher Brewery, Milwaukee Wisconsin

As part of my winnings from this summer’s grilling with beer competition, I received a coupon for a case of Sprecher beer and 2 tickets for a brewery tour. So Brian Lesperance and I headed down to Milwaukee this past Monday for a day to geek out on beer. We stopped at Northern Brewer in Milwaukee, then headed over to the Ale House for lunch. The Ale House was great! I enjoyed their Weekend at Louie’s beer which is their Louies Demise brewed with blueberry rooibos and Hibiscus tea. The blueberry tea came though the most for me. I also had one of their cask ales, a vanilla bean stout. Both were outstanding. Brian had the Ale Houses Monkey Paw which is a big 7% beer which we found funny that they had listed in their session beer section. He also asked for Black and Tan of their Solomon Juneau Extra Pale Ale and Sheepshead stout. After the Ale House we headed to Downer’s Wine and Spirits based off a beer advocate review of beer stores in the area, Downer’s got an A+ rating and we could see why. The store is small, but packed with one hell of a selection. But the purpose of this post is to talk about the brewery tour at Sprecher, so with that let’s get started.

Sprecher has tours Monday through Friday at 4pm, and also has tours on the weekend at 1pm, 2pm, and 3pm. The  cost of the tour is $5. You do have to call ahead for reservations. They also have a gift shop that you can hit at the front end or back end of tour. They have all of their beers and soda, as well as shirts and glasses you can purchase. They also have some interesting beer food, like beer flavored chips, BBQ sauce, and candy. I should also note that children are allowed on these tours because they offer soda. So if you are the type who would like to bring your children on a brewery tour, and sample some beers while your kids drink soda, you can do that. Personally, I don’t care for that idea because I know some people that even after 5 sample sized glasses of beer, probably shouldn’t be driving even more so with kids in the car. But that’s just my opinion. You don’t have to drink the beer I guess, but that sort of is the highlight of any tour, sampling the beer after.

Sprecher Brewery Tour

So now at the start of the tour, everything seemed to start as any other tour in general. We started out in the brewing room with a very brief explanation of the brewing process. Now normally, I expect things to go into a bit more depth, than saying we mix different grains with filtered municipal water and heat it up. It makes a syrupy liquid that get’s pumped over there, then cooled and moved to our fermentors, where we mix that with different yeast and the yeast makes CO2 and of course alcohol. The beer will sit for 2 -21 weeks depending on the beer. Then he pointed to where the spent grains go. Honestly, that was the gist of the tour. No mention of hops at all, no talk about lagers or ales or where they get their grains from. No showing  us the equipment or explaining how it works. You can see where the tour guide stood and he just pointed over in the direction of the equipment. Brian and I were very disappointed. All in all it was less than 5 minutes on the entire brewing process and introduction. We then breezed through by the fermentation tanks without stopping or the tour guide even telling the people what they were, what was inside, or how they lager.

Bottling Line

This is where we spent the most time on our tour. The bottling line. Brian and I had a  theory that the guy who gave us our tour worked on the bottling line. We spent a disproportionate amount of time on bottling, labels, dates, and a very odd amount of time discussing neck labels.  We spent more time here listening about the bottling process than we did about the brewing process. Here we heard every detail. I took a picture behind us, of all the ingredients which which we didn’t talk about where they may be used or what beers/soda the go in.

What are these for? Where do they come from? What are they used in? Are they in something going right now?

From the bottling line we went into the tasting room, which was quite nice. You got a tasting glass and 5 samples of any beer you wanted, and unlimited soda samples. Between Brian and I we sampled the Dopplebock, IPA2, Abbey Triple, Pub Brown (which is what I used in Skirt Steak Fajitas), a contract brewed IPA, and Oktoberfest. The part that also bothered us was that Brian asked our guide a few questions and we got an answer of I’ll have to go ask someone and I will get back to you. But as we sat and sampled our beer, we never saw him go ask anyone. It was clear to us that the tour is not so much a tour for the beer fanatic, but more for general public who has a mild interest in beer. Unlike the New Glarus Hard Hat Tour which was a tour that any beer lover would love to take, this brewery tour (at least the one we were on) was just a glorified sample session. We didn’t learn anything about the brewery or it’s processes, which was disappointing to us. A discussion on Facebook came up shortly after and some I did hear from another beer loving friend who lives in Milwaukee that his tours there went down the same way so we were not alone. In the end, I’d say it’s worth the $5 price for the sampling, but the tour itself is nothing to write home about.

Tasting Room

Taras Boulba Belgian Pale Ale from De La Senne

Today I have what I am thinking off the top of my head is the first Belgian Pale Ale I have reviewed to date. Taras Boulba is a Belgian Specialty Ale and call it Session Belgian Blonde, some sites are calling this beer a Belgian Pale Ale, and historically this could be true. The reason it may be getting called a Belgian Pale Ale is because of history. While today, the Belgian Pale Ale has become a malty and earthy copperish colored ale, in the past it was more influenced from a combination of the German Pilsner and British Pale ale hybrid. But while it is helpful to know that, the purpose of this blog is to review beers as you would if these were homebrews in a BJCP competition. This beer, in my opinion is more of a session Belgian Blonde than a Belgian Pale Ale. So before getting started, maybe take a moment to review the Belgian Specialty category as well as the Belgian Blonde Ale category.

Aroma: In the aroma I get honey and lemon peel, as well as a bit of cracker. There is an aroma of fresh cracked pepper and some noticeable Noble Hop aroma. Overall the aroma is is very straight forward and quite appealing for me, but may be a bit assertive for a session Belgian Blonde. (8 points)

Appearance: The beer is a bight gold with just a bit of haze, and the beer should be fairly clear. A large rocky head was formed right after the pour as I drank it, there was always a layer of foam covering the beer. (2 points)

Flavor: Lots of bitterness in the flavor. The beer starts off with a bit of honey and some sweet orange. But that is quickly cut off by a wallop of spicy noble hop flavor and a stiff bitterness on the back end. My guess would be Saaz hops was used for this beer. The flavor is very reminiscent of a a good Bohemian Pils. The front end and the middle of the beer is very nice, and the bitterness makes this beer fairly refreshing. If you are looking for that traditional Belgian yeast flavor found in many Belgian ales, you can find it. It is there, but it is not as pronounced as it is in other beers. Perhaps it’s covered by the hops a bit. For a Belgian Blonde, the hops may be a bit overdone though. (14 points)

Mouthfeel: Medium body beer with a high level of carbonation. The hops provides a prickley sensation to the tongue. No hot alcohol or astringency. (4 points)

Overall: I prefer this beer to a traditional Belgian Blonde for a few reasons. Beers do not have to be big to be very good. This sessionable blong beer is a very good hybrid blend of what could be a Belgian Blonde and Bohemian Pilsner. You can easily drink more than one, and best of all you would want to. The bitterness is not overdone, yet is enough to satisfy the hophead……unless you are strictly an American Hops variety hophead. But this beer is very well done in my opinion. (8 points)

Score: In the end, I ended up giving this beer a 36 which would be about a B- or C+ in my opinion. This scoring was an example of how even though I personally loved the beer, i had to stick to what the guidelines state, and my interpretation of what a “session Belgian Blonde” should be. I know that I am the one who picked it as that style, but I just didn’t scoring this as a Belgian Pale Ale would have done this beer any justice at all. Another avenue could have been a Belgian Pilsner. That would have been an interesting scoring opportunity as well.

New Glarus Chocolate Abbey

Today I went to the store to get some 400 pound monkey from Left Hand Brewing and saw New Glarus’ new thumbprint beer hit our shelves, so of course I had to pick it up. This is billed as a Belgian Dubbel with Chocolate, so technically this would fall under category 21a, Vegetable/Spice/Herb beer. It could also fall under category 23 as well. I will be judging it as category 21a since they did list the base style as a Belgian Dubbel.

Aroma: If there one thing New Glarus does well…..very well actually, it’s aroma’s in beer. Dan Carey really has a knack for adding that little extra. I didn’t even have to bring this beer to my nose, I could smell the chocolate off the pour while the glass was sitting on counter. It was the smell of rich couverture chocolate. But things don’t end there. Digging a bit deeper there is some fig and spiced raisins as well. As the beer releases some of the pent up chocolate energy, the fig and spiced raisins play so nicely with the chocolate, it borders on obscene. The spice notes (I get a touch of nutmeg) are probably derived from the yeast. (10 points)

Appearance: The beer is a deep amber with some great clarity. The tan foamy head is fairly thick and reduces to a thin layer as you drink the beer down. (3 points)

Flavor: The flavor is bit more subdued than the aroma, but the same elements seem to come to the table. There is a graham cracker-like undertone to the malt base that I did not get in the aroma. The chocolate flavor is not as pronounced as the aroma, but plays just as well with the dark fruity fig and spice. They used an interesting variety of hops I have not had, but I really don’t get anI have no real way of knowing, but I am guessing this beer at about 7% alcohol based on the fact I get a bit of alcohol in the flavor, but not a lot. If this beer is bigger than that, it hides if very well. (16 points)

Mouthfeel: For a dubbel, it feels a bit thin on the palette. The carbonation is nice and spikey. I don’t get any astringency. (3 points)

Overall: Overall, this is an outstanding beer. This beer would pair great with wild game or lamb, but would also do justice to a grilled steak. Pair it with some chocolate or fruit (cherry, fig, dates) desserts as well and you can’t go wrong. Rich and bold with not much in the way of being overly sweet. There is some sweetness in the front end, but it finishes dry and fairly spicy. The bitterness from the hops balances things quite well, I just wish I knew how much spice was coming from the yeast and how much (if any) from the hops. I may have to look up Segal Ranch hops. Not sure what they bring to the table. This is probably my favorite Thumbprint beer for the winter months. This beer just screams winter warmer to me. (8 points)

Score: 40 points out of 50, which is an A in my book.

Great Lakes Brewfest

This was another great year for the Great Lakes Brewfest, one of my favorite beer festivals of the year. The new venue was not what I was expecting at all, which was a plus. I was a bit apprehensive about it being at the zoo, because I was thinking we would be among the animals and who knows what could have happened when you get 4,000 people drinking some great craft beer among a bunch of caged animals. But the area was not around the cages and was a very nice open area.

I was unable to make the Friday event, but from the postings on their facebook page, that event had a great turnout and some very positive feedback. I cannot comment on this portion of the event because we did not travel down Friday and stay the extra night. You can probably place that blame on the economy.

The staging area beautiful. There was some entertainment as the monkey cage was right there. They seemed a bit confused about what all those people were doing there. I also like the castle-like entrance. All that though was small potatoes compared to the electric feel of the anticipation of the doors opening.

Waiting for the gates to open to the GLBF

One the gates opened it was a mad dash to your fist tent. If you are an experienced fest participant, it is smart of have a game plan for your first few beers. We had a game plan and that was to bypass the first few tents because like every year, those seem to be the first hit, so we made a dash for some of the back tents. This brings me to my first noticeable difference in the fest at the zoo compared to the Festival grounds. At the festival grounds, a bulk of your breweries were located in a central location. It got a bit crowded and at times hard to get into the beers you wanted. While the tent situation scattered the breweries all around the grounds, which lead to more  moving about from station to station, it did open up the area and it was not as congested as it is at the Festival grounds. Each setup had it’s advantages and disadvantages I guess. I didn’t mind either way. I do have to say I had a hard time finding (and in the end never got to) the stone brewery tent which was not where it said it was on the map. I was a bit disappointed in that. But it’s not like I didn’t have other choices.

Here is a shot of the festival grounds at the zoo.

There were many great craft brewers represented at the fest, as well as a few mead and cider producers as well. A few local breweries to note were Ale Asylum, New Glarus, Aeppletreow Winery, Hinterland Brewery, Furthermore, and Titletown brewing. On the National level you had heavy hitters like Stone, Left Hand, Avery, New Belgium, Rogue, Moylens, Dogfish Head, Ommegang, and Flying dog…..just to name a few. In the end there were hundreds of beers represented, some special firken tappings, or special offerings that were tapped at specific times. You had over 90 different brewers to choose from. If you couldn’t find something you like, you were not looking. That’s for sure. A few of my personal favorites from the day were Ale Asylum’s Hopalicious, Ommegang’s Aphrodite, and Left Hand Brewing’s 400 Pound Monkey. But really when you think about it, how many great beers do you have after you’re already well on your way? LOL.

Kilties

I’m going to be honest. I was so engrossed in the beer tasting, that I didn’t even notice the band playing. From time to time I recall hearing some background music but I didn’t get to pay much attention. The area was so big, perhaps the sound just was not carrying. I did get to stop and see the Kilties perform which is a treat every year. The Kilties help sponsor the event every year.

The Food is top notch for a beer festival. Although I didn’t get to sample much, I do go right for the pig roast sandwich. It has become my favorite meal at the fest. However, inside the food tent I did see that there were crepes, roasted corn, popcorn, brats and burgers, chili fries, and beer candy. There may have been more, but that was what I saw.

If you are concerned with driving, the GLBF takes good care of you. This was the first year I took advantage of the shuttles to and from the hotel, and I have to say it was a lot of fun both on the way there, and a lot more fun on the way back. There are other services available as well, from cabs to a designated driver program. There should be no excuse for drinking and driving from the festival.

So in the end, again year after year the Great Lakes Brewfest provides an outstanding assortment of craft beers, great food, and good good solid entertainment. I can’t stress enough that if you life in Wisconsin (or even if you don’t) this event is the one to hit. I’ve been going for years, and plan to keep going for many many more. This year, I did do something a little different. I asked a couple of other Fest goers about what they thought of the fest and below are their thoughts.

Brian Lesperance

My first set of feedback is from Fest Goer, Brian Lesperance. I asked Brian the following questions.

Is this your first year at the fest? No.

Did you like the new venue, or did you prefer the Festival Park grounds? I Like the new venue it’s more open and not as maze like.

Was it easy to locate all the beers/brewery’s you wanted to try? Pretty much. But I could not find tent 19 with Stone and Lagunitas.

What did you think of the choices of brewery’s? I am always looking for new brewery’s and beers to sample and regionally undistributed beers are great to sample.

Did you attend the Friday night event? No. We come down on Friday night but we sample the local cuisine and tour the Racine area.

What was your favorite beer of the night? Four Wolves English Ale from Stonefly, Left Hand’s 400 Pound Monkey, I also enjoyed  Alaskan Amber by Alaskan Brewing Co.

Did you like the Entertainment? I Didn’t care for this years band. The Kilties performance is always top notch.

Were you happy with food choices? Hell yeah! Pulled pork is awesome, as well as the usual fair of burgers and brats. The chili cheese fries were yummy.

What do you like most about the Fest? The beer of course. But the  other fest goers at the GLBF are the most friendly group I’ve been around. for the most part No fights, No raging drunks and everyone is friendly and courteous!

What do you like the least of the fest? Staggered Sampling.

Will you attend next year? Yes!

I also received feedback from a first time Great Lakes Brewfest Attendee, David Taylor.

David Taylor

Was this your first year at the fest? Yes.
Did you like the new venue, or did you prefer the Festival Park grounds? I have no way to compare but I think I would prefer a more circular shape so that the path from any one brewery to any other is more 2-dimensional. But that’s just being picky.

Was it easy to locate all the beers/brewery’s you wanted to try? Yes, for the most part, although I did miss a couple that I would have loved to have seen.

What did you think of the choices of brewery’s? Excellent!

Did you attend the Friday night event? No

What was your favorite beer of the night? Does it have to be beer? I loved Aeppeltreow’s Cyser Rose the best. For beer it would be one of two of Bear Republic’s — Racer 5 IPA or the Stout.

How would you describe the atmosphere of the festival? Big and beautiful, and pretty laid back. There were a lot of lines but you didn’t hear people complaining much about them either.

Did you like the Entertainment? I didn’t pay attention.

Were you happy with food choices? Yes, it all looked very good.

What do you like most about the Fest? The selection and the outdoorsy-ness.

What do you like the least of the fest? The sheer size and the lines. Need more port-a-potties!

Will you attend next year? Honestly, probably not. It’s a great fest, but a little too huge for my personal taste. I like being able to get from point A to B in zero minutes with no lines.

I would like to thank Brian and David for their feedback on the fest. It’s always good to give the readers a different opinion other than just my own. I hope to see you next year, I already have my room reserved.

Shipwrecked Copper Ale

Today I am going to review a beer from a Door County Wisconsin brewpub called Shipwrecked. Today I have their Captian’s Copper Ale, thanks to my son who picked this out. Generally a copper ale will fit into either the Pale Ale category or the brown ale category, so it’s a toss up depending on the beer itself. Also as a general rule, copper ales tend to be more along the Brittish lineage, such as a English Pale ale or English Browns, but not exclusivly. For fun, I thought I’d run this one against the English Mild category, mostly because if this was my beer this is where I would enter it. Overall I found this beer malty with very little hop aroma. The flavor was quite nice with some hop bitterness in the middle but finished well. So, with that generalization out of the way, lets take a more in depth look at this beer.

Aroma: Toasty and toffee-like malt aroma. Some low caramel notes. Overall the aroma is a bit sweet. I get a very low woodsy hop aroma. I don’t really get any fruitiness. All in all a nice smelling beer. (7 Points)

Appearance: The beer has good clarity. It is a nice rich copper color and has a nice sudsy head. The head disappeared quite quickly. (2 points)

Flavor: First thing I notice is a toffee-like flavor with a little bit of sweetness. That is immediately interrupted by a moderate hop bitterness. There is some herbal hop flavor in the mix as well. I also find that there is a bit of caramel and toasted barley swirling around that I quite like. The only thing that is off-putting is the herbal hop flavor. The bitterness is nice but the flavor just does not seem to mingle well with the other flavors. It’s a good thing this flavor is on the low side, any more and I probably wouldn’t like this beer. All in all it is malty, a bit sweet, but finishes semi-sweet. The lingering malt flavor is very enjoyable. The hop bitterness disappears fairly fast. (12 points)

Mouthfeel: Mouthfeel is medium-light and there is no alcohol sensation or astringency. Carbonation is good for the style, falling right in the lower range. (3 points)

Overall: Overall it is a very good beer. It is lacking  just a touch in aroma, and the flavor is very nice except for the herbal flavor. That flavor would go well in a few other beers, but it just does not seem to fit this one. Would I recommend this beer? Sure. Is it my favorite. No, but it is not a disappointment, that’s for sure. A different hop choice may benefit or perhaps just a bit more malt to cover it up. Still, it’s a nice fall time beer to be sure. (6 points)

Score: I give this beer a 29 out of 50 points. While this beer is good, it is not great or outstanding. I liked it and I would order it again. There was just the herbal flavor I didn’t agree with and thought it was just an average middle of the road beer. Still, it’s not bad.

The Festival is a two-day event with Friday September 16th being a showcase to Wisconsin’s Craft Beer scene. The “On Wisconsin Brews” portion of the Festival will showcase over 100 of Wisconsin’s finest craft beer offerings from about 35 different brewery’s from around the state. If you would like to see a line-up of the beers being offered, I will provide a link here. This particular event runs from 6:30pm until 10:30pm. Aside from the beer there will food and live music as well. Last year I had a pulled pork sandwich which was awesome, I hope that same vendor is there this year.

Saturday is the “Full Monty” which runs from 3pm till 7pm for general admission and from 2pm-7pm for Vip ticket holders. This Saturday event is the one I make sure I hit not matter what. The most exciting part of the whole thing is the choices you have. You have all of these brewery’s to choose from (select Wisconsin or Nationwide to see the full list). From my experience, each of these stands will offer anywhere from 3 to 5 different beers to choose from and many of them them will have special tappings of their specials or seasonal beers. Generally there is a few different musical performers staged at a few different locations of the festival so Entertainment is never an issue. Sometime about mid-fest you also are treated to a performance by the Kilties Drum and Bugle Corps as well. There is a large food tent,(Again, pulled pork my friends. Pulled Pork!) with several vendors offering a wide variety of food.I should also note that there will be a prize for the best animal costume too. So if you love to dress up, this is your chance.

So, are you ready to buy a ticket yet?  Ticket prices are $40 for each day of the fest, or $71 if you buy tickets to both days at the same time. VIP tickets for Saturday only will run you $85 each, or $116 if you bundle with a  general admission Friday ticket too. designated driver tickets are $15 each for general admission and $25 for VIP designated driver tickets.  You can purchase tickets Here.

Since drinking and driving is not the responsible way to attend a fest, I have to add that if you don’t have a designated driver ticket, you should seriously think of purchasing a shuttle ticket if you are staying at one of the hotels. For either $4 or $8 round trip, it is really worth it. You can purchase those Here.

So hopefully you can make September 16th and/or the 17th. If you can’t make this year, make a plan for next year because this fest is one you don’t want to miss!