I have a question for my reader(s): So I’m obviously by no means an expert, but I’m wondering what I can do to improve my brewing.  I’m still using malt extract, and I don’t have the room or the equipment to go all-grain.  I’m using grains and whole hops (not a kit) and primary and secondary fermenters.  What will make an improvement - big or otherwise?

At the fresh hop festival last weekend I overheard some woman asking one of the servers if any of the beers were “very bitter.”  I wanted to suggest to her that she step away from the beer, give her tickets (for samples) to someone who actually knew what a hop was, and head on over to 7-11 to pick up some bud light.  But that wouldn’t have been very nice.

I can understand showing up at some random beer festival and being shocked by massively-hopped beers or other unusual concoctions, but this was a fresh hop festival! Oh well - its just a shame to waste some great fresh hop beer on a heathen.

I had the opportunity to attend the 2007 Oregon Bounty Fresh Hop Beer Tastival in Troutdale, OR last weekend.  It was my first time attending.  It was a lot of fun and a very interesting experience.  It was sponsored by Oregon Bounty, the Oregon Brewers Guild, the Oregon Hop Growers Association, and McMenamins.  We sampled the following beers:

• Hop Trip - Pale Ale (Deschutes Brewery)
• Twisted Sister - Pale Ale (Karlsson Brewing Company)
• Step Sister - IPA (Karlsson Brewing Company)
• Fresh Hop Pale (Laurelwood Brewing Company)
• The Mutt - Pale Ale (Lucky Labrador Brewing Company)
• The Educator - Pale Ale (McMenamins)
• Cascadian Pale Ale (Mt. Hood Brewing Company)
• Harvest Man - Red Ale (Lompoc Brewing Company)
• Star of India - Pale Ale (Lompoc Brewing Company)
• Geschwills Golden Ale (Widmer Brothers)

My personal favorites were the Harvest Man and the Star of India.  All of the beers were excellent.  I thought the Geshwills was a little bland, but it was still good.  The Step Sister from Karlsson was intense!  It had a lot of flavor, and (somewhat surprisingly) it wasn’t completely overwhelmed by the hops.  Their Twisted Sister wasn’t as hoppy, but it was still impressive.  I have a soft spot for Karlsson - this was my first time drinking their beer, but they’re based in Sandy, OR (where I grew up).

Anyway, it was a great time.

This beer tastes great - but I got a little lazy and apparently bottled it too early.  All of my other beers had turned out so well, that I thought I didn’t need to take a final hydrometer reading.  I brewed it during August, so I figured that the heat had helped the fermentation go quickly and the activity seemed to have stopped.  Oops!  It wasn’t catastrophic - the bottles didn’t explode.  However, they tend to foam excessively and some of them have been real gushers.  I can still enjoy the beer though.

Raspberry Hefeweizen
8oz 10l Crystal Malt
8oz Vienna Malt
7lbs Wheat Malt Extract
2oz Hallertauer Hops (1oz @ 60 min, 1/2oz @ 25 min, 1/2oz @ 15 min)
European Ale Yeast
Raspberry  extract added at bottling

So the big news this week is that Molson-Coors and SABMiller are merging in order to better compete against Anheuser-Busch.  Apparently Anheuser-Busch controls 50% of the US beer market, Molson-Coors has 11% and Miller 19%.  Pete Coors (Vice Chairman of Coors) said in a statement, “Consumers are broadening their tastes and are increasingly looking for greater choice and differentiation; wine and spirits companies are encroaching on traditional beer occasions, and global beer importers and craft brewers are both taking a larger share of volume and profit growth.  This merger will leverage our considerable expertise in manufacturing tasteless beer and dramatically increase in our appeal to clueless American drinkers.”

Well, he didn’t actually say the last part.  But he could have…

This was my first pale ale - the recipe again courtesy of Main Street Homebrew. It is pretty similar to the Mirror Pond Pale Ale from Deschutes Brewing. I’m really happy with how this beer turned out. It is moderately hoppy (at least by Oregon standards) with a great flavor. Sadly, its almost gone - I’ll just have to brew more!

Lake Sabrina Pale Ale
7lbs extra light malt extract
12oz Crystal (probably 40l or 60l - I didn’t write it down)
2oz No. Brewer Hops (1oz @ 60 min, 1/2oz @ 20 min, 1/2oz @ 5 min)
2oz Cascade Hops (1/2oz @ 15 min, 1/2oz @ 10 min, 1oz @ 0 min)

OG - 1.060

Currently in my secondary fermenter is a west coast style stout (again courtesy of Main Street Homebrew - Doug’s recipe).  I took a little sample this weekend and it is good!

All Saints Stout
12oz Roast Barley
8oz Crystal
8oz Chocolate Malt
4oz Carafa
2oz No. Brewer Hops (1oz @ 60 min, 1/2 oz @ 20 min, 1/2 oz @ 10 min)
Irish Ale Yeast
9lbs Amber Malt Extract

OG - 1.08

Currently fermenting is a beer resembling the Rogue Ales Mocha Porter. The recipe was put together by Kevin at Main Street Homebrew.

9 lbs Amber Malt Extract
12oz 8ol Crystal Malt
6oz 4ol Crystal Malt
12oz Chocolate Malt
2oz Carafa
2oz No. Brewer Hops (1 oz @ 60 min, 1/2 oz @ 20 min, 1/2 oz @ 10 min)
Irish Ale Yeast
1/4 cup coarse ground coffee (steeped for 15 minutes after the boil)
1/4 cup cocoa powder (also steeped for 15 minutes)

OG - 1.065

If you’re a nervous brewer like I am, I discovered a great tool. It is a tool for estimating original and final specific gravity for your brews. Link here. You shouldn’t use it to determine if fermentation is finished, but it is a good guide. You do have to convert everything to metric measurements…

As you can see below, I used a blow-off tube with my first batch of beer. The results were fine, but since then, I haven’t used one. I’ve been using a 7 gallon glass carboy as my primary fermenter (which has ample room for expansion so no need to blow-off) and I have a batch going right now where I used a 8 gallon plastic bucket for my primary.

I was persuaded by Kevin at Main Street Homebrew to avoid using a blow-off tube. He has a detailed article here.