Missouri Man Makes Gluten-Free Beer; available nationally (in U.S.) May 1st

Read or watch the video regarding this man's quest to help millions enjoy beer who can't now, because of a medical condition called celiac disease.
Here's the web site for his beer, called Bard's Tale Beer.

I have a friend who has the same medical condition. I'm going to make him a batch of gluten-free sorghum malt beer, sometime within the next two months. I think it will be an interesting homebrewing project. From the tasting notes at the 2004 GABF, Bard's Tale did ok, with a couple of caveats:
Date: 2-Oct-2004 (44-5471)
Package: draught
Place: Great American Beer Festival, Denver CO
Score: 15 points
Appearance (3)Pale golden. Nice thick head.
Aroma (3)
Smoky, grainy.
Mouthfeel (7)
Medium body. Really sweet and herbal and smoky, with an unfortunate diacetyl note.
Overall Impression (2)
Real interesting beer.

I think I can brew a less sweet version with no diacetyl notes. Bard's has an IBU rating of 20. I think 30-35 would be more appropriate, and I'll use noble hops to do it. I don't know if I'll brew an ale or the lager, at this point.

Randy Mosher writes about brewing with sorghum in his book Radical Brewing. I'm going to re-read what he has to say about it. I'll come up with my own recipe and post it in the near future.

Have any other of you bloggers brewed a sorghum malt beer? I'd be interested in some feedback.

American Brown Ale Recipe

I'm going to brew an American-style Brown Ale, sometime this weekend. I want to have a different offering for a "session beer" available in my beer fridge.
Here's the basic recipe that I came up with:

Bad Ben's Brown Ale
Type: All grain
Size: 11 gallons
Color: 51 HCU (~22 SRM)
Bitterness: 50 IBU
Alcohol: Approx 5% by volume

Grain:
10 lb. American 2-row pale malt
7 lb Maris Otter British pale malt
1.5 lb. Belgian CaraMunich
13 oz. Belgian chocolate malt
6 oz. Flaked barley
1 lb. White Wheat Malt

Mash:
70% efficiency
Single-infusion @ 152°F for 60 minutes.
Recirculate through mash bed for 20 additional minutes.
Mash-out at 170°F
Sparge with 170°F water.
Boil:
80 minutes
Irish moss last 15 minutes.

Hops:
2 oz. Centennial (10.5% AA, 60 min.)
1 oz. Mt. Hood (4.5% AA, 30 min.)
1 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 15 min.)
1 oz. Mt. Hood (4.5% AA, 15 min.)
1 oz. Cascade (dry hop in secondary)
1 oz. Mt. Hood (dry hop in secondary)

Yeast: Wyeast 1056, large starter.
Ferment at room temp for 5-9 days in primary.
Secondary fermentation for 7-10 days.
Tertiary conditioning for 4-7 days.
Carbonation: Force-carbonate and serve from cornelius kegs.

Party...Fermentation Updates

The bachelor party was a resounding success!
The toll:
60 loud and obnoxious attendees.
1 each shitload of food (eaten).
11-gallons of homebrew drank.
1 bottle of Stoli.
1 bottle of Belvedere (Polish vodka).
A large dent in the large bottle of "Most Wanted" single-batch vodka.
1-1/2 bottles of Basil Hayden's.
1 large bottle of Maker's Mark.
59 wounded livers.
1 happy Russian bachelor, who fell asleep on the floor and had his face painted by *Total Dickheads.
(Some photos may follow).

Brewing note:
The Belgian is down to 1.025 specific gravity (from a starting gravity of 1.092). It's slowly fermenting with a Trappist yeast, now. I may raise the fermentation temp to 80F for a while (to finish the job).
The IPA that I brewed for James 2-weeks ago is down to 1.012. It will probably finish at 1.009 or so. The yeast is still somewhat in suspension. I'll transfer it again to tertiary conditioning (within the next two weeks), to clarify it some more.

*Total Dickheads = Good Ben, my son, and me.

Getting Ready to Transfer Some Brew, Tonight.

Preparing for a brew transfer tonight: I cleaned 2 corny kegs and a glass 15-gal Demi-John this morning (before going to work). They are all soaking with PBW and water in them. I'll perform the rest of my sanitization protocol when I get home.

I have to transfer the Imperial Stout to kegs this evening (after I run 12 miles with the Trail Nerds). I want to have at least 1 corny keg of Imperial Stout force-carbonated before Alex's bachelor party on Saturday night. I will age the other keg with some French Oak chips (that have been soaking in Maker's Mark Whisky).

The glass demi will house my most-recent Belgian for the duration of it's final fermentation. I was going to leave it in the stainless steel "Sputnik" fermenter, but I couldn't off-load the latest round of dead yeast from the bottom sanitary valve...(it's clogged). So, I'll transfer it to glass. No big deal.

I'll have to check my stock of beer in the horizontal chiller downstairs. I'll need some more for Alex's party. I should have a few oddball kegs in there. I need to finish-off some of those soon, before they get too long in the tooth.

You may have seen the photo before. It's of my Nanobrewery Ale Fermentation Area (NAFA). This time of year it's at room temperature, which is 68F (20C). I have an electronically-controlled heat wrap for the SS fermenter, that I'll use at the end of it's final fermentation.

How Now, Brown Ale?

I just figured out that I've NEVER brewed a brown ale. Charlie Papazian's article and recipe for an American Brown Ale in the Mar/Apr edition of Zymurgy has inspired me. I think I'll brew my own version of this for my next "session beer" to have on tap. Session beer is defined by:
"Any beer that contains no higher than 5 percent ABV, featuring a balance between malt and hop characters (ingredients) and, typically, a clean finish - a combination of which creates a beer with high drinkability. The purpose of a session beer is to allow a beer drinker to have multiple beers, within a reasonable time period or session, without overwhelming the senses or reaching inappropriate levels of intoxication. (Yes, you can drink and enjoy beer without getting drunk.)"

I've never felt a need to have a brown ale on tap. I absolutely hate the sweeter versions of the style that lots of clone-happy extract brewers love, (like Newcastle). Mine will be crisp and clean, with a twist, (no doubt). I've tasted some very nice versions of this style over the years, but nothing comes to mind as "outstanding" or especially memorable. I would like to at least try to brew a "very decent" tasting beer that some would say is at least memorable.

For the last 2 years or so, my session beer of choice to have on tap has been a Kölsch. Non-beer-snobs who are scared to venture "out of the box" usually like my versions of a Kölsch, so it's a nice beer to have on hand. It's also a nice palate-cleanser between high-gravity beer tastings. It's just always been a decent beer to have around. (I used to have American Pale Ale on tap for the same reasons).

I'll try a brown, for a while, instead. I'll let you all know what I come up with for a recipe. I won't be able to brew it for a couple of weeks, though, due to time constraints. Darn!

Party for a Friend

I'm going to have the ol' homebrew flowing for a bachelor party next week. I'll have a Kölsch, an Imperial Stout and a Belgian on tap. The party will be for my buddy Alexander. I'm going to be best man at his wedding in April.

My big Russian friend Alex and I have been through a lot together. We've done 100-mile trail runs together, had way too many drinks together (more than a few times), and have gotten up at 5 AM to train on long cold runs (with hangovers), always talking about life and its intricacies.

He has a great sense of humor, is very soulful, and is strong as a fucking ox. He also has a penchant for drinking my beer and falling asleep with his arm around my big, furry dog.

Picture of one of My Kids

Last night's entertainment:
Here's a (semi-blurry) photo of my latest Imperial IPA, which turned out darn wonderful. I made it with my own homegrown hops, so it's a true "harvest" ale. I was watching the Winter Olympics at the time of the photo, and had a glass of my Kölsch to warm up for this powerful brew.

Cheers!

Back To Brewing!

Finally, I'm going to homebrew again! I'll actually be brewing an IPA for a friend's relative's wedding. He will purchase the ingredients and help me brew this Sunday. It's going to be cold in the Bad Ben Nanobrewery this weekend. I'll be cold enough to freeze my snot.

I've had a busy two weeks. You can read about it on my other blog.

I had some buddies and volunteers over last weekend after "the big race." The Hyperdrive Imperial IPA and the Gute Träume Kölschbier were well received. Oh yeah: we also had a free keg of Miller Lite from a race sponsor.
The photos show some of the festivities.