Find My Beering

Chris LaPointe's thoughts on beer, brewing and beyond.

[findmybeering]

Portsmouth Brewery/Smuttynose

Yesterday we took a trip to the Portsmouth Brewery in Portsmouth, NH, makers of their own brand as well as Smuttynose.  Before lunch we tried a few samples; here's the quick rundown (sorry for the lack of description/elements, as we didn't have much time to fully enjoy these samples before our food arrived):

Homunculus

Golden and cloudy with a mild hoppy aroma. A mild bitterness for a strong IPA, with a smooth sweet taste and a clean finish.

A-

I.P.P. (Imperial Pumpkin Porter)

Medium brown in color and a clean aroma. Very little pumpkin taste, with delicious hints of chocolate and coffee. More bitter aftertaste.

B

Hop Harvest

Amber in color. Very bitter taste and aftertaste, yet enjoyable.

B+

Cream Ale

Golden and clear in color. Smooth and easy taste, with very little aftertaste.

B

pHunkin

Golden ans slightly cloudy. Very, very sour, light-bodied. Taste dissipates quickly.

C  

Old Brown Dog

Brown/red in color. Light and smooth with little bitterness. Little aftertaste.

B+

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Review: Atwater Brewery Cherry Stout

Apperance

Poured into a Perfect Pint glass from a 12 ounce bottle.  Very dark in color with the slightest amount of red visible.  A nice tan head of two fingers quieted down pretty quickly, though a nice ring of bubbles stuck around for the drink, leaving no lacing.

Aroma

Tart cherries are most predominant in this mostly faint nose.  Various other fruit flavors mingle in with a bit of malty notes behind the cherry.

Taste

Return of the cherries!  The cherries dominate the immediate taste and linger all the way through; there is a bit of sweetness but the tart and bitter overtones win out.  There are some chocolate and/or coffee flavors towards the end, but it's hard to tell which it is while dealing with the cherry tones.

Body

Watery, no where near as heavy as a stout should be.  Carbonation, which is rather low, is correct for the style, though.

Finish

Tartness of the cherries lingers on the finish, which is a bit difficult to get out of your mouth.

Overall

Sadly, it looks like this brew is going on the "avoid in the near future" list.  Most of Atwater's offerings are fine examples of good Detroit-city brewing, but it looks like this one falls short.

Grade: D+

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Review: Short's Brew Chocolate Wheat

Apperance

Poured into a tall tumbler from a 12 ounce bottle.  Black in color with two fingers of tan, thick, and foamy head that died down in about two minutes.  Thin layer of foam stayed on the top of the liquid during the drink.

Aroma

Obviously: chocolate.  Very dark/bitter chocolate hints carry most of the aroma, along with a little bit of hops and coffee.

Taste

The coffee comes through the most during the taste, which mingles with some sweet malt and more chocolate on the back end.  Bitterness is mild, providing a nice backdrop for the other flavors.

Body

Smooth and creamy.  A little on the light side of a medium body, perhaps because of stronger than expected carbonation for a porter.

Finish

Finishes smooth and dry, with a little bitterness lingering along with the chocolate flavors.

Overall

Not a bad porter at all.  Showcases a good complexity between the chocolate and coffee aspects of the brew.

Grade: B+

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Homebrew: Two Hearted Clone

My detailed notes on the BEST Christmas gift I got this year: a brew kit for a clone of Bell's Two Hearted Ale.  I did adjust the hop additions by spreading them out more evenly over the boil than suggested.

Two Hearted Ale Clone

Recipe volume: 5 gallons

Yeast: Safale US-05 Dry Ale Yeast (rehydrated)

Grains: 1# Crystal 10L

Malt: 8.4# (unknown) LME

Original Gravity (listed): 1.068

Hops:

1oz - 60 min - Centennial - Alpha 8.7%

1/2 oz - 45 min - Centennial - Alpha 8.7%

1/2 oz - 30 min - Centennial - Alpha 8.7%

1/2 oz - 15 min - Centennial - Alpha 8.7%

1/2 oz - 0 min - Centennial - Alpha 8.7%

Calculated IBU = 80.1

Procedure:

9:25am

Washed all equipment and soaked necessary items in sanitizer (1 Tbsp. bleach for 1 gallon of warm water).

Boil couple extra gallons of water to keep on hand.

9:45am

Rinsed sanitized items in scalding faucet water.

Transferred sanitizer to second fermenter bucket.

10:00am

Rinsed out second fermenter.

Transferred preboiled water to second fermenter.

Took extra boiled water off the heat to cool.

Filled brew pot with one gallon of water, started to heat towards 150-170.

10:25am

Water in brew pot reached temperature of 160.

Placed crushed grains in tall muslin bag (at least 2 feet long), tied off at very end.  Gracie helped keep muslin bag open.

Placed bag of grains in the brew pot water, dunked and swirled to wet all of the grains.  Water temperature was around 170, turned off heat.

10:55am

Removed grain bag from the brew pot after draining, transferred to kitchen bowl.

Stirred in more than half of the malt extract with preliminary wort until dissolved.

Added water to the brew pot to increase volume to 3 gallons, stirred all together.  Turned heat on high.

11:20am

Temperature of wort is around 130 and rising.

11:40am

Temperature of wort is around 180, almost at a boil.  Smooth and even foam has formed around the top of the wort.

11:45am

Almost boiled over!  Wort is now boiling, waiting for hot break.

12:00pm

First hop addition, 1 oz of Centennial.  Started one hour boil timer.

12:15pm

Second hop addition, 1/2 oz of Centennial. 45 minutes left to boil.

12:30pm

Third hop addition, 1/2 oz of Centennial. 30 minutes left to boil.

12:45pm

Fourth hop addition, 1/2 oz of Centennial. 15 minutes left to boil.

12:50pm

Started the yeast.  Sprinkled one packet on top of 1 cup of 100 degree water in a mason jar.

12:55pm

Added the remainder of the malt extract for pasteurizing.

1:00pm

Turned off heat and added final hop addition at knockoff, 1/2 oz of Centennial.

Placed brew pot full of wort into an ice bath in the kitchen sink, surrounded by 4 gallon jugs of ice and loose ice cubes.

1:05pm

Stirred up the yeast.  Some of the wet yeast stuck to the spoon and needed to be knocked off.  All of yeast ended up suspended.

1:10pm

Wort temperature down to 120 degrees.

1:20pm

Wort temperature down to 80 degrees.

1:30pm

Wort temperature down to 70 degrees, correct pitching temperature.

Had some water drainage problems with the plug in the sink.  Required bringing a few buckets of water in from the bathtub. Easily went through a full box of ice cubes.

Poured a little over 2 gallons of preboiled water from the day before into the fermenter, which was the right amount to bring the wort up to 5 gallons when poured in after the water.

Aerated the wort pouring back and forth from each fermenter a total of 5 times.  Used a strainer to catch all of the hops matter (there was a LOT) and other break material.

1:40pm

Pitched the yeast into the wort, now in the primary fermenter.  Covered with lid and rolled the fermenter around for a minute.

Added the 3-piece airlock into the stopper on the lid, filled with vodka.

1:45pm

Brought the fermenter into Jude's closet, placed on a bath towel (in case of leakage).  Initial room temperature was 66 degrees.

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Review: Frankenmuth Brewery Oktoberfest

Appearance

Poured into a mug from a 12 ounce bottle we picked up at the brewery (can't beat $6 for a 6-pack that was only a couple days out of season).  Medium-copper color with moderate to high visibility.  Just over a finger of white, creamy head that settled down two or three minuets later.

Aroma

Immediate scents of sweet and earthy hops.  Maybe hints of caramel.

Taste

Average sweetness with a light hops character.  Typical fruit flavor mingles with some toasty and malty backing.

Mouthfeel

Crisp, clean, and a bit on the heavier side.  Carbonation is below average.

Finish

The balance of sweet and bitter follows though the whole taste, quickly disappearing from the palate soon after.

Overall

Wasn't quite what one would expect out of a Marzen style of brew, but it was enjoyable for what it is.  Would certainly select a few other Oktoberfest/Fall beers before this one again.

Grade: C+

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Brewing: Cooling the wort

As a (very novice) home brewer, one of my biggest challenges so far has been trying to find the most efficient way to cool down my wort (the result of boiling the malt with the hops for an hour).  Since the wort is basically what will be come the actual beer, the handling of this concoction is extremely important.

My current method is the most common among novice brewers- the ice bath.  Thankfully we have a rather large and deep sink in our kitchen, which is plenty big enough to contain the 3 gallon "brew pot" I borrow from my mother-in-law.  The basic idea is to place the brew pot, containing 200+ degree boiling wort, into the sink filled with ice and water.  The ideal result is to get the temperature of the wort down to 70 to 80 degrees within half an hour.

The first time I attempted this I was vastly unprepared.  I quickly exhausted our large supply of ice cubes from the ice cube maker in the freezer and the wort seemed to hardly drop much in temperature.  Thankfully I remembered the 12 or so milk jugs full of ice in our large freezer for keeping energy costs down, and 4 of those fit perfectly around the brew pot.  It still took much longer to cool the wort, about 45 minutes to an hour, and the resulting beer ended up with a hazy appearance when chilled, appropriately called "chill haze."

The second batch of beer I made turned out better in this area.  I had the large gallons of ice ready and a larger supply of ice cubes; thankfully I got the wort chilled in close to half an hour.  The resulting beer still suffered a little chill haze, but the style of brew was intended to be a bit cloudy.

Between these first two of my brews, I've been thinking a lot about finding a more efficient way to overcome this crucial barrier, especially since there are more efficient methods.  One of the more common and easy to create is an immersion chiller.  This is basically about 25 feet of copper piping coiled up about a dozen times to fit inside of the brew pot once the wort is finished boiling.  Both ends stick up out of the pot and are attached to a water source that pumps cold faucet water through the pipe and cools the wort.  While this method would certainly help and would be the cheapest option at around $30-40 to make (twice as much to buy), I kept on looking.

The next step up is a counterflow chiller, which is very similar in design to the immersion chiller.  The length of copper piping is contained inside of an outer jacket, usually made up of garden hose.  The wort is pumped through the copper piping in this instance, while water is pumped through the hose in the opposite direction, effectively chilling the wort to the right temperature needed to pitch the yeast once it exits.  The biggest downside to this method is that the copper can be difficult to clean and santitize, though the price wouldn't be much higher than an immersion chiller.

The last option and the one I'm leaning towards is a plate chiller.  This is similar to the counterflow, except much more compact.  The hot wort enters and exits the chiller in one direction, while the cold water flows in the opposite direction.  However, the plate chiller is made up of 10-60 thin steel plates stacked on top of one another, alternating between wort and water in each separating chamber.  With a larger surface area for the heat to be distributed, this is the most efficient method, but of course there are drawbacks.  Since the space between plates is so small, filtering of all hops matter must be contained prior to chilling to avoid any clogging.  Also, plate chillers are the most expensive option, running anywhere from $60 to $200.

For myself, I have a little bit of time to think about my next step (my brew tomorrow will obviously need to use an ice bath).  I'd really like to add a more efficient upgrade to my brew process, but I don't want to spend money on a cheaper product if it won't work the best, such as an immersion chiller.  A smaller 20-plate chiller might be the best bet price-wise and hassle-wise in the near future, and if it works well I could upgrade to a 40-60 plate chiller later in my brewing "career."

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Review: Atwater Brewery Detroit Pale Ale

Appearance

Poured into a Perfect Pint glass from a 12 ounce bottle.  Beautiful light golden body, moderately cloudy.  Soft white head was half a finger and sunk back into the beer quickly, though a faint circle of tiny bubbles stayed along the outer-top level of the beer during the drink.  Definitely looks like a thirst-quenching beer with hopefully a great taste.

Aroma

Very clean smell with hints of floral and citrus.  Not much to see (or smell) here.

Taste

Wonderful balance of hops and fruity flavors.  Grapefruit flavors play nicely with the bitterness of the hops for an enjoyable taste.

Body

Good carbonation and a good medium mouthfeel, both contributing towards enhanced flavors and easy drinking.

Finish

The bitterness of the hops (both American and European according to Atwater) linger on your tongue for a while.  I enjoy the continual savoring of these mild to medium hops flavors, but lesser hop-head might be turned off.  The golden liquid does go down smooth, though.

Overall

Not the best of the best, but still a quality brew from a downtown Detroit staple.  Would certainly pick up another bottle, perhaps during the warmer summer month.

Grade: B

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Review: (Michigan Brewing Company) Zehnders Vienna Red Lager

Apperance

Poured into a perfect pint glass from a 12 ounce bottle.  Clear, golden orange in color, with maybe the slightest tint of red.  Good two finger head of white bubbles that dissipated within a minute and left moderate lacing.

Aroma

Good nose of sweet and earthy malts, perhaps a note of strawberry.

Taste

Mild hops combined with a grapefruit taste up front, later touching on a hint of cocoa.  Sweetness carries through from beginning to end.

Body

Moderate body, which seems a bit thicker than you'd expect.  Carbonation is average and serves to enhance the taste rather well.

Finish

Finishes smoothly, with equal parts sweet and bitter following for a good 30 seconds.

Overall

Little aspects that set this apart from your typical red lager are present, but don't do any damage to the brew.  Zehnders did well in choosing the Michigan Brewing Company for this task.

Grade: B

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Brewery Tour: Frankenmuth Brewery

(Image courtesy of Frankenmuth Brewery)

Today our family visited Frankenmuth just in time for Christmas, mainly to buy a stocking and first Christmas ornament for our nine-month-old son.  We had missed the Frankenmuth Brewery the last time we visited the town two years ago, so we made sure it was on our agenda this time around.

We mainly visited the brewery for dinner, but certainly weren't going to miss out on adding another brewery tour to our checked-off list which includes places like Samuel Adams (Boston) and Redhook (Portsmouth).  Visiting different brewery tours gives you a good feel about the scope of the operation: with this being the smallest brewery we've visited, our private tour group included us, our tour guide, and two other gentlemen; compare this to Sam Adams were each tour easily takes in 60+ people every 45 minutes.

Our tour started in a small side room that is visible to the restaurant through a wall of large floor-to-ceiling windows.  This room contained three smaller-sized pots that take the water, barley, and hops in the first container and turn out a new wort in the third container, just eight hours later.  Based on my own dabbling in brewing and a question I poised, the large majority of this eight hours is simply heating up the water to a boil.

From there we traveled outside of the main building and looked into a smaller fermentation building which houses 8 different brews at a time.  Since fermentation typically takes two weeks for an ale or a month for a lager, this means that a new batch of beer can only be boiled every few days with their storage constraints.  This might not make sense for a brewery that distributes, except that the beer produced at this smaller brewery stays onsite only, for the restaurant, events, and purchase by customers.

The next leg of the tour centered around the basement, where the rest of the magic happens.  We saw the large bags of grains and malts used in the brew process, as well as the single bottling line and kegging station.  Not a whole lot exciting here, especially since nothing was being bottled or kegged at the time.  There was apparently a locked unmarked door that supposedly leads to a tunnel system below Zender's and the Bavarian Inn, but that was just speculation.

After we completed the tour, it was time for dinner.  I enjoyed a well-crafted English Style IPA with my burger, my wife drank a rather impressive Irish Red Ale, and our daughter partook in the beer shenanigans with the brewery's own brand of root beer (which was delicious as well).  Overall a really fun trip to Frankenmuth that was enhanced by a stop at this brewery.  Certainly recommended to anyone who happens to be visiting the area, whether during the busy holiday season or in the dead of summer.

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Review: Frankenmuth Brewery Red Sky Ale

Apperance

Poured into a pint glass from tap.  Very dark red (more than usual, according to server).  Very little head and attributed zero lacing to the glass.

Aroma

Sweet caramel and tart notes, very faint hops in the aroma.

Taste

Sweet and tart right up front and throughout, mellowed out by even yeast/bread flavors.  The very little hops detected help keep this brew nice and mild.

Body

Really light and smooth with light carbonation.

Finish

Goes down smooth and disappears quickly from your palate with a nice sweetness.

Overall

A very balanced red ale that is easy to drink and can appeal to a larger base of beer enthusiasts.

Grade: B+ 

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Review: Frankenmuth Brewery English Style IPA

Appearance

Poured into a tall Weizen glass from tap. Golden color with a tinge of orange, clearer than an American IPA.

Aroma

Very faint nose of dry and earthy malts, not a whole lot going on here.

Taste

Hops right up front with very muted notes of fruit, followed by good bready and earthy flavors.  Hops carry through strong with a slight sweetness at the end.

Body

Dry and smooth, very much a session beer as described by one of the brewers.

Finish

A clean bitterness lingers positively for about half a minute.

Overall

The first English version of my favorite style that I can remember trying.  It certainly shares the same characteristics I enjoy in an IPA, in almost a more "raw" form.  You can certainly see how this style required a large amount of hopping to survive the trip from England to India.

Grade: B

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Review: Southern Tier Old Man Winter Ale

Appearance

Poured into a pint glass from a 12 ounce bottle. Copper in color and complete clarity.  One finger of head that lasted a few minutes, leaving moderate lacing behind on the glass.

Aroma

Sweet, citrus notes are present, pine and spice are underlying.

Taste

Makes good on the promise of citrus: grapefruit and tangerine flavors lead the way.  Very well balanced bittering hops enhance these first flavors, followed by a good mix of spices and earthy notes and finishing with a nice caramel.

Body

Very moderate body- heavy enough to suit a winter ale but not oppressive.  The above average carbonation helps enhance the flavors.

Finish

Very clean finish.  Bitter notes are left to linger, but they carry the pleasantness of the taste to a slow completion.

Overall

Very impressed with this winter ale I noticed for the first time today.  Certainly suits a wintertime enjoyment and I would seek this brew out again.

Grade: B+

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Review: Short's Brew The Liberator

Preface

I included a bottle of Short's Brewing Company's regular IPA into a mix-pack a while ago and was very disappointed with the brew.  I was hoping that this double IPA would be just plain better, but it was not meant to be.

Appearance

Poured into a pint glass from a 12 ounce bottle.  Beautiful bright orange color, moderate cloudiness, and a nice finger and a half of head that lasted a few minutes.

Aroma

Citrus, pine, and a sweet malt smell.  None of the aromas particularly stand out.

Taste

Hops, hops, and more hops.  As a hop-head I really enjoy the bitter taste of a well crafted IPA, but the amount of hops in this beer is just plain overkill.  Forget about the lemon and orange zest flavors promised on the bottle; they're easily drowned out in the dark earthy hops.  This is akin to a hot sauce that drowns out the food it's applied to, rather than enhance it with a spicy flavor.  It's hard to taste even the hops flavor between all the bitterness produced.

Body

Moderate carbonation and body.  Goes down smooth (thankfully).

Finish

Bitter.  Can't get the bitterness out of your mouth afterwards, even minutes later.

Overall impression

I don't even want to finish this glass.  One of the most unpleasant brews I've come to ever experience.  It's a shame because Short's is a rather okay local brewery with a few other brews that are above average.

Grade: D-

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Review: Samuel Adams Imperial Stout

Appearance:

Poured into a Samuel Adams Perfect Pint.  Black in color with zero light passing through.  Tan head was a finger at best, disappeared quickly.

Aroma

You can really get a smell of alcohol off of this brew, which clocks in at 9.2% ABV.  As you'd expect with this style of beer, strong hints of coffee and darker chocolates

Taste

Very sweet tasting, combined with a bitter/burnt flavor from the malt.  The alcohol definitely carries over into the taste, as do milder cocoa and coffee flavors.

Body

Smooth and heavy, a bit chewy.  Carbonation is a bit below average, which suits this stout perfectly.

Finish

The aftertaste is very true to the other characteristics.  You're left with a bitter flavor once the sweetness dissipates, enhancing the coffee notes, that lingers for a while.

Grade: A-

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Review: Redhook Long Hammer IPA

Pour

Poured into a SA Perfect Pint glass (different pour above, because I wanted to use the Red Hook sample glass).

Apperance

Redhook's Long Hammer IPA pours very clear and golden with a tinge of orange. The head is one to one and a half fingers, lasted a couple of minutes and left faint lacing.

Aroma

Very faint nose, with very small hints of the malts used.  Doesn't overpower like many IPAs.

Taste

Bitter hops are more muted than most IPAs, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  Hopheads may be a little discouraged, but average beer drinkers will enjoy the balanced taste of the hops in this brew.  Slight sweetness upfront smooths the rest of the taste, leading to a cleaner aftertaste.

Body

This IPA has a bit of a heavier mouthfeel than would be expected.  It's still clean and crisp but it carries a little more weight than most IPAs.

Finish

Although the hops are somewhat muted, there's a definite bitter aftertaste associated with this brew. It is noticeably less than that of other IPAs, probably because of the slight sweetness, but still a strong enough characteristic to stand out.

Grade: B-