For those of you that haven't heard: We are in the process of launching a new distillery at Blue Pants! We will be unveiling our spirits on November 1st at our 3rd Annual Pinstripe Fest and I couldn't be more excited. I'm surprised the guys at work are still putting up with me talking about all the things I want to make since it is all I've talked about for the last few weeks. The most common question I've been getting seems to be people wanting to know how different distilling is from brewing. The answer is: Not a lot.
Before you ever get to the point of distilling a spirit, you basically make beer or wine. For us, we are using mostly grains for our spirits. Our vodka is made from mostly wheat, as is our limoncello, and our cream liqueur. Our process varies slightly from a lot of distilleries because we are using high quality brewing ingredients, where as typically distiller's malt is of lower quality than brewer's malt. We start off with a mash almost exactly like we would do for beer, except we mash at a slightly lower temperature (63 degrees Celsius compared to the 65-70 we use for beer), so that the most active enzyme is beta-amylase and the wort we produce is highly fermentable. We target a wort that will ferment out to about 8% ABV and after the mash, we do a sparge exactly like we do for brewing.
The next step for us is to boil the wort. A lot of distillers skip boiling, but I like to do a short boil to help break up proteins and to pasteurize the wort so we can have a predictable, clean fermentation. During the boil is where things begin to change from our brewing process. The boil only really needs to be 15 minutes or so (I do 30 minutes just to make sure to drive off some of the volatile compounds that can contribute undesirable flavors) and no hops are added.
After the boil, our process remains pretty much the same as it does for beer. We chill our wort, aerate it, and pitch yeast. Our yeast pitching rate is a little bit higher than our pitching rate for beer because we want to have fewer esters and as small of an amount of fusel alcohol as possible. After fermentation (2-3 days) we chill the "beer" and try to settle out as much yeast as possible.
Next is where we actually distill the beer. Distilling is really interesting as a brewer because it can help give you an idea of how consistent you are being in the brewing process. Distilling is a simple concept where you have a still on top of a boiler. As you boil the beer, the steam that goes up into the column gets condensed with cold water and the condensate drips out of the still.
Most beer drinkers know that when yeast ferments, it creates alcohol. What people frequently forget though is that there are about 900 more flavor compounds produced by yeast. Amongst them are things like acetaldehyde (green apple flavor), ethyl-acetate (nail polish), methanol (moreso if you are fermenting fructose), iso-amyl acetate (banana), propanaol (fusel alcohol), and many more. Luckily, all of these compounds have different boiling temperatures so when you distill, you can isolate each compound.
The first thing to come out of a still is methanol (the stuff that is attributed to making moonshiners go blind). It's boiling temperature is about 20 degrees lower than the temperature of ethanol and the smell is horrific, so it is very easy to collect all the methanol at the beginning of a run and discard it. We call that first portion of distillate "fore shots" and it can contain some acetaldehyde as well (which is known to cause hangovers).
After the fore shots, the next thing to come out of the still is called "heads." The heads contain mostly acetaldehyde and ethyl acetate and are safe to drink, but typically they don't taste very good. The heads portion is saved and can be redistilled or it can be used to mix into the final product in small amounts to provide some flavor.
The middle part of the run is called the "hearts" and is mostly ethanol. The heart of the run is typically light in flavor and should be the largest fraction of the run. Throughout the collection of the hearts, we check on the still periodically and smell and taste the distillate coming out. When the aroma starts to change, we know that we are getting close to collecting the last portion of the run; the "tails." Depending on the spirit being produced, the tails can be mixed in with the hearts to provide flavor (Scotch is typically high in tails because that is the portion of the run that contains the most peaty flavor. Vodka is supposed to contain no heads or tails, just neutral flavored hearts) or saved for re-distillation.
If everything was consistent from the mash and the fermentation than all of the by products of fermentation will be at the same ratios from batch to batch and it becomes easy to know when you are coming up on each fraction of the run.
We are very excited about the spirits that we are producing now. We just got a new still which is very versatile because it is modular. We can set it up to be a short still so that we get a lot of flavor for whiskey or we can stack sections of the still to make it tall and ideal for vodka production. So with our new still we will be able to make any type of spirit that we want. Our first three recipes will be ready later this week and we will unveil vodka, limoncello, and cream liqueur on November 1st. Soon after that we will be distilling a test batch of apple brandy and we will begin experimentation with gin and whiskey. I'm looking forward to all the recipe development that is coming up!
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Enjoying Working in a Brewery
There seems to be an odd phenomenon happening in the brewing industry these days. Normally, when I meet strangers and tell them that I am a brewmaster, they think I've got this awesome job that allows me to drink all day. I'm inclined to agree, although the whole drinking all day myth is pretty far from the truth. Lately though, there seems to be a lot of articles written by brewers about how being a brewer sucks. The common reasons they give: It's hard, there is more cleaning than brewing, late night shifts are necessary and they suck, not enough social time, it's dangerous, the pay is bad, and the barrier to entry into becoming a brewer is pretty tough. All of that is true... It is difficult being a brewer... But it is awesome!
While it is true that being a brewer is tough, physical work (at least for most micro-breweries where equipment automation is a fantasy). I believe that is part of what makes the work so rewarding. How many jobs are there where you can work up to 80 hours in a week and when you're not at work, you still enjoy thinking about the next upcoming projects? Anyone who knows me will tell you that even after a 14 hour day of brewing, I'll still talk your ear off about upcoming beers or improvements we've made on existing recipes.
It is also true that on a brew day there is more cleaning than actual brewing going on. There is also a lot of multi-tasking, testing, troubleshooting, and frustration, but at the end of the day, it is always worth it when you see someone come in after they get off work, sit down at the bar, and order a pint.
As for the pay and the difficulty of getting a job, there is truth to that as well. The first job most people take in a brewing job is going to be a lot of grunt work, keg washing, scrubbing floors, helping run the bottler, etc. and the pay is likely going to be hard to live off of for a while. But if you look at the big picture as an entry level brewer, there are a ton of opportunities to move up. It all just comes down to how dedicated to it you are. If you come into the brewery as an entry level employee and you show that you can handle multitasking, staying busy, and that you are actively trying to learn the processes and techniques, the opportunities are endless. That is the way I started in the brewery... Serving beers in the taproom and helping out with a 4 head manual bottle filler, now 2.5 years later at age 24 I am the brewmaster with an International Diploma in Brewing Technology. How many businesses give the opportunity to move up like that?
All in all, I think I'm a pretty lucky guy getting to brew beer everyday. Yeah, it's difficult, it's frustrating at times, the shifts can get ridiculous, but every day I get to do what I love. To the brewers that are telling everybody that their job sucks... Maybe it's time you find a new job. As far as I'm concerned, there isn't a profession in the world that will make me as happy as a brewer.
While it is true that being a brewer is tough, physical work (at least for most micro-breweries where equipment automation is a fantasy). I believe that is part of what makes the work so rewarding. How many jobs are there where you can work up to 80 hours in a week and when you're not at work, you still enjoy thinking about the next upcoming projects? Anyone who knows me will tell you that even after a 14 hour day of brewing, I'll still talk your ear off about upcoming beers or improvements we've made on existing recipes.
It is also true that on a brew day there is more cleaning than actual brewing going on. There is also a lot of multi-tasking, testing, troubleshooting, and frustration, but at the end of the day, it is always worth it when you see someone come in after they get off work, sit down at the bar, and order a pint.
As for the pay and the difficulty of getting a job, there is truth to that as well. The first job most people take in a brewing job is going to be a lot of grunt work, keg washing, scrubbing floors, helping run the bottler, etc. and the pay is likely going to be hard to live off of for a while. But if you look at the big picture as an entry level brewer, there are a ton of opportunities to move up. It all just comes down to how dedicated to it you are. If you come into the brewery as an entry level employee and you show that you can handle multitasking, staying busy, and that you are actively trying to learn the processes and techniques, the opportunities are endless. That is the way I started in the brewery... Serving beers in the taproom and helping out with a 4 head manual bottle filler, now 2.5 years later at age 24 I am the brewmaster with an International Diploma in Brewing Technology. How many businesses give the opportunity to move up like that?
All in all, I think I'm a pretty lucky guy getting to brew beer everyday. Yeah, it's difficult, it's frustrating at times, the shifts can get ridiculous, but every day I get to do what I love. To the brewers that are telling everybody that their job sucks... Maybe it's time you find a new job. As far as I'm concerned, there isn't a profession in the world that will make me as happy as a brewer.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
New Beer: Apple Ale
One of these days, I'm going to remember to start blogging about things other than new beers. Today's post though is about another beer that we've been planning for a long time. I have always been a fan of supporting local businesses whenever possible and I really like when businesses team together to create a product. I have always wanted to brew a beer using local ingredients, but the Alabama climate doesn't do us many favors as far as being able to grow brewer's quality barley or hops. So when I asked Mike if we could start a series of beers featuring local ingredients, the plan was to think outside the box a little bit. The apple ale that we brewed yesterday is the first beer that has featured a local ingredient... Apple Cider from Isom's Orchard.
If you have never had Isom's apple cider before, you are missing out on one of the best things you can ever taste. Their cider is produced with a blend of apples and sometimes pears. It is unpasteurized and is much higher in sugar content than store bought apple juice.
One of the reasons I decided to brew this beer is that a lot of people have asked us recently if we would consider making a cider... The answer is no. Legally, we can not make a cider because it is considered a wine, not a beer. Our manufacturing license does not allow for the production of wine, so we can not make a cider. The idea was to make a beer with a significant amount of apple flavor, similar to New Glarus' Apple Ale from Wisconsin.
One of the challenges of brewing a beer like this is that the sugar from apples (mostly fructose) is 100% fermentable. That means that once it is fermented, the cider would have a specific gravity lower than water (Probably around .998). That low specific gravity is what we refer to as being dry. One of the complaints a lot of people have when they drink hard cider for the first time is that it is not sweet, but rather it is pretty similar to white wine. That is where having some unfermentable sugar (Maltotriose and Dextrines) from malts can actually improve the flavor of the apples for people that do not like that dryness.
So the base beer that we brewed is similar to a Nut Brown Ale. With a little bit of caramel malt, Victory, Biscuit, Special Roast, and Oats, the flavor contribution from the malts will be noticeable, but minimal. The focus is really on the apples for the flavor, but the base beer should help to give the beer a little bit of body. The hops are kept to a minimum at 5 IBU.
Measuring the specific gravity of various juices, I found that Mott's Apple Juice had a specific gravity of 1.040, Earth Fare's Organic Apple Juice (Pastuerized, Not from Concentrate, No Water Added) was 1.050, and Isom's cider came in at a gravity of 1.060. This poses another small problem for us as a brewery... When I did a test batch, Isom's did not have cider ready at the time, so I did a proof of concept batch using Earth Fare's juice. In a 5 gallon batch, I brewed 2.5 gallons of beer to a specific gravity of 1.050 and added 2.5 gallons of 1.050 apple juice. To remain legal, at least half of the fermentable sugar has to come from wort, not from juice. So we had to drop the amount of apple juice we used so that the sugar contribution was at least 50% wort.
The next challenge is actually probably a larger problem and is less controllable for us. When yeast metabolizes sugars, it acts kind of like a kid that wants to eat candy instead of dinner. It will try to metabolize all of the simple sugars (Fructose in this case) before metabolizing the more complex sugars (Maltose) and it can create yeast health problems. So we needed to make sure that we utilized a high yeast pitching rate and that the wort was very well aerated.
The beer is now fermenting away at a slightly warmer temperature than we typically use. We are using a very flavorful English Ale Yeast to encourage ester production which will make a fruity flavorful yeast character to compliment the apple flavor. If everything goes well with fermentation, the beer should be ready in just over two weeks. It will be a lot of fun to see how the beer is received. Big thanks to Isom's Orchard for teaming up with us to help us create this new, unique beer!
The other exciting thing for us is that we had an extra 75 gallons of cider after using it for the beer. Now the we have a distilling license, we are going to ferment this 75 gallons separately and make Apple Brandy (also known as Calvados)! It will take us a few months of aging it on toasted oak spirals before we are ready to share.
If you have never had Isom's apple cider before, you are missing out on one of the best things you can ever taste. Their cider is produced with a blend of apples and sometimes pears. It is unpasteurized and is much higher in sugar content than store bought apple juice.
One of the reasons I decided to brew this beer is that a lot of people have asked us recently if we would consider making a cider... The answer is no. Legally, we can not make a cider because it is considered a wine, not a beer. Our manufacturing license does not allow for the production of wine, so we can not make a cider. The idea was to make a beer with a significant amount of apple flavor, similar to New Glarus' Apple Ale from Wisconsin.
One of the challenges of brewing a beer like this is that the sugar from apples (mostly fructose) is 100% fermentable. That means that once it is fermented, the cider would have a specific gravity lower than water (Probably around .998). That low specific gravity is what we refer to as being dry. One of the complaints a lot of people have when they drink hard cider for the first time is that it is not sweet, but rather it is pretty similar to white wine. That is where having some unfermentable sugar (Maltotriose and Dextrines) from malts can actually improve the flavor of the apples for people that do not like that dryness.
So the base beer that we brewed is similar to a Nut Brown Ale. With a little bit of caramel malt, Victory, Biscuit, Special Roast, and Oats, the flavor contribution from the malts will be noticeable, but minimal. The focus is really on the apples for the flavor, but the base beer should help to give the beer a little bit of body. The hops are kept to a minimum at 5 IBU.
Measuring the specific gravity of various juices, I found that Mott's Apple Juice had a specific gravity of 1.040, Earth Fare's Organic Apple Juice (Pastuerized, Not from Concentrate, No Water Added) was 1.050, and Isom's cider came in at a gravity of 1.060. This poses another small problem for us as a brewery... When I did a test batch, Isom's did not have cider ready at the time, so I did a proof of concept batch using Earth Fare's juice. In a 5 gallon batch, I brewed 2.5 gallons of beer to a specific gravity of 1.050 and added 2.5 gallons of 1.050 apple juice. To remain legal, at least half of the fermentable sugar has to come from wort, not from juice. So we had to drop the amount of apple juice we used so that the sugar contribution was at least 50% wort.
The next challenge is actually probably a larger problem and is less controllable for us. When yeast metabolizes sugars, it acts kind of like a kid that wants to eat candy instead of dinner. It will try to metabolize all of the simple sugars (Fructose in this case) before metabolizing the more complex sugars (Maltose) and it can create yeast health problems. So we needed to make sure that we utilized a high yeast pitching rate and that the wort was very well aerated.
The beer is now fermenting away at a slightly warmer temperature than we typically use. We are using a very flavorful English Ale Yeast to encourage ester production which will make a fruity flavorful yeast character to compliment the apple flavor. If everything goes well with fermentation, the beer should be ready in just over two weeks. It will be a lot of fun to see how the beer is received. Big thanks to Isom's Orchard for teaming up with us to help us create this new, unique beer!
The other exciting thing for us is that we had an extra 75 gallons of cider after using it for the beer. Now the we have a distilling license, we are going to ferment this 75 gallons separately and make Apple Brandy (also known as Calvados)! It will take us a few months of aging it on toasted oak spirals before we are ready to share.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
New Beer: Chocolate Oatmeal Porter
Today, I get to do my favorite part of my job... Brew a new beer! Fortunately, I've been able to do so a lot lately. Recently, I have been asked quite a few times if we come up with our own recipes. It is always a little funny to me to hear that question. Yes, our recipes are all our own original recipes (What fun is it to brew a beer that's already been brewed by someone else?), and the follow up question is always; "How do you come up with a recipe?" or "I bet you brew a lot of small batches and tweak your recipes before filling those big vats."
The truth is recipe creation relies mostly on experience these days. I typically try to compare recipe creation to cooking. Most people know what ingredients like salt, pepper, cinnamon, sugar, etc. taste like. Most people also know what ingredients like chicken tastes like, so if you have experience cooking, you can easily imagine what it tastes like if you put those spices on your chicken and what the texture of the chicken will be like if you fry it, boil it, grill it, or bake it.
Similarily, when I brew, I know what all our malts and hops taste like, the characteristics of various yeast strains, and the effects that our various procedures have on each ingredient's contribution. So it is pretty predictable what the beer will taste like when it is done. This gives us the ability to create new beers and brew 60 barrels right off the bat... Which is what we are doing today.
Today's new beer is a chocolate oatmeal porter. This is a new seasonal for us and it is one that I am very excited about. Ever since I got back from school, most of the new beers I have brewed have been German styles and they have been very well received. I think a lot of people have enjoyed drinking styles that are not frequently brewed in America. Most American Ale styles have their roots originating from English Ale styles, so I am excited to brew something that is a little more closely related to what craft beer drinkers expect in America. However, there are quite a few things about this beer that are unique in comparison to American ales.
This Porter is being brewed with only English ingredients and features malts only from Thomas Fawcett and Sons, a great maltster which still utilizes many traditional malting techniques and is known for producing the highest quality English Malts. For our base malt, we are using Floor Malted Maris Otter, a very flavorful base malt with an intense toasty character. In addition, we are using two types of chocolate malts. In comparison to American chocolate malts, Thomas Fawcett Chocolate is much less harsh and has a more full chocolate flavor. We also have some English crystal malt which is sweet and toffee like, but does not have the sugary, candy like sweetness found in American caramel malts.
Perhaps the most unique malt we are using (and probably the most unique we have ever used) is oat malt. Typically, brewers use rolled or flaked oats when they advertise oats in a beer. Flaked oats are great for beers where you want a smooth, creamy mouthfeel, but they do not provide much oat flavor. The only oat malt that I am aware of is made by Thomas Fawcett and it was rare enough that their distributor had trouble completing our order for it. Oat malt does have a distinct grainy, oat flavor. We are using it as 10% of our malt bill, so the oat flavor should be well distinguished.
The hops will be kept to a minimum at 25 IBU's just to balance out the maltiness and the use of London Ale Yeast will provide some pleasant fruity esters while leaving a small amount of residual sugar. The end result will be a malt forward beer with a medium-thick body and a creamy tan head. At 6.25% ABV, I think this will be the perfect beer for the cold months coming up. We will have about 2.5-3 weeks before we are ready to bottle it. Hopefully you guys are looking forward to it as much as I am!
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