Poll: Percentage of Your Beers That Are Lagers?

Like all our prior poll posts, this post takes a moment to memorialize the results we recieved on the most recent blog poll.  The readers' responses to the question "In the last year, what percentage of the beers you brewed were lagers?" are presented below.

Total Votes: 31

These results show the unfortunate trend in homebrewing where lagers are, for the most part, forgotten about.  Whether they are more difficult for most homebrewers to attempt, take too long for homebrewers to create, or require more equipment than what most homebrewers have, lagers are not a preferrential set of styles folks like to brew (except for the 3 of you who indicated >50% of your beers are lagers - a real kudos to you!!). 

Reflecting these results on my own personal brewing, I brew somewhere between 10-30% of beers are lagers.  The time committment it takes to turn around a lager is probably the biggest mental hurdle I run into.  However, some of my best beers have been lagers (i.e. a German Pils getting HM in BoS, our collaborative Frosty Fool Eisbock).  Its just unfortunate that these beers always seem to take a back seat to the APAs and IPAs that always wedge their ways into my brewing calendar. Something I'll need to mentally address moving forward....

Let us know where you stand on lagers and what prevents/hinders you from brewing more of these beers.  And if you are reading this, our next blog poll is up and awaiting your participation.

Slainte!

-JW

"I'm a lager lad."
Michael "Mufasa" Ferguson

Ryetronic Pale Ale

Back in January, I resolved to try and brew more session ales this year.  This decision was made for a number of reasons, including the challenge of making flavorful lower gravity beer.  Last month, in support of the goal, I decided to make up a recipe for a pale ale with around 3 percent ABV.  Lower gravity ales I have made in the past have been bland or watery, particularly around the middle of the flavor profile.  So, I decided to boost the middle by using flaked rye, which is not malted, and should provide both flavor and mouthfeel.  Now that the beer, called Ryetronic Pale Ale, has aged and carbonated, I figured I would post some tasting notes and the recipe.

The beer pours golden copper colored hue with a thick and pillowy white head.  The head forms slightly irregular lumps as the pint is consumed and leaves a nice lacing pattern on the glass.  The beer's aroma is spicy and interesting, including hints of biscuit and bread crust.

The beer's flavor is initially spicy along the lines of pepper or all-spice.  This character fades to a mid-palate creaminess, with a slightly slick mouthfeel similar to an oatmeal stout.  The flavor ends with a hint of bitterness, but one that is barely there.  This smooths out of a period of several seconds before rinsing clean.

Overall, the beer is very drinkable and balanced.  It has more character that other lower gravity ales I have made in the past, which have often been watery and bland.  I think I would like a bit more character in the middle of the flavor palate and would consider bumping up some of the specialty malts to try and achieve that.  Perhaps increasing the crystal malt or the biscuit malt would provide that missing character.  But, overall, I am extremely happy with how this 3 percent ABV session ale has turned out.

Have you brewed an interesting lower gravity ale in the past?  If so, what are some tips that you could share on how to keep these ales both flavorful and drinkable?

Cheers.

TW

-------------------

Recipe: Ryetronic Pale Ale
Brewer: Tom Wallace
Style: American Pale Ale

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.97 gal
Post Boil Volume: 7.02 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.00 gal  
Bottling Volume: 6.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.037 SG
Estimated Color: 7.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 43.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 81.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Mash: 155 F for 60 min

Ingredients:
------------      
7 lbs - Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)      
8.0 oz - Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM)        
8.0 oz - Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)    
8.0 oz - Rye, Flaked (2.0 SRM)      
12.00 g - Warrior [16.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min
10.00 g - Perle [7.70 %] - Boil 60.0 min    
1.00 Items - Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)
14.00 g - Cascade [7.30 %] - Boil 5.0 min
14.00 g - Challenger [7.20 %] - Boil 5.0 min  
14.00 g - Cascade [7.30 %] - Boil 1.0 min    
14.00 g - Challenger [7.20 %] - Boil 1.0 min  
1.0 pkg  - Safale American  (DCL/Fermentis #US-05)    

Notes:
------
3/23/13 - Racked to secondary, as needed the larger carboy for another beer.  Beer is very clear and has a neutral nose, but a rather full flavor with biscuit and spice, at room temperature.

4/14/13 - Kegged the beer.  Nose is neutral.  Beer has a pretty copper color.  Flavor is smooth and light  with hints of caramel and biscuit.

4/29/13 - Beer is really turning out nicely and has been well received by friends.  If any changes should be made, perhaps bump the biscuit or crystal malt for more mid-palate flavor.

Modern Times Beer's Use of Kickstarter

I have been following the development of Modern Times Beer for quite some time now.  The brewery, which will be opening in San Diego later this year, is the brain child of Jacob McKean.  Jacob was involved in marketing beer for Stone Brewing Company and decided to strike out on his own.  I first heard of the venture because he reached out to Michael Tonsmeire to help with recipe development (Lug Wrench readers will recognize Michael's name, as we have exchanged beer with him before and are huge fans of his blog).  This collaboration has been featured extensively on the Mad Fermentationist blog, mentioned on the Basic Brewing Radio podcast, interviewed on the BeerSmith's podcast, and others.  But, what I have found most amazing about Modern Times recently is their use of Kickstarter.

Kickstarter is a relatively new method to fund creative projects that was launched in 2009.  The basic idea is that a person wishing to develop a project creates a Kickstarter account.  The resulting Kickstarter campaign page details what the person/company wishes to accomplish and also sets a very specific monetary goal and a fund raising deadline.  The Kickstarter campaign then begins to crowd-source funding for the project to help meet the goal.  People can give whatever amount of money to the project they wish and the person/company usually promises to give away incentives or prizes for different giving levels to help encourage participation.  If the Kickstarter campaign is successful and receives enough funding by the deadline, the money is awarded to the person/company, after Kickstarter takes a five percent fee to maintain the website and service.  If the campaign is not successful, all money is returned to the donors.  It is all or nothing.

As of this writing, the Modern Times campaign has been the most successful funding of a brewing yet on Kickstarter.  The purpose of the campaign is to raise money to help outfit the Modern Times tasting room, purchase wine and spirit barrels, and buy lab equipment.  The brewery set a $40,000 goal for the campaign and it has blown by it.  They are currently working on a stretch goal of $65,000, which will fund a solar water heating system for the brewery.

Public response to the campaign has been amazing to watch.  I think this has a lot to do with Jacob, who has experience marketing beer and a solid understanding of the market he is reaching.  He has created a number of prize packages that are unique and rather hipster (interesting t-shirts, brewer playing cards, brew sessions, etc.).  The success is also due to the campaign trying to raise money for a specific, and very public, part of the brewery - the tasting room.  I think that people identify with the tasting room and can see their money extending their enjoyment of visiting the brewery.  Yes, the brewery will still open without your donation, but it will be much cooler for you if you donate.  Finally, I think there is a snowball factor going on.  Jacob has highly publicized how they were approaching the Kickstarter record and even organized a donation to a local charity when they passed the record.

What can other breweries learn from Modern Times' success with Kickstarter?  First, do not try to finance your entire brewery through Kickstarter.  Instead, use it to augment something that the public can directly relate to, such as a tasting room.  This will encourage participation.  Second, ensure there are a number of interesting prizes for all donation levels.  If there is something interesting, even for the lower levels, the campaign will get more people who were on the fence about donating   Finally, understand that one of the biggest benefits about a Kickstarter campaign is getting the public to invest themselves in your project.  Set a reasonable goal and its success will be an excellent source of interest in the brewery for years to come.

Let us know if you have ever started or contributed to a Kickstarter campaign and how it worked out.  We would love to hear from you.

Cheers,

TW

Electric Hot Liquor Tank Regulator

Having an engineer as a friend can have its rewards.  My friend John, the one who I brew beer for his summer party, has come up with a new gadget for the homebrewery.  I like to fly sparge, which means balancing a slow flow of hot water out of the hot liquor tank (HLT) into the top of the mash tun, while allowing wort to trickle out of the bottom of the mash tun.  The hot water slowly rinses the grain bed of additional sugars, a process that mimics what is done at the professional brewery scale.  However, the flow rates must be adjusted during the 45 minute sparge because of the changing head pressure from the HLT as it empties (I use a gravity feed).  Having witnessed the many adjustments, John has designed a gadget to automate the adjustments.

The gadget has a rather simple concept.  It uses two metal wires that are mounted close together and suspended over the mash at the desired height of the mash column.  As the sparge water flows into the mash tun and the level rises, it eventually contacts the two wires.  This completes a circuit that closes a valve and blocking the HLT port.  As the mash tun drains, the water level goes down and breaks the circuit, thus opening the valve and allowing the sparge water to flow again.  This is all powered by a "wall wort" that came from an old electric keyboard my wife used to play.

In a way, the mash acts as a switch.  John has explained it in detail to me, but most of it is over my head.  My understanding of circuits does not extend much past the light bulb and battery circuit experiment I did in 4th grade.  But, I can say the gadget is really quite cool.

The prototype is currently on version 3.0.  The main problem we have had so far is the size of the electrical valve's aperture.  The first two versions used valves that were not large enough, mainly because John scavenged them from other projects he has worked on.  Now that we have a good idea of flow rates and how the gadget works in practice, we will pick up a valve sized for the job.  Other, more minor adjustments have included how to mount the gadget and how to secure the probe wires.  Once these are complete, we still have to figure out how to put it in a durable package so that it can be protected for years to come.

Thanks for the idea and all the hard work, John.  I look forward to many more years of gadgets to come.

Cheers,

TW