“The Big Game”, “Super Sunday” or “Game Day” – however you want to reference it, we at Fieldpointe prefer to call it “Brew Day”. This “Brew Day” featured the beer named after a sought after month – May. This is for a number of reasons. One being spring. The other is the end of the current school year. Brewing a Maibock indicates that the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and bigger.
It is with appreciation that the NFL enhanced the day by providing this somewhat entertaining event. It tried. Perhaps it is time to go old school and bring back the half time marching band. This was kind of a surprise really because I don’t recall orchestrating anything with the NFL to provide entertainment ahead of “Brew Day”. Some might think it coincidental but there is probably more to it than that. Mark?
What I find interesting is that the NFL decided 60 years back to keep track of this yearly event by using a numbering system – Roman Numerals – as added event enhancement and documentation. This number, as was established, is to be equal to – no more, no less – than the age of the Fieldpointe Senior Manager (FSM). The FSM managed to squeeze out 60 revolutions around the sun this past January. With that accomplishment the SB / BD ID of “LX” was set. The rest, as they say, is history.
Sometimes (perhaps often) it is said of many things in life – it is better to leave well enough alone – or something along those lines. I preface this next part thinking those words, I should have left well enough alone.
Once upon a time brewing was taken very seriously. Not that it isn’t now mind you, however, the priorities have gradually changed over time. After all, there have been 60 years to do this. Not that brewing has been an integral part of all of them as it probably should have. What I mean is this: The books had been read and procedures followed. Timing and temperatures recorded. Quantities carefully weighed. OG and FG taken. Spreadsheets employed. Etc.
What I discovered along the brewing journey at some point is that the tree was getting lost in the forest. Unless, of course, it is just a Lone Cedar somewhere in Nebraska – but that is a different story.
Sure, Fieldpointe accumulated all the gear and gadgets – most of which are used and have made the process more efficient and enjoyable – like brew kettles, mega spoons, mash paddles along with stainless steel connectors and silicone tubing. There has been the addition of electric brewing (which is the preferred method at Fieldpointe South) and even a pump which gets occasional use at Fieldpointe North. These apparati are all fine and good and have been great additions to the brewery. However, at some point it was realized that brewing wasn’t as enjoyable as it once was. Why so? The discovery was that too much was being put into the numbers and all. Don’t get me wrong, math and science are my life – literally. I try my best to teach math and science concepts to the middle school kids that put up with me on a daily basis during the school year. It was just getting too nerdy at this level. Brewing, dare I say, wasn’t as enjoyable as it once was. Then I remembered this guy and his famous quote:
Brewing needed to go back to a simpler time at Fieldpointe. Roughly measure grain. Use ballpark water to grain mash ratios. Employ a standard one hour mash. Time the hop additions but don’t get the knickers in a twist if not exact. A standard one hour boil. Cool. Transfer. Ferment. Keg. Enjoy. Fieldpointe brews beers to savor and enjoy by the chosen few – not the masses. We don’t need no quality control. We don’t have to justify to the bean counters. Don’t make swill of course but KISS it.
Notice that I didn’t address the OG (original gravity) and FG (final gravity) readings. These were skipped in the time of simplicity. Sure, there are the hydrometers and a refractometer but these devices rarely ever are used. Who cares what the readings are? Beer is being produced and the beer mice are giving their approval. (Fieldpointe South still has a problem with that.) Our friend Mark of Littleport Brewing in Racine doesn’t quite understand why this part of the process would be not of a higher priority. “How do you know if you are hitting your expected gravity if you don’t take readings?” People who care about style guidelines care about this stuff – and those who sell beer for a living. (By the way, he has given up asking me this but now this may change. My fault.) But now I’ve gone ahead and ruined it and now I’m thinking I should not have gone down this rabbit hole. Too late!
For the 60th milestone last month (LX), modern technology has been attained in the form of a digital hydrometer – a Tilt Pro Mini device. No real reason why. Something new to mess with. Maybe.
AI has this to say about it:
The Tilt Pro Mini is a compact, high-precision Bluetooth hydrometer designed for smaller, modern, stainless steel fermenters with 1.5-inch dump ports. It provides enhanced sensor resolution (4 decimal places for SG), improved signal strength, and, despite its smaller size, brings the robust, long-range performance of the Pro series, featuring 3–5 year battery life.
Spectacular! Who wouldn’t love such a device? This is going to make brewing even more fun! Or is it?
Simple to use. Just sanitize and plop into the fermenter. Connect to it via the Tilt app on the phone and enjoy the numbers. There is an option to calibrate in water just before use. Thinking this is a good idea, I chose this route for the first trial of the device. Quick and easy. Into the fermenter it went. And …. it worked! However, all is not fun and frivolity. More like sadness and disappointment. Stupid numbers.
OK, so this is the first time in use and despite its ease of use, there may be something that is being overlooked. I’d ask Mark (Fieldpointe) for input but … know better.
Going by the Maibock style guidelines (first problem – ignore, ignore!) the Maibock should have an OG between 1.064 and 1.072. 16# of grain in the brewing software had this at 1.069. OK. Of course there isn’t 100% efficiency so using the default 75% which I consider the low end of the spectrum, the number should be 1.05175 which you can see is the factory “pre-calibrated” number above. Temperature also affects an OG reading but the pre-calibrated temp was very close to the actual when in the fermenter. Might need to see how to go about messing with this aspect. Or maybe I shouldn’t.
As all good Lutherans would ask: What does this mean? It means that if my water calibration is on par, the efficiency is less than 75% – the low baseline. Yikes! Perhaps I should skip the water calibration and just go with the pre-calibration because I really don’t need precision here and those other numbers look better. (Am I being a politician here?) Now this is just the first run at using this device and Mark isn’t any help because it is technology. I’m on my own here. I’ve not been back to FS to get another reading so we’ll just ride this out and see what becomes of it. In the long run, it won’t matter. The beer seems to go somewhere. Beer mice!
Alright, with that nonsense out of the way … It was great to share the event with others – in order of appearance: Mark & Helen, Greg, Jerome & Son, John and perhaps another.
Mark and Helen were, as always, very gracious hosts letting us invade for the day. There was no shortage of food stuffs. Helen’s Ugly German Stew was the highlight of the event. There was a good possibility that beer and hot scotchies were a part of it as well.
Of course, there was the BMB along with a Hamm’s chaser – which is now anticipated and expected to kick off each brewing session and “Big Game”.
Some other bits and pieces to share.
The brewing operation itself went well. The procedure is well routine by now and should produce something respectable for May – regardless of what the true OG was / is. May will be celebrated.
The Makings of Maibock LX
Grains
- 12 lb – 2 Row
- 2 lb – Munich Malt
- 1 lb – Crystal 20°
- 1 lb – Wheat Malt
Hops
- 1 oz – Perle @ 60
- 1 0z -Hallertau Mittelfruh @ 15
Yeast
- Fermentis Saflager W-34/70
Brewing Software Analytics – Non Tilt Influenced
- OG – 1.069
- FG – 1.017
- Color – 10.8 SRM
- ABV – 6.9%
- Bitterness – 33 IBU
The beer was at cellar temp for 2 days to get the fermentation underway since I had neglected to get the “starter” process going on Friday. As far as is known, Mark moved the fermenter to the keezer set at 52° F on Tuesday. In another week or so, I’ll see if I can stop in for a gravity reading and perhaps a beverage or two.
As always, thanks for wasting your time with us. Prost!
