Category: January 2021

Another brew day was underway – yesterday. (Kind of like how that rhymes.) If you missed it, a RIS was the theme. Being winter and cold and all it is a perfect choice. As I write this, SE WI is experiencing yet another winter weather event. From what I hear, southern WI has received more snow this winter than the great not so white north. Nice of it to share! Current projections has this event pegged at 10 to 15 inches with lake effect enhancement. Wasted on a weekend and not during the week when school could have been called. I shouldn’t complain, school was called due to the last winter event this past Tuesday and Friday was a non school day but for a different reason.

There isn’t a whole lot to comment upon with this brew. All went well except for the minor miscalculation in the sparge as I ended up with a tad more volume than there should have been. An extended boil evaporated the excess volume and added a whole lot of moisture to the brew garage. There was a heavy fog created by the process in the garage and looked kinda neat. Once the main door was opened, I knew the dry winter air would make quick work dissipating all that hard work the kettle put into making the clouds. Anyway, the garage sure smelled wonderful – and still does a day later.

I decided to go with a partial mash / extract route with this number. The grain bill for a RIS is pushing the limits on the equipment capabilities. The same needs to be done when entertaining a barleywine style ale.

This is going to occupy Mark’s beer fridge as the number 2 brew. Previously, he had the inaugural Belgian Quad occupying precious beer space. (See prior posts.) The assumption is that the Quad must have been OK as it didn’t hang around long. Or there was a drain or two that needed to be fed..

The beer is fermenting away in the conical – and fermenting it is. This is the second consecutive brew that is making a mess of the fermentor. This unit has been in use for a number of years now with no concerns. For some reason, these last two fermentations have been so vigorous that foam is spewing from under the lid seal. There is a blow off hose attached but for some reason the foam likes the shortcut route between the lid and unit. Perhaps it is the yeast? The last two batches have used Fermentis Safale S-04. Per usual, I make a 1 liter yeast starter and pitch that. It takes off in short order and goes to town doing what it does best. Seeing the results of a good active fermentation isn’t at all a concern. In fact, it is a very good thing. It just is making a dark, sticky, foaming mess on and around the fermenter. The unit is in the basement next to the floor drain if things should get out of hand so no worries there. One would think that the blow off tube would be the path of least resistance but apparently it is not. Once the foam fills the tube it becomes very resistive to the flow of escaping CO2 from what I can deduce. Interesting science going on.

This beer, as with all of the others of late, employed the no chill method. It is transferred to a 6 gallon container once the wort drops below 180° F. It then sits and cools overnight, transferred to the fermenter and the yeast starter added. This process eliminates the extra time and water normally used to cool the wort immediately after the boil to pitching temp. There have been no negative aspects to this procedure. It is a regular part of the brewing process here at the Fieldpointe Brewery.

Ok, enough already. Here is the RIS not so secret formula:

Grains

• 2 lb – 2 Row Brewers Malt
• 2 lb – Amber Malt
• 1.25 lb – Roasted Barley
• 1.25 – Black Malt

LME

• 9 lb – Liquid Amber Malt Extract

Hops

• 1 oz – Warrior at 60 minutes

Yeast

• Fermentis Safale S-04

I just took another peek at the fermentor. What a mess! That’s Ok – I know good things are happening on the inside. Sure hope there is something left inside when this is done as there is a black lake developing on the floor again.

I ran a bit long on that second brew that was planned for over Christmas break. It was finally brewed today at the Blauert Basement. It has been a good while since any brewing has taken place in Mark’s basement man cave. I was appreciative that he has been keeping up on his utility payments – water and electricity are helpful in brewing. I suppose we could have scooped some snow from the yard but I don’t know what would have been the alternative for the power.

Cortney and Jeff (in that order) stopped by for some free beer, snacks and four handed Sheephead. Mark had the movie Ford vs Ferrari on until Jeff came and decided the best place to sit for cards was directly in front of the big screen. Figures. Time out on the movie.

We play black queens as partners in four handed. Jeff was amused by the number of times he was dealt both queens and not much else in the way of assistance. All I could complain about was the persistent lousy dealing and the seven of spades that seemed to be in my hand more often than not. All in all it was some pretty balanced playing by Cortney, Jeff and myself. Mark topped off the card playing by cleaning house on the three of us on the final hand. The three of us went trickless against Mark. He tells us not to feel too bad about the situation because he is pretty good at playing Sheephead. At least that is what I think he says. Sometimes it is hard to tell what he is saying because he seems to have a meat stick in close proximity of his orifice quite often. They are still yacking about that final hand on the text-a-gram thing that the kids use – Mark being humble and all.

Eventually Jeff pulled the plug on the event and took off. “It’s about time.” could have been mentioned as he was leaving. Again, it could have been Mark with his meat stick muttering. Maybe it was directed towards Cortney? Anyway, the movie could resume without interference. Ford vs Ferrari is a great flick. I had not seen if before. I get ridiculed heavily because I don’t watch movies. Glad that this one now can be removed from the list of must see movies. There still are many more to go so the harassment will not cease.

Mark kicked his keg of Belgian Quad and is interested in a Russian Imperial Stout for his next beer fridge occupant. This number should fit in the schedule on our next day off in a week or so. Time for another Northern Brewer run soon.

The Silent Night is a Winter Warmer ale. Nothing too fancy about it. Some basic 2-Row with a little Crystal 60 and a tad of Chocolate Malt. It is unihopped with Willamette. The “warmer” part comes from the 2 lb of honey added at the end of the boil. Usually 1 lb is used but I had this honey in my possession from a couple of decades (yes, decades) ago when I was living in northern WI. Ironically, Jeff and I were teaching at the same school in Medford back in the day when I practiced hobby bee keeping. This honey is very dark in color. Not because it was old as honey keeps very well for many years. It was very dark from the start. Not sure what the source was. Maybe the bees collected road tar? Anyway, since I had these 1 lb jars around not doing much of anything, it was time to put some to use. Honey pretty much ferments out in beers so there will not be any perception of it in the finished product (unless it actually was derived from road tar). However, the extra alcohol production from it should be welcome in the drudgeries of late winter here in WI.

This is another “no chill” brew. I believe I have mentioned this in previous posts. I have found this method to be effective in that it cuts down a bit on the brew day. Yes, I do have to pour it into the fermenter and add the yeast the next day but not having to cool the wort and pitch right away is kind of nice. I do all my brews this way now and there have been absolutely no negative effects.

Ok. Enough jib jab. This is an easy one to throw together.

Malt

• 10 lb 2-Row Brewers Malt
• 1 lb Caramel 60° L
• 0.25 Chocolat Malt

Adjunct

• 2 lb Honey at 15 minutes

Hops

• 2 oz Willamette at 60 minutes
• 1 oz Willamette at 15 minutes

Yeast

• Ferments Safale US-05

Thanks to Mark and Helen for the hospitality, food and fun. Thanks to Jeff and Cortney for stopping by, interfering with the movie, and watching as I did all the brew work. And special thanks to Martin Luther King Jr for having the day available for us to get together, celebrate and brew beer.