With much sadness and disappointment we learned of the recent closing of Anchor Brewing in San Francisco, CA. Their website indicates 127 years of business in the Bay Area as “America’s First Craft Brewery.”
My first encounter with Anchor Brewing was right here in Oak Creek, WI some years ago. I was suds shopping at the local supermarket and saw Anchor Old Foghorn in 7 oz bottles. Being in a small bottle with a cool name and label, I thought it had to be good. So I bought a few and enjoyed them. Apparently, I got my hands on the last of it because I never did see it on the store shelves again around SE WI.
In recognition of Anchor Brewing and its closing, Brew Your Own (BYO) magazine published a number of clones of the Anchor beers. Also in recognition of Anchor’s contribution to the craft beer community and to American beer history, I decided to brew the beer that introduced me to the Anchor lineup: Old Foghorn Barleywine.
Anchor produced this beer using the Parti-Gyle Style of brewing. According to the BYO website:
“Anchor’s brewhouse wasn’t designed for brewing large batches of high gravity beers. In order to hit their target for Old Foghorn Barleywine they reach for a traditional English technique of using just the first runnings from a very large mash without sparging. This yields a much smaller volume of wort so they collect the first runnings from three mashes to reach their full volume.
Of course skipping the sparge leaves a lot of sugar in the spent grains that would be a shame to waste. So once again they looked to English brewers for a solution. That’s where parti-gyle brewing comes in. By sparging the mash and collecting these second runnings the remaining sugar can be used to make a lower gravity beer. Anchor started doing this very process to produce Anchor Small Beer in 1987.
The result of parti-gyle is two very different worts. The first runnings are high gravity, deep in color, and rich in flavor. The second runnings are much lower gravity, lighter in color, and often a bit thin or astringent. You can use this to your advantage as you make a much more quaffable session beer to go along with your barleywine.”
The Fieldpointe version also employs the parti-gyle method – which is a first for the brewery. Brewing 2 beers in a single day has not been attempted. Following the BYO guide, the first runnings are collected (no sparge) for the main beer and then the mash is sparged to collect the 2nd runnings for the small beer.
The day started early – just to ensure that there would be enough time for a two boil day. There is one propane burner at Fieldpointe North so each brew needed to take its turn.
As indicated in the BYO notes, the initial 22 lb of grain is mashed in 10 gallons of water to produce 7 gallons of 1st runnings in the boil kettle. This actually was spot on and as previously indicated, there is no sparge of the mash at this point.
While the 1st runnings were over the burner flame, additional water was added to the mash which patiently waited for the first burner occupant to finish.
Eventually, with the initial boil completed, the 2nd boil commenced. Sparge water was added to the mash to produce an additional 7 gallons of 2nd runnings.
The now traditional Fieldpointe North “no chill” method was employed on both beers. The wort is allowed to cool until it falls somewhere between the 170 and 180° F range. The Foghorn Parti was then transferred to the stainless conical to finish cooling and the accompanying small beer was transferred to a 6 gallon plastic container purchased specifically for no chilling. Within 24 hours the worts were at pitching temps. Yeast was added so that they would do their thing.
Instead of using a “blow off” tube on the conical, a traditional airlock was attempted – and rejected. As you can see, it was just “spit out” by the fermentation – which eventually filled some space in the “containment” system on the floor (2nd pict).
BTW – the small beer is in the glass carboy on the floor in the second pict. Understandably, that fermentation was much more subdued and behaved itself.
The inaugural parti-gyle procedure went smoothly and was enjoyable. The brew day went well and was finished in plenty of time. Both beers are giving indication that all is going as it should.
It is sad that after all these years Anchor Brewing had to close its doors. I’ve had the privilege of trying a number of their beers – including their annual Christmas productions. It will be missed along with its place in the American Craft Beer scene. I get to do what I enjoy because of what places such as Anchor have made possible. Thanks Anchor!
Here are the makings of Foghorn Parti and its accompanying small beer:
Grain
- 20 lb – 2 Row
- 2 lb – Crystal Malt 60° L
Hops
- 2 oz – Cascade @ 90 minutes
- 1 oz – Cascade @ 60 minutes
- 1 oz – Cascade @ 30 minutes
- 2 oz – Cascade in the fermenter (2nd week)
Yeast
- Lallemand – 3767 Nottingham (starter)
Projected Analysis (not measured)
- OG – 1.115
- FG – 1.029
- Color – 17 SRM
- IBU – 76.6
- ABV – 11.5%
Small Beer
- 1 oz – Goldings @ 60 minutes
- 1 oz – Goldings @ 30 minutes
- Safale US-05 (yeast)
Thanks to Anchor for its contribution to the beer scene in America. It is sad to see you go. May many more be like you in their contributions to the craft beer community and beer history in the United States.
