Here’s monthly Bathtub contributor Ryan from The Healthy Hog on what it’s like to see brew day from outside our kitchen.

Mel explains about the types of hops used in the Bee Sting Ale.

On Memorial Day, Mel and Ray were gracious enough to invite Girlfriend and I and a few others over for a Brew Day. It would function as a small pot-luck, a beer tasting, and most importantly an instructional day for wannabe brewers like myself. And as an aspiring brewer who has no clue about homebrewing, it was important for me to see everything first-hand. Anyone can read a recipe, after all, but it always helps to see what the finished product should look like. Plus, there would be free food.

As we arrived, we were immediately treated to a tasting of a few of Bathtub’s previous homebrews—most of which I’d already had. After beer was lunch; after lunch was the main attraction. It was immediately apparent Mel had prepared everything for us just-so; hops were set out in little bowls to pass around and smell, (a sickly-sweet smell with a hint of bitterness; take a whiff of your strongest double IPA and multiply that by ten), malt was passed around for tasting, the water filter and wort chiller were on display, kettles and measuring devices were set up and ready to be used. The only things missing were a chalkboard and desks.

The first misconception of mine that was shattered was that homebrewing was hard.  Yes, it is regimented: You have to get things to the correct temperature, add ingredients at the correct time, complete the steps in the proper order or your beer will taste awful.  But, it’s also as easy as that. The temperature the mixture has to be brought to isn’t a secret; you don’t have to guess it on your own. Thanks to the abundance of recipes out there, you don’t have to guess at what kind of hops to put in or which other ingredients you need. It’s just a matter of doing things right.

Mel adds filtered water to the fermeter as Ray watches for it to hit the 5 gallon point.

Perhaps the whole experience was made to seem easier by having such good instructors. Mel and Ray were not afraid to pass things around for us to smell, to touch, to taste. They not only told us what they were doing, but why they were doing it and what it meant to the beer as a whole, the opposite of which is my biggest complaint in being taught something new. You can tell me what to do all you want, but I will be so much more likely to remember what to do if you tell me why it’s done. And Mel and Ray are the perfect combination for this: Mel is like the Please Touch Museum, Ray is the science center full of facts and equations.

Keep in mind, as well: these are people who have been brewing for years. They have everything down to a science, and they’re thinking outside the box. Coming up with their own recipes, adding different ingredients—but it’s still easy. This experience definitely showed me that, even for your first time brewing, all you have to do is relax and follow directions. Boil water. Add barley. Add hops. Add ingredients. Cool. Add yeast. Let sit. Bottle. Drink. Enjoy. The end.

Photos courtesy of Amy

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Ray adds the pilsen extract as Mel stirs the wort.

Because the Bee Sting Ale was such a big hit with friends and family alike, we decided it should be one our our first true repeats (though I should note that Ray’s Ginpel recipe was based off of the Belgian tripel we brewed waaaaay back when).

And to make it a little interesting, we decided to have friends over so they could see what homebrewing was like. And it was a success!

Ryan, LeeAnne, Amy and Bob joined us for a lunch of homemade pizza, accompanied by sides from LeeAnne and cheeses from Amy. The food was so good we almost could have skipped brew day completely, though I’m pretty sure our guests wouldn’t have appreciate that. Ray and I had them check out at our setup in the “brewery” and kitchen, smell hops and taste malts. We took turns answering questions, and cajoled Ryan into stirring the pot while I added the honey towards the end of the boil.

Ray pours the cooled wort into the fermenter.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, the food, and the beer we had on hand. We sent Bob home with our copy of The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, and everyone got to take home some bottles of homebrew, with the promise that once the Bee Sting was bottled, they could collect even more.

We kept the recipe the same, with the only changes being the specific alpha acids of the hops and the seeds of paradise. In our original brewing of the Bee Sting, we added the peppery spice to the last 5 minutes of the boil, as well as making an extract with the spice and vodka. This year, after having success with the chai tea in Boris the Spider Chai Oatmeal Stout, we decided to go the tea route as well. I’m curious to see how successful it is.

31 May 2010
Bee Sting Ale
5 gallons, 60 minute boil

5.0 lbs Pilsen Light Liquid Malt Extract (60 min)
2.0 lbs Orange Blossom Honey (15 min)

Specialty Grains:
0.5 lbs Crystal Malt 15L

1.0 oz Chinook Hops [ 11.4% AA] (60 min)
1.0 oz Amarillo Hops [ 7.5% AA] (15 min)

1 tablet Whirlfloc (20 min — clarifier)

White Labs California Ale Yeast WLP001

Seeds of Paradise tea — 16 g of pulverized seeds of paradise in 8 oz filtered water, chilled overnight

4 oz corn sugar (bottling)

———

Create a yeast starter 2-3 days in advance.

Add 3 gallons of water to kettle. Heat to 155°F.

Steep grains at 155°F for 30 minutes.

Remove grains, turn off heat, add malt extract. Bring back to a boil. Add Chinook hops.

At 20 minutes, add Whirlfloc tablet.

At 15 minutes, turn off heat. Add orange blossom honey. Stir until dissolved. Return to boil. Add Amarillo hops.

Chill wort to below 70°F. Rack to fermenter and dilute to 5 gallons. Pitch yeast starter and aerate thoroughly. Allow to ferment to completion at 60-65°F.

Rack fermented beer to secondary fermenter. Add seeds of paradise tea. Age for 1 – 2 weeks.

Rack to bottling bucket. Boil corn sugar with 1 c filtered water and add to beer. Mix well.

Bottle. Age for two weeks.

Photos courtesy of the lovely Amy

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I feel like the brown ale often gets forgotten in the melee of its darker cousins, the crazy bourbon, oaked-aged stouts and chocolate porters (not to mention conventional stouts and porters). Who wants a simple brown ale when they can get something exotic?

But the standard brown ale is a great choice for a variety of occasions. It’s a session beer. It’s more substantial than a lager. It can be as roasty or as chocolatey as the brewer wants it to be, or it can be nutty and coffee like (remember our “Nuts About Coffee” Nut Brown ale?)

We decided to give the noble brown a shot with an original recipe this time, and after a little research, I decided to model the beer after Dogfish Head’s Indian Brown Ale, though it’s probably not as hoppy, but more on the roasty side.

10 April, 2010
Extra Fancy Brown Ale
5 gallons

8 lbs Ultralight Malt Extract (60 min)

1.0 lb Crystal 60L
8 oz Chocolate Malt
2 oz Roasted Barley

1 oz Magnum Hops (60 min)
1 oz Vanguard Hops (15 min)

1 tablet Whirlfloc (20 min — clarifier)

White Labs California Ale Yeast (WLP001)

DME (bottling)

———

Create a yeast starter 2-3 days in advance.

Add 3 gallons of water to kettle. Bring to boil.

Steep grains at 155°F for 30 minutes.

Remove grains, turn off heat and add liquid malt extract. Bring to a boil. Add bittering hops.

At 20 minutes, add Whirlfloc tablet.

At 15 minutes, add remaining hops.

At end of boil, remove all hops. Chill wort to 75°F. Rack to fermenter and dilute to 5 gallons. Decant yeast starter and pitch yeast. Aerate thoroughly. Ferment at 70-75°F.

Rack fermented beer to secondary fermenter. Age for 1 – 2 weeks.

Rack to bottling bucket. Boil DME with 1 c filtered water and add to beer. Mix well.

Rack fermented beer to secondary fermenter. Age 1-2 weeks.

We’ll have our tasting notes up in a couple of weeks, but a cool thing to mention is that we shared a bottle of the Extra Fancy with a homebrewer we met on a camping trip to Keen Lake this past weekend. Jay runs the Final Gravity podcast, builds all sorts of cool homebrewing equipment, and found some interesting spice notes (like cinnamon) in our brown ale as he sipped it with us by the lantern-lit picnic table. It’s always a boon to have new people try our beer — it let’s us learn so much more.

Homebrewing, Our Brew Days 4 Comments »

Yes, I know Philly Beer Week has come and gone. This year, the revelries took place Jun 4-13, with 195 participants and more than 1,000 successful events. Suffice to say, the event freaking blew up from 2009—which had 700 events over the course of 10 days—with a lot of new faces and venues clamoring to get in on the action. Talk about a good thing gone great.

In 2009, Ray and I attended a couple of events, but it was tough with some of the more interesting ones being smack dab in the middle of the workday. However, in 2010, we missed every single event. Not because we have no love for Philly Beer Week, but because we were A. super busy with condo prepping and ACL sprains; and B. going to SAVOR. But I downloaded the Philly Beer Week iPhone app—designed by six members of Philly’s CocoaHeads—and was pretty impressed.

So a month and change has gone by, the Royal Stumble survived, and I just received a press release letting me know to prep my drinking arm, because Philly Beer Week 2011 will be back with a vengeance, spanning June 3-12, 2011. According to the release, PBW 2011 will see the return of the Hammer of Glory (HOG)—”the official keg hammer of Philly Beer Week, and its over-the-top journey across the city to arrive at the Opening Tap, conveyed by everything from kinetic sculpture to zip line to Philly Roller Girls”; The Forum of the Gods, with some of the biggest names in brewing for an informal round table talk; and tons of events ranging from beer pairings to meet the brewer to festivals. There is also talk of an enhanced iPhone app, inspired by the 2010 version. I will definitely be downloading that!

So consider this a “Save the Date” of sorts, and prep that drinking arm. If Philly Beer Week could grow from 700 to 1000 events in a single year, just imagine what’s in store for 2011.

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Waiting in line, in the rain, in good spirits, for Nodding Head's door to open

Saturday, July 10 was Nodding Head’s annual Royal Stumble, this year being the 11th for the unique beerfest. Talk about an institution! The theme was “It’s Always Sunny at the Royal Stumble,” but as I alluded to in my previous Wee Bit Stumble video, that was a misnomer. Why? Because it rained from early morning until well after Nodding Head opened its doors to a soggy line of people.

But could rain keep us down? Hell no! This is the Stumble! This is the fest where breweries are clamoring to make sure your glasses are full, and your buffet plates have a nice assortment of pub food. I’m betting Nodding Head could move the Stumble into the dead of winter and folks would still come out, brimming with craft beer love and non-douche-baggery.

Yards Philly Pale Ale wins the Royal Stumble for 2010!

This year, Ryan and LeeAnne joined us after I talked their ears off nonstop about how the Stumble is one of the quintessential fests of the year. Making our way up the stairs, Yards was the first to grace my glass, pouring me a tall one of their Philly Pale Ale. Crisp and hoppy, it was a great way to start. Yards also managed to kick their keg first, giving them the honor of being the RS winner. Yay for Yards!

After getting our first pour and winding through the boisterous crowd, we commandeered a table (like you do) tucked in a far back corner and went to the buffet in shifts to get pulled pork, mini latkes, mac salad, and for those interested, hot wings and franks. It was a nice spread that was replenished often, without being over the top, dry or skimpy.

The offerings for the day were:

Mmmm...beer!

Dock St.: Saison Du Potts
Dogfish Head: Festina Peche
Earth Bread + Brewery: Glutenus Minimus
Flying Fish: Farmhouse Ale
General LaFayette: Barren Hill Best Bitter
Nodding Head: Grog
Ommegang: Rare Vos
Philadelphia Brewing Co: Pennsylvania Pale Ale
Sly Fox: Helles
Stewart’s: Coffee Stout
Stoudt’s: Heifer in Wheat
Triumph: Saison
Troegs: Sunshine Pils
Twin Lakes: Greenville Pale Ale
Victory: Helios
Yards: Philly Pale Ale

There were a lot of familiar beers in the line up, as well as a few welcome surprises. Earth Bread + Brewery’s Glutenus Minimus knocked my socks off! The beer is gluten free and sits at 2.5% ABV. Despite the low ABV, the beer packed a punch in the flavor department. At first I thought I was drinking Dogfish Head’s Festina Peche when I snagged a sip from LeeAnne’s glass. Nope! It was EBB’s Glutenus, and the flavor sang of fresh, succulent peaches. I could sure use a growler of that!

Twin Lakes Brewing Co.’s Greenville Pale Ale was an organic offering and nicely showcased Cascade hops. The gentleman manning the taps was jovial and full of information about the beer and brewery, and it was nice to see a new face at the fest.

As always, Festina Peche was a welcome refreshment, as was Stoudt’s Heifer in Wheat (I proudly told the brewery rep that I was married there, which he thought was pretty damn cool). Triumph’s Saison was spot-on for the style and General LaFayette’s Barren Hill Best Bitter had a pleasant nuttiness about it.

I think the beer that surprised me the most was Sly Fox’s Helles Golden Lager. I have to admit, I’m not really a lager girl. I respect the style and how accurate a brewer needs to be with lager beers, but they’ve never been on the top of my list. However, I found the Helles exceptionally crisp and refreshing, with a little je ne sais quoi that made it really enjoyable. I also had a chance to chat with Philly’s one and only Beerlass Suzy about the state of beer in NJ, Denver-area breweries, and my awesome Oskar Blues Canarchy t-shirt (which looks to be unavailable now, per the website).

LeeAnne and her 5 lb bag of artisan coffee from Stewart's

While Ray, Ryan and I were steadily getting our drink on, LeeAnne — who’s not a huge fan of beer — set about the challenge that Stewart’s Brewing Co. had put out: For every pour of their Coffee Stout you had, you would earn a sticker. The person with the most stickers got a 5-pound bag artisan coffee — the same kind that was used to brew the stout.

So LeeAnne, extroverted and friendly as she is, managed to amass 146 stickers, while not drowning herself in the stout (which was delicious, by the way). Instead, she went from person to person collecting stickers, all the while trying the beer a few times. Talk about entrepreneurial spirit.

We left the Royal Stumble shortly before the end with five pounds of coffee in tow, heading off through the humid, wet streets of Philly in search of our next great adventure for the weekend: roller derby.

Derby girls are faaaaaaast!

Brewfests, Brewpubs, Craft Beer 1 Comment »

What a weekend! Ray, Ryan, his epic GF LeeAnne and myself all stumbled on into Nodding Head’s Royal Stumble No. 11, themed “It’s Always Sunny at the Royal Stumble” (more on that misnomer tomorrow). We had a great time, followed by some kick ass roller derby mayhem in University City where the Broad Street Butchers beat the Philthy Britches to take home the championship trophy. You go girls (someday I will be one of you).

So, busy busy busy. While we gather our stumbling thoughts, here’s a wee bit o’ preview video for you — shot by the ever talented (and ever Scottish) Ray.

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