Asheville Beer Review

I have always heard the rumors that Asheville, NC is a beer Mecca.  After a day or so there, I can attest that these rumors are all absolutely true.  Upon entering the downtown area we found our way to two different speciality beer shops that both had a rather large selection of micro and high gravity beers.  I left each shop with a box full of beer and will have to review them one at a time because to do any less would be a disservice to these magnificent brews.  Along the way though we made a stop off at a local downtown brewery the Lexington Avenue Brewery, or Lab.

My choice at the Lab was the chocolate stout which poured thick and creamy with excellent head formation and retention.  If you have ever seen a proper Guinness pour then you have seen the cascade down the side of the pint glass as the beer clears from a tan color to a deep black.  The taste was full bodied, smooth and of course chocolately.  My wife ordered the Oktoberfest brew which was also delicious.  This brew was crisp and full of sharp wheat flavor but also managed to be very drinkable.  This was probably the fastest my wife has ever downed a beer.

Day two of our trip was cut short by some thoroughly nasty weather but not before a stop off and a pint of Foothills stout.  Now its confession time, I had no idea what I was ordering at the time, it was the only brew on the chalkboard that I didn’t recognize and therefore had to give it a shot.  First off, I got a rich coffee flavor and aroma, the drink was smooth and robust but not aggressively so.  I would find out, thanks to Google of course, that what I got was from a different North Carolina brewery and their Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout.  This was the kind of brew that left me wanting more from that brewery so it succeeded in its goal and maybe Winston-Salem, NC needs to be added to the list of destinations. 

With all that said a trip back to Asheville is on the agenda already, with so many fine breweries in the area there is just no way we can resist the opportunity to have finely crafted brews with such a relatively short drive.

Christmas Stout Update

We bottled the Christmas Stout on October 31st, which was only 8 days after pitching the yeast into the primary and much sooner than usual for me.  The readings on bottling day were almost right on target.

γg = 1.020
% Al/V = 2.5%
Balling = 5

After 10 days of bottle conditioning, we finally cracked it open for the first taste.  For me the stout flavor comes through as the most pronounced flavor.  It has that same classic stout bitterness with a little bit of the spice flavor that we used as part of the boil.  My wife thinks it has more of the spicy flavor, despite using nearly the same blend as the pumpkin hefeweizen.  The stout bitterness probably brings the flavors out a little more.

Brewing for Christmas - Christmas Stout

One of the biggest draws to most people to the art/science that is home brewing is the ability to experiment and create your own personal brews with your own personal flavors.  In the spirit of that, the most recent batch will hopefully be like Christmas itself stood up and slapped you in the face.  It is based off a basic Irish Dry Stout recipe that we infused with cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.  


Additionally, this brew was a bit of an experiment.  Several weeks ago my wife ran across an article online discussing a Belgian brewery that touted the effects and advantages of brewing on a full moon (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLNE69D0CI20101014).  Their claim was that, somehow, the full moon impacted fermentation reducing the necessary fermentation time from 7 to 5 days.  Reading up on several blogs about this provided what one can normally expect, a lot of people saying it sounded like junk science and that any gravitational effects from the moon would be minimal.  From a scientific perspective I have to quickly agree, while tides are very clearly affected by the phase of the moon believing it would have a dramatic effect on the brewing process of a little 5 gallon container in my hall closet seemed a big of a stretch - they ARE claiming an approximate 28% reduction in fermentation time here.



With that said, there is no penalty for testing this theory myself.  And my Christmas brew is not going to make itself.  So the date was set for the next full moon (October 22, 2010 9:36).  I have tested with some of the same spices before and know that the cloves give off by far the most flavor and aroma.  


Recipe

5 lbs Dark DME (Dried Malt Extract)
2 cups chocolate malt
2 cups crystal 120L
2 cups barley
1 cup roasted barley
1.5 tbsp ground nutmeg
1.5 tbsp whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks + 2 tsp ground cinnamon (mixed into water slurry)
2 oz Kent 7.2 α hops (pellet)


Dissolved the DME in 2 gallons of water over very low heat.  Once fully dissolved added the malts and the spices into the liquid and adjust heat to to med-low (approximately 120ºF).  After 20 minutes adjusted the heat up to achieve boiling.  

I try to slowly approach boiling giving my malts and spice more time to soak in.  Once boiling remove the malts only and place in a strainer over the boil pot too allow excess liquid to drain back into wort and add the hops (used bittering hops only).  Boiled for 35 minutes, added a whirlfloc tablet and continued the boil for an additional 25 minutes.  

After the boil, I cooled using a cooling coil (more efficient that letting it sit or soak in ice water I think).  Put about 2 gallons of cool water into the primary bucket then strained the wort into the primary.  I have never read anywhere that discusses the straining of the wort into the primary but I’ve had good success with it, it probably reduces the overall hop flavor in the beer since they are removed and don’t sit in the primary or the secondary but I have managed to produce some very clear brews while still maintained good aroma and hop flavor.  I bring the total volume of the bucket up to 5 gallons but running the last bit of water through the strainer with the remnants of the wort still in side to get that last bit of flavor I can before disposal.  For this brew I used a simple Windsor dry yeast.  I pitched the yeast at 10:20 so I missed the full moon mark by about an hour but still had almost a full night of full-moon activity ahead of me.  


Initial Readings:

γ = 1.060 (this is a little higher than planned for the basic Irish stout)



First thing the next morning when I checked the batch I already had good fermentation underway, bursts of bubbles at first and by 10:00 AM the primary was bubbling out of the airlock continuously (I counted 160 bubbles/minute but at that rate the accuracy of my count is somewhat suspect.)


As with all brewing the chemistry experiment is commenced and its out of my hands now, I have done what I can, sanitized thoroughly and now all I need to do is wait and track my fermentation progress to see if there is any truth to the myth.  


Update:
After nearly 36 hours in the primary almost all fermentation had ceased, over a 3 minute span there was not a single bubble released from the airlock.  This isn’t just hours but entire days ahead of normal.  I racked to the secondary and Beck tells me it already tastes good.