Burp Castle with my Dad

Well, if I am not going to brew in the heat, I can at least drink!

Burp Castle (check the link for a review), is one amusing bar. I have been there twice for the Homebrew Guild meetings, but this was the first time showing up during the off-hours (Tuesday evening). Even better, I had my Dad visiting!

While one can't help but notice the partying monks painted on the walls, the first thing that hit me was the generous air-conditioning, a blessing in the recent NYC heat wave. Great beer list, from local Six Point ("Sweet Action"), to Houblon Chouffe -- 12 beers on draft. I am sure there are great things in the bottle, but I never got to it. The bartender, Liz, was very nice to my Dad and gave him tastes of many.

Great place, very quiet, so it is easy to converse at a normal speaking volume.

Hot weather brewing

I am itching to brew again, and that's a challenge with the summer heat. I asked around, and I got a few recommendations.

• Choose a style whose yeast can operate at higher temperatures. As I mentioned in a comment on a previous post, a fellow I know swears by saison yeast - it has a high fermentation range (70-85 ºF)
• Choose a style whose yeast can handle a wide range of temperature -- e.g. Belgian (58-78 ºF) or Scottish (55-75 ºF), and place fermenter near air conditioner
  
• Insulate the fermenter to minimize temperature shifts -- wet t-shirt over primary in a bucket

Here are a couple online references on the subject:

• BYO
• Redwood Avenue Microbrewery

I may take a chance and brew the porter kit I have. If I keep it near the air-conditioner, I feel good about my chances for success.

Hints on extract brewing

Homebrewer's Livejournal has a good thread on how to get the best out of extract brewing that hits many of the points I have discovered over time and adds a few more.

Considering that NYC is heading for 98ºF today, the idea of a kegerator is sounding better and better. Not sure it is even worth trying to brew at all during the hottest summer months otherwise.

I am definitely thinking more and more about temperature control of late. Planning to purchase a wort chiller. Doing the full boil just makes an ice-bath impractical to get the temperature down fast.

Spuyten Duyvil is hosting a Beer & Chocolate tasting event on Wednesday, 7/19, at 7pm. Two great tastes that go great together!

Taste test two -- Nut Brown and Altbier

My wife and I had a wonderful and educational experience last night. We tried the Nut Brown and the Altbier for a second time. They have both conditioned two weeks in the bottle now. A few thoughts:

Brewing to the gravity is definitely the way to go. Ideally my technique will improve to the point where I can the right volume regardless, but for now I will be satisfied with slightly less beer but the right strength of flavor. Both Nut Brown and Altbier are richly textured, satisfying draughts, complex at the start, middle and finish.

Serving temperature matters! I have read many an article about the importance of hot cold one serves various alcohols, whether wine, beer, or liquor. In the past, with commercial beers, I have always preferred the drink as cold as possible, just short of freezing. In fact with a clear, crisp lager, this is still my preference.

But with both these darker ales, serving too cold stifles the flavor overall, and worse, seems to emphasize less pleasant aspects of the beer. In the case of the nut brown served very cold, there is a bitterness and a bit of an oily texture; the Alt, conversely, tastes overly sweet. However, let the beer warm a bit to the room ("cellar temperature"), and the entire taste profile changes, and both taste and feel wonderful: the Nut Brown goes from oily to velvety, bitter to complex like a fine espresso; and the Alt's former treacle taste is subsumed by the hops. Very pleasantly surprising. I will have to read up a lot on serving temperatures.

The taste test results are in, and...

Both the Altbier and the Nut Brown are very good. But, not ready for prime time. After a week in the bottle, the carbonation is still soft, and the finish is a little weak. But, the intial flavor when you take the first sip of either is marvelous. The Nut Brown is like a stronger, richer version of New Castle Brown Ale, and the Alt has a little bit of smoke, and reminds me of dark German beers I have had -- Hacker Pschorr Dunkel or maybe Aventinus.

In another two weeks I think they will be great.

PET plastic secondary -- MELTED??

Back from the beach to discover something a bit odd: my Better-Bottle five gallon secondary was misshapen. It looks like it melted, but I am not sure exactly how. I had my Altbier in cold conditioning in the fridge using that vessel. After bottling a week ago, I cleaned and sanitized the fermenter as I would always do, and then upended it to drip dry, open, on the drying rack. I went away to the beach for the week, came back and found the bottom of the fermenter had buckled.

Checking their website there is a note about not cleaning the bottle with hot water and then sealing it, because that would cause a vacuum as it cools, damaging the fermenter. I understand that, but since the bottle was open, the one leaves me a little at a loss.

On the good side, since the Nut Brown and Alt have been in the bottle for a week, I plan to try them tonight.