Brew and Smoke Day

My husband has been a hombrewer since before I met him.  One of our first dates we made beer together on his stove.  I don’t remember what we made but it was a 5 gallon batch brewed with malt extract.  Fast forward a year or so and we were regularly brewing 5 gallons at a time on an upgraded, all grain system that my husband designed and built.  Fast forward another year and a half to when we got married and my parents got us a Sabco Brew Magic for our wedding present. 

The Brew Magic is designed as a pro-level pilot system for recipe development that includes all three brewing vessels, the hot liquor tank, mash tun, and the boil kettle, along with all the hardware, tubing and pipes to connect and transfer liquid between the vessels.  The system was designed for more precise brewing in all aspects including temperature control and repeatability. 

Rich and our new brew system

This is probably a good time to explain how beer is made.

1. Select/create recipe, and buy grains, hops, yeast and anything else you want to add to the beer
2. Mill/Crush the grains
3. Mash: add hot water to the crushed grains, and steep them in the water to release certain sugars which the yeast can consume
4. Sparge: the liquid from the mash is drained off of the grains into the boil kettle while hot water also rinses them to remove as much sugar as possible
5. Boil: the hot liquid, called ‘wort’ is boiled for a certain amount of time, usually around 60min where hops are added at different intervals for bittering
6. Chill: the wort is cooled relatively quickly, usually through a chiller, and placed in fermenters where the yeast is pitched
7. Ferment: the yeast consumes the sugars and produces the alcohol, giving you beer in a few weeks!

We decided to make a Saison which is a farmhouse style of beer originally brewed in Wallonia, Belgium.  The beer was brewed near the end of spring to last through the warmer months since it’s not too strong and can be refreshing in the summer.  The flavor profile is a combination of fruity and spicy flavors and can have a slight tartness, and dry finish.  I wanted to do a variation on the beer so out of the 10gallons, 5 of it will be just the normal Saison, and the other 5 gallons I split into two and added mango and strawberries, creating a fruit-Saison.

We got started by heating up the water for the mash, which took about an hour since the ground water was chilly to start with.  We slowly added the grains to the hot water, breaking up all the chunks but not disrupting the grain bed.  We mashed for 75min at 150deg.  The Brew Magic has a pump to circulate the liquid in the mash along with a heater to keep it at temperature.  If extra heat is needed there is a burner under the mash tun as well. 

Mashing in the grains with hot water

While we were mashing, it was a great time to eat!  We prepared a beef brisket for everyone to enjoy and all of our guests brought wonderful sides to go with it.  Making a brisket takes quite a bit of prep work ahead of time.  Wednesday night I created a beer brine and brined the brisket for 24hrs.  Thursday night I put a rub all over the brisket and covered it back up to sit for another 24hrs.  Late Friday night I injected the brisket with a mix of sugar and peach nectar while we fired up our Big Green Egg Smoker to 225deg.  We placed the brisket on the smoker at about 3:30am and let it smoke, spritzing it with the same fluid used for the injection every so often until taking it off the smoker around 12:30pm.  We covered it up with tinfoil and let it sit in a cooler until around 4pm.  It turned out wonderful, and everyone enjoyed it.

Racking the beer onto fruit

Back to brewing, next we had to transfer the wort into the boil kettle by draining all the liquid off the grains and using sparge water to rinse the grains.  We then did a 60min boil adding hops at the beginning of the boil again at 50min and the final addition at flameout.  We chilled the wort through our chill wizard, to cool it to about 65deg before it goes into the fermenters.  The last step was to pitch the yeast, we used a French Saison yeast.  The last part of brew day is the extensive cleanup to get all the sticky gunk out of the brewing equipment which helps to keep it in good working form.

After everything was cleaned up we headed to our rooftop deck and enjoyed a nice evening with a campfire, more drinking, s’mores and cards against humanities.  It was a successful brewday with lots of good company and even some learning on the brewing process took place.  Stay tuned to see how our beer turns out!

Oregon Bday Trip (Part II)

Saturday morning we woke up and got some coffee before heading out on a 12 mile run.  The trails in Portland and how they connect the whole city was great.  The only bad part was it was rainy and windy, but otherwise a nice run.  Following our run, we headed to the east side across the river to Ecliptic Brewing for some recovery beers and lunch.  Ecliptic is a newer brewery that hasn’t even been open a year yet, but putting out amazing beers thanks to their founder who has a background at Deschutes and Full Sail Breweries.  We tried a variety of their beers and all of them were great if not fantastic.  My favorites were Lacerta Frambuesa, Downkriek Cosmic, and the Orbital IPA.  The food was also fantastic; I had a Lamb Dip, while my husband had the Trout Po’ Boy.

We decided to drive around to a few other beer spots that were not reachable by foot, and since it was my birthday weekend, my lovely husband drove!  We headed to Saraveza, which is a bottle shop and beer bar.  We had a beer and did a little shopping in the old looking tavern.  They had some great beers on tap and old bottles in the fridge. 

Next, we headed to Belmont Station which is also a bottle shop and beer bar, separated by a wall but you can still take your beer with you while you shop.  In the bar you can order beers in three different sizes which allowed me to get a few beers I hadn’t had before in a taster size.  We did a lot of beer shopping at this place, and got some gems that are not available in Washington.  Oregon has no sales tax, so the beer was cheaper to buy, and if you used cash at Belmont Station, they gave you another 10% off.  We made out like bandits with the amount of beer we got and the price we paid compared to our local bottle shops in Seattle.

With our trunk just about fully loaded with beer, we walked over to the Horse Brass Pub to check it out and have a beer.  They had Pliny the Elder on tap, so I got a glass, and it was tasty!  Horse Brass is an old English looking pub decorated with old beer signs and English furniture.   They also happened to have a great tap list with about 50 taps.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped by a random park to throw the ball for Kona and tire her out.  We then set out on foot to more breweries that were within a walk able radius.  First up was Upright Brewing, located in the basement of multi-use building.  I had the Oyster Stout while Rich had the Fantasia.  We’ve been to Upright before so we didn’t do a taster flight, but we did get several special bottles to go!

After successfully navigating our way out of the basement, we headed to Cascade Brewing, aka ‘House of Sour!’  We snagged a spot at the bar as I looked over the giant list of sour beers in front of me.  Rich got an IPA, while I started to do flights 3 beers at a time of almost everything they had on tap.  They had a special collaboration/hybrid beer-cider on tap as well that they brewed with Reverend Nat’s called Strawberry Pippin, and it was lovely.  Some of my favorites from the few hours we spent there were the Cranberry, Tawny Port, Elderberry, Manhattan, and Gingersnap.  We also got a few appetizer/snacks while at Cascade that were pretty darn tasty.

After enjoying all the sour beer one could want in a day, we started heading back toward the hotel, stopping at Hair of the Dog Brewing on the way.  They specialize in old style ales and barrel aged beers.  We had the Little Dog, Brandy Beerweek, Greg, XXXX Mild, and Doggie Claws Barleywine.  All were fantastic and so were the duck wings we enjoyed.

We picked up Kona at the hotel and ventured to a few dog friendly places.  Starting at Lucky Labrador Brewing, which we thought was appropriate for our little Labrador Puppy.  We each enjoyed a beer while Kona entertained us on the porch outside.  Next we headed to the Green Dragon, which is part of Rogue Ales string of pubs and breweries.  We had a few beers and some amazing Blue Cheese meatballs before heading back to the hotel for the night.

Sunday we woke up and the St Paddy’s Day 5K/10K race was happening on the street we were staying on.  Since we couldn’t get our car out of the parking garage we wondered around Portland’s river front for a bit with Kona taking in the scenes of the cherry blossoms and snapping a few pictures.  Once we were able to get our car out of the garage we headed to Lompoc Brewing for some lunch and to try a few of their beers.  We did a taster tray and most the beers were good, but nothing special.  The lamb burger I had was quite tasty though!

We decided to head south before heading back north to Seattle and stopped in at Breakside’s production brewery and taproom located just south of Portland in Milwaukie.  We sat down at the bar and started tasting a few of their beers, which were all great.  After talking with the bar tender for a bit she offered to give us a tour of the brewery, so we did a quick walk around to see their operation and barrel rooms.  A lot of the beers on in the tap room were experimental and not available in bottles or draft up in Seattle, so it was a treat to enjoy them!  After grabbing a few bottles to go, including their GABF Gold medal winning IPA, we headed back up to Seattle.

It was an awesome weekend full of beer and fun with my husband and puppy.  We didn’t hit quite a few breweries I wanted to, as there are just too many to visit in one weekend.  We’ll have to try out some more on our next trip to Portland.

Oregon Bday Trip (Part I)

Back in March for my #BirthdayBierTour my husband, Kona, and I ventured down to Oregon for a long weekend of Beer Shenanigans.  We headed out Friday morning and ventured to Astoria, Or to have lunch at Fort George Brewery.  As we drove into the little town where the Goonies was filmed, on one side there were a lot of old Victorian Houses and buildings lining a hill and on the other side docks leading out to the Columbia River.  Once at Fort George we got a sampler tray of beers, some of which we have had before, including Plazm, The Optimist, and Bourbon Barrel aged Cavatica Stout.  Ones we hadn’t had before were the Divinity, Nut Red Ale, Working Girl Porter, Helles, and Brett Stout.

Fort George makes plenty of awesome beers including their yearly 3-Way IPA that is different every year as they collaborate with two new breweries each year.   The brewery had an upstairs bar that we didn’t get to hang out in since it doesn’t open until later in the day.  They also have a separate taproom next door with an expanded beer list, but sadly that was also not open at the time we were there.

After Fort George we headed down the road to Buoy Brewing, located on one of the piers gazing out at the river.  Their space was gorgeous, with the highlight being giant windows lining the entire half of the pub facing the water.  Since they are located essentially on a dock, they had a bunch of sea lions swimming in the water or chilling on the pier posts.  As you enter the brewery they have a giant glass floor looking down at the sea lions.  We sat at the bar and ordered a flight of pretty much everything they had on tap.  All their beers were solid, and clean.  They made quite a few lager and German style beers that were quite tasty and true to style, and their Raspberry Chocolate Stout was like a dessert in a glass.

 

After taking some pictures of the sea lions, we headed down the Oregon coast and stopped at Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach.  We went for a walk and threw the ball for Kona to tire her out.  The beach was gorgeous, and the famous rock from the Goonies was a pretty sight.  We then headed to Portland for the remainder of our beer weekend.

We stayed at the Courtyard in the heart of downtown, which was also dog friendly.  On our previous trip to Portland we stayed on the east side of the Willamette River,so this gave us the opportunity to check out more of downtown and the west side of the city.  Our first stop was the Deschutes Brewery Pub for some beer and food.  We did a flight of the rotating/seasonal offerings, and then had an Obsidian Stout on Nitro, which paired great with my elk burger.

After we got some food in our bellies we were set to do some more drinking, so we headed a few blocks over to the newly opened Fat Head’s Brewery.  Fat Head started in Cleveland, and just recently built a pub in Portland.  The space inside was large with vaulted ceilings and cool artwork all around.  There were giant glass windows looking in on the brewery which also added to the ambiance.  We did a flight of beers there, trying almost everything they had on tap.  Some of the favorites were the Imperial Bean Me Up Coffee Stout, Weiss Weiss Baby, and the IBUsive.

Following Fat Head’s our palates were done with doing taster flights, so we headed to the beer bar Bailey’s Taproom.  They are known for having a pretty good tap and bottle list with rarer beers and very Oregon focused.  We had a few beers there while chatting to our neighbors who happened to work for 10 barrel brewing.  We then headed next door to Tugboat Brewing to see what they were about.  It was a very small hole in the wall brewery and kitchen that catered to locals and hippies.  Their beer wasn’t very good so I opted for a cider I knew I liked.  We then decided that we’d probably had enough alcohol for the day and went back to the hotel to crash.

That wraps up our first day full of beer and driving, stay tuned for days 2 and 3.

Leavenworth, WA - The German Disneyland

Last weekend my husband Rich and I, along with our puppy Kona, headed east to Leavenworth, WA for a nice little get-a-way to celebrate my husband’s birthday.  Leavenworth is a small town modeled after a Bavarian village on the southeast side of the North Cascade Mountains.  The town thrives off of tourism.  They host a lot of German festivals to draw people in, including Oktoberfest in the fall for 5 weekends straight, an Ale-Fest, a Maifest a Christkindlmarkt (Christmas Market), and many more.  The weekend we went happened to be Taste Leavenworth with all sorts of tasty treats, wine, and spirits tastings all over town.

We drove through Snoqualmie Pass stopping at a new brewery along the way located in the Snoqualmie ski area.  Dru Bru has only been open about 4 months and primarily makes German style beers and other lower alcohol beers.  We were very impressed with their Kolsh and Wit.  Their Session IPA was light with a nice balance of citrus hops on the back.   Their Alt bier was also tasty and so was their Schwarzbier, which we tried on both the regular C02 tap and on Nitro!  For a new brewery their beers were solid and I’d definitely recommend them.

After a (mostly) beautiful 2.5 hour drive through the mountains we arrived in town and checked into our Bavarian looking hotel, Fairbridge Inn & Suites.  We decided to wander around looking for food before heading to Icicle Brewing located on the north side of town.  We stopped in at the Munchen Haus for liters of beer and some German wursts and Bavarian Pretzels.  I had the currywurst, while my husband had the traditional bratwurst.  The whole place was outside with tents setup and heaters for the cooler nights. 

After our sausages and liters of beer we wandered through the town taking pictures and playing tourist with all the cool looking Bavarian buildings and signs.  We stopped in to do a wine tasting, and then headed to Icicle Brewing for a taster tray and a few rounds.  Icicle makes some good beer and was at almost every place in town, as they’re the local brewery.  My favorite beer of theirs was the ‘Dark Persuasion,’ a darker beer, but not to high alcohol with a delicate dark chocolate backbone and sweet coconut finish, like a German Chocolate cake in a glass.  Their pilsner was also quite tasty.

Bavarian buildings and signs

Bavarian buildings

Bavarian buildings

Wenatchee River on our run

Saturday morning we woke up and went for a run through the countryside.  We then set out on our adventure to 'Taste Leavenworth' and drink beer with Kona, our puppy.  We started out by having lunch the Leavenworth Sausage Garten where we each had a wurst and beer, then proceeded to taste at shops participating in the Taste Leavenworth event up and down the streets.  We had a whole assortment of things, from a meat cup with locally smoked meats and cheeses, pear gelato, candied pears, caramelized pear covered almonds, pear cheesecake, and many other tasty treats.  We also did several different wine tastings with pear influenced pairings.

A coachman in lederhosen roaming trotting down the streets

Beers by the fire at Icicle

We stumbled upon Blue Spirits Distilling and did a flight of some of their offerings.  We tried the Espresso and cucumber vodkas, along with 4 of their whiskeys, the 6 year Rye, 7 year straight bourbon, 4 year straight bourbon, and their cherry whiskey.  We ended up taking a bottle of the espresso vodka and 4 year whiskey home with us.  After the distillery we went to the winery next door and did another wine tasting before heading to Icicle Brewing to sit outside by the fire and just drink beer in the sun for a few hours talking with fellow beer drinkers.

After a few rounds at Icicle we headed back to the hotel to drop off Kona and then headed back out to try some more tasty treats from places that didn’t allow dogs, including a pear gingerbread cookie from a local bakery.  When we woke up Sunday morning the passes had gotten some snow.  We had to take Snoqualmie Pass back to Seattle instead of our planned route, Stephens Pass, due to snow and ice on the roads and traction tires being advised.  Overall it was a great weekend getaway with lots of great beer and food.  Definitely a worthwhile trip and I think we'll be headed back for one of their beer festivals sometime.  Cheers!

Fresh snow on the mountains as we departed