My Brewery is Closed for the Season

After over a year, I finally gave my brother all of our brewery equipment.  It had been residing at my house as I have had more time to use it.  My brother was getting tired of traveling to my house to brew, and he was starting to brew more with his friend (as I had been doing with mine).  It was time.  Still, I am sad to see it go. The basement storage room seems empty and I have it all straightened up.  It seems lonely down there, but I have 4 batches aging down there to keep me company.


I delivered the brewery to his house and we kicked off his brewing season with a Oktoberfest/Marzen.


The Marzen bier is a German Style Lager that was traditionally brewed in March (Marzen translates to 'March", I think, any German speakers can correct me on any of this) to be stored in caves all Summer to be consumed in September.  Now, don't ask me why Oktoberfest is celebrated in September, that I don't know.  Before refrigeration, the Germans suspended their brewing operations and even passed laws that made it illegal to brew from March until September or October.  Cooler temperatures and long fermentations are favored by the lager yeast and also keeps the wild yeast and other nasty bacterias at bay.  Therefore, in preparation for a long summer without brewing, Germans brewed the higher gravity beers later in the brewing season (March) as they would need to keep the longest.  They would consume the last of these beers in September i.e. at Oktoberfest.  Perhaps Oktoberfest celebrates the start of the brewing season?


We at the family brewery also lack sophisticated temperature control (aka refridgerator dedicated to our hobby) and usually restrict our brewing to ales.  But, my brother started a tradition of brewing one lager a year and putting it in his basement's window well (below grade, in the shade) to ferment and lager (German word for "store").  Therefore, we too, are restricted to the cold weather months for this endeavor of brewing lagers.  We are not brewing in March, as here in Colorado, the weather is somewhat more unpredictable and apt to be warmer than March in Germany (that is a guess on my part, as I have never been to Germany...someday I would like to).  Colorado's Front Range can be cold and snowy, springlike and rainy, or downright hot in the month of March.  Sometimes you get all three in the course of a week.  With a lager, you don't want to swing the fermentation temperatures too much, and you want to keep it from 30 to 45F.  Right now, and for the foreseeable forecast (about a week),  the highs are to be in the mid 40s and the lows in the mid 20s.  I figure the beer itself (below grade and in the shade) will not swing but 5 degrees on any given day.  That is not perfect, but it is as best as we can do.


Our Marzen/Oktoberfest brewing day was uneventful except for the stuck mash (my second in a row now).  Our milling was from my homebrew shop with their new mill.  I received our new mill the day after I bought grain, so I didn't get to try our new toy.  I suspected that this would be the case, but I was not able to do anything to prevent it, mostly because I am lazy.  We will have to devise a better sparging system in the future.  On the plus side, we had a great efficiency so that we were able to add water to the boil to lower to our target gravity.  Officially, our efficiency was 65%, but our yield (number of bottles per batch) will be much greater than usual, which means our real efficiency was above 70%.  Near the end of the sparge, I checked our gravity and noted that we could sparge a lot more sugar out of the grains, but in doing so, we would have needed to boil longer to reduce all of that liquid.


I can't wait to dial in our mill to have some kind of predictability in this process.  If we get better efficiencies, we can use less grain, which saves us money.  Using less grain also allows greater efficiencies and it is easier to prevent a stuck mash.  Less grain means less water and grain weight pressing down on the mash.  Our processes need to have us go slower (not a strong point for us) in sparging and longer boil times to get the most out of our grains.


Oh, and more good news, my home brew shop lowered their bulk base grain prices from $49.99 per 50lb bag to $47.99 (basically, 4 cents a pound), but raised their per pound prices on the same grain to $1.49/lb.   This will lower our break even point for the mill even more.  My original justification had a basic savings of about $64 per year.  That savings is now $85/year without any efficiency gains.  With a 10% efficiency gain, the savings will be over $100.  That is a two year break even at last year's brewing pace.  We brewed twice in January, we are thus far on pace to eclipse last year's. 


Anyway, our Oktoberfest will be ready in the late spring, so strike up the Oompah Band and join us for some rounds of singing German drinking songs in our Colorado Alpine environment with a fresh malty German Oktoberfest Lager.

Overhaulin' the Brewery

I finally bottled our Festivus Ale, and for the first time since Thanksgiving, I don't have a beer in the carboys (fermenter).  I don't know if I will like the Festivus Ale or not.  It does have a lot of spices, cinemon to be exact, that I hope mellow over time.  Even with 8 other gallons of beer around, it will be hard to not sample this beer for a while.  It does need to age.


With empty carboys and the brewing equipment being unused for a few days I decided to do some long overdue  overhauling of the equipment.  I had noticed some deterioration of the weld on the inside of the kettle, and am currently trying to find a welder that will work for cheap to fix it and install another threaded hole to add a thermometer well.  The weld is not leaking, but I don't like all of the rough areas inside the kettle, especially since we use the vessel for bottling.


The various pipe fittings on the kettle are stainless steel and brass.  I took each of them apart and soaked them in Oxyclean.  They all had discoloration and remnants of the teflon tape in the threads which I cleaned as best as I could retaped and reassembled.  I should take it apart more often.  This was the first time in  5 years, and probably it should come apart every two uses or so.  As I expand our brewery this coming year, I have to make a decision about all of the pipes, tubes, and fittings.  I can go with the extremely cheap threaded brass fittings (which I currently use), more expensive threaded stainless steel fittings, or exhorbanantly priced professional grade sanitary tri-clamp fittings.  Tri-clamp fittings have no threads and have all smooth surfaces to easily clean.  They clamp with a two hinged (three or tri piece) clamp around the fitting's ends.  It is a small scale version of what is used in the food industry and almost all professional breweries.  After trying to clean out our fittings, I can see the utility of the tri-clamp, but it would almost be cheaper to buy new brass fittings every year.  If money was no object, it would be the tri-clamp fittings, for sure.  But, if money was no object, I would either buy a Sabco Brew Magic system (computer controlled) for $6,000 or just go into the brewing business for myself (or both).


I can't decide if the threaded stainless fittings would be worth the money or save any headache.  I think that they are just shiny (and that is why I like them).  But shiny also might make them easier to clean, and be more difficult for gunk to embed themselves into the threads.  I don't know.  I put a question into the American Homebrewer's Association Tech Talk Forum to see what the homebrewer consensus is.


In the meantime, we are scheduled to brew again on Saturday (Oktoberfest/Marzen) so, I don't think I will get the welding done in time.

Too Much Reading

I have been pursuing a lot of projects in my brewing hobby as of late, which translates to a lot of research and reading.  I have been researching grain mills (along with my justification).  I have been researching upgrading my primary brewing equipment, moving towards a recirculated infusion mash system (RIMS).  I also received a copy of Charlie Papaazian's Microbrewed Adventures for Christmas that I just finished.  I have also been going down to the Denver Public Library's Western History Library, doing research on Denver's Pre-Prohibition brewing scene.  As a result, I am currently reading a coffee table book by Bill Yenne called The History of Beer in America.  I have also been reading up on our next brew scheduled sometime in early February (a window well Oktoberfest).  I don't know why I am compelled to read and study so much on this hobby.  I have always been this way.  


When my wife and I were poor graduate students and I was investigating starting this hobby, I read, and read, and read, and read, and I guess I would talk incessantly about it because finally my wife told me to go buy the brewing kit already, and leave her alone.  So, finally, I did.  That was 1994.  I had worn out most of my equipment and replaced select items to go for all grain brewing over 5 years ago.  And now, it is time to upgrade, and so I read and obsess.


Meanwhile, I have an empty carboy and two filled with our Festivus Ale that need to be bottled.  These things are also nagging me.  The brewery is scheduled to transfer to my brother's house for a while, so I shouldn't brew right now anyway, although, I have been thinking of sneaking in a quick beer this week.  If I were to do this, I would need to go buy the stuff today, get it brewed on Tuesday, and bottled by next Tuesday at the latest.  I think I need to let this opportunity pass.


I need to buy the mill, however, but have been waiting until February.  I need to not buy anything else until we get a few brews down with the new milling equipment, anyway.  So, I read.  If I find anything of interest about  Pre-Prohibition Brewing, who knows, I may have a book brewing.

Boulder Upstart Voted Best Pale Ale in America

I stole this verbatim from the e-mail Upslope sent me.  I hope they don't mind.


Upslope Named Best Pale Ale by Maxim Magazine

Boulder, Colorado -- Upslope Pale Ale has been awarded Best Pale Ale by Maxim Magazine. In its upcoming February issue, the magazine's cover feature, “The 25 Best New Beers In America” highlights Upslope as Best Pale Ale among other “top new brews of our nation's beer renaissance.”
After sampling hundreds of new American beers, Maxim writer, Mike Dawson, declared Upslope Pale Ale to be among ... “the 25 tastiest, most life-affirming concoctions to hit the shelves recently.” Chosen as Best Pale Ale, Maxim's review of Upslope goes on to say, “These guys opened shop in late 2008, and they already own our taste buds thanks to their pale. It's the most palatable craft beer we've gulped in a while. Check the ingredients: ‘Snow melt, malt, Patagonian hops, yeast.' We're officially down with Upslope.”
Still feeling the rush of bringing home two bronze medals from the Great American Beer Festival in September, Upslope is thrilled to add Maxim's recognition to the young brewery's momentum. “We're honored by Maxim's distinction as Best Pale Ale and couldn't be more pleased to be considered among the ranks of such breweries as Oskar Blues, New Belgium and Great Divide,” said Matt Cutter, Founder of Upslope.
Upslope Brewing Company, a new microbrewery located in Boulder, Colorado, taps into today's on-the-go beer enthusiast's active lifestyle by offering superior quality hand-crafted ales in cans. The teaming of fine ales in cans allows Upslope's products to be fresh, mobile, and easily part of an active lifestyle. Shared with friends after a long mountain bike ride, enjoyed at the end of skinning up and skiing down a snowy trail, or ordered in a local pub, Upslope is a natural fit for the active beer consumer.


I have to admit that I have not yet been up to Boulder to check these guys out.  They are only open after 4pm Wednesdays through Saturday, when I am unavailable for sampling.  Ironically, I (helped) design the neighborhood that they are in.  It used to be a Drive In, but is now a New Urbanist neighborhood.  I worked on the permitting and land entitlements as well as the engineering infrastructure and dealt with the Boulder Planning Department.  That was in a past life...so long ago.


This Upslope upstart brewery is notable, as it is located in a town that already has 9 other breweries and brewpubs (Boulder, Avery, Twisted Pine, Mountain Sun & Southern Sun, Colorado, BJ's, Boulder Draft House, Walnut), has one just outside of town (Asher Brewing, that I have never heard of).  Oskar Blues, Left Hand (both breweries), and Pumphouse (Brewpub) are 10 miles away in Longmont.  There are also another Oskar Blues (brewpub) in Lyons, and the Wild Mountain Smokehouse and Brewery in Nederland.  The whole county (Boulder County) has 300,000 people and at least 15 brewing establishments (not including some excellent Meaderys) which is one per 20,000 people.  That means that there is a lot more room for breweries almost everywhere.  The requirements for any brewery in towns that have established breweries is that the beer has to be good.  Still, that is no guarantee of success.  Boulder is a beer town.  It is home to the University of Colorado, has a ski town in the county (Eldora), and is home to the American Homebrewing Association (AHA) and Brewers Association (BA), of which I am a member (AHA, and someday the BA).


I definitely need to make another trip up to Boulder (it is only 30 miles from my house) to specifically check out Upslope.  In the meantime, will have to pick up a six pack of their pale that I can get at the store.

APA is In Bottles

I got my dry hopped American Pale Ale into bottles on Tuesday, and I am quite excited about it.  We had a lot of problems from a stuck mash and protracted run-off, so that we cut off early and added too much water to make up for it.  A comedy of errors took this beer into the light or session beer catagory.  The taste out of the fermenter (which means warm, flat, and green) was very citrusy (from the American hops), but not overwhelming in any way.  I hope that the carbonation, chilling, and aging in the bottles does not diminish this beer's delicate hop profile.  I am ever optimistic.


Now, I need to start moving some beer.  I need to find boxes.

Three things in My Top Ten (all of them are good cold)

It is rare for me to catch any Red Wing's Hockey these days.  They are not doing well this year, and I don't live in Hockeytown (my heart does, of course).  I was lucky to see that they were broadcast nationally on NBC and at a time that I could record them.


So, nap time for the little one, a new DVR (we got for Christmas), and a cold beer (I am drinking Oskar Blue's Little Yella Pils, a GABF gold medal winner (from a can no less)).  What is necessary to make this perfect?  Kielbasa.  


  If you know me, you know that I have a weakness for almost any sausage including all beef hot dogs, breakfast links (and patties), brats, knacks, chorizo, italian, pepperoni, salami, smoked, game meat, dried, raw, even a little kieska (blood sausage)....if the meat is good, it is usually good for me.  Although I need to admit that kieska is good in only the smallest amounts.


I have never found a good Polish meat market or butcher with anything near good sausage here in Denver.  Every time I hear about something, the place has been closed for six months before I got there.  While traveling in San Francisco for business, I happened upon a traditional Polish meat market (a big Polish Eagle painted on the side of the building brought me over 3 lanes of traffic despite being late for my flight).  I talked to the guy for a half hour and spent $20, and walked out of there not only with an armful of 4 or 5 different sausages (made by hand by this guy and his family for the last 80 years), but also a quarter of a pan of cheesecake that was just like my grandmother used to make.  I ate nothing but sausage and cheesecake for three days.


The Kielbasa that I bought for myself today is the crappy Hillshire Farms turkey stuff from the grocery store.  The meat is not tightly packed, and it only faintly resembles the good stuff I have had all of my life.  But it is enough to remind me of childhood.


I didn't even cook it.  I just nibbled on it cold; with a cold beer, and ice hockey....cold heaven.  Too bad my team lost on the last shot of the shootout.

The Cost of Making Beer

One of the most common questions I get when someone asks about my brewing hobby is how much it costs.  My usual answer would be to give them the cost of the grain/hops bill of my most recent batch.  Most of the time I figured on $60 for a 12 gallon batch.  Broadly applied, $5/gallon, about 10 bottles per gallon equals $0.50 per bottle.  Of course it is more complicated than that, as there are other costs than the ingredients such as fuel, cleaners, caps, adjuncts, water, electricity, etc, and the bottles per batch vary too (sometimes you get more, sometimes less), as do fuel costs, and even the raw materials (grain and hops) have changed batch to batch.  You get the picture.


Since I went about the task of justifying a grain mill purchase based on a potential cost savings, I figured I ought to make a rough estimate of all of my costs.  Of course, I only had the receipts for a few batches, and had to guess and estimate usages on other things.  If I couldn't ascertain what I actually paid, I used today's prices to estimate.  My good records only go back to June (when I started using qbrew software), and I found I rarely made note of the number of bottles we actually got.  There were also costs I couldn't estimate such as electricity (used for washing/sterilizing bottles in the dishwasher (with no detergent)) and water (much water and hot water is used to clean) which I ignored altogether.  And of course, there are no labor costs, and since I recycle my bottles, no costs there, either.  Nor is there any equipment depreciation  or packaging costs.  


What I came up with was about $0.57 per bottle on average.  I also figured that I could reduce the costs to under 50 cents a bottle with the grain mill and buying in bulk.  Still, to compare to the retail cost of a craft beer six pack of $7.99 to $9.99 (or $1.33 to $1.66 per bottle), or the $2-3 for bar prices and I am personally ahead, but if I had to use new bottles for each batch (like the pros), my costs would be about $1.15 per bottle.


I have to figure that professional craft brewers can make beer for about 25-40 cents per bottle of comparative material costs (Iess for mega breweries).  This is a wild-assed guess on my part; it could be 6 cents per bottle for all I know.  That means that labor, packaging, marketing, profit, equipment depreciation, shipping, and distributor and retail mark up is about $1/bottle.  So, for professional brewers volume discounts on materials, high efficiencies, and large volume batching are the keys to profitability.  I have no idea what a craft brewery's profit per bottle actually is, and have no way of guessing.  With the cost of a Super Bowl ad, you must figure that advertising/marketing is one of the largest costs for the big breweries, but you rarely see TV or radio ads for any brewery smaller than Sam Adams.  You could also surmise that a small brewery's selling merchandise might be the difference between profit and loss.  This is why I have no good free brewery swag.


The business of brewing intrigues me.  It takes so much more than good beer to become successful.  I haven't quite even gotten up to good beer, but I am a harsh critic of my own abilities.  People like it....most of the time.  I do wish I could sell it, though.  It would be difficult, but it might beat working for a living.