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Thursday, April 29, 2010

Music to My Eyes

Though I've made hundreds of batches of beer, I still get a tiny pang of anxiety with every brew. I expect it. I've even come to welcome it. I figure it's my soul's reminder that I truly care about putting out a great product.

It normally takes about 24 hours for fermentation to take off. If it doesn't, it can be for a number of reasons: underpitching yeast, bad yeast, improper temperature, poor oxygenation, etc. The day after a brew day, I anticipate seeing this:

The white, messy bucket is a blow-off bucket.  Once the yeast starts doing its job in the fermenter (the big steel vessel) it produces carbon dioxide, among other things.  That CO2 needs to go somewhere.  We vent it with tubing from the top of the fermenter, down to the floor and into a bucket of sanitized water.

If the yeast is especially active, a lot of foam is produced which can also make its way down the blow-off tube into the bucket.  That is what you see here.

This will calm down after about a day, and the fermentation will become gentler and slower.

There are a couple of drawbacks to this.  First, as you can see, it makes a big mess.  It cleans up fairly easily with hot water.

Second, you lose some beer.  Maybe five gallons or so.  Some brewers use a petroleum-based defoamer in their fermentation vessels.  It saves them this mess and it increases their yield. 

I do not do this.  You see, this defoamer is not very good for you.  Luckily it does not make its way into the finished beer.  However, it does settle out with the yeast.  I repitch yeast from one batch of beer to the next (as almost all brewers do) and I hate the thought of transferring that defoaming product into my next batch of beer.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

What's that smell??

It's just me brewing our Archbishop Amber.

On brew days, the wonderful aroma of boiling wort occasionally escapes the brewhouse and meanders through the dining room.  I am usually so used to it that I don't think much about it.

One day, Chef Ron and I were having a spirited discussion on both sides of the brewhouse door.  Our conversation was interrupted by a customer's request that we close the door.  Apparently, not everyone is as enthralled with the brewery's "perfume" as I.

There is a saving grace.  On a number of occasions, a server will pop her head into the brewhouse, inhale deeply, and smile. 

God bless wordless compliments.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

You May Be Too Late


When I arrived here last July, there were about sixteen members of our great Mug Club.  As the months went by, the Mug Club gained in popularity.  We had discussions on whether or not we would cap the membership.  We finally decided that we would cap it at 200 members.

I'm proud to say, we recently signed up #197 last week!

If you were thinking about joining, time's running out.  We will have a waiting list in house once we reach that magic number.  Check out the St. Francis Brewery website for Mug Club details:  http://www.stfrancisbrewery.com/

Since I've Got Time...

a.k.a.  The filter that I'm doing today is taking forever.  

So, I thought I'd let you all know that I will be representing the St. Francis Brewery at several beer festivals around Wisconsin this year.  I already had the pleasure of participating in The Milwaukee Alehouse's Mid-Winter Brewfest in February.  I also brought my Doppelbock to the "Blessing of the Bock" last month to some very nice reviews.

The next festival that you can see me and try some amazing beers is the "World of Beer" festival put on by Milwaukee's largest homebrew club, the Beer Barons of Milwaukee.  Follow this link for more information:  http://www.worldofbeerfestival.com/

I've attended this event in the past and it's a great time.  This will be my first foray as a local brewer.  Buy your tickets early for a price break.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Finished.

Eleven gallons of fresh Helles wort.  I'll let it sit at cellar temperature until the yeast takes off, then I'll stick it in the cooler to ferment out.

Should be ready in about 6-8 weeks.

Rain, rain. Stay away.

(at least for the next 3 hours.)

The homebrewed Helles takes a two-step mash schedule--something I don't normally do.  The downside is that it takes longer.  I have another 30 minutes for the mash to complete.  Then, it's vorlauf, sparge and boil.  If the rain holds off until 6pm, I'll be in good shape.  If not, I may produce a slightly watered-down Helles.

Magic in a Jar!


I've got three full fermenters--the Weisse I brewed Wednesday is chugging along nicely.  The Kolsch is chillin' and waiting for the next serving vessel to open up--most likely Monday, and the Maibock is lagering beautifully.

I came in this morning expecting to clean kegs.  A couple of the kegs weren't ready yet, so I decided to pull some of the first-generation bock yeast (pictured here) and take it home to homebrew a batch of Helles.  This is going to be our featured beer in August, so I thought I'd test brew it today.

I'll post pictures later. 

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Welcome to the new blog!

Well, this will either be a wonderful tool to keep the loyal patrons of St. Francis Brewery up to speed on what's going on in the brewhouse, or it will be a cumbersome divergence.  Time will tell....

But seriously, if this site develops any type of a following, I will post announcements of area beer festivals of which we'll be a part, let you know of the goings-on in the brewhouse, and share pictures of all the new and exciting beer-related happenings.