Home Brew Mart

Hello All,

Not too many brewing updates this week. I hope everyone enjoyed last weeks rather long email. Probably more than anybody wanted to know about all those White Lab strains!

On a different note, this is going to be one of my last emails. I am leaving Home Brew Mart in early November (don’t worry, nothing bad has happened, its just time to move on). The home brew mart/ballast point updates will most likely continue under the guidance of our Master Brewer, Peter A’Hearn. Not sure what I’m doing yet, so if anybody has a good job offer–let me know. I may well continue to send out updates and beer info on my own using this same list. Before that happens I will let all of you know.

I am glad that so many of you have enjoyed reading this, it has been fun to create and write it. Thanks again for all of the feedback and support over the last two years.

Cheers,

Tom

CONTENTS:

BALLAST POINT
NEW HOURS IN SOLANA BEACH
NITRO TAP SPECIAL
CIDER RUN
PUB UPDATES
CLASSES
RECIPE

BALLAST POINT

The big news: Ballast Point Barleywine in the fermentor! We got about 10 barrels of run off which should leave us with nearly 8 barrels of barleywine to age till Winter. The beer is already lined up for the Strong Beer Festival and should be on tap at several local bars not to mention the Ballast Point Tasting Room.

Other tasting bar notes: the Special is back on tap (Its the Nitrogen dispensed version of the copper). So now you can taste three different serving styles for the Copper: Regular, Nitrogen, and on the Beer Engine (dry-hopped).

NEW HOURS IN SOLANA BEACH

Starting this weekend the Solana Beach store will be closed on Sunday and Monday. Regular hours will stay the same, 11-7 Tuesday through Friday and 10-5 on Saturday. The Linda Vista will remain open seven days a week, 11-7 M-F, 10-5 Sat and 12-4 Sun. (And don’t blame me, this happened before I decided to leave.)

NITRO TAP SPECIAL

We are overstocked on Nitrogen taps and we are cutting them from their regular price of $125 down $99. This special will run through Christmas or until we run out, whichever comes first.

CIDER RUN

The Julian Cider Run is set for Friday, November 21st. I will have the Cider brought down to our cold room from Farmer’s Market in Julian. Again there will be a sign up sheet at the Linda Vista store this weekend. The juice will be $6 per gallon and you can sign up for as much or as little as you want. Even just drinking the raw juice is great–just drink it quickly before it ferments. I am going to try and type up a cider cheat-sheet this time to answer some basic questions about the process of making hard cider.

PUB UPDATES

I have a few other notes on the new Hang Ten brew pub downtown. The brewer is the same, though I heard they are trying several new recipes. And, they open at 4 PM so don’t go there looking for lunch.

San Diego Brewing Co. will have cask beer night with the Admiral Baker’s Bitter next Tuesday, Nov. 4th. Read Peter Rowe’s GABF reviews in today’s Union-Tribune Food Section.

CLASSES

I will be doing my last (though not THE last ) beginning brewing class on Sunday, Nov. 9th from 10-11:45 am at the Linda Vista store. The class is FREE so just show up. I may be leaving, but I will still be teaching a mead making class some time in the next month. I will keep everyone updated and tell you as soon as I have a date.

No date is set for the all-grain class though one will be taught by the end of the year. Yuseff may teach it, or I might come back and do it. Either way, this class is happening soon.

RECIPE

I am posting one of, if not my oldest surviving good recipe:

The Dark Stuff That Pretty Much Rules

This is a big, rich dark beer that is neither porter nor stout. It sort of defies categories, or better yet, it laughs at them. I first made this years ago in my friend’s mom’s kitchen when the world of all-grain was still new and Home Brew Mart just opened. There were so many wonderful grains to add that we just figured we would throw in a whole bunch of them.

Many of our early beers were just referred to as “the dark stuff”. But when this recipe came around, it was more than just dark stuff. The result has been refined, but the outcome is always the same. It is always dark and it always rules.

And just in case you were wondering I don’t name my beers very often, but when I do its usually something really dumb, like this.

Recipe:

10# Great Western
1# Caramunich
.5# Dark Carastan
.5# Dark British Crystal 135-165L
.5# Biscuit Malt
.5# British Chocolate
.25# Black Patent

1 oz Chinook – Boil
.5oz Each of Kent Golding and Cascade – 15 minutes
.75 oz Each of Kent Golding and Cascade – Finish

California Ale Yeast

Mash at a moderate to low temperature, say 151, for an hour. Back when I always used pellets, though now I bitter more often with flowers–either one will work. Pellets will give off a bit more bitterness. Watch the alcohol content on this one, its potent.

For Extract Brewers:

I would not suggest steeping three pounds of grain. So if you want to do this, do a mini mash with the specialty grains and 1.5# of the 2-row for 45 minutes. And start with 8# of pale malt extract as your base. I would also bump up the bittering hops just slightly to 1.25 oz Chinook pellets.

That’s All Folks – for now

Tom

Greetings All,

No email last week since I was home sick. This week’s email is the promised run-down on White Labs yeast strains. I’ve got lots of other updates as well and even a recipe for a spiced christmas beer. I am going to be having another cider run in November most likely on Friday the 14th. I will have a sign up sheet at the Linda Vista store by this weekend. Thats all for now.

Enjoy.

Cheers

Tom

CONTENTS:

BALLAST POINT
NEW MILL
WHITE LABS YEAST
PUB UPDATES
STRONG BEER FESTIVAL
RECIPES

BALLAST POINT

Our cask-conditioned Copper Ale is now on tap through the beer engine. Each cask is dry hopped (extra hops added in the keg) and naturally carbonated with brown sugar. These casks are then hand pulled from the keg to give a smooth creamy head and a wonderfully hoppy finish.

Our half gallon and gallon jugs are back in stock so you can pick up a jug of your favorite Ballast Point beer to go! Bring in a jug from another brewery and we will happily trade you for one of ours. Refill prices are $7.00 for a half-gallon and only $11.00 for the full gallon! T-Shirts and Hats are back as well so get your BPBC gear or put it on your Christmas list!

If you want to reserve a keg for a Halloween, please call in advance at 298-2337 so that we can have it ready to go for you. Kegs are available in 5 and 15 gallon sizes. The 5 gallon kegs serve about 55 – 12oz beers and cost $40. The 15 gallon kegs serve about 165 – 12 oz beers and cost $105. Kegs are available in either Copper Ale or Belgian White.

NEW MILL

We now have a new Schmidling hand mill at the Linda Vista store. This is the same mill that some of you are familiar with at the Solana Beach store. This will help aleviate waiting to mill small amounts of grain. Check it out next time you are in the store.

WHITE LABS YEAST

Background:

White Labs is a full service laboratory specializing in pitchable quantities of pure brewers’ yeast. We currently supply pure liquid yeast cultures to major breweries, brewpubs, BOPs and homebrew stores.
White Labs was started in 1993 by Chris White, Ph.D., when he realized working with craft breweries and brewers’ yeast was more enjoyable than working with research institutions and industrial yeast. Applying a combination of yeast genetics and sterile high cell density yeast propagation techniques, Chris was able to grow and concentrate large volumes of yeast cultures.

Why Pitchable Liquid Yeast?

Liquid yeasts produce consistent, predictable flavors in your beer. Often times, beer styles will require a particular yeast, or a particular type of yeast. Belgian Ales and Wheat beers are just two examples of beers that are defined by their yeast flavors. Dry yeasts are usually blended and do not offer homebrewers control over the finished product the way pure liquid cultures do. White Labs yeast are ready to pitch into your beer, just like dry yeast. They require no additional activation like Wyeast packets.

Liquid yeasts also offer the possibility of being repitched. Because these are pure cultures you can save the slurry from the bottom of your fermentor and reuse it in your next batch. The best way to do this is to save about 8 oz of slurry and keep it refrigerated in a sanitized beer bottle with an airlock. The slurry is good for about two weeks at a time. After that you should do a starter for it to make sure the yeast is fresh and active. So if you are looking to really perfect that favorite recipe, try it with a liquid yeast and taste the difference. There is a strain well suited to almost every style. We even have style suitability charts posted at the store!

Yeast Descriptions:

Standard Available Yeast Strains (Year Round)

WLP001 – California Ale Yeast: Our best selling strain. This yeast is famous for its clean flavors, balance and ability to be used in almost any style ale. Attenuation is 73-80% Flocculation is Medium. Optimum fermentation temperature is 68-73 degrees.

WLP002 – English Ale Yeast: A classic ESB strain from one of England’s largest breweries. This yeast is best suited for English style ales including milds, bitters, porters, and English style stouts. Attenuation is 63-70% which leaves behind some residual sweetness not found in our California Ale Yeast. Flocculation is Very High. Optimum fermentation temperature is 65-68 degrees.

WLP004 – Irish Stout Yeast: This is the yeast from one of the oldest stout producing breweries in the world. It produces a slight hint of diacetyl, balanced by a light fruitiness. Great for Irish ales, stouts, porters, browns, reds and a very interesting pale ale. Attenuation is 69-74%. Flocculation is Medium to High. Optimum fermentation temperature is 65-68 degrees.

WLP008 – East Coast/Alt Ale Yeast: Our “Brewer Patriot” strain can be used to reproduce many of the American versions of classic beer styles. Similar neutral character of WLP001, but less attenuation, less accentuation of hop bitterness, increased flocculation, and a little tartness. Very clean and low esters. Great yeast for golden, blonde, honey, and German alt style ales. Attenuation is 70-75%. Flocculation is Medium to High. Optimum fermentation temperature is 68-73 degrees.

WLP300 – Hefeweizen Ale Yeast: This infamous German yeast is a strain used in the production of traditional, authentic wheat beers. It produces the banana and clove nose traditionally associated with German wheat beers. Attenuation is 72-76% Flocculation is low which leaves the desired cloudy look of traditional German wheat beers. Optimum fermentation temperature is 68-72 degrees.

WLP810 – San Francisco Lager Yeast: This yeast used is used to produce the “California Common” style beer. A unique lager strain which has the ability to ferment up to 65 degrees while retaining lager characteristics. Attenuation is 65-70% Flocculation is High. Optimum fermentation temperature is 58-65 degrees. Can also be fermented down to 50 degrees for production of marzens, pilsners and other style lagers .

Seasonal Yeast Strains (Availability Varies)

WLP005 – British Ale Yeast: Used by several of our breweries, this yeast is a little more attenuative than WLP002. Like most English strains, this yeast produces malty beers. Excellent for all English style ales including bitter, pale ale, porter, and brown ale. Attenuation is 67-74%. Flocculation is High. Optimum fermentation temperature is 65-70 degrees. (Won 2 Gold Medals at the GABF)

WLP320 – American Hefeweizen Ale Yeast: This yeast is used to produce the Oregon style. American Hefeweizen. Unlike WLP030, this yeast does not produce the banana and clove notes. It produces some sulfur, but is otherwise a clean fermenting yeast which does not Flocculate well, producing a cloudy beer. Attenuation is 70-75% Flocculation is Low. Optimum fermentation is 65-69 degrees.

WLP400 – Belgian Wit Ale Yeast: Slightly phenolic and tart, this is the yeast used to produce Wit in Belgium. Attenuation is 74-78% Flocculation is Low to Medium. Optimm fermentation temperature is 67-74 degrees. (Same yeast we use at Ballast Point for our Belgian White!)

WLP500 – Trappist Ale Yeast: From one of the six Trappist breweries remaining in the world, this yeast produces the distinctive fruitiness and plum characteristics. Excellent yeast for high gravity beers, Belgian ales, dubbels and trippels. Attenuation is 73-78% Flocculation is Medium. Fermentation should be held below 65 degrees for best results. (Great for spiced holiday beers!)

WLP800 – Pilsner Lager Yeast: Classic pilsner strain from the premier Pilsner producer in the Czech Republic. Somewhat dry with a malty finish, this yeast is best suited for European pilsner production. Attenuation is 72-77% Flocculation is Medium to High. Optimum fermentation temperature is 50-55 degrees.

WLP830 – German Lager Yeast: This yeast is one of the most widely used lager yeast in the world. Very malty and clean, great for all German lagers, pilsner, oktoberfest, and marzen. Attenuation is 74-79%. Flocculation is Medium. Optimum fermentation temperature is 50-55 degrees.
And brand new:

WLP023 – Burton Ale Yeast: From the famous brewing town of Burton upon Trent, England, this yeast is packed with character. It provides delicious subtle fruity flavors like green apple, clover honey and pear. Great for all English styles, IPA’s bitters, pales. Excellent in porters and stouts. Attenuation is 69-75%. Flocculation is Medium. Optimum fermentation temperature is 68-73 degrees.
Technical Information:

Dissolved Oxygen in Brewers Wort

The level of dissolved oxygen in brewers’ wort is critical for proper fermentation. Many fermentation problems (long lag times, stuck fermentation, and off-flavors in finished beer) can be attributed to low oxygen levels in wort.

Low oxygenation-Low growth! This is mainly due to the inability of yeast to manufacture sterols and unsaturated fatty acids when oxygen is not present. In air-depleted wort, yeast will reproduce to approximately half the number of total cells possible. This has vast implications on fermentation profile, length, and resulting beer flavor. Flocculation rate is also reduced with lower oxygen wort.
Optimum amount of air-

Optimum oxygen levels desired in wort is 5-10 ppm. High gravity beers require higher levels of oxygen, because O2 is less soluble in high gravity worts. Any wort above 18 Plato requires double the normal oxygenation levels.
In the way of praise for White Labs Yeast:

“The results (on WLP001) were very positive, so much so I am now using the yeast for all my own ales. On the basis of our tests, the different versions did differ in nontrivial ways, and WLP001 had the best overall marks for both flavor and functional characteristics.” George Fix, Ph.D. Author of Principles of Brewing Science

And if you flip through the latest Zymurgy you will notice that three of the Gold Medal Recipes from the Great American Beer Festival used White Labs yeast including our own Jim Weiner who used the British Ale yeast in his robust porter.

Home Brew Mart’s take on it:

My personal favorite right now is the Burton Ale yeast for anything British. I just used it on a Scottish ale and it produced a wonderful butterscotch flavor that blends perfectly with the malty flavor of the beer. Paul is a big fan of the Irish Ale in Pale Ales and Yuseff stands by the California Ale Yeast for just about everything. If you can brew in some cooler temperatures this Winter try the San Francisco Lager. With a bit of age, this yeast makes great beers. And to help mock those lager beers at Ale temperatures try the East Coast Ale yeast. Its clean finish makes it great to achieve a smooth finish.
Visit White Labs on the Web at:

www.whitelab.com

PUB UPDATES

Tuesday, November 4th will be cask ale night at San Diego Brewing Company featuring their Admiral Baker Bitter. This is the original bitter recipe before they toned down the bitterness and renamed Admiral Baker’s Best. Look for the dry-hopped, hand-drawn cask to kick by 9 pm. Get there early. Look for an Imperial Stout at the Brew Co. this Winter that should also be on tap at Callahans (which just finsihed massive renovations)

Pizza Port Solana Beach has a new Autumn Ale on tap. Its a dark, malty brown brew that sounds like a hybrid between an Octoberfest and an English Brown Ale. The O.G. was 1.062 so it packs some punch. Brewer Tomme Arthur used all English hops–Challenger and East Kent Goldings. Check out the “special” yeast strain he used from a former brew pub. The Carlsbad Brewery will be doing a spiced Christmas ale while Solana Beach will be debuting an Imperial Stout of their own.

San Diego’s newest brewpub is Hang Ten Downtown. This is the new name for the old Hops! locations across from the Old Spaghetti Factory. New look, new beers, new yeast strain. The pub opens tonight so go check it out.

Looking for a good spot for Octoberfest beers? Try Kaiserhof in Ocean Beach. They always have a nice selection of German beers on tap. Bring in your own liter mug during happy hour and get it filled for only $4.75! Note: Kaiserhof does not serve liter mugs unless you bring in your own.

Looking for a good watering hole? Stop by Porter’s Pub on the UCSD campus in the price center. They feature a $2 pint every day of the week–all day long! This is another good spot for seasonal beers. check out pints of the Anchor Foghorn for only $3.50. Also look for the Port’s Autumn Ale!

STRONG BEER FESTIVAL

The 1st Annual San Diego County Strong Beer Festival will be happening Thursday, December 18th at the Carlsbad Pizza Port from 6:00pm till 10:00 pm. We have nearly 10 beers confirmed including two Imperial Stouts, three Barleywines and two Belgain Ales. Tasting glass will cost $1 and 4 oz samples of the brews will also be $1. Commerative T-shirts will be available and there will be a raffle featuring items from the participating breweries. Pizza Port will have its regular complement of beers (and sodas and water for any designated drivers) and pizzas. Make plans to be there!

RECIPES

I made a Partial Mash ESB several weeks ago and it turned out very well, so I’m passing along the recipe. It drinks like a hoppy version of Bass. Its similar in its grain bill to my last English Pale Ale recipe, but the hops are way different.

Sara’s VIP ESB:

6.5# Pale Malt Extract

Mini-Mash
2# Great Western 2-Row
.5# Caramunich
.5# Caravienne
.25# Special Roast

1 oz Chinook Pellets – 12%AA – Boil 1 hour
1 oz Cascade – Finish
.5 oz Chinook – Finish

White Labs Burton Ale Yeast

To pull off the mini-mash steep the grains at 152F for 45 minutes in 1 gallon of water and then rinse the grains until you’ve collected 1.5 gallons total. Add your extract and the rest stays the same. For complete mini-mash instructions just ur web site or ask for a copy at either store.
Tom’s Kitchen Sink Christmas Beer

You can throw just about anything into this one and make it come out right. I switch it up every year so here are some options on how to make that special brew for the season. These are all suggestions. Do not try to add all of these ingredients together, please. Just use this as a template and create your own unique brew!

8# Pale Malt Extract

1# Honey OR 12 oz Pure Maple Syrup OR .5 gallons Raw Apple Cider OR 1 pound Dark Belgian Candi Sugar OR 1 medium pot of strong coffee OR some kind of fruit, 2# Cranberries works really well — any one at the end of boil–DO NOT BOIL! Just let whatever you add steep for a few minutes until it is fully dissolved in your beer.
Steep:

.5# Caramunich
.5# Dark Carastan
.5# Special B

1.5 oz hops from the back of the fridge – ??AA% — Boil 1 hour (Around 7-9 HBUs) No finishing hops needed. Maybe try some Crystal or Challenger or Chinook if you must though.

For Spices:
Add some of the following about 3 minutes before the end of the boil:

1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Allspice
.25 tsp Cloves
.25 tsp Nutmeg
2 oz Ginger
2 tbsp Mulling Spices
.5 tsp Cardamom
1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/2 stick Brewers Licorice
Small dash of Spruce Essence
1 oz Coriander
.5 oz Orange or Tangerine Peel
1 tsp anise
1 vanilla bean or whatever else you can come up with!

California Ale Yeast is always a good default on this one. The Trappist yeast works well with the Maple syrup, sugar or honey along with cinnamon, nutmeg, etc…

The English Ale leaves it fruity and malty and the British or Irish would work well in any coffee beer.
I’ve never lagered this one, but that might be interesting…..

Thats all folks!

Hello Brewers,

The busy brewing season is upon us. The weather is cooling off at long last and it is time to dust off the brewing equipment. Lots of updates this week. Next week I am going to do a special focus on liquid yeast with White Labs pitchable yeasts. It will include yeast descriptions, statistics and recipes.

The new Zymurgy special issue is out. The focus this year is on hops and it looks great! And latest word on the new George Fix book is that it will be available on Nov. 1st. Until then,

Cheers,

Tom

CONTENTS:

BALLAST POINT

FOR SALE

FREE WYEAST

NEW GRAIN

PUB UPDATES

RECIPES

BALLAST POINT

The beer engine has arrived! We currently have our Porter hooked up to it. Soon we hope to have our cask-conditioned Copper Ale on draught. The beer engine is a traditional British method of serving beer. It ‘pulls’ the beer out of the keg instead of it being forced out with CO2. This gives the beer a lower carbonation level and nice big soap-bubble head. The cask Copper will be dry-hopped and naturally carbonated. Look for at next time you are at the brewery!

Barleywine fans rejoice! We will be doing a special seasonal batch of our popular barleywine style ale. So keep on the lookout this Winter for Ballast Point Navigator Barleywine at your favorite watering hole, and at the December 18th Strong Ale Festival. Because of the limited batch size we will only be selling kegs to our draught accounts, sorry. Tasters will still be available to quench those thirsty pallets.

FOR SALE

We have a 20# CO2 cylinder with a brand new hydro-test date on it and CO2 already filled into it. It is selling for $90 on its own or for $170 with a complete kegging system. The tank is at the Linda Vista store. If you are interested you can pick it up there.

Also on the selling block is another keg fridge, this one very different from the last one. This is a medium size, older fridge that is approximately 24″ by 24″ and 4 1/2′ high. It comes with three pin-lock kegs, fittings, 3 taps mounted through the side with drip tray, CO2 cylinder and a built in dolly to roll it around. The price is $350 and the fridge is up at the Solana Beach store. If you have any questions or want to look at it call the store at 794-2739. Yuseff is the one who mainly works there, so you can just talk to him.

Next week I will be getting the model number for GE dorm-size fridge that nicely fits two ball-lock kegs and a 5# CO2 tank in it with no alterations! The fridge sells new for around $325. It is one of the best dorm size keg fridges I’ve ever seen (and believe me, I’ve seen quite a few of them).

Just one note while I’m on the kegging kick:

We now have a keg fridge conversion kit for turning regular fridges into commercial kegorators.

It includes:

CO2 Tank

Regulator

Sanke Beer Tap

4″ Shank and Beer Faucet Tap

Stainless Steel Drip tray

Cleaning Brush

Faucet Wrench

Draught hosing and Clamps

The whole kit is only $225. Just add the fridge!

FREE WYEAST

We have some Wyeast that is 3 or more months old. We are now giving this away free with any purchase over $20 until its all gone! New Wyeasts will continue to be available for $4.95 each.

NEW GRAIN

We now have the new Caramel Wheat Malt. I don’t know the lovibond rating on it yet, but I’d guess moderate at about 60 or so. My favorite idea for this grain so far is to make a dunkel-weizen with wheat malt, roasted wheat and cara-wheat. I think it would also work well in a porter. This is probably a better bet than malted wheat when using wheat as a steeping grain for head retention since it is fully converted and has no starch in it. Have fun experimenting with it. I’ll let you know when I get around to brewing with it.

PUB UPDATES

No medals were won this year at the Great American Beer Festival by our local breweries. Although HBM customer Jim Weiner of La Jolla repeated as a medalist in the AHA national competition winning a gold in the porter category! Congrats Jim. Look for his winning recipe in this month’s issue of Zymurgy. Congrats also to White Labs yeast which was used on three gold-medal beers, including Jim’s porter!

Alesmith will be sending a keg of their ESB to the Real Ale festival in Chicago next month on Nov. 8th. If you’re lucky enough to go, be sure and check it out.

Much Ado about Pizza Port!

New Brewer Tomme Arthur is shaking things up at Pizza Port. He will be making slight changes to many of the beers over the next few months. For starters he is now using generous portions of the British Hugh Baird crystal malts and specialty grains. He is also introducing new beers that will include some Belgian offerings by the end of the year. And here is something to look forward to: Troy Hojel, former brewer at the La Cruda Brewery downtown, is coming down from No. Cal to brew a special batch of their Gold Medal Porter at Pizza Port next month. So make sure to get up to the Port and check it all out.

On another note:

The boneyards barleywine will debut this Sunday at Pizza Port. Make sure to get your pint before it is all gone! Tomme is also looking to hire an assistant brewer. The work is probably part-time for around $6/hour (I’m guessing). If you are interested call him at the brewery at 481-7332 or drop off a resume.

Hops! downtown is closed, but will reopen as a brewpub. The rumors I’ve got say David Cohen bought the bar and equipment and is intending to reopen with a more casual atmosphere that will include some pool tables.

If anyone is intending to go wine tasting in Temecula let me recommend a stop at Mount Palomar winery. Very solid effort all through the tasting list. The port is quite good and the sherry is dessert wine heaven.

RECIPES

This last class I brewed an English style Pale Ale with the new Burton Ale yeast from White Labs. The yeast is very similar to what Bass uses on its Pale Ale. the yeast has a nice butterscotch maltiness to it that blends wonderfully with the mild fuggle aroma. I used golden brown sugar for some color and to help dry the beer out. Challenger and Fuggle are both traditional British hops. Challenger is a British descendent of Northern Brewer while Fuggle is the ancestor of the American Willamette.

English Pale Ale

7# Pale Malt Extract

.5# Golden Brown Sugar – 15 minutes

.5# British Crystal 70L

.5# Dark Carastan 37L

2 oz Special Roast 50L

1.5 oz Challenger Pellets 7.9%AA Boil

.5 oz Fuggle – 15 minutes

1 oz Fuggle – Finish

White Labs Burton Ale Yeast (or try their British Ale yeast)

That’s all folks,

Tom

Hello All!

Lots of little updates and notes. The Fall brewing season seems
well under way, though the weather has yet to get normal. Home Brew Mart turns 5 years old in October and Ballast Point celebrates its first
anniversary. The new celebrator beer news just came in today. 1 month
left until Halloween (pumpkin spice beers) and spiced beer season for the holidays. Brew that Christmas barleywine now! And remember to back stock beer for new year’s eve. So much brewing to do, so few open fermentors!

Cheers,

Tom

CONTENTS:

BALLAST POINT
FOR SALE
FOR HIRE
PITCHABLE YEASTS
COMPETITION
CIDER RUN
GRAPE RUN
PUB UPDATES
CLASS SCHEDULE
RECIPES

BALLAST POINT

Lots of news for Ballast Point. This weekend is the big Great
American Beer Festival in Denver. We entered four beers including our Copper (ESB), White (Belgian Ale –White), Porter (Robust Porter) and Kolsch (German Ale–Kolsch). Hopefully Jack and Pete will bring home a medal!

Tons of new accounts out there, especially in North County. Check
out the new tap lists for all the updates. We currently have the Copper, Porter, Kolsch and White on tap at the tasting bar. And the much awaited British Beer Engine will be on-line very soon. Cask Ale all the time!

Interested in brewing with our master-brewer on the 15bbl Ballast Point brew system? Be a “brewery slave for a day” with Pete! Must be able to come in M-F and be willing to sweat without pay. Contact Pete at the brewery at 298-2337.

FOR SALE

I have a dorm-size keg fridge for sale that fits 1 coke keg and a CO2 tank in it. I am selling the fridge complete with the keg system for $250. If you are interested, email me or leave a message at 583-1314.

FOR HIRE

We are looking for someone willing to work part-time in the store to help out during the busy Christmas season with possible permanent employment after x-mass. Hours would be flexible and the pay is about $6/hr. Duties would include packaging, cleaning, helping customers and shipping/receiving. Ideally we are looking for a knowledgeable homebrewer (21 and over a plus) who wants to learn more and will bring enthusiasm for the hobby to the job. Drop off a resume outlining job and brewing history to Jack or Tom at the Linda Vista store or to Yuseff at the Solana Beach store.

PITCHABLE YEASTS

We’ve got a ton of White Labs pitchable yeast strains available at the moment, and I just wanted to run through them so that everybody knows what we have:

California – The original, all purpose yeast

English – A fruity, malty ESB yeast. Perfect for thick rich beers

British – Similar to Wyeast’s London Ale yeast, wonderful hint of diacytel

Burton – from the famous Burton upon Trent area where Bass is made

Irish – THE stout yeast. Works well in all dark British ales

East Coast – a mild, alt beer style yeast. Ideal where little yeast
character is wanted

San Francisco – The classic steam beer yeast. Lager yeast for warmer temps.

German Lager – good all around lager yeast for almost any style

Pilsner – ideal for malty pilsners. sulfur produced during fermentation
ages out

Trappist – perfect for those unique Belgian doubles and triples

Hefe-Weizen – big banana, clove aromas dominate this German wheat yeast

Belgian Wit – a phenolic, tart yeast that is milder than the German Hefe-Weizen

That’s a lot of yeast! Look for the new White Lab flyers at the store.

COMPETITION

Stuft Pizza is having an Octoberfest & Halloween Brew Competition.

The categories are:

Octoberfest/Marzen
Barley Wine/Strong Ale
Brown Ale/Porter
Holiday/Spice Ale
Pale Ale/IPA

For more info contact Mat or Greg at Stuft Pizza Del Mar 481-7883.

Applications are due on Oct. 15th and the Judging will be on Oct. 24th. Entry fee is $15 for any and all categories and includes a Stuft Pizza
T-Shirt.

Forms are available at both stores.

CIDER RUN

The first cider delivery from Julian was such a hit that I am going
to do another one in either late October or early November. The price of $6/gallon will still be the same. Again I will do it on a Friday, I just need to figure out which one. When I come up with a date I will pass it
along. Look for sign ups at the store. If you want to go to Julian and get Cider from John Henry at Farmer’s market YOU MUST CALL FIRST! The number up there is 765-0188.

(Non) GRAPE RUN

I finally heard from the vineyard this and the grapes are being picked, however, we’re not getting them. I saw the grapes and they have started to raisin because they sat on the vines so long. The sugar levels are OK, but the acid levels are way off. The grapes are not worth the money they are charging and would likely make not so hot wine. Sorry about the hassle, and to those that pre-paid, we will issue refunds. Next year we will find a better vineyard, not in Temecula to buy grapes from. For those still interested in wine making, we have many different styles of wine concentrates available.

PUB UPDATES

Next Tuesday, Oct 7th will be cask beer night at San Diego Brewing Co. I’m not sure, but I think its going to be their Mission Gorge Porter. Look for a good selection of Octoberfest beers in the coming weeks.

Kaiserhof in Ocean Beach should be doing specials with the Paulaner and possibly Hacker-Pschorr Octoberfests all month long.

More rumor news on the Strong Beer Fest ’97. Tentative date is Thursday, December 18th at the Carlsbad Pizza Port. Plans are to have at least 10 local strong ales (8% on up) in addition to the fine beer and Pizza at the Port. More details coming as we make them up.

CLASS SCHEDULE

I will be doing a beginner/intermediate brewing class this coming Sunday, October 5th from 10-11:45 am at the Lind Vista store. Class is free so just show up!

I will be teaching another ALL GRAIN BREWING class on Sunday, October 19th from 12-4 pm also at the Linda Vista store. The class cost is $20 and includes a certificate for your first batch of grain. Please RSVP by email or sign up at the store.

RECIPES

This weeks recipes all center around cider. The first is a strong, sparkling cider and the other is for Apple Ale.

Sparkling Cider

5 gallons of raw cider
2 pounds of Honey

Champagne Yeast
2 tsp. Yeast Nutrients

Boil honey in 1/2 gallon of water and add to cider along with yeast and nutrient. Starting gravity should be about 1.070. Ferment dry and add corn sugar to carbonate–about 1 cup will do the trick. This is a 8-10% alcohol “light Champagne”. Different, but very good. Expect this to be dry. If you want to add a little body to it, try some lactose.

Apple Ale

This recipe is all-gran. For extract brewers use 6 pounds of pale malt extract, .5 pound of honey and 1/4 pound of biscuit malt to steep.

6# Great Western 2-row
1# Vienna Malt
.5# Car pools
.5# Munich Malt

3/4 gallon of raw cider immediately after boil

1.25 oz Hallertaur – boil
.5 oz Hallertaur – 5 min

California or East Coast Ale Yeast

This is a basic light golden ale with the cider added at the end to give it some kick and aroma. Maybe try an Apple honey porter, or an Apple wheat beer. Cider lends an unique flavor to beer that blends well with dry, not-too hoppy beers.

PS Thanks for all the positive feedback on the chili beer recipe!

That’s all folks!