All the Beer, None of the Belly

Bikes and Beer. Besides starting with the same letter (at least in English), what is it that connects these two most fantastic of human inventions? When I've got nothing else to write about, I'll periodically reflect on that question here. One quick answer, though, is calories. As the name and theme of my home brewery suggests, I'm a bicycle nut as well as a beer nut. One of the benefits of being both is that the side effects of one hobby offset the side effects of the other. I know I'm not the only home brewer to make "brewing (and drinking) more beer" a New Year's resolution--probably the only such resolution I've ever actually kept--but I might be one of the few that actually lost weight after doing so! Most of my riding these days comes in the form of bike commuting to my day job teaching Geography at Santa Monica College. Depending on the specific route I take, and on other factors such as the wind in my face or at my back, I burn roughly 800-1000 calories a day on my two-way commute. That's the equivalent of at least three pints of the beers that I brew--proper British-sized pints. This means that (most nights at least) I'm ahead of the curve and can add an extra slice of cheese, pizza, or other vice without regretting it the next morning when I hop on the bathroom scale. Drink lots, Ride lots--rules the live by.

Back in the Brewhouse

With a packed schedule of classes, committee meetings, and soccer coaching, my brewing schedule the last couple of months has been sadly sparse. But I did manage to get another batch of my award-winning American Wheat brewed last weekend, and it has been fermenting nicely ever since. With a mix of American Mt. Hood and Crystal hops, and some home-grown coriander, gently spicing a clean mix of wheat, pilsner, and Vienna malts, I expect this to be a very enjoyable thirst quencher before the end of the year. This batch is also intended to serve as a yeast starter for my first attempt at a kölsch-style German ale later this month. These are summer beers, I know, but the fermenting temps back in the garage are nice and cool, and in Southern California, there never really is a time of year when "summer" feels far way. Prosit!

Wins and Losses

Clearly, my preceding post celebrating the dream-like September enjoyed by the Cal football team created some pretty bad karma, as the Bears followed up their 5-0 start with a 1-4 second act to the season. The only good news, I suppose, is that there's now a decent chance that I'll be able to see the Bears play in San Francisco's Emerald Bowl over the winter break, with pre- and post-game partying at the 21st Amendment brewpub. For a beer/Bear lover like me, that's not a bad consolation prize. While it's been a lousy five weeks on the football front, I did pick up another victory on the beer front. My 2007 edition of Tripel Chainring Belgian abbey ale won its second ribbon of the year, this time taking a second place at the Pacific Brewers Cup--another staple in the Southern California homebrew competition circuit. (And my club, Pacific Gravity, absolutely dominated, with nine different brewers placing 14 different beers and meads!)

October: A Good Month for Bears and Beers

We here at Bicycle Brewing look forward to the month of October as an opportunity to celebrate two of our favorite things:
(1) Bears ...
Thanks to our savior Jeff Tedford, we Cal folk revel in the still-hard-for-us-to-fully-believe feats of our Golden football team each fall. And October is usually the month--this year being no exception--when early season success revives perennial dreams of making a long-awaited return to Pasadena's Rose Bowl on New Year's Day. Indeed, this year has been so special that the Rose Bowl might actually not be good enough, as the #2-ranked Bears (something not heard of since the legendary days of Pappy Waldorf) now have visions of a date in the national championship game to be held in New Orleans.
... and (2) Beers
Thanks to Bavaria's Ludwig I, who as Crown Prince in 1810 celebrated his marriage to Princess Therese with a horse race which subsequently morphed into an annual half-month-long festival that begins around the time of the September equinox, October has become the world's unofficial beer month: or at least the month we devote to malty Germanic lagers accompanied by healthy quantities of polka and sausage. Prosit!
In honor of both Bears and Beers, BikeBrew has been enjoying a number of our late-summer and early-fall creations. This summer's Wit and ESB are long gone, but there is still plenty of porter available both on draft and in the bottle. And along with our CrossXtoberfest, which lagered up very nicely and makes the short list as one of my favorite beers brewed to date, we've added in September a dry, refreshing batch of Bicycle Wheat, as well as an IPA that has just finished dry-hopping. The Wheat (OG=1051, ABV=5.5%) is my standard recipe of half malted barley (pilsner and munich) and half malted wheat, with a moderate touch of Cascade hops and coriander. My Century IPA is likewise a tried-and-true recipe, presenting healthy amounts of Cascade and Amarillo hops against a strong background of British and American malts (OG=1062, ABV=6.5%). Thus, win or lose, we're well stocked for the rest of the Cal football season. Go Bears! (And Go Beers!!)
UPDATE 14-October-2007: OK, so October isn't going to be such a great month for the Bears after all. At least the beer still tastes good--and is now needed more than ever!

Mid-Summer Update

When you've got a pair of active young sons at home, the livin' is never truly "easy", not even in the Summertime. But having a cushy teaching job which affords a couple of months away from the office, if never truly off work, certainly helps. Historically, the warm temps of summer meant a brewer's holiday--hence styles such as Franco-Belgian Saison or Austro-German Märzen/Oktoberfest that were originally brewed at higher strengths during the cooler months so that they could be stored to and through the warm months for later enjoyment. You brew when you can, however, and for me, that means loading up the brewing calendar during summer and relying heavily on my converted Igloo IceCube cooler to help me keep fermentation temperatures within reason. It also helps that I'm only a few miles from the cool waters of the Pacific, which (usually) keep my narrow coastal stretch of Sunny Southern California reasonably cool. There hasn't been much down time for my family this summer, with the front half loaded up with small family trips and excursions and me desperately preparing for a new class I'll be teaching this fall. Still, I've managed to brew a few times since my last posting a couple of months ago. The last four batches, in order, have been:

• Velo Wit (brewed May 11) - a pretty standard Belgian-style Wit made with a 2:1 mix of continental wheat and pilsener malt, and flavored with modest amounts of Northern Brewer and Tettnanger hops, as well as some coriander and orange marmalade. (OG=1.056, ABV=5.8%)
• Beckham's Best Bitter (brewed June 23) - a classic ESB made with pale English Maris Otter, Vienna, and Crystal malts, and hopped with a stereotypical blend of Fuggles and Goldings. (OG=1.052, ABV=4.8%) This was my first use of my home-converted "keggle", and it allowed me to brew a few extra gallons. It's still coming into its own as it conditions in keg and bottle, but I think #23 himself would be proud.
• Barista Porter (brewed July 11) - My first attempt at a porter, and early reviews are quite promising. It's a historically influenced robust porter which leans significantly on Brown Malt, along with a little Aromatic and de-bittered Black, to round out the pale malt base. The hopping was again pretty unadventurous, consisting mostly of Fuggles (which I had a bunch of in my freezer) and a little Northern Brewer and Willamette. The only significant twist was the addition of a pair of big double-shots of Espresso to the 5 gallons I have in keg. After some conditioning, it will be interesting to compare this draft version with the unadulterated stuff I put in bottle. (OG=1.059, ABV=5.5%)
• CrossXtoberfest (brewed July 23) - It's a little late on the calendar to be making an Oktoberfest, but it still should be ready by October. As I make my way through the classic styles, this recipe is again pretty conventional. The malt bill included more-or-less-equal parts of pilsener, vienna, and munich malts, with a little melanoidin thrown in, too. I bittered with a small amount of Magnum hops, with a classic mix of Saaz and Hallertau dropped in the kettle later on. It's only been five days, but so far this first-ever lager for me appears to be going well. The ferment is proceeding at a steady but not-too-fast pace, and daily additions of ice to the water bath are keeping the temps inside the IceCube in the low 50s. When cyclocross season heats up this fall, this promises to be a true refresher if all continues to go well. (OG=1.058)

That's what's brewing for now. My initial hop-growing attempt has had mixed success. The Cascade plant is going quite well for a first-year plant. It's got several happy bines in the neighborhood of 8 feet tall, it's showing signs of producing some cones, and I've even managed to start a vigorous bine in a separate pot after first starting it as a cutting in a glass of water! The other varieties, though, have been a bust. The Hallertauer and Sterling made a brief appearance above ground, then withered away and disappeared for good. I've still got hope for my tiny Wye Challenger; for weeks on end it has been nothing more than a two-inch "seedling", but in just the last couple of weeks it resumed growing. It's too late for it to amount to much this year, but maybe it's laid the foundation for something bigger next.