Singing Boys Brewing Blog

Cask Conditioned Irish Stout for CHAOS' Stout & Chili Night

by Jim Vondracek on 01/12/16

Hugh and I brewed a dry Irish Stout at the CHAOS brewhouse for the club's upcoming Stout & Chili Night. The twist on it is that we're cask conditioning it - rather than bottling or kegging, we put it into a pin cask (about a five gallon cask), primed it with a sugar solution and are letting it condition and naturally carbonate in the cask. We'll serve it by pounding a tap into the cask and let gravity do its work.

The English call this Real Ale - and its kind of a big thing there. If you want to read more about cask conditioned ales, take a look at this article I wrote a few months ago http://www.homebrewtalk.com/casks-for-homebrewers.html\

Stout & Chili Night is fun - homebrews, a bunch of chilis, music and great people. And its the only place you'll be able to taste our cask-conditioned Irish Stout! Its a great deal, too - $35 for a trial membership gets you into this tremendous evening, with thirty homebrews, a few professional breweries, and food. Follow this link for more info https://chaosbrewclub.net/event/5th-annual-stout-chili-night

Irish Stouts are the dry, low ABV version of stouts - think Guinness or Beamish. Dark with a pronounced roasty flavor. At 4.4% abv, and with a dry finish, its easy to drink a couple of pints and not feel bloated or inebriated. Its the working man's stout. Our recipe for the Cask Conditioned Irish Stout was:

Pale Malt (64%)

Flaked Barley (23%

Roasted Barley (5%)

Bries Blackprinz Malt (8%)

1 oz. Pacific Jade hops (13% aa)

Nottingham Yeast

For the beer geeks:

Original Gravity: 1.044

Final Gravity: 1.010

ABV: 4.4%

39 IBUs

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Brewing an Epiphany Beer

by Jim Vondracek on 01/12/16

Nancy and I have been worshiping with a Lutheran community in the south Loop, Holy Trinity, or HTLoop. It offers a traditional, reverent liturgical practice merged with a progressive outlook and meets in a dramatic space in an old loft building. Because we worship at 5 pm on Saturdays, we have wine or beer receptions afterwards.

In December, one of the seminarians serving at HTLoop, Alex, and I brewed a batch of wheat beer together at the CHAOS brewhouse, where I'm a brewing member. We did a ten gallon batch and this was Alex's first all-grain brew day! Above is a photo of Alex stirring the mash tun.

We'll serve this at an after-worship reception at HTLoop in late January or early February. It should be an easy to drink, relatively light, sessionable American-style wheat ale. We used wheat, two-row, and Munich malts. For hops, we used UK varieties, Challenger and East Kent Goldings. The yeast was a straightforward American yeast, US-05, which should give a clean flavor profile and attenuate well, leaving a dry and drinkable beer. We mashed at 150F and are fermenting at 65F.

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New Beer on Tap - Pale Ale with Nelson Sauvin Hops

by Jim Vondracek on 10/24/15

Current Offerings on October 24, 2015. The pale ale featuring the Nelson Sauvin hops is newly tapped and delicious - the hops taste and smell brilliantly fresh.

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Beer Judge Certification Program Written Exam

by Jim Vondracek on 10/22/15

I've progressed through the Beer Judge Certification Program to where I now qualify to take the third of three exams. To get to this point, I've passed the multiple choice entrance exam, achieved a score of 80+ on the beer evaluation exam, and acquired 20 experience points by judging at competitions. Last weekend, four of us in Chicago took the exam, which was administered by BJCP Grand Master II judge Brian Eichorn.

After taking the exam, I'm not optimistic. Despite reviewing for the exam, I found that I was extremely rushed and, in hindsight, am kicking myself for what I didn't say on some of the questions. I feel that I was so focused on regurgitating answers I had memorized that I didn't play to my strength, which is a strong understanding of how brewing works. For example, I could have written a book on how the ingredients and recipe in the Weizen recipe I provided fit and impact the style, and instead I wrote three or four short sentences. Doh.

Given my beer evaluation exam score (85%), I would need a 75% or greater on this written exam to move up a rank, from Certified to National judge. I don't think I got that, but won't know for sure for a few months, as the exams from across the country are graded. In any case, I can retake the exam and the process certainly wasn't a waste - reviewing the materials enhanced my knowledge in many ways.

The written exam begins with 20 true/false questions which senior judges are expected to know and to be able to answer quickly. Missing any of these questions takes off 1 point from your total score (out of 100). Correct answers do not add to your score.

The main portion of the exam is five essay questions, each worth 20% of the total score. Below are the questions that were one my exam. Providing these questions doesn't break any confidentiality, the BJCP study materials provide all the possible questions which may be on an exam. In any case, here are the essay questions from the exam I took:

For each of the three styles, Foreign Extra Stout, Robust Porter and Sweet Stout, provide a statement describing the styles as well as the differences and similarities between the styles by addressing each of the following topics:

Describe the aroma, appearance, flavor and mouthfeel of each style as in the BJCP Style Guidelines
Identify at least one aspect of the ingredients (malts, hop, water chemistry) or background information (history, fermentation techniques or conditions, serving methods) that distinguishes each style
For each of the styles, list at least one classic commercial example of the style as listed in the BJCP STyle Guidelines
Describe the similarities and differences between the three styles

Provide a complete all-grain recipe for Weizen/Weissbier, including:

Target statistics (starting specific gravity, final specific gravity, and bitterness in IBUs or HBUs), and color (as SRM or a textual description of color)
Batch size, ingredients (grist, hops, water and yeast) and their quantities
Mashing, boiling, fermentation, packaging and other relevant brewing procedures
Explain how the recipe fits the style’s characteristics for flavor, aroma, appearance, mouthfeel and other significant aspects of the style and describe how the ingredients and processes used impact this style.

For each of the three styles, Biere de Garde, California Common and North German Alt Beer, provide a statement describing the styles as well as the differences and similarities between the styles by addressing each of the following topics:

Describe the aroma, appearance, flavor and mouthfeel of each style as in the BJCP Style Guidelines
Identify at least one aspect of the ingredients (malts, hop, water chemistry) or background information (history, fermentation techniques or conditions, serving methods) that distinguishes each style
For each of the styles, list at least one classic commercial example of the style as listed in the BJCP STyle Guidelines
Describe the similarities and differences between the three styles

Describe and discuss the following three beer characteristics: a) phenolic, b) fruitiness and c) sourness. What causes them and how are they avoided and controlled? Are they ever appropriate and, if so, in what beer styles? Address the following topics:

Describe each characteristic and how it is perceived
Identify the causes and controls for each characteristic
Identify appropriate/inappropriate styles

This question addresses two separate ingredients, malt and yeast. Please provide the following information in your answer: 1) Identify and describe the different types of malts by their color and the flavor they impart to beer, and give at least four distinct style with which specific malts are associated. 2) Provide five distinct considerations in selecting the appropriate yeast strain for a given beer style.

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New Lagering Fridge for the CHAOS Brewhouse!

by Jim Vondracek on 10/12/15

On Saturday, Hugh and I helped fellow CHAOSers Kyle, Matt, Mike and James move in a huge professional refridgerator into the brewhouse.

We moved our current, smaller unit to its new spot in the brewhouse and now, between the two units, we'll set one at lager fermentation temps (usually 48F -50F) and the other at lagering aging temps (usually 34F - 36F). The lagering unit can also be used for cold crashing of ales before bottling and kegging.

This is a significant upgrade in our brewhouse's capacity - very exciting! We've got a Pilsner fermenting now that will need to spend a month lagering and we're planning on brewing our next lager - a Dortmund Export style beer.

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Rivers Edge Homebrew Festiv-Ale

by Jim Vondracek on 07/19/15

My friend Bill Goetz and I represented two homebrew clubs, CHAOS and BOSS, at the Rivers Edge Homebrew Festiv-Ale on Saturday. It was organized by Jason Parris and Rock Island Brewing Company and was a great time. A nice, warm July afternoon surrounded by brewers and those who appreciate artisanal, handmade beers!

Bill brought a German Pilsner he had made, I brought a Summer Wheat Ale and a Robust Porter. Two other friends from CHAOS brewed beers for the festival but weren't able to attend themselves - Jeff Whelply brewed a Vanilla Cream Ale and Chuck Mac brewed a hoppy brown ale.

It was a hot day by the Mississippi River and we purposely brewed some lighter,easy-to-drink beers for this. Taking that a step further, Bill had the idea of pouring two Radlers, a German tradition of mixing beers with a citrus mixer. We did two combinations: the Pilsner with blood orange Pelligreno and the Summer Wheat with lemon Pelligreno. Light, quenching and refreshing! The Radlers turned out to be very popular.

We met the most interesting people at the festival, both the brewers and those who came to drink our beers. It seemed that about two-thirds of the folks we served wanted to talk about the beers, brewing, and the clubs. Many came back many times. One woman, towards the end of the day, told us that the Vanilla Cream Ale was 'orgasmic'. I assured her I would share her review with Jeff!

After cleaning up our table and heading to the hotel for a quick shower, we joined some of the other brewers, including our friends Scott and Karen Schar, at Rock Island Brewing Company (RIBCO). Highly recommended, check it out when you're in Rock Island.

Jason, in addition to organizing the festival, was an advocate for getting the Illinois homebrewing laws reworked to allow festivals like this to take place. He said that some liquor commission officials were there, since this was the first festival like this in Illinois since the law was changed. The key to the law is that the festival must have a charitable purpose - in this case, the money raised supported a youth arts organization in Rock Island, a most worthy cause.

At the end of the day, there was a raffle and I won a 5.4 gallon cask! Thanks to Brian at Quad Cities UBrew. I'll need to start serving some cask conditioned ales at club parties.

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I was on the Fuhmentaboudit! Podcast

by Jim Vondracek on 06/09/15

Last Saturday, one of the two clubs I'm active in, CHAOS, hosted a bottle share at the West Loop Brew & Grow store. Joining us at the bottle share was Mary Izett of the Fuhmentaboudit! podcast, out of NYC. She interviewed a number of us for the podcast. I'm the first interview and you can hear it here.

Mary is delightful, great fun to talk brewing with, and a newly published author - Speed Brewing: Techniques for Fast Fermenting Beers, Ciders, Meads and More.

Patrick Berger, owner of Kaiser Tiger, fed us some outstanding sausage and bratwurst at the bottle share. My favorite was the white bratwurst.

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Weekend in Michigan

by Jim Vondracek on 04/27/15

Nancy and I spent a delightful three-day weekend in Michigan, driving from our home in Chicago to Grand Rapids and making a couple of stops inbetween.

First, we planned our departure so that we arrived at Tabor Hill winery in time for lunch. The dining room is very pleasant with a delightful view of the vineyards. My chorizo corn chowder and caesar salad paired very nicely with their Traminette wine, an easy drinking white wine made with estate-grown grapes.

After a couple of other stops at wineries - 12 Corners, Contessa Wine Cellars, and Karma Vista - we arrived in Grand Rapids, settled into our room then headed out to dinner.

Nancy's friend Ryan, who runs Two Birds Artisan Spirits, recommended we go to Reserve, a farm-to-table restaurant which serves his gin. We both enjoyed a Two Birds cocktail, then shared some smaller plates that were exquisite. The chacuterie plate, with three cheeses and two hams was outstanding, easily the best I've ever had.

The next morning, Nancy dropped me off at a homebrew competition at which I was judging. Its sponsored by Siciliano's Market, a specialty market that sells craft beer, wines, coffees, cigars, as well as home brewing and winemaking supplies.

Steve Siciliano and his spouse Barb organzied the competition, which is a ton of work. It was a well-run competition, and from a judge's point of virew, very enjoyable. I judged beers in three categories - American Wheat or Rye Ales, California Commons (which is the style made famous by Anchor Steam), and Scottish Ales.

After the competition, Nancy picked me up and we did a quick tour of three breweries in downtown Grand Rapids that we could walk between.

We started at Founders Brewing which has a very fun outdoor area, with lots of heat lamps and a couple fo fire pits. The fire pits include the warning that fire is hot, which amused Nancy. We enjoyed two versions of an IPA (including a red rye) there, and they were probably the most enjoyable hop-centric beers that we had that day.

Next up was Grand Rapids Brewing Company, which has a beautiful old restored building, very friendly staff, and a great beer-culture atmosphere. We met a guy who was in the outdoor seating area who had brought his big dog with him. We learned he had recently moved from North Carolina, just a few weeks earlier, and was still in a little bit of shock about the weather here - he thought the mid-50s temps were cold! But we had a nice long chat, petted his dog, and enjoyed the beer.

Next, after walking through a downtown crowd of what seemed like thousands attending a college commencement, we stopped at The BOBS Brewery. in a large multi-use building. We actually had their beer in a bar on the first floor, which isn't really the brewery, which is in the basement. We didn't know, and once we were sitting at the bar it seemed best to just stay. We shared a flight, including a Doppelbock and a very enjoyable dry Stout.

Our final stop was Brewery Vivant, a delightful place in Grand Rapid's Eastown neighborhoos. That morning, at the competition, I was paired with a BV staff member, Jonathon Ward and we saw him at the brewery's pub that evening. He very graciously shared with us a special beer that was just outstanding - a habanero mango sour barrel-aged Belgian pale. We met some folks at the bar who were also from Chicago, celebrating one of their parties' 60th birthday, and it was great fun visiting with them. When we were seated, we shared a cheese plate, mussels and frites - so appropriate for a Belgian-inspired brewery.

The next morning, Sunday, we drove over to Holland, Michigan and enjoyed the early tulips. We then drove south and spent a few minutes at the Warren Dunes state park, but it was very blustery.

Our last stop before heading home was at Journeyman Distilling in Three Oaks. Another beautifully restored old building, a former buggy whip and corset factory. Nancy had the most beautiful meal, a roasted beet hummus, while I enjoyed the tacos and we both enjoyed their very well crafted artisan spirits.

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CHAOS Brewhouse - Brewing in the Metropolis

by Jim Vondracek on 04/08/15

After more than a dozen years in the suburbs, we moved back into the city last October. I joined a homebrew club, CHAOS, that has a special mission for brewers like me, who live in the heart of the metropolis and for whom space is at a premium. Unlike most homebrew clubs, CHAOS built and maintains a brewhouse for its members to use.

The brewhouse includes four brew bays, each with a burner, mashtun, work table and all the equipment needed to brew a batch of beer. The only items a brewer must bring are the ingredients for the batch and the container in which the beer will ferment, usually either a bucket or carboy.

As I described in the blog post previous, I'm helping organize and brewing a batch for CHAOS' Hop School at our Cerveza de Mayo event on May 9th. John at Farmhouse Brewing is sponsoring the Hop School and gave us hops. I took the Hallertau Blanc hops and brewed an IPA with them. When I opened the packages to weigh out the additions, the smell reminded me very much of Cascade hops but with a spicy and peppery aroma layered on top.

Before the brew day, I decided to brew a double batch - one batch for the Hop School and one for us at home. Usually batches are around 5 gallons, so this was a 10 gallon batch, requiring 30 pounds (!) of grain.

The grain bill was just a little too big for one mashtun (where I soaked the grain in 150 F. water to extract the sugars from the malt) so I used two. The mashtuns are 10 gallon coolers fitted out with a false bottom and spigot, in order to drain out the resulting sweet liquid and leave the grain behind. I didn't get a photo of it, but the brewhouse also has a motorized grain mill - which I really appreciated today with my 30 pounds of grain! Each brew station has a water hose with carbon-filtered water.

After the mash, I had 13 gallons of wort (the sweet liquid) in a 20 gallon brew kettle and heated it up with a natural gas burner made by Blichmann Engineering. The burners are monsters and brought the 13 gallons up to a rolling boil in very little time, no more than 15 minutes. I use a hop spider I made when I brew IPAs and other beers that use a lot of hops - this keeps the hop materials from making a mess of the beer. This particular batch used a pound of the Hallertau Blanc hops.

After boiling the wort and adding hops for an hour, it was time to chill the wort from boiling down to 60 - 65 degrees Fahrenheit. The brewhouse has a counterflow chiller, which works by pumping the hot wort through some copper coils inside a hose with running cold water. The copper transfers the heat of the wort to the water, chilling the wort. As the wort flows out of the chiller, I fill two carboys with it.

Once the wort is in the carboys, where it will ferment, I add oxygen and then pitch in the yeast, who do the work of fermentation. Managing fermentation is a major part of brewing and temperature is critical to that. The brewhouse has a walk-in temperature controlled fermentation chamber, set at 65 F. The photo below is looking through the door into the chamber.

There are three rows or shelves of fermenters in the chamber. Everyone uses a blow-off tube in the early stages of fermentation, in case of explosive fermentations that overflow the carboys or buckets. A blow-off tube is just what it sounds like - a larger tube that allows CO2 to escape from the fermentation without allowing any air back in and also allows for excess krausen to pass through the tube and into a glass collecting jar. Here's one of the fermenters in the fermentation chamber with its 1" tubing.

Like any brewing experience, more time is spent washing and cleaning than anything else. The brewhouse has two large utility sinks in the middle of the space, which makes cleaning ever so convenient. PBW for cleaning and StarSan for sanitizing are provided.

Shared brewing space presents some challenges, but the benefits are manifest. The space is great, the all-volunteer club maintains it well, stocks it with equipment, reserving time is easy via the online calendar, and one of the very best parts is that sometimes you get to brew with both old and new brewer friends!

Check out the CHAOS website for more information.

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Hop School!!!!

by Jim Vondracek on 03/20/15

I'm helping with a project for the CHAOS brewing club, a Hop School for the club's next event, Cerveza de Mayo. Eight different beers, each the same grain bill and yeast, but each featuring a different hop.

I worked with John at Farmhouse Brewing Supply who supplied 8 ounces of each of the eight varieties of hops we needed, which was just outstanding! They arrived in today's post, and they are a fun, eclectic variety of new and unusual varieties, from Germany, New Zealand, USA, and France. This should be fun!

Ahtanum

USA

4.4% Alpha Acid

Farmhouse's Description: Very citrusy with fruity and floral tones. Some spicy notes. Good for aroma and flavoring. Use in American Ales

From Hop Union: AHTANUM (BRAND YCR 1 CV.), Open pollination. Developed by Select Botanicals, Floral, earthy, citrus and grapefruit tones. Used for its aromatic properties and moderate bittering qualities

Hallertau Blanc

Germany

7.3% Alpha Acid

Farmhouse's Description: Floral and fruity with passion fruit, grapefruit, pineapple, grape and lemongrass overtones Use in: American-style Ale

From Hop Union: Pedigree is Daughter of Cascade; Floral and fruity with passion fruit, grapefruit, pineapple, grape and lemongrass overtones; Released in 2012; One of several new German varieties with bold flavor profiles, perfect for American-style Ales

Jarrylo

USA

13.9% Alpha Acid

Farmhouse's Description: The pronunciation is Yar-i-lo. Also known as ADHA 881. Pear, orange, spicy, fruity

From Ninkasi Brewing's site: Developed in Yakima Valley, Washington by Roy Farms, Jarrylo, also known as experimental hop ADHA881, is a dual-purpose hop used for aroma and flavor. Pronounced Yar-i-lo, this hop is named after the Russian God of fertility. Paired with a crisp Pilsner malt base, this single hop beer highlights the pear, orange, spicy and, fruity notes of the hop.

Lemon Drop

USA

4.4% Alpha Acid

Farmhouse's Description: Big herbal, blackberry, "Super Cascade", grassy, citrusy, lemon, citrus, pine,tobacco, licorice, orange, grapefruit, pepper.

From Hopsteiner: Aroma-type hop, originated from a cross between Cascade and USDA 19058 male. Lemon, Mint, Green Tea, Slight Melon.

Palisade

USA

8.8% Alpha Acid

Farmhouse's Description: Aroma hop. Apricot(fruity)-grassy. Smooth character. Use in: American Pale Ale, IPA.

From Hop Union: PALISADE (BRAND YCR 4 CV.); Tettnang parentage; Apricot, grass and clean floral charcteristics; Possible Substitutions = Willamette; Typical Beer Styles = English-style Ale; Cultivar bred by Yakima Chief Ranches; Used for its aromatic properties and moderate bittering qualities

Rakau

New Zealand

10.0% Alpha Acid

Farmhouse's Description: Rakau is a very pleasant hop throughout the selection process due to its inherent intensity of aromas lifted through a heavy weight of oils and medium alpha. Resinous pine needle.

From Hop Union: Fresh orchard fruits, specifically apricot with some resinous pine needle characteristics are noted; Released from the New Zealand Hop breeding program; Well suited for new world styles where brash fruity character and big, but well-constructed bitterness is desired

Smargd

Germany

4.4% Alpha Acid

Farmhouse's Description: Predominantly fruity with strong floral and hop tones. A fine aroma variety with high bittering value. Use in: German Ales, Saison, Wit, and Wheats

From Hop Union: GERMAN SMARAGD (EMERALD); Daughter of Hallertau Gold; Predominantly fruity with strong floral and hop tones; Formerly known as Emerald; A fine aroma variety with high bittering value

Triskel

France

3.1% Alpha Acid

Farmhouse's Description: Strong floral, fruit and citrus characteristics

From Hop Union: A cross between Strisselspalt and the male plant of the English hop variety of Yeoman; Strong floral, fruit and citrus characteristics; Typical Beer Styles = Belgian-style Ales; Developed in 2006; Contains many of the same characteristics as Strisselspalt, but with a more pronounced flavor profile

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