21st Century Schizoid Ale (2013)

This past weekend, AfroDan set out to brew the fourth batch of 21st Century Schizoid Ale since we conceived of it almost five years ago. As the first three batches were all within the first two years, it had been just a few months short of three years since we last brewed our signature beer.

It just so happened, I had one bomber left from that last batch, so it made for the perfect accompaniment to the start of the process. (We moved on to a couple less remarkable, if i do say so myself, after that.) I feel it's a style that might benefit from a little aging and, while I can't necessarily say it's improved with age, it's certainly held up.

Drinking that last one definitely reinforced my previously held belief it's the best beer we've produced so far, so our expectations were fairly high. In keeping with tradition, and with the fact we're sometimes at the mercy of what ingredients are available at our local home brew store, we had to make a few adjustments to our recipe.

1 lb. crystal malt - 60 L (steeped 20 mins.)
1 lb. crystal malt - 20 L (steeped 20 mins.)
9.9 lbs. light malt extract (boiled 75 mins.) - 4 L
3.3 lbs. amber malt extract (boiled 75 mins.) - 10 L
3 oz. Sorachi Ace hops - 15.1% alpha (boiled 75 mins.)
2 oz. Cascade hops - 8.3% alpha (boiled 30 mins.)
2 oz. Cascade hops - 8.3% alpha (boiled 15 mins.)
0.5 tsp. Irish moss (boiled 15 mins.)
2 vials super high gravity ale yeast (WLP009)

We decided to try and make it a little hoppier, as an extreme hop profile is one quality that has been lacking in our previous high-octane results. We also wanted to maintain an alcohol content equal to our last batch's 10.9%, and maybe even increase it a little by using a double dose of super high gravity yeast rather than by adding more fermentable ingredients. As it turns out, due to a couple things which didn't go quite as planned, we may have achieved the first goal, but not necessarily the latter.

I'm not going to get into all the nitty gritty details, but our initial gravity reading was a little lower than last time (1.091 versus 1.092), meaning the yeast are going to have to really feed their asses off for this one to reach 11% ABV. It's not out of the question, though, but since it took a low final gravity to almost get there last time, we're going to need the double dose of yeast to really pay off.

It should be ready to drink by mid-to-late April, so stay tuned.

Fanfare for the Uncommon Man Stout

For those of you who haven't been able to keep up with the goings-on of AfroDan Progressive Brewers, my family's move from the very-urban to the less-urban suburbs of Boston two years ago resulted in the need to annex our operations.

Last year, we opened the first of our two new facilities, AfroDan North. It took longer than expected, but last month the Emerson, Lake & Palmer-inspired Fanfare for the Uncommon Man Stout marked the inaugural brewing effort of our AfroDan South operation.

Actually, our new brew's namesake song "Fanfare for the Common Man" is an Aaron Copeland original, but as ELP was known to do, they took the classical composition and made it their own.

There was a time when I thought ELP's version was the theme song for ABC's Wide World of Sports. But, this myth was dispelled a few years ago. It may have briefly (or occasionally) been used as the theme, but the show's primary intro music was a Charles Ira Fox number.

But, those ideas about "Fanfare for the Common Man" were apparently not completely unfounded:



This beer was influenced by a recipe of mine from 17 years ago which I called Mr. Pither's Imperial Stout. But, several factors resulted in its evolution to this particular creation bearing a different name.

First, not all of the original ingredients were available at our local home brew store. A minor change to the recipe is one thing, but a few changes makes giving this one the original name feel a little wrong to me.

Second, we've been partial to naming our beers after prog-rock songs ever since we formed this brewing partnership in late 2007. Mr. Pither's was named after the main character in the Monty Python's Flying Circus classic episode "The Cycling Tour." While that's equally nerdy as prog-rock, it still strays from our mission.

Lastly, it didn't really turn out worthy of being considered an imperial stout. Despite using enough malt and fermentable adjuncts to reach upwards of 9%, it came in at 5.6% by our calculations. We thought we had solved the mystery of projected high octane brews not quite fermenting to their potential by using super high gravity yeast, but this brew's original gravity reading was mysteriously too low to come anywhere near the ABV we were expecting. Hopefully further research will be able to reveal the reason for that shortcoming.

This past weekend was the unveiling of our latest endeavor and we're quite pleased with the results. In fact, this one might be technically our best, even if it's not necessarily our favorite. What I mean by this is we love our 21st Century Schizoid Ale, and the 2010 edition is the consensus pick as our best brew to date, but it's extremely high alcohol content makes it not so easy on certain palettes. On the other hand, a lot of people—the wife included—aren't really big fans of stout, so who knows.

Anyway, we look forward to maybe sharing a Fanfare for the Uncommon Man Stout with some of you in the near future. If you're not one of those beer drinkers who hold certain prejudices against dark beers, I'm sure you won't be disappointed. You might not appreciate having to listen to a steady stream of Emerson, Lake & Palmer in the process—just like stouts, they're not for everyone either, I realize—but sometimes we have to make sacrifices in life.

Finally, here's the recipe for a five-gallon batch:

1/2 lb. roasted barley (steeped 20 mins.)
1/2 lb. chocolate malt (steeped 20 mins.)
1/2 lb. Belgian de-bittered black malt (steeped 20 mins.)
9.9 lbs. amber malt extract (boiled 75 mins.)
1 lb. dark brown sugar (boiled 75 mins.)
3 oz. Chinook hops - 13% alpha (boiled 75 mins.)
1 oz. Warrior hops - 13.7% alpha (boiled 75 mins.)
3 tsp. pure vanilla extract (boiled 30 mins.)
1.6 oz. Cascade hops (boiled 10 mins.)
1 1/2 oz. WLP099 (super high gravity ale yeast)

Maple Bacon Voodoo

On our recent trip to Oregon, KJ and I finally visited the world famous Voodoo Doughnut in downtown Portland. I'd been wanting to try their maple-bacon bar for a while, even more so after AfroDan's latest home brewing endeavor.

Well, I was not disappointed. One of Voodoo Doughnut's most popular creations is a delectable raised yeast doughnut with maple frosting and bacon on top. Maple bars don't seem to be as common on the east coast as they are out west—unless I just haven't visited the right bakeries in Vermont—so it was kind of a new treat for me. The bacon on top might sound a little weird to some, but it was absolutely fantastic.

The second time a photo of bacon
has appeared on this site.

I actually thought it was called the Maple Bacon Bar, but, in fact, it's the Bacon Maple Bar. I guess that makes sense from their perspective. But, I'm going on the record to say if Voodoo Doughnut is interested in calling our home brew the official beer of their Bacon Maple Bar, we'll gladly change its name to Maple Bacon Voodoo Porter, but not Bacon Maple Voodoo Porter.

Update (8/25/11): I meant to add to this that I'm not holding my breath, especially so after seeing this.

Beer for Breakfast?

Sunday, my brewing partner AB* stopped by with two six-packs and two 22-oz. bombers of our most recent brew, I've Seen All Good Maple Bacon Porter. We'd been trying to get together for the past couple weeks to taste it for the first time, but life just kept getting in the way.

*I've been referring to him as just "my brewing partner" for quite some time, mainly because I mask everyone's true identity on this blog with a nickname or pseudonym, and I just haven't been able to think of an appropriate one for him. AB, in fact, are his real initials, but I assure you he's not August Busch.

When we developed the original recipe, our expectation was that it's alcoholic content would wind up in the 5.5-6% range. Unfortunately, the final specific gravity reading we took just prior to bottling told us otherwise. Our brew had only fermented enough to reach 4% alcohol. I'm not really sure why. The obvious answer would be we didn't let it ferment long enough, but by all indications, that wasn't the case.

Regardless, considering its two most unique ingredients are maple syrup and bacon, I'm rationalizing that we intended all along for it to be a breakfast beer. So, the next time KJ makes me bacon, eggs and pancakes, I think an I've Seen All Good Maple Bacon Porter will make the perfect accompaniment.

As far as the results are concerned, the bottles we opened were a bit over-carbonated. Inconsistent carbonation is fairly common in home brewing, so it's possible they're not all like that. Otherwise, in all likelihood, we overdid it with the maple syrup used for bottle priming. That wouldn't be a big surprise, considering it was the first time we used this particular ingredient as a substitute for priming sugar.

Taste-wise, I'm quite pleased. AB says he could recognize a very subtle maple flavor, although I didn't. I did, however, enjoy its full-bodied flavor and pleasant smokiness. It isn't exactly what we expected—although we weren't really sure what to expect—but is another brew that we're proud to consider an AfroDan original.

I've Seen All Good Maple Bacon Porter

This past weekend, AfroDan Progressive Brewers celebrated the grand opening of one of two new brewing facilities: AfroDan North, in Medford. It felt good to brew again, since we'd been idle for almost a year, following the closing of our Somerville facility. Our latest endeavor, however, signals that we're back, and possibly better than ever.

The new business plan remains true to our mission of brewing only experimental beers. Now, though, we'll be doing so out of two different facilities, with AfroDan South set to commence operations in Quincy in about two months.

Our latest creation is, quite possibly, our most experimental to date. The brewing partner has been itching to add meat to one of our brews for quite some time—citing the fact that his wife's uncle uses steak in his wine making—but, needless to say, I've been resistant. However, when he suggested bacon, I finally gave in.

It didn't take long to decide that a darker beer would work better with this experiment, and somehow the idea of a maple bacon porter just sounded right. It turns out, we're not exactly on the cutting edge, but a little research on brewing with bacon was helpful in understanding just how we should employ this specialty ingredient.

So, here's our recipe for a five-gallon batch:

1/2 lb. crystal malt - 90 L (steeped 20 mins.)
3/4 lb. chocolate malt - 350 L (steeped 20 mins.)
1/4 lb. black patent malt - 500 L (steeped 20 mins.)
8 lbs. light malt extract (boiled 60 mins.)
3 oz. Kent Goldings hops - 4.5% alpha (boiled 60 mins.)
1 oz. Fuggles hops - 4% alpha (boiled 15 mins.)
5-6 oz. crispy cooked hickory smoked bacon (added to fermenter)
1 1/4 cups maple syrup (for priming)
1 1/2 oz. British Ale yeast

mmm...bacon :)

The brewing took place on Saturday at AfroDan North, of course. While the brew pot was boiling, we oven baked the bacon, drained as much of the grease away as we could using paper towels, and then cut off as much of the excess fat as possible. Then, once the brewing process was complete and the yeast was pitched, we also added the bacon to the fermenter before sealing it.

Following a period of fermentation, we'll be bottling, of course, but with an added twist...so to speak. For those of you who don't home brew, priming is the process of adding a solution of sugar and boiled water to the fermented beer just prior to bottling. The extra sugar added during the bottling process is what gives the beer its carbonation.

But, other sugary substances can be used for priming as well. So, we'll be substituting 1 1/4 cups of maple syrup for the standard five ounces of priming sugar at bottling time. The end result we're looking for is a slightly sweet, but still nicely balanced, maple bacon porter. Hopefully, the maple sweetness doesn't overpower the smokey bacon goodness, but all we can do now is wait and see how it turns out.

Of course, once again, we've borrowed the name of the beer from one of our favorite prog-rock pioneers. With our signature beer being named after King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" and a Rush song being the namesake of another of our brews, we figured it was time to pay tribute to Yes. So, in case you haven't figured it out already, I've Seen All Good Maple Bacon Porter is inspired by one of Yes's classics, "I've Seen All Good People."

The Concord Pale Ale Challenge

The weekend before last, my old friend El-squared and his wife invited us over for dinner and to watch the Patriots-Jets AFC Divisional Round playoff game. Of course, the Patriots lost, which really didn't break my heart, but there was a competition of a completely different variety taking place during the game.

Prior to heading over, I called El to ask if I should bring any beer, to which he informed me he'd recently purchased a beer refrigerator and stocked it with about $100 worth of mostly micro-brews. He also told me that many of the varieties he had on hand were Pale Ales—his favorite style—and he proposed the idea we have a taste test.

He didn't have to twist my arm. I even added the suggestion that we make it a blind taste test, and we recruited our wives to set it up for us.

The lineup consisted of four Pales commercially brewed in New England, one home brew, and a well-known offering from a western brewery. Unfortunately, we knew the six beers going into it, so it wasn't as blind as I would have liked it to be. As a result, in addition to rating the beers, we spent a little too much time trying to figure out what was what.

Obviously, it would have been better had we not even known the beers involved, but that would have been difficult, so I'll admit to being a little affected by pre-conceived opinions of at least two of them.

The winner of our little contest, was Dale's Pale Ale, from Lyons, Colorado's Oskar Blues Brewery. El gave it an A, while I surprisingly only gave it a B+, although this was my highest mark of the night.

Second place went to my very own Grafton BrideAle. Now before you start accusing me of favoritism, I'll say that I only gave my own home brew a B, while El was more generous, awarding it a grade equal to that of Dale's. While I'm flattered, I honestly think he's out of his mind.

Third place was a tie between Whale's Tale Pale Ale, brewed by Nantucket, Massachusetts's Cisco Brewers; and Shoals Pale Ale, from Portsmouth, New Hampshire's Smuttynose Brewing Company. Both beers received grades of B and C+, although I favored Whale's Tale, while El favored Shoals.

Portland, Maine's Geary's Pale Ale was our fifth place finisher, which was a bit of a surprise to me, but when I tasted it blindly, it did nothing for me. On the other hand, I wasn't the least bit shocked that Burlington, Vermont's Magic Hat #9 was the beer we rated the worst.

Surprised that I only gave Dale's a B+, and that this rating was also my highest of the night, El asked me to name a beer that I would give an A. While a few came to mind, particularly some of the brew pub offerings I've written about here in the past couple years, I realized that there aren't too many. I'm not sure why it's so difficult for me to hand out this highest of ratings, but I did drink a beer this past weekend that is worthy. Stay tuned for more on that subject.

21st Century Schizoid Ale 2010

On May 23, AfroDan brewed the third batch, in just under two years, of what's become our signature beer: 21st Century Schizoid Ale. Because the first two batches were slightly disappointing in one respect—they didn't ferment out completely and finished with an alcohol level in the 8.5-8.7% range—we compensated this time by utilizing super high gravity yeast. The result: a brew that fully reached its alcohol potential at 10.9% ABV.

My recent love affair with citrusy hops influenced us to go all out with Citra hops, a relatively new style that is high in alpha acid content—meaning highly bitter—and, as the name implies, oh so citrusy. Also, in keeping with the experimental tradition that began with our first two versions of this brew, we added a small amount of mystery hops from an unlabeled bag that had been in my refrigerator for at least a few months.

Last weekend, after sharing our first 22-oz. bomber and starting in on a second, we decided to design our labels. In case you needed any proof that, as home brewers with a fair amount of experience, we know what we're talking about when we say its alcohol content weighs in at approximately 11%, I offer you the description that we added to the vertical type on the sides of the label (with apologies to King Crimson):

Cat's foot iron claw, neurosurgeons scream for malt, at paranoia's poison door, 21st Century Schizoid Ale.

Blood racked barbed wire, politicians' funeral pyre, innocents raped with Citra and Cascade hops, 21st Century Schizoid Ale.

Death's seed blind man's greed, poets starving children bleed, fermented with super high gravity yeast, 21st Century Schizoid Ale.

Finally, here's the recipe for a four-gallon batch:

1 lb. crystal malt - 60 L (steeped 20 mins.)
1 lb. crystal malt - 20 L (steeped 20 mins.)
13.2 lbs. golden light malt extract (boiled 75 mins.)
3 oz. Citra hops - 11.1% alpha (boiled 75 mins.)
1 oz. "Mystery" hops - alpha unknown (boiled 75 mins.)
1.5 oz. Cascade hops - 7.5% alpha (boiled 30 mins.)
1.5 oz. Cascade hops - 7.5% alpha (boiled 15 mins.)
0.5 tsp. Irish moss (boiled 15 mins.)
1.5 oz. Super High Gravity Ale yeast

Original Specific Gravity: 1.092
Final Specific Gravity: 1.009
Alcohol by volume: 10.9%

Grafton BrideAle

The origin of the term bridal dates back to Elizabethan England, when a bride ale was an event at which a bride would sell a special ale brewed to commemorate the engagement, but also to defray the costs of the wedding and/or raise money for her dowry. The beer was generally a high-quality ale brewed with the finest ingredients available. Eventually, “bride ale” was shortened to bridal, and the term came to represent the wedding celebration itself.

Grafton BrideAle was the second creation KJ and I have brewed together. We used not only some of the finest ingredients available, but also those that represent our history and that of our ancestors. Since we brewed it for our wedding guests, we were aiming for a very drinkable pale ale that would appeal to both the casual beer drinker and the craft beer enthusiast.

We were quite pleased with the results: a medium-bodied 5% ABV ale with noticeable, but not overwhelming, hop bitterness. Much to our delight, we've received a few unsolicited rave reviews so far, one from my first ever brewing partner, and a couple from folks who it's likely will never be confused with beer snobs.

Grafton BrideAle:

1.5 lbs. Munich malt (steeped 20 mins.)
1.5 lbs. crystal malt (steeped 20 mins.)
6.6 lbs. light malt extract (boiled 60 mins.)
1 oz. Cascade hops - 7.8% alpha (boiled 60 mins.)
0.5 oz. Mt. Hood hops - 5.5% alpha (boiled 30 mins.)
0.5 oz. Mt. Hood hops - 5.5% alpha (boiled 15 mins.)
0.5 tsp. Irish moss (boiled 15 mins.)
1.5 oz. Irish Ale yeast

Hops/Malt Balance

The title of this post is a term I use often when I'm describing and/or rating beer. Usually I shorten it by just referring to a beer's "balance." I know Joey Pants understands what I'm talking about, but maybe I take for granted that everyone else does. So, I thought I'd explain the term by sharing a conversation I had with a co-worker yesterday afternoon.

Somehow a question about what my plans are for Halloween evolved into an explanation of the meaning of hops/malt balance. In addition to telling said co-worker about KJ's Halloween party and my costume ideas, I also mentioned that I might pick up some Pumpkin-spiced beer for the gathering. I talked about how rare it is, in my opinion, that this particular style of beer is any good, but that I really want to try Dogfish Head's Punkin Ale.

My tangential nature turned this into a discussion of Dogfish's most well-known offerings: 60 Minute, 90 Minute and 120 Minute IPA. My co-worker asked me about the meaning of the names of these brews. I explained that they represent the amount of time that the hops are in the boil during the brewing process, and that the longer the time, the more bitter the beer. To offset the bitterness, higher quantities of malt are added.

Hops are bitter, malt is sweet. Increasing malt content to sweeten a highly bitter beer is the key to good hops/malt balance. Obviously, the concept also works in reverse. It just so happens that high malt content translates to high alcohol content. Although people tend to associate bitterness with strong beer, bitter brews are not necessarily strong, at least not directly as a result of what makes them bitter. But, if they're well-balanced, they are.

Pretty simple concept, really.

Sara & Kate's NuptuAle

In late August, KJ and I teamed up to brew a batch of beer as a wedding gift for a couple friends. Other than our attempt at brewing root beer a few months ago, this was the first time we brewed together. Of course, I couldn't write about it until after the wedding, as we wanted it to be a surprise.

Since theirs was an October wedding, we decided to go the Oktoberfest route. As I wrote recently, I've always been a bigger fan of the American microbrewed style over the more authentic German varieties, but I honestly have yet to figure out what the difference is in terms of ingredients. I do know that the good American Oktoberfests are a little more malty and full-bodied, so that's what we were shooting for.

Regardless of my personal preference, it is a German style, so we developed a recipe that remained true to the origins of the style, while trying to add a little something to make it a little heartier.

For specialty grains, we used Munich and Vienna malts, while adding a little chocolate malt—an ingredient not foreign to some Oktoberfests—in an effort to make it a little more flavorful and full-bodied. We went with the German varieties of Hallertau hops for bittering, and Tettnang for aroma, while adding the Oregon-indigenous Mt. Hood hops—as a little KJ personal touch—for flavoring. Oktoberfests are usually brewed with lager yeast, but many home brewers utilize ale yeast with this style, since they can be fermented at room temperature. We went this route, opting for German Ale/Kölsch yeast. Here's the full recipe:

1.5 lbs. Munich malt (steeped for 20 mins.)
1.5 lbs. Vienna malt (steeped 20 mins.)
0.25 lbs. chocolate malt (steeped 20 mins.)
6.6 lbs. light malt extract (boiled for 60 mins.)
1.5 oz. Hallertau hops - 3.8% alpha (boiled 60 mins.)
1 oz. Mt. Hood hops - 5.2% alpha (boiled 30 mins.)
1 oz. Tettnang hops - 4.7% alpha (boiled 15 mins.)
0.5 tsp. Irish moss (boiled 15 mins.)
1.5 oz. German Ale/Kölsch yeast

We also took liberties with the name, going with a derivation of a common mispelling of nuptial. We wanted it to be pronounced nup-shu-ale, as we thought trying to say nuptiale (nup-shale?) would be awkward and even a little confusing.

So, at yesterday's wedding, we delivered 36 12-oz. bottles and one 64-oz. growler of Sara & Kate's NuptuAle. KJ and I were quite pleased with our gift, and we have every reason to believe that it was, and will continue to be, quite the hit.

Going-Away Presents

Today was my last day at the job I've held for the past three years. After a little time off, on October 13, I begin a new and exciting endeavor that I'm really looking forward to. But, my point isn't to discuss my recent career move. Rather, it's to talk about going-away presents.

My co-workers gave me a couple of gifts yesterday to send me on my way. Those gifts were a t-shirt of the college I work(ed) at, and a generous gift certificate to the local home brew store. Also, a couple months ago, my (former) boss gave me a bottle of Unibroue's La Fin Du Monde as a thank you for stepping in to do a presentation for her at the spur of the moment.

A little over three years ago, when I left my previous job for this one, my boss organized a going-away party at which everyone contributed beer to the cause. Since there was quite the international contingent there, I was given beer from Japan, China, Germany, Belgium, Brazil, England and many other countries. I calculated that the gift totalled approximately seven cases. A year later, I still hadn't finished it all, although I can assure you that what was left were the less desirable options.

So, what is my point? Apparently, I've earned quite the reputation as either a beer connoisseur or a serious drinker...or both. Either way, I'm pretty pleased, and thinking it's just about time to start thinking about my next home brewing venture. Or, I just might decide to revisit what I consider to be the best batch of beer I've ever made, which was back in 1995. Stay tuned.

Red Sector Ale

After a long fermentation process—that included the addition of champagne yeast two weeks after the initial pitching of Belgian Ale yeast—we recently tasted our latest home brew for the first time. In case your memory needs refreshing, we brewed a Belgian-style dark abbey ale back in April.

We labored considerably over the naming decision, and eventually settled on a name that only satisfies one of the two major criteria we were originally looking for. While Red Sector Ale doesn't really describe the style, it certainly doesn't fall short with respect to our other criterion.

We're pretty pleased with the result, a dark malty ale with hints of coriander, weighing in—so to speak—at about 7.5% ABV (alcohol-by-volume). That's fairly representative of the style, and turned out to be a pleasant surprise, as we thought it was going to fall short of the alcoholic content we were aiming for. The reason for that is the original specific gravity—essentially a measure of its density compared to water, and also an indicator of fermentation potential—was a little low. But it fermented out considerably, with its final gravity also being lower than expected. Measuring its alcoholic content is simply a matter of subtracting the final gravity from the original gravity and applying a formula that converts the result to ABV, so the wider the gap between the former and the latter, the stronger the ale.

What I'm most pleased with, though, are the labels I ordered and received in the mail this week. As you can see from the photo, I went all-out in the hokeyness department. If you don't understand the references, you'll have to do a little internet research. I'm sure it won't be too difficult, but if you need a hint or two, I'll be happy to oblige. In fact, I'll offer one right now. It has nothing to do with Ernest Hemingway.

In case you're interested, here is the recipe:

10 oz. Cara-Munich malt (steeped for 20 mins.)
4 oz. Belgian Special B malt (steeped 20 mins.)
4 oz. Belgian Aromatic malt (steeped 20 mins.)
9.9 lbs. light malt extract (boiled for 75 mins.)
0.5 oz. Magnum hops - 14.4% alpha (boiled 75 mins.)
0.5 oz. Sterling hops - 6% alpha (boiled 75 mins.)
1 lb. amber candy sugar (boiled 75 mins.)
0.25 oz. Sterling hops - 6% alpha (boiled 15 mins.)
0.5 tsp. Irish moss (boiled 15 mins.)
1 oz. coriander seeds (boiled 10 mins.)
0.25 oz. Sterling hops - 6% alpha (boiled 5 mins.)
1.5 oz. Trappist Ale yeast
5 oz. dry champagne yeast

As I said, we're also pleased with how it tastes, but we'll need a few more opinions before knowing for certain if it truly is a hit.

Winter Hill Root Brew

In a somewhat surprising move, I recently took my first stab at non-alcoholic brewing. About three weekends ago, KJ and I made a trip to the local home brew store with the intention of attempting to make root beer. This was her idea, so she basically took the lead with most everything, but I was totally on board with the concept. She did most of the research and developed the recipe, borrowing ideas from other concoctions of course, while I lent my relative expertise in the areas of sanitation procedures and determining the ideal temperature for the pitching of the yeast.

As it turns out, root beer takes considerably less time to make than alcoholic beer, mostly owing to the fact that it doesn't have to ferment. The yeast is added for the sole purpose of carbonation, although the combination of yeast and sugar must mean there's at least a little fermentation. Needless to say, the wheels are now spinning inside my head.

We recently tasted our finished product—which we're naming Winter Hill Root Brew after the Somerville neighborhood in which it was made—for the first time, and it was pretty good. Judging by the smells that were emanating from my place during the time since we brewed it, I thought it was going to be much sweeter than it turned out, so we'll have to make some adjustments the next time around. Overall, though, we're fairly pleased with the results.

There is still an update pending on my latest alcoholic brew, for which my brewing partner and I labored over the naming process before finally settling on a moniker. I'm going to save that for a subsequent post, though, as I recently ordered labels and am excited to see how they turn out. I'll include a photo with that update.

Name That Belgian

Continuing my recent obsession with Belgian beers, yesterday AfroDan Progressive Brewers got back in the action, and our latest creation is a Belgian-style dark abbey ale. In case you're curious, the use of Cara-Munich and two different types of Belgian specialty malts, plus the addition of a pound of amber candy sugar and an ounce of coriander seeds are what makes it a distinctly Belgian style. As usual, we made it a little hoppier than the style generally calls for, a move that is a little riskier than with other brews.

In keeping with other traditions, we listened to nothing but prog-rock while brewing, and polished off a few each from our last batch of 21st Century Schizoid Ale. More specifically, on the music front, it was an all-out Rush fest, with the listening lineup progressing from Caress of Steel to Fly By Night to 2112, and later Permanent Waves.

So, now we're looking for a name for our latest brew, and we could use your help. The perfect name would describe the style as well as incorporate something Rush-related. A few examples of monikers that would be easier to consider, if we hadn't set the bar so high with 21st Century Schizoid Ale, are Syrinx Abbey Ale, A Passage to Brugge Dubbel and By-Tor Belgian-Style Ale.

On a final note, here's a little trivia I learned while researching Belgian music: the saxophone was invented by the Belgian-born Adolphe Sax; and, of course, other than Adolphe, the most notable Belgian musician would have to be jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.

21st Century Schizoid Ale: 2008-09 Edition

I wasn't quite sure how to identify this second batch of 21st Century Schizoid Ale that AfroDan has brewed in less than six months. This is far from an official classification scheme, but since we'll probably want to brew it more than once a year, I decided that calling it our 2008-09 edition would be fitting.

We've decided that the defining quality of this particular brew is that it will always be somewhat experimental and, therefore, ever-evolving. We stuck with our unconventional practice from the first batch of using both ale and lager yeasts. We are looking for a higher alcohol content than last time, simply by letting it ferment longer, since we believe that our prior effort didn't quite reach its potential. We also thought that the first batch could have been a little hoppier, so we needed to step that effort up a notch further in order to offset the anticipated increase in alcoholic content.

The following is the recipe we used for a 4-gallon batch (brand names are italicized where applicable):

12 lbs. Pale Malt Extract (Alexander's)
8 oz. Crystal Malt (60L)
8 oz. Crystal Malt (20L)
2 oz. Pacific Jade Hops (12.9% alpha acid) - bittering
1 oz. East Kent Goldings Hops (4.8%) - bittering
1.5 oz. Glacier Hops (6.0%) - flavoring
1 oz. Glacier Hops (6.0%) - aroma
1.5 oz. German Ale/Kolsch Yeast (White Labs WLP029)
1.5 oz. San Francisco Lager Yeast (White Labs WLP810)
1 oz. Glacier Hops (6.0%) - dry hopping in fermenter

We heated 2 gallons of water in the brewpot, and steeped the grains (crystal malts) in a mueslin bag at 160-170 degrees for 20 minutes. We then removed the grains from the brewpot, added the pale malt extract and brought the pot to a boil. We added the bittering hops and boiled the wort for a total of 75 minutes, adding the flavoring hops for the final 15 minutes and the aroma hops for the final 5.

After chilling the wort, in a sink filled with ice, to just under 160 degrees, we strained it into the fermenter, which was already filled with almost 2 gallons of cold Poland Spring water, then added more water until it reached the 4-gallon level. We then let the wort cool to just under 80 degrees and added the ale yeast. We took an original specific gravity reading (1.093), and sealed the fermenter. Several hours later, I unsealed the fermenter and added the lager yeast.

The original gravity was a little lower than the first batch, which we measured at 1.098. This would indicate that this batch's potential alcoholic content is lower than the first's was, but as I said earlier, we hope that letting it ferment longer will allow it to reach an ABV of 10% or higher. This might be wishful thinking, as the last batch topped out at 8.5%, but it's certainly possible.

We plan to let this batch ferment almost four weeks before bottling. With about two weeks to go, we'll add the dry hops directly into the fermenter. After a couple weeks in the bottles, we should have a strong ale suitable for holiday consumption with family and friends.

Cheerful Insanity Progtoberfest

Today, AfroDan Progressive Brewers produced the third batch of our short existence, an Oktoberfest style we're calling Cheerful Insanity Progtoberfest. This one is quite tamer than our prior concoction, 21st Century Schizoid Ale, which my apprentice wants to brew another batch of soon, due to the rave reviews it's received.

We had intended to remain as true to the traditional style as possible, with a few minor adjustments, of course, but a couple factors caused us to have to improvise a little more than expected. First, due to the worldwide hop shortage, we were unable to obtain Perle hops, a German variety, from our local homebrew shop, and instead opted for the closest American equivalent, Sterling, based on a store recommendation. Second, because of our inability to utilize lager yeast at its preferred chilled temperature, we decided to go with a German Ale/Kolsch variety.

I've decided to share the recipe, sans our "secret ingredient", which was my apprentice's idea. For various reasons, though, the jury is still out on this one.

6.6 lbs. Light Malt Extract
1 lb. 2-Row Pale Malt
1 lb. Munich Malt
1 lb. Crystal Malt (40L)
1 oz. Sterling Hops (6% alpha acid), for bittering
1 oz. Hallertau Hops (2.4%), for flavoring
1 oz. Hallertau hops (2.4%), for aroma
1/2 tsp. Irish Moss
German Ale/Kolsch Yeast

To produce a 5-gallon batch, we heated 1 1/2 gallons of water in the brewpot, then steeped the grains (2-Row, Munich and Crystal malts) at 160-170 degrees for 20 minutes. After removing and discarding the grains, we brought the pot to a boil, then added the malt extract, and returned it to a boil.

We boiled the wort for 60 minutes, adding the Sterling (bittering) hops for the entire boil, the Hallertau (flavoring) hops for 30 minutes, and the Hallertau (aroma) hops, the Irish Moss and the secret ingredient for 15 minutes.

After cooling the wort to about 160 degrees, we strained it into the fermenter, and added close to 4 gallons of Poland Spring Water, just enough to bring the batch to 5 gallons total. We then took an original gravity reading, pitched the yeast, stirred gently and sealed the fermenter.

We were disappointed that the original gravity reading was only 1.044, giving our brew a projected alcohol content of 4.2%, quite lower than we expected. I'm not sure why, considering the recipe was projected to reach a 1.065 O.G. and 7% ABV. Regardless, we're optimistically awaiting fermentation to begin, and fairly confident that we've produced another batch of fine ale, albeit one that may not be quite as deserving of its name as our 21st Century Schizoid Ale.

21st Century Schizoid Ale

A new subject comes from out of left field. I've never discussed my home brewing endeavors here because, frankly, I hadn't brewed in years until recently. After getting back in the swing of things by producing a mediocre batch we decided to call AfroDan's Inaugural Ale, my new apprentice and I set out to brew possibly my most ambitious recipe ever.

Aptly named 21st Century Schizoid Ale due to the use of some experimental brewing methods in an attempt to produce a beer that is the hybrid of several styles, this is easily the second best batch I've ever made. It's going to be hard to ever top my 1995 tour de force, Mr. Pither's Imperial Stout, just as it's extremely difficult to make this comparison 13 years later, but this one comes close. Although we were aiming a little higher, this brew fermented out to an ABV of 8.5%. While it definitely tastes like a strong ale, it goes down rather nicely, with just enough hop bitterness to prevent it from tasting too malty sweet, but not so much that it scares away the novices. I wouldn't recommend drinking more than a couple, though, on a summer day where temperatures reach the high '90s. Our decision to brew it this time of the year could certainly be called into question, but we're quite happy with it regardless.

As for its moniker, of course it is named after King Crimson's signature song, "21st Century Schizoid Man", so yesterday's festivities were also a celebration of Robert Fripp's crew as well as other things prog. My trivia question proved to be a little more than anyone in attendance could handle, but it stirred up some interesting drunken musical discussion, as well as a brief attempt at a game called Six Degrees of John Wetton. In case you're interested, here's the question:

Name as many members of the 1969-1974 era Crimson lineup as you can (two points each), with a bonus point for naming one other band that each member played in.

Because the definition of band member never seems to be as cut and dried as you would think, there were a total of 15 correct answers, with two others that were somewhat debatable, but that I decided I would accept. I think two guests combined for a total of 11 points (four members plus additional bands for three of them). Not very impressive.

Not surprisingly, if you know me well enough, there's a commemorative mix. Interestingly enough, or not, I almost committed an Apostrophe Catastrophe on the cd sleeve. After typing "Lark's Tongues in Aspic", I realized that, unless a lark can have more than one tongue, it has to be Larks' Tongues in Aspic. I have to say thank you to my frequent softball teammate, Becky, for her vigilance against bad punctuation. Otherwise, I may not have been as careful in my own editing.

So, if you'd like a copy of the 21st Century Schizoid Mix, leave me a comment or send me an email. I apologize in advance that I won't be able to mail you one of the beers.