| 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 |
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