Project TGT is a GO. Repeat, TGT is a GO

I normally start these entries off with stating things like, ‘a lot has happened,’ or, ‘I’ve been so busy.’ I figured some things needed to change since I could hear every person that ever educated me on writing screaming criticism at my repetition. This being the case, shit is going to change. It’s about time to mix some things up, and luckily, some events have made it much easier to do so.

Rather than follow chronological order of beers brewed, I’m starting where I want this time. The main reason for this is because I was made aware this past week that people read this. That is pretty fantastic, but I feel like I owe the people that get here at least a little more ease of readability. I will be dropping a bit of the technical-speak, as well as some of the pointless details—again, to avoid being redundant. I might even try to make the brewing process look a bit more accessible to other people. Essentially, I’m going to try to start making this public notation more ‘public friendly.’ We’ll see how it goes.

Moving on, the piece of news that has me more excited than any of my beer ideas is the future of this hobby. I had a brilliant weekend catching up with good friends, both those I see regularly and those I haven’t seen in ages. Amidst good company and good drinks I was hit with the blatent realization that I know a lot of people in very convenient places. To make a long story short, I have commercial openings for serving beer. I’ve just got to flaunt the feathers a bit, and prove that I’ve got the skills to sell something worthwhile.

This is usually the point where I hit a downward slope of a bell-curve. Whenever I’ve taken a hobby to an heavily competitive/intense level, it usually chars the whole experience, and ‘ruins’ it for me. I had always come out feeling like I had ‘lost the enjoyment,’ or that I just took it too seriously now. All of the reasons I had originally embarked upon within the hobby were no longer ‘pure’, but competitively or adversely motivated. Eventually, I would just fizzle out, and slowly give less and less attention to the practice.

 In some respects, I feel that could happen again with brewing. In others, however, I feel it is much different. While I could go on and schpiel about how I’ve grown over the years, and blah blah blah—that’s not what this is about.  This is about beer, my experiments with the stuff, and the potential for what my projects may become. In short, there is no need to worry about my fizzling.

What matters from all this is that ‘the shapes of beer to come’ could be seen on the horizon. I now had venues to actually get in on the market, and now it was a matter of deciding what I should nail down to be the first impression. First impressions say a lot, and to jump in on an already unique and diverse market is a bit intimidating. I felt an initial beer should be something that displays brewing competency yet also has a distinctly unique signature. Something classic, but with a slightly new take—something with a personal touch.

The first thing that jumped out at me was the German Alt (or Alt[earoa]). At first I was hesitant since a brewery in Baltimore already opened its doors with an Alt beer (a damn good one too), but those wary feelings passed. My recipe was different from that, and it was good. Not only was it a solid, sessionable beer, but it had my personal, unique experience within it. I used only New Zealand hops—To make this the first beer that goes commercial would be an incredible honor for me. It would be my own personal thank you, and shout out to my favorite country in the world— the place where the whole love for, and idea of brewing for a career first entered my brain. There is no competition. This recipe had to be done.

Look at that clarity!

Tasting the Alt recipe right now, it is solid. Nothing wild, nothing adventurous, just a solid, toasty malt-driven, easy drinking beer with a hint of fruit from hops. A tiny adjustment to bring the ABV from 7% to the 5-6% range is the only fix I’m going to need. That will be easy enough.

As for the second (why two beers? You’ll see why…), inspiration hit me while visiting the Willow bar in Fells Point. We decided to hit up the venue after some coaxing from a friend who worked there (not really, though. She said good cocktails, and we said why the fuck not). Our friend began bragging about a cocktail she had invented, and after a few featured ingredients, I took a strong interest. When I pulled out my phone to record the list, I was quickly accused of potential plagerism. Understandable, but I quickly waved it off, simply stating, ‘I’m not gonna steal it, I’m gonna make it a beer.’

This garnered some serious enthusiasm, eventually materializing into another potential spot to host my product. Though it wasn’t verbally stated, I saw this opportunity as a challenge. I needed to make this cocktail successfully into a beer. What would be better than to have the first beer served at the joint to be a reflection of a cocktail invented by a staff member?

Plus, this shit would be FUN

It was either this or the jalapeno wonder that I fell in love with. Believe me the decision was VERY hard

The cocktail has no name—as far as I’m aware. There was talk of something Simon and Garfunkel related, mainly because of the rosemary involved (e.g. ‘Scarborough Fair’). Regardless, it is gin-based, with a balancing dose of grapefruit, garnished with a spring of rosemary, which was briefly lit on fire.  What came out the other end was a pleasantly fruity drink with a nice bouquet of rosemary and fruit, with a touch of smoke.

It took me very little time to figure out how to approach it. There was no other style I could think of that could deliver that variety of flavors other than a Saison. This would be a very different one however, and so I had to go a little outside of what I knew of the style. To get the gin flavor, I used the Gotlandsdricka technique of juniper-infused sparge water. For the grapefruit, I used the zest of a grapefruit as well as the juice near the end of the boil. I also used Simcoe hops to bring out a bit more of the fruit characteristic. Rosemary was added during the boil for aroma and a hint of flavor, and I added a very small, very conservative quantity of smoked malt to the profile.

In terms of yeast it was a toss up between two different ones. I eventually settled on making a 30L batch and splitting it into two 15L fermenters. One had a Belgian Saison blend yeast—my experience’s suggestion—and the other has an American Farmhouse blend—my adventurer’s suggestion. I’m actually hoping the Farmhouse blend wins out. It contains a bit of brettanomyces, which I think will help lend to the cocktail-nature of the recipe with a tinge of sour.

Guess which one is 'infected' with Brett....

Both are fermenting well, but since both have Saison strains, they will be fermenting for a long-ass time. For some downsides, however, there is sometimes and upside. I have also found—quite recently—that Belgian yeast strains benefit heavily from a little extra aging.

The discovery was made while raiding my beer fridge. I came across a few bottles of the ol’ Tarakena Summer Ale I did back in August. I thought I’d give it another go, and poured one from a bottle. My mind was blown in an instant. The Belgian character that had previously overpowered all the other flavors had subsided, and became a background characteristic. Everything else I put into the beer was on prominent display: the mint, chamomile, and ginger were in perfect balance, adding, a nice complexity to the beer, but not overpowering it in any way. I actually found it hard to believe I made the damn thing. I have two 335ml bottles left in the fridge, and I’m afraid to touch them. They will definitely be opened for the New Years dealie, and I will definitely be brewing that recipe again. Patience pays off.

Sexy, sexy, patience

And nothing has tested my patience more than the #3 Wheat wine. I’ve decided to give this one the benefit of the doubt—in terms of aging—and just try not to pay any attention to how badly I want to taste the finished product. It fermented damn well, finishing around 10.6%. It still is not as high as I wanted it, but now that I’ve found the secret to mash efficiency, I’ll definitely be doing this recipe again. After about 12 days in a secondary fermenter I emptied out the Sauvignon Blanc barrel, and transferred the juicy, beer-y deliciousness into the Tough Guy cask. I took little sips of it every day, and actually needed to transfer it out after only 3 days.

I knew that the barrel would infuse the beer with more than enough flavor in a very short amount of time—freshly made oak barrels do that. But I was expecting the Sauvignon Blanc seasoning to suck out at least a bit more of that raw oakiness. After all, the Sauv was undrinkable by the time I put the Wheat Wine in its place. All in all, though, the length of time doesn’t matter. I wanted the flavor, and its there. The Wheat Wine is now sitting in a purged keg for aging. I’ll probably tap it in another week or so.

That is one happy Tomcat

As for the other wheat wine (#2), I unfortunately encountered a noticeable diacetyl presence during a recent glass. I’m a little disappointed, but to be completely honest not too surprised. I rushed the hell out of that beer, partially because in my mind, I had already failed to get what I wanted. It is still a solid Wheat-IPA, but it is also out of style, not what I intended, too hoppy, and now has diacetyl. End result: enjoyable, but still disappointing.

At least it looks pretty

It was, however, a learning experience that I took advantage of very quickly. I wanted to prevent the Russian Imperial Stout (RIS) from obtaining the same buttery diacetyl taste, so I tossed in some champagne yeast to clean up any remnants the other yeast left behind. It also wouldn’t hurt to get a little boost in the ABV area, since the RIS is currently sitting around 9.6% (out of a potential 11%).  I could have been a bit more generous with the grains to ge the ABV, but that is an easy fix for the next batch.

With a little extra booze, this will be a proper RIS.  На здоровье!

This ‘easy fix’ is of course due to the new mash technique. I gambled a bit with the cocktail-style-saison, essentially betting the entire recipe on the idea that I would hit around the same efficiency as the RIS (e.g. 80%). I repeated the process in the exact same manner, near identical temperatures and—wouldn’t you know it—it came out at 81%. For the second time in a row, the mash worked out in an amazingly brilliant manner.

To put this as easily as I can, rather than get grains and aim(/hope) for a general area of ABV, I can now get EXACTLY what I want based EXACTLY on how much grain I use. The only factor that I need to have a better control over is getting a more thorough control over the yeast performance. Once that is handled, the only limitation to me making something precisely as I imagine it is to know my ingredients better.

This. Is. So. Awesome.

To top off this child-like excitement, I tapped the Coffee Vanilla Brown ale a few days ago. It is a dessert beer and a half. The malt profile already gave it great toffee, caramel, and hints of chocolate. That combined with the addition of the vanilla and the Jamaican coffee was just too much—too much in a really REALLY great way. The coffee also had some caramel notes, and gave a nice roasty touch to the beer, and the vanilla smoothes out all the ‘harsher’ flavors. The damn thing tastes like a cake. A delicious, boozy (8%), cake. If I ever make a brown ale commercially, I will definitely be choosing this variation. It may be worthy of being called a ‘holiday beer’. 

Got that glass on New Years a few years back. My coat had large pockets

In the end, the brewing lately has been a hell of a great time. I'm currently in light talk for a '5 Year Plan' for what will be referred to as Project TGT. I'm in the research phase at the moment, but as of now it is looking very feasible to start contract brewing, and soon turn the 'project' into something more. This is truly exciting stuff. But for all the excitement, I have to remind myself the lesson that I learned from brewing this week. I believed myself patient before, but I still need to increase my discipline. With sparging, fermentation, aging, and now with contracting, patience is is key. 

I'm still young. And I need to remind myself of this on a daily basis. I tend to rush things if I dont.

Wingfield's 'Willow'

Belgian Pilsner, White Wheat, Vienna, German Rauchmalt

Simcoe
American Farmhouse (WLP670), Belgian Saison Ale Yeast (WLP568)

Juniper Berries, Rosemary, Grapefruit (Zest/juice),