WIZARD's Upcoming Events

Club meetings this quarter will be July 12, August 9 (although this is subject to change to accomodate the summer picnic - this will be decided at the July meeting and I willl update the web site) and September 13. The July meeting will be held at Rich's house in Hudson. Other meeting locations have not yet been decided (check our web page or call Strangebrew for the latest location and directions).

The July meeting theme beer will be "the beers from National Homebrew Day at the Horseshoe Pub." Try to save a bottle or two for this one!

The August meeting theme beer will be Kolsch. Brew any recipe in any way you want and bring it our August meeting. Brian has graciously offered a 10% discount on ingredients for anyone brewing Kolsch for this meeting. Just mention it when placing your order. Besides the Kolsch tasting, this will be our first-ever summer bar-b-que and swill-off. Watch your email for more details on the bar-b-que and bring 3 cans or bottles of your favorite (least favorite?) "swill" beer (ie, any North American Industrial Lager) for the swill-off tasting.

WIZARD's Club Business

WIZARD's Recent Events

The highlight of our April meeting was the Jewel in the Crown tasting. Six brewers took a shot at making Phil's Jewel in the Crown IPA (see the recipe library for details) for the meeting. In a blind tasting of the six beers, Bill's came out on top (interestingly enough, Bill picked Scott's as the top beer). And Greg won the label contest (look right).

Damase's Jewel in the Crown IPA showed up one month later at our May meeting. His was an extract beer which the club felt was creamier and much darker in color than the all-grain versions sampled the month before. While everyone enjoyed drinking it, we felt some adjustments were needed for the extract version of Phil's all-grain recipe.

Maybe it was because it was the day before Easter. Maybe it was the blinding rain and bitter wind. Maybe it was just the phase of the moon, but something kept the turn out for this year's pub crawl especially low. Phil, Russ, Bill and Darja and Scott and Beth were the only ones who made it for the crawl. Even though our numbers were small, those who went weren't discouraged by the weather (or in some cases the beer) and had a great time. This year we visited Northeast Brewing, Back Bay Brewing and John Harvard's before sitting down to dinner at Redbones.

Our first stop was Northeast Brewing for lunch and a beer. The food was ok and the beer was better. Tastings included the Lobsterback IPA (fair), the Bostonia Blonde (a Pilsner which has a few small floaters but was still "no slouch"), a Dusseldorf Alt (Russ thought it a little flat), the NorEaster Copper Ale and the Nail in the Brain Barley Wine (if you like Thomas Hardy, this one's almost as good). The first really funny moment of the day came when we were leaving the pub and heading to the train. Some poor soul standing a little too close to the side of the road got soaked by ten foot waves when a car drove through a nearby puddle (it was certainly funny at the time - maybe it was the beer?). Needless to say, we spent considerable time avoiding puddles for the rest of the afternoon.

Our trip then to took us to the Back Bay Brewing Company for what would probably be the last time. Sometime in June, Back Bay will cease brewing and selling its own ales and will no doubt be removed from our "must see" list. On this trip we each had a glass of our favorite; those without a personal favorite were cajoled into the cask IPA by Bill. Besides the IPA, we tried the ESB and the Marzen, which Russ thought especially malty and Darja thought reeked of alcohol.

The Other Stuff - Hints & Ideas

Last month this paper had the unfortunate task of reporting the demise of brewing at the Back Bay Brewing Company. Unlike the Boston Herald or Yankee Brew News, this paper said "Rumor has it, Tod Mott, the head brewer may be moving to his own place in Quincy sometime last this year." As it turns out, he is helping launch the Quincy Ships Brewing Company, which is scheduled to open later this month. Although a temporary role, Tod's brewing experience will no doubt be an early key to success for this new brewpub. Quincy Ships is located at 579 Southern Artery (Route 3A) in Quincy. Look for brewing to start later this fall.

Use restrictor hose for your keg dispensing faucet - Did you know they make special hose for attaching the faucet to your keg? Its the black stuff and has thicker walls and a smaller inside diameter. The theory being the smaller inside diameter of the hose better equalizes the pressure as the beer exits the keg and this results in less foaming as the beer leaves the faucet and enters your glass! FYI - restrictor hose is available at Strangebrew for $1.00/foot.

When it comes to yeast selection, Scott's taken his Hefewezien brewing to the next level. Now he's trying to pick his yeasts to match the aromas and tastes he remembers from traveling in Germany a few years back.

As for the results so far, he thinks the 3056 is the right choice, noting very similar esters between his brew and the Tucher and Hacker-Pschorr at the Horseshoe Pub.

And as an interesting footnote to Scott's research, the wining beer at our June meeting's Weisbier tasting was brewed with a 3068. Most interesting.

To help with brewing Belgian Doubles for the December meeting, the following have been borrowed from the Brewing Techniques (check with Greg) and the Brewery's web site.

"When people speak of Trappist beers, however, the substyle they are thinking of is generally the Double. These are big brown beers, very lightly hopped and with a powerful malt component, the maltiness expressed more as a complex fruitiness than as a uniform sweetness. There is nothing simple about Doubles. The ester component often has a dark-fruit character to it, like plums -- or better, raisins -- rather than a berry or banana quality. While the body is generally substantial, it is also usually less than the intense flavors would lead you to expect thanks to the addition of sugars in the kettle. These sugars are generally caramelized to some degree, and thus deepen the beer's color as well. Frequently, the beer will be fermented with a yeast of profound character, generally providing an identifiable "house character" that may include substantial spiciness. These beers are not to be taken lightly.

  Doubles
  1.060-1.070 
  6-7.5% ABV 
  18-25 IBU 
  10-14 SRM 

"Dark amber to brown. Sweet malty aroma. Faint hop aroma ok. Medium to full body. Malty, plum-like flavor. Very low bitterness, no hop flavor. Medium to high carbonation. Low esters ok. No roasted flavors or diacetyl. This beer focuses on malt flavors, and doubles should be malty and sweet with a noticeable plum character. Modest alcohol flavor is ok, as are low levels of esters, but the malt flavors should predominate. Doubles are usually full-bodied with fairly moussy carbonation that produces a very nice head.

Brewing method

"As with all Belgian beers the base should be pilsner malt with various amounts of caramel malts (Belgian varieties work especially well here, including both Caramunich and Special B) and a portions of sugar to control body (start with one pound per 5 gallons). Roasted malts can also be used for coloring, but should not be tasted. Toasted Belgian malts contribute a pleasantly nutty flavor, and these can be used in fairly high quantity (+/- 2 lbs. for a 5-gallon batch). Yeast choice seems to offer some flexibility, though strains with a smooth, fruity character complement the raisin/plum flavors of the caramel malts better than yeasts yielding spicy flavors.

"Extract brewers will not be able to use the Belgian toasted malts, but otherwise should be able to produce a nice, malty brew."

Commercial examples

Westmalle Dubbel (6.5% ABV), Affligem Double (7% ABV), Grimbergen Double (6.2% ABV), Steenbrugge double (6.5% ABV)

The topic of tasting glasses comes up every couple of months at club meetings. Usually we do our tasting with those opaque white plastic cups and someone says we need real glass. A few folks already bring their own glasses but its not the general rule. We've often talked about findng those English half-pint glasses as the perfect tasting glass but never found them. Someone even took a shot at finding them on the Internet with only marginal success. Now we find out Brian has carried them all along at a very reasonable two for a buck!

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