2013 Strategy

It's been quite a while since my last post.  Work's been busy, and I've had plenty at home as well to keep me distracted--building a guest bedroom in the basement (a project still only halfway complete).  Fortunately I have managed to brew two batches since the new year:  A Tripel and an American Pale Ale.  The Tripel is absolutely delicious, although I missed my efficiency and my attenuation so it’s much fuller and sweeter than intended.  The Pale Ale--hopped with 100% Cascade hops—just kicked last night (wish I would have waited longer to start drinking it; the past two nights’ pulls were amazing).

Anyway, I think now may be a good time to set the focus of my brewing, and perhaps of this blog, a little better.  Until now, my brewing has been kind of random, and that’s probably reflected in my posts up to this point.  It has always been my goal to learn as much as I can about home brewing, to continue to grow as a brewer and someday to produce amazing beers that can stand up to the best commercial examples.  I think I finally understand how to achieve that, and in 2013, I’m narrowing the focus of my brewing and setting a strategy for my own improvement.  You’ll read about it shortly.

WHERE I STARTED:

I brewed my first batch in 2001, but I wouldn't say that I've been brewing that long since I took a six year hiatus when my kids were born.  In the first stint (pre-kids), I probably brewed about 8 extract batches, none of them repeats, each of them a complete mess—but at least I was making beer.  And of course I had no idea that it sucked (my family and friends are very supportive; they “love” all my beer).  Like so many other new homebrewers, I wanted to brew everything, and to brew with everything.  A fresh strawberry "wheat," an oaked IPA, a Belgian wit, and a chocolate stout were all among this first round of brews.  After a few years, I invested in a basic 3-vessel all grain system (two 10 gallon converted coolers and a 15 gallon kettle) from MoreBeer.  I thought (incorrectly) that this was the best thing I could do to improve my beers.  I stumbled around two or three all grain batches before my wife had twin boys in 2005, at which time my burgeoning hobby was shelved.

WHERE I AM NOW:

I picked up brewing again right around this time in 2011, on the equipment I bought in 2003, that had been collecting dust since 2005.  The cool thing—as I would discover—was that equipment had not changed in that time, but the quality of information available to me seems to have improved tremendously.  In the past two years I've brewed 12 all grain batches—mostly not repeating any style or recipe more than once, and my results have been varied to say the least.  I now have a fermentation chamber (able to control fermentation temps to within 1 deg F anywhere from 30-80).  I cold crash, and I fine with gelatin and my past few batches have looked and tasted great.  But I still know I have a lot to learn.

WHERE I’M HEADED:

Over about the past year, I've been reading voraciously on Home Brew Talk Forums (while not posting much) as well as in books from Brewers Publications, and also listening to podcasts (current and archived) from the Brewing Network trying to gain as much knowledge as I can.  My 2013 strategy follows advice offered repeatedly by Jamil Zainasheff on “Can You Brew It” and probably elsewhere.  This year I am focusing on:

• Repeatability 
• Understanding yeast

Specifically, I have chosen just a few beer styles to focus on and will brew those over and over—hopefully with identical results--in order to really understand my system and process, and in order to “nail” those styles (“clone” my own brews).  Styles I’ll be working on this year are:

• Scottish 80/-
•  American Blonde Ale
• American Pale Ale 
•  Imperial IPA
•  Patersbier
• Tripel

Six styles may seem a bit much for the strategy I just laid out, but I love them all so much . . .  And my goal is to brew twice a month starting in May.  I chose these styles also because they can help me with my second goal:  understanding yeast.  I will brew everything on this list with one of only two yeast strains, so that I can really begin to understand them, how they behave, what they like and don’t like, etc.  I will be able to ferment the Pale Ale and IIPA using slurry (WLP001) from the Blonde or 80 /-, and I will be able to ferment the Tripel using slurry (WLP550) from the Patersbier.

For the 80/-, the Blonde, the Pale, and the Tripel, I simply pulled the recipes from Brewing Classic Styles.  The Patersbier is based on the kit recipe from Northern Brewer, and the IIPA will probably be an amped up version of my Columbus IPA.

I might join a local home brew club, and I’ll probably also enter a few of my brews in competition before the year is through.  Having my beer evaluated by strangers trained to do so will no doubt reveal flaws I don’t detect, refining my process and my palate (my friends and family are not helpful; they “love” all my beers—they’re all just impressed that it is beer).

This blog itself is another strategy toward my overall goal of developing myself as a home brewer.  From the beginning, I've meant it as a tool to chronicle my progress.  I’m sure I will someday look back at my early posts and chuckle at the silliness.  Those early posts will no doubt expose some of my limited understanding, misinformation, misinterpretation, and otherwise general noobdouchery.  I’m ok with that.  They will stand as they were written, as what they are:  points on the map showing where I was as I continue my journey to where I’d like to be.