Home Brewing Beer Trifecta

Displaying true brewer ingenuity, Kevin has 3 batches fermenting at one time and specialized system to handle the foam by-product of fermentation (called "krausen").

All Grain Brewing - Preparation for a Local Suppy

A couple of our brewers have used the advanced all-grain method of brewing, using malted barley grains, hops and yeast.  Each brewer has created an all-grain smoked porter using the slightly smoked malted barley donated by Rick from the Copper Fox Distillery in Sperryville.  These porters will be tested out in our next meeting/tasting event towards end of January (more info on that to come).

Here are some photos of the process.  Involves removing the dried rootlets from the malted grains ("malted" means germinated & dried).  The rootlets will give off flavors to beer if not removed.  Next is grinding the malt (cracking/crushing husks) to prepare for boiling (mashing).  This releases the interior seed components of the grain from the husks - necessary for extracting the sugars and starches for beer making.  This puts us further along in our goal to use a local supply of malted barley grains, yeast, and hops to make quality locally crafted beer.

malted grains with dried rootlets attached

sifter (shaken and stirred to break up rootlets from barley grains)

rootlets sifted out of barley for disposal

barley grains being crushed/cracked

close up of cracked barley - ready for mashing

Oktoberfest Meeting Summary

Tastings this time incuded some fermented non-beer items as well as craft beer:

Kombucha - fermented tea

Vienna Lager

Belgian Saison

Hazelnut Midwinter Porter

IPA

Imperial Stout

Wasmunds Award Winning Single Malt Whisky

Craft beers were served with bratwurst from sperryville market cooked with locally grown and homemade sauerkraut (cooked in a crockpot with a bottle of home brew, of course).  Locally made delicious cheeses contributed to the tasting by Jim Turner and his wife.

Dan gave us an update from our international member in Spain on the growing craft beer industry there.

Rick Wasmund from the Copper Fox Distillery brought a bottle of his award winning single malt whiskey, as well as donated 50 lbs of malted barley (two-row endeavor variety), for our brewers to experiment with.  He informed us of his efforts to set up a local malting operation.

Discussed the association's barley project.  Jeff Jennings a local farmer talked about his test plot of 3/4 of an acre of two-row barley (charles variety).   He also brought some of his delicious and locally grown pork  barbeque ribs.  They disappeared fast!

Barley Project Update: October 18th

Stopped by Jeff Jenning's Farm in Luray, to check on the 2 Row Malting Barley that he has planted in September.  It looks fantastic.  The single plants that initially germinated are now "tillering"- meaning producing off shoots from the parent plant.  Each off-shoot will produce a head of barley, which will ultimately be harvested and used to make malt.

This barley's growth will slow down during the winter and then start up again in the spring, with a projected harvest date of end of May of June.

The Barley Project

First installment of our series:  "From the Field to the Tap"

Where we explore the process of producing the ingredients from scratch that create quality craft beer - from growing malting barley, harvesting, steeping & germinating the grains, to the drying/kilning process that creates the base malt from which the sweet liquor (called the wort) is extracted.  Next is producing speciality malts from grains that give added character and flavor.  Locally grown hops and yeast culturing will be be explored, the other two ingredients pivotal in creating delicious flavor and body, to all styles of ales, lagers, porters, and stouts.

First Step - Growing the Barley:
In partnership with a local farmer in Luray, (thanks Jeff!) approximately 1 acre of 2-row malting barley was planted on September 24th, 2012.  A barley variety recommended by Virginia Tech and the USDA was used that performed well in Virginia Test Plots in 2011.  As you can see, a week later, it has already germinated!   This is winter barley that gets planted in the fall, grows through winter, and is harvested in late spring (May/June).  Stay tuned for further updates. 

Blue Ridge Brewers Association supports "Love Your Downtown"

This past evening, September 20^th, the Blue Ridge Brewers Association (BRBA) was invited to participate in “Love Your Downtown” a Luray Downtown Initiative (LDI) fundraiser hosted at the Warehouse Art Gallery.  The goals were to introduce our organization to the town, educate attendees to the art of home brewing and the craft beer revolution, offer tastings of home brewed beer and help the LDI with its fund raising effort.  All of the goals were met with the exception of one; offer tastings of home brewed beer. 

Since our last meeting all members with one exception were “tapped out” of their favorite home crafted offerings - members get busy!  Working with LDI a backup plan was concocted to offer several styles across the flavor spectrum to include:

Sierra Nevada - Hellerweise HefeWeisen

Devils Backbone - Vienna Lager

Legend - Pale Ale

Dominion - Hop Mountain Pale Ale

Starr Hill - Pumpkin Porter

Dominion -Oak Barrel Stout

and….

Dan Fause and Mary Balderson’s very own Wicked Cat Ale

The format for each tasting included a brief introduction to the style; describing its flavor profile as a blend of grains, hops and yeast each contributing to the overall character of the beer.  This was followed with an offering to smell and taste the freshly milled grains, bury their nose in this year’s hop harvest from BRBA’s very own Beaver Run Brewery’s hop garden and, depending on the style, catch a brief whiff from jars of honey and whole clove.  These “hands on” sensory guides enabled tasters to really detect nuances present in each style being offered.

Sidebar discussions evolved around the beer making process, grain malting, commercial brewing in Luray, English Bitters (who’s brewing it), growing local, pooling resources, underground irrigation, geology along the Stanley Fault, future BRBA events, yeast survival temperatures, beer/food pairing, and growing and harvesting hops at the local scale versus at the commercial scale. Four tasters signed up and are interested in future Blue Ridge Brewers Association meetings and events.

August 17th, 2012

The first meeting of the Blue Ridge Brewers Association (BRBA)  was a great success!

The focus was on cheeses and other food pairings with specific styles of craft brews –all brewed by our local cadre of experts!  Our first craft beer tasting started with lighter styles, ending with stronger heavier beers, in order below: 

Hefeweizen – tasty, hoppy Wheat Ale

Raspberry Wheat Ale – a sweet, bitter and malty balance

Flat Tail IPA – Fantastic India Pale Ale made by local Beaver Run Brewery w/ home grown hops! 

American Ale – delicious citrus flavor and aroma overtones (citra hops, of course!)

Brown Ale – darker ale, deeper flavor, and citra hops again

Coffee Porter – rich coffee/malt flavor – breakfast anyone?

Rye Porter – made with Bourbon Rye from local distillery – a great combination

Barley Wine – don’t be fooled by the name, this is a heavily malted ale, w/ calypso hops to balance the sweetness. It’s got Zing!

Many thanks our local brewers who provided such a wide range of quality craft beers for us to sample.

Stay tuned for our next meeting/tasting in October(fest).