Pennichuck Brewing Blog

Hop Scented Candles

2009-03-14T20:29:00.002-04:00

Ok, so after being ridiculed about enjoying a scented candle that someone brought in the brewery, I came up with a pretty cool idea. How about a hop scented candle? Having some old hop extract laying around, I decided to try and make a scented candle. I stopped by Michael's and picked up a candle making kit that had unscented wax.

I got home and went right to work. It took maybe 5-7 minutes to melt the wax and once it got up to temperature, I added some coloring wax and the hop extract. I used East Kent Goldings (its what I had). The kit came with some molds and I picked up a candle holder that looked like a goblet. I filled the molds and added the whicks. By the time the candles were hardened, the whole process took maybe 30 minutes.

As I am writing this, I am burning my new candle and I may have added a little too much extract, but I think the concept works. My apartment is like a hop bomb. Everything thing I drink has me thinking its an IPA with all this aroma. I have no idea if hop extract when melted is toxic or not, but if so, I'm going to die smelling like hops.

The idea has me really curious now and I think I want to try some other extracts and play with the concentrations. If you decide to try it, DO NOT use more than a tablespoon of extract. When you do decide to try it, you better be sending me my royalty check because this is the next best thing.

So What's Been Going On...

2009-03-14T20:18:00.003-04:00

This past week, we have packaged out our first tank of Chief's Imperial IPA. Come Monday, when our freight company picks up their shipment, the entire tank aside from 6 cases will be sold. Due to its level of demand right now from our distributors, not everyone will be able to enjoy this beer. We apologize for this, but we can't control who gets what. We reserved 6 cases for ourselves to be sold directly from the brewery. So if your in the area and can't seem to locate a bottle, stop on by and we can fill your growlers and get you a bottle.

Since we knew this was going to happen, we had another tank of Chief's brewed-up that will be ready for packaging in two weeks. We just dry-hopped it this past week.

Next week we will be putting the first of this year's batch of Feuerwehrmann Schwarzbier in the tank. You can probably expect that in early May.

James

One Month Later...

2009-02-26T13:46:00.002-05:00

So it appears the blog hasn't been updated in a month. It's time to fix that. So what has Pennichuck been up to in the last month? Well, its been one chaotic month.

To start, Damase has resigned as Head Brewer, citing his 1.5 hour commute as the reason for his departure. Damase lives south of Worchester, MA. He lost 3 hours of his day, everyday for the last 2 years. If you do the math, that is 1,560 hours or 5 days. Personally, I don't know how he handled the commute that long. Something tells me we will still be seeing Damase around. The man can't turn down a festival!

This past week, we had a tasting at StrangeBrew in Manchester, NH and a beer dinner at Murphy's Taproom. Both were great successes. The beer dinner feature a five-course meal paired with five of our session beers. The food was unbelievable. The chef at Murphy's did an excellent job complimenting each of the beers.

Currently we are packaging our final batch of Saint Florian's for the year. In a couple of weeks, we will be releasing Chief's, the Imperial IPA. It came in at 9.3% ABV with 106 IBU's. I'm actually sampling it right now, and for an imperial IPA, it is quite tasty. I should clarify that statement before you take it the wrong way. I am not a fan of IPA's and definitely not imperial IPA's. I find Halligan to be a perfect IPA which only has 40 IBU's.

Aside from that, February is pretty much wrapped up. March will feature the brewing of Feurwehrmann along with another batch of Chief's IIPA. I'll try to stay more on top of the blog this month.

James

Beer Dinner @ Murphy's Taproom

2009-01-25T10:21:00.007-05:00

Our new sales representitive, Ryan O'Connor, has setup a beer dinner at Murphy's Taproom in Manchester, NH on Wednesday, February 25 at 6:30pm. "Stay warm with our hearty winter beer.." We will be pairing some of our hearty beers with a five course meal.

Details are still being worked out, but throughout the meal, we will be explaining the pairings. It should be a good time with great food and OK beer (just kidding).

Tickets are $35 and available online at Murphy's Taproom website or at the taproom.

No More 12 Hour Filtrations

2009-01-25T10:15:00.006-05:00

Change has come to Pennichuck’s bottled beer… Within the last month, we have been researching a new to us form of filtration. Since our inception a little over two years now, we have been filtering our beer using a plate and frame filter. These filters use pads that are composed of cellulose and diatomaceous earth (DE). For our filter, it takes (39) 40x40cm pads to push 30 barrels (930 gal) through within 8-15 hours! After spending Christmas Eve at the brewery, I made it a personal quest to figure out how to filter with a DE filter.

A DE filter is MUCH more complicated than a plate and frame filter, but the time saved is worth it. DE or diatomaceous earth are basically microscopic seashells. The nooks and cranny's that make up the shells are excellent at trapping single-cell organisms such as yeast. DE comes in a powder form that we mix with beer or de-oxygenated water. In the powder form it presents some health hazards to us, but as soon as it mixes with a solution such as beer, it is no longer dangerous. Below is a microscopic view of DE.

There are two types of DE filters. There is a vertical leaf filter and a horizontal leaf filter. We have a 3 sq. meter horizontal leaf. The leaves are plates with a fine mesh screen. Prior to filtering, the leaves need to be coated with a coarse layer of DE to prevent yeast and other particulates from passing through the screens. This coating is called the precoat. Many breweries differ in how they precoat in regards to composition, ratios, and amounts. For us, we like to use a little bit of cellulose to provide a flexible bridge across the screens to help prevent any breakthrough. We then finish the precoat with a coarse DE followed by a fine DE layer.

Once the precoat has been built up, which takes about 15-20 minutes. We know when the precoat has been sufficiently established because the cloudy beer that we used to mix the precoat compounds will turn clear (bright) in the sight glass. After the precoat is established, it is time to bring in the beer and begin filtering. While the beer is being passed through the filter, there is a small dose of DE constantly being added to the filter to provide a new filtration bed. It helps prevent the heavy yeast load from building upon itself, creating a blockage. This is what typically happens with a plate and frame filter.

We ran a trial batch through the filter a few weeks ago with moderate success. We managed to filter 15 barrels in two hours. For us, that was a huge success, but for a DE filter, that time should have been cut down to only one hour. We went back and looked at our precoat ratios and our body feed amounts to find any areas for improvement. After talking to a few other brewers, who were immensely helpful, we realized where we needed to change. After making the changes, it was time to filter our first 30 barrel batch. It was nerve wrecking. The thing about a DE filter is that if you mess up your filter bed, you have just added 3 more hours to your day redoing everything. Well, we successfully filtered 30 barrels in exactly two hours. This was the flow rate that should have been expected in the previous filter run.

After successfully filtering 30 barrels in only two hours, we realized there is no going back. What this means to the consumer, is that we have greater control over our packaged product. With DE filtration, we can zero in on how many microns we want to filter down to. We can also add in stabilizers to increase shelf-life. With the plate and frame filter, our pads were constantly inconsistent with the specs. In the last two filtration runs with the plate and frame, we were getting yeast breakthrough into the packaged product. This leads to a hazy beer.

So drink up and enjoy!

James

Fireman's Pail Ale

2009-01-21T21:33:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I guess it is my turn to write-up one of our beers… It seems logical that the first beer I write up about is the first commercial brewing recipe I made, Fireman’s Pail Ale. So the story behind the Pale Ale is that I was a new assistant with Pennichuck finishing up my Siebel program when Damase and Phil approached me about creating the recipe for the pale ale. Damase reflected upon his first time working for a brewery and the brewer allowed him to create a recipe in order to kind of initiate him in the brewing industry. Damase felt compelled to do the same with me.

When designing the recipe for the Pale, I only had restraints on which hops to use. I was free to play with the malt bill, but the types of hops were already predetermined. This was a result of the recent hop crisis. We could only get our hands on Palisades and Argentinean Cascades. With this, I took it upon myself to create a Pale Ale that “I” would enjoy; pretty much ignoring some of the standards. Typically not a wise business decision, but it was my first recipe and I was going to do what I wanted :).

The malt bill consists of the typical two-row pale malt, kiln amber, caramunich, and caramalt. There is also a little bit of wheat. I wanted a beer with body that had a full malty taste. I didn’t want a simple two-row pale malt beer driven by hops. Some pale ales are essentially dumbed-down IPA’s. I’m not a hop head. I enjoy a malty beer. Appearance-wise, Fireman’s Pail Ale has a lot more amber color than most Pale Ales, but by BJCP guidelines, it falls right smack in the middle at around 9 SRM’s. As for aromatics, you will find that this beer has much more of a malt presence than a hop presence. The sweet, biscuit aromas are complimented by the gentle earthy hop aromas. As far as the hop aromas are concerned, we were all pretty shocked at how little hop aroma came through. Like I stated before, the hops were dictated, but we were allowed to use them in any fashion that we saw fit. We used the Palisade hops as the primary bittering hop during the boil due to its alpha acid content. The Argentinean Cascades were the aroma hops that were added at the end of the boil to give an “American” hop aroma (Grapefruit). We also decided to “Dry-hop” with the Argentinean Cascades. As the beer emerged from its fermentation, we quickly realized that Argentinean Cascades are nothing like American Cascades. The hop gave a real earthy hop aroma that you would find in typical English-style beers.

Hopefully you enjoy Fireman’s Pail Ale as much as I do. Let me know what your impressions are. Hopefully next time we can incorporate some of your comments.

James

Halligan

2009-01-15T09:23:00.003-05:00

The next beer I want to write about is Halligan, our IPA... or as some refer to it our RyePA. Halligan is a rather mild IPA, at only 5.1% alcohol and only 40 IBU. So on the scale of American IPA's it is mild, as they are often a bit more bitter (higher IBU's) and more alcohol content. The goal was to make a nice drinkable IPA, one that would not overwhelm the taste buds after one, and that folks might want a second. To do that we decided to use Rye Malt, this gives a crisp rye flavor, but not too much, we use 15% Rye Malt in the total grain bill. Then we used some English hops (Nugget), German hops (Tettnanger), and for an aroma hop we used an American Hop, Amarillo. Amarillo, it is said, give a slight peach taste, I have not really tasted it, but I do taste the citrus flavors which are characteristic of American hops. Personally, it asked, I will say that Halligan is probably my favorite (OK I am couching terms here, but it is like saying which child is my favorite [if I had children that is]). I like to keep a growler or a bottle at home, just to have it there if I would like a beer.

Next week, another beer...

Damase

Boston Beer Summit

2009-01-15T09:16:00.003-05:00

Hey all, we are headed to the Boston Beer Summit this weekend. It will be a good time. All the brewers I have spoken to are bringing some good stuff, some cask beers, some special one-offs. If you do go, swing on by the booth and say hi!

Damase

Props from the New York Times

2009-01-06T12:04:00.002-05:00

Hey all, I know two post in one day... what is going on here? But I just found an Article in the New York Times which says that Pozharnik is a best value (they were comparing Barrel Aged beers) and their number 2 beer. So I thought I'd pass along the link.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/dining/07wine.html?_r=3&emc=eta1

I'd love to be able to tell everyone where to get it, exactly in NYC and the rest of the world, but what I can tell folks is our list of distributors:
NYC: American Beer in Brooklyn (I know it has been on tap in both Brooklyn and Manhattan, the Spuyten Duyvil grocery, and American Beer in Brooklyn carries it as does the Whole Foods in the Bowery)
Upstate NY: Half Time in Poughkeepsie (they are the store as well as our distributor)
Eastern PA: Shangy's in Emmaus
Western CT: Drinx Unlimited
Eastern CT: Franklin (please check our website www.pennichuckbrewing.com for the counties)
MA: Atlantic Importing (we've been on tap at the Armsby Abbey, and we are sold at Julio's, Marty's, and many other package stores)
VT: G. Housen (I know we have been on tap and in bottles, but I do not know where)
NH: Capitol Distributing, and Amoskeag

Damase

It's a new year

2009-01-06T08:55:00.002-05:00

Well it is a new year, and we are busy getting ready for it. We have a bit of a lag in the schedule, where we are learning a new filtering technique (DE filtering which I can explain at a later time) and doing a little brewing and some preventative maintenance. So I thought I'd write about the beers from a brewer's point of view. Basically how we came up with each beer and some of what we use in the various batches.

I am going to start with St. Florian's Doppelbock, namely because we are brewing it tomorrow, so it is on my mind. Doppelbocks were originally brewed by the monks to help them make it through the long fast of lent. The beer is a rather heavy beer with a fair amount of carbohydrates, thus it is filling. This particular beer is inspired by a doppelbock I had in Germany. There is a small brewery called Andechs, it is at a monastery and so it is brewed by monks. A fantastic beer, they call is a Dark Doppelbock, heavy in body, sweet in taste and absolutely delicious. Our doppelbock I wanted to recreate the heavy sweet body, and make it strong. In order to do this we have to leave non fermentable sugars in the beer. So I used a fair amount of caramelized malts in the grain bill, as well as 2-row pale malt, and munich malts. For hops, I used German style hops, including Hallertau and Brewer's gold. As for the taste, fruity (from the unfermentable sugars) and sweet. I will say this can last a while (at least a year) in the cellar. I had one the other week, before I brewed the last batch, and was very pleased with the flavors, the mouthfeel, the aroma, and the taste. Well this is how I view this beer, it may not be how others view it as people look for different things in beer.

Damase

Happy New Year!

2008-12-30T14:42:00.002-05:00

Well a new year is upon us, and we are ready for it! We just finished kegging off the Halligan, so now we have a cooler full of beer. As for what we are doing for the New Year, Phil, myself and our families are off to the Balsam's in Dixville Notch, NH. It will be both work and fun. I will be giving a beer 101 lecture, on how to brew beer and get into the business, and Phil will be conducting a tasting of many of our finest products. But this leads me to think, I should probably let everyone know how I became a brewer.

Back in college I had the chance to sample some homebrews, as well as help make a batch, this piqued my curiosity. After graduating, I ended up working for a small Environmental Lab in Narragansett, near URI. URI had a program which over two weekends would teach you how to brew. So being the type who would want and education first, I learned to brew. This was back in 1993, so I have been brewing since then. My friends all enjoyed my beer and started talking to me about doing it full time. Well I decided that might be a good thing, but I wanted a brewing education first, and that costs money. After bouncing about, I ended up at a Pharmaceutical company in Massachusetts, where I proceeded to earn the necessary money to pull this off. After 7.5 years (to the day) I quit my job (everyone knew I was quiting, I basically gave a little over 2 year notice) and went to the World Brewing Academy. The WBA is 7 weeks in Chicago at the Siebel Institute followed by 5 weeks in Munich at Doemens Academy. It was one heck of an education. After returning from Germany I was able to be a volunteer Assistant Brewer at Nashoba Brewing in Bolton, MA. I followed this up, about 6 months later as the Assistant Brewer at Pennichuck, soon followed by Head Brewer at Pennichuck. It has been a heck of a ride. The nice thing about being a homebrewer for so many years, is that I have many recipes and ideas that are floating in my head, just waiting to come out. So look for new beers in '09 from all three of us here at the 'Chuck!

Hope everyone has a happy New Year, and talk to you all next year!

Damase

Filtering, Brewing and Kegging... oh my

2008-12-24T13:11:00.002-05:00

Hello all,

To paraphrase A Prairie Home Companion... "It's been a busy few weeks up here at Pennichuck!" Just to let everyone know what has been going on. Well, we've filtered Fireman's Pail, and Halligan, brewed both the next batches of Pozharnik, and BackDraft Chocolate Porter, and Kegged Fireman's Pail. So in the fermenters at this point we have BackDraft, Pozharnik, St. Florian, Balsam's Lager and Pompier. In the bright tank (or it will be after somepoint today) is Halligan.

In other news, we also have plenty of kegs. So ask your favorite bartender to put on Pennichuck. On this note, I have been asked "Hey, I like your beer why isn't at my favorite store, or pub?" There is a simple reason for this, being a small company we do not have sales folks working for us (outside of Ryan in NH) and we rely on the sales reps from the distributors to handle our sales. These guys do a great job, but they are burdened with not only our beer, some of our competitors and friends beers, so we only get so much "face-time" with the beer managers. So what can you, the lovers of Pennichuck do for us. That is a simple solution, just ask for the beer. If you go to your favorite beer store, ask if they carry us, if not, tell them you'd love it if they carried one of our beers (you pick your favorite.) They may ask you to buy some, but they will likely start to carry us. You can do the same thing with bars and pubs. Hey it might work, it is worth a shot, and we'd really appreciate it! Let me know if you have any success with this method.

If I do not get to mention it before then, I hope everyone has a safe and happy Holiday season, whether it be Christmas, Hanukka, Kwanza, or even New Years!

Damase

Saint Florian Is Coming!

2008-12-14T10:28:00.002-05:00

As we speak, the first batch of 2009 Saint Florian is being brewed. Yesterday Damase started the three-day brewing schedule. Today, I am brewing the second of the three batches and Damase will finish up the marathon tomorrow.

Saint Florian takes six weeks to ferment which means that it will most likely be available for distribution the first week of February in the 1 Liter swing-top bottles.

Saint Florian is a live beer, meaning there is still yeast in the beer which makes it great for cellaring. As you may know from last year's batch, the beer drastically changed over the course of the year for the better! I have a single bottle of 2008 sitting in my beer fridge just waiting for that perfect time.

I hope your all as anxious to try this year's batch as much as we are.

James

Hello again

2008-12-06T10:20:00.002-05:00

I really should keep this blog updated more and more, but we've been busy here at Pennichuck. We've been brewing and packaging like, and actually this weekend we are brewing again (I am here on Saturday, James will be here on Sunday), Halligan this time. Halligan is our IPA, it is brewed with 15% Rye Malt (basically similar to Barley Malt but using Rye instead of Barley) and hopped with Amarillo hops. We find that this gives a crisp taste, but not too bitter, and very easily drinkable.

But what has been going on here at the brewery lately. Well we finished packaging out the Barley Wine (Pompier), then proceeded to package out the BackDraft Chocolate Porter (now available, ask for it at a store near you!) In between all of that we brewed a batch the beer we contract brew for Rapscallion, the Honey Ale. So needless to say we have been busy.

As for what is on deck, next week we package out the Pozharnik Russian Imperial Stout into both kegs, and bottles, filter the Fireman's Pail, transfer the second batch of Pompier to barrels, and just for good measure we'll brew St. Florian's over the weekend. So if we do not update the blog as regularly as we should, please forgive us.

In other news, James is on his way to becoming an EMT, all he has left is the exams, so wish him luck!

Damase

Sorry for the Delay

2008-11-26T10:13:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the delay in the postings, but things have been busy up here at Pennichuck.

To start with I was down in Brooklyn and Manhattan last week for a beer dinner and to meet various folks in the industry down there. It is part of a push to get us on the board in NYC. Everything went excellent! The people I got to meet were very receptive to Pennichuck, most had heard of us and were chomping at the bit to get some kegs. A number of bars had us in bottles already. So it was a good thing. The beer dinner was another fabulous event, the food paired very nicely with the beers. Thanks to Jay and Erica for putting it on.

Meanwhile, up here at the brewery, things have been busy as well. We packaged off the Pompier Barley Wine Style Ale, in both kegs and bottles. So look for that soon. We also just filtered the BackDraft Porter, and it tastes great! Looking forward to getting that out to the public soon.

On another note, for those who come by the brewery for their weekend growler fills. We will be closed on Friday, so we can take a long weekend for Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Cheers,

Damase

Higgins Armory

2008-11-17T10:12:00.002-05:00

The Higgins Armory festival was fantastic! Thanks to Scott, Crystal and Audrey for their help in pouring Pennichuck. We always appreciate our friends helping out at the festivals.
For those of you who were unable to make it (the festival sold out with about 425 folks enjoying some excellent beers) I thought I'd give you a run down. We were pouring Halligan, Fireman's Pail and two of our gold medal beers Feuerwehrmann and The Big O. Other breweries I was about to sample were Berkshire Brewing, Gardner Ale House, Honest Town, Wachusett and Dogfish Head. There were many others there, but when I am working I do not get much of a chance to sample all of the wares. The festival itself was held in the museum, so while sampling beers you are able to look at the exhibits of armor, and weapons from the past. Good time had by all. I'll post when the spring festival will be, sign up to tickets early because I am sure that festival will sell out as well.
This week we are packaging the Pompier Barley Wine Style Ale, both kegs and bottles. As I mentioned previously I will be heading down to NYC this week to meet accounts and participate in a beer dinner. Hope to see some of you down there for that.

Cheers,

Damase

Results of the GIBF

2008-11-13T11:42:00.000-05:00

2008 GIBF Competition Winner's List

GREAT INTERNATIONAL BEER COMPETITION
NOVEMBER 7, 2008
PROVIDENCE, RI

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The 12th Annual Great International Beer Competition was held on Friday, November 7, 2007, in Providence, Rhode Island, one day before the 15th Annual Great International Beer Festival. Festivals of America produced both events. New England beer newspaper Yankee Brew News was the media sponsor of the competition.

One hundred eighty-seven beers from 39 breweries representing 10 states entered the competition. Forty-five professional brewers and beer industry journalists acted as judges in a blind tasting format. First, second and third place awards were presented in 17 categories of ales and lagers. The judges knew only the style and subcategory of each beer.

Since the competition began in 1997, over 1,800 beers have been judged. The awards were presented during the afternoon session of the beer festival, announced by Yankee Brew News editor Gregg Glaser. On the floor of the festival, held at the Rhode Island Convention Center, 7,500 beer lovers were able to sample over 250 beers from approximately 100 breweries.

The 13th Annual Great International Beer Competition and the 16th Annual Great International Beer Festival will take place on November 13-14, 2009, in Providence. In addition, a spring beer festival will take place on May 2, 2009, in Providence. Details are available at www.beerfestamerica.com.

WINNERS

WHEAT BEER
1) Cape Cod Dunkel Weizen, Cape Cod Beer, Hyannis, MA
2) Blue Moon Belgian White Ale, Coors Brewing, Golden, CO
3) In Heat Wheat, Flying Dog Brewery, Frederick, MD

LIGHT ALE
1) Copper Hill Kölsch, Cambridge Brew House, Granby & Torrington, CT
2) Haverale, Haverhill Brewery/The TAP, Haverhill, MA
3) Certified Gold, Willimantic Brewing/Main Street Café, Willimantic, CT

ENGLISH PALE ALE/BITTER
1) Samuel Adams Pale Ale, Boston Beer Co., Boston, MA
2) Whistling Pig Red Ale, Jasper Murdock's Alehouse/Norwich Inn, Norwich, VT
3) Mayflower Pale Ale, Mayflower Brewing, Plymouth, MA

AMERICAN PALE ALE
1) Mojo IPA, Boulder Beer Co., Boulder, CO
2) Long Hammer IPA, Redhook Ale Brewery, Woodinville, WA & Portsmouth, NH
3) Ipswich Harvest Ale, Mercury Brewing, Ipswich, MA

AMERICAN AMBER ALE
1) Cape Cod Red, Cape Cod Beer, Hyannis, MA
2) American Amber TinsleyRogue Ales, Newport, OR
3) Long Trail Ale, Long Trail Brewing, Bridgewater Corners, VT

IPA
1) Seeing Double IPA, Amherst Brewing, Amherst, MA
2) Celebration Ale, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Chico, CA
3) Offshore IPA, Offshore Ale Co., Oak Bluffs, MA

BROWN ALE
1) Lackey's Brown Ale, Martha's Exchange Brewing, Nashua, NH
2) Pig's Ear Brown Ale, Woodstock Inn Brewery, Woodstock, NH
3) Friar Brown, Union Station Brewery, Providence, RI

PORTER
1) JW Dundee's Porter, High Falls Brewing, Rochester, NY
2) Mayflower Porter, Mayflower Brewing, Plymouth, MA
3) General John Stark Dark Porter, Milly's Tavern, Manchester, NH

STOUT
1) Two Sister's Stout, Amherst Brewing, Amherst, MA
2) Ipswich Oatmeal Stout, Mercury Brewing, Ipswich, MA
3) Shakespeare Stout, Rogue Ales, Newport, OR
Honorable Mention: Oatmeal Stout, Milly's Tavern, Manchester, NH

LAGER
1) Coors Original Banquet Domestic Lager, Coors Brewing, Golden, CO
2) Old School Pils, Gardner Ale House, Gardner, MA
3) Bohemian Pils, Trinity Brewhouse, Providence, RI

AMBER LAGER
1) Feuerwherman Schwarzbier, Pennichuck Brewing, Milford, NH
2) Dry Hopped Red, Rogue Ales, Newport, OR
3) Vienna Lager, Gardner Ale House, Gardner, MA

BOCK
1) Harvest Bock, Buzzards Bay Brewing, Westport, MA
2) Dead Guy Ale, Rogues Ales, Newport, OR
3) Incinerator Dopplebock, Amherst Brewing, Amherst, MA

OKTOBERFEST
1) The Big O, Pennichuck Brewing, Milford, NH
2) Lewmeister Octoberfest, Amherst Brewing, Amherst, MA
3) Oktober-Bier, Cambridge Brew House, Granby & Torrington, CT

STRONG BEER: OTHER
1) Hop Goddess, Offshore Ale Co., Oak Bluffs, MA
2) Samuel Adams Utopias, Boston Beer Co., Boston, MA
3) Double Bag Ale, Long Trail Brewing, Bridgewater Corners, VT

STRONG BEER: RUSSIAN IMPERIAL STOUT
1) Kinspin Imperial Stout, Watch City Brewing, Waltham, MA
2) Joshua Norton, Haverhill Brewery/The TAP, Haverhill, MA
3) Saranac Imperial Stout, FX Matt Brewing, Utica, NY
Honorable Mention: Pozharnik Espresso Russian Imperial Stout, Pennichuck Brewing, Milford, NH

STRONG BEER: MIXED STYLES
1) Bagpiper Scottish Ale, Pennichuck Brewing, Milford, NH
2) Dr. Hoppenstein's Double IPA, Martha's Exchange, Nashua, NH
3) Old Crustacean, Rogue Ales, Newport, OR

FRUIT/SPICE: ALE
1) Beejesus Hop Crisis BPA, Watch City Brewing, Waltham, MA
2) Raspberry UFO Hefeweizen, Harpoon Brewery, Boston, MA
3) Wye Winter Wassail Spiced Lager, Pennichuck Brewing, Milford, NH

Upcoming events

2008-11-13T10:48:00.002-05:00

We have a few events coming up:

Saturday 11/15 from 6 -10, Festival of Ales at The Higgins Armory. Look for us there, we'll be pouring The Big O, Feuerwehrmann, Halligan, Fireman's Pail and possibly a few surprises if I get off my duff and actually package them out

Thursday 11/20 from 6 -10, Beer dinner at Barrette in Brooklyn. This will be with the Head Brewer (Damase). The menu is a follows:

1st Course

Pumpkin Soup paired with "The Big O" Oktoberfest

Trifecta Medal Winner at the Great International Beer Festival

2008 Gold Medal, 2007 Silver Medal, 2006 Bronze Medal

Venison Meatloaf with Mashed Potato and Caramelized Carrot

paired with Bagpiper's Scottish Ale,

Gold Medal Winner at the 2008 GIBF

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream with Hot Fudge

paired with Whiskey Barrel Aged Pozharnik Espresso Russian Imperial Stout,

Silver Medal Winner at the 2007 GIBF

That will be it for a little while. Some more events we are slowly working on:
Beer event at Eli Cannon's in Middletown, CT
Tasting at Jasper's Homebrew Supply in Nashua, NH
Beer 101 and tasting at The Balsam's in Dixville Notch, NH

Like I said more details to follow.

Cheers,

Damase

What's up

2008-11-13T10:11:00.002-05:00

Well just thought I'd let you know what has been happening the last few days at the brewery. Well we have been brewing. Right now we are in the middle of our second batch of Pompier, we'll finish it up this evening. Tomorrow we double brew a Fireman's Pale. It will be a full day (just like today.)

In other news, we've signed on with Microstar. This mean that we will be renting kegs from a keg management company (Microstar) and then when the kegs go to the distributor, we do not have to work on getting our kegs back, but we may get back other folks kegs. We then clean those kegs and send them out and the cycle continues. This will work great when we send kegs out of state, so look for us on draft in other states soon. So far we have kegged out the Wassail into 1/6 kegs (AKA Logs) as well as 1/2 kegs. Next up will be Pompier, followed by Backdraft. More on those later when we keg them out.

Damase

Award Winning beers

2008-11-09T11:37:00.003-05:00

Well we are back from the GIBF, and we took home a few medals.

Gold: Bagpiper Scottish Ale
Gold: The Big O Oktoberfest
Gold: Feuerwehrmann Black Lager
Bronze: Wye Winter Wassail
Honorable Mention: Pozharnik Russian Imperial Stout

Needless to say we were quite pleased.

Some of our Friends took home Medals as well:
Martha's Exchange in Nashua, NH, a Gold for their Brown and a Silver for their Double IPA
Gardner Ale House in Gardner, MA, a Bronze and a Silver
Milly's Tavern in Manchester, NH, a Bronze (that I can recall)
Mayflower Brewing in Plymouth, MA, I can not recall which ones, but I know they won a Gold
There were several more, but I will post an update when I find out!

Damase

Great International Beer Festival

2008-11-06T18:49:00.002-05:00

Well it has been a busy week up here at the brewery (or down here, depending on where you live) so I have been unable to do some updates. But in the past week we have:
Bottled Engine 5
Bottled Balsam's Lager
Kegged Balsam's Lager
Cleaned Numerous Kegs (James!)
and Transferred the Wassail so we can keg it out.

First about the numerous kegs, we finally have Microstar kegs. What does this mean for you... Microstar is a keg rental logistics company. They own the kegs, we use them. This means that if we send a keg to CT or NY we do not have to get our keg back, it goes back into the great keg cycle and we get a new Microstar keg. So look for Pennichuck on Draft in pub or packie near you.

Second... This weekend is the Great International Beer Festival in Providence, RI. The festival is on Saturday, but we judge beers on Friday. So tomorrow we will not be at the brewery, but we will be judges. Wish us luck. I'll let you know our medal count when I know it!

Cheers,

Damase

Porter Named!

2008-10-29T15:25:00.003-04:00

Well the porter has been named, it will be called BackDraft Porter!

A little about labels and such, and why sometimes it takes so long from the idea until the brew is out in the stores.

To begin with, we decide that we want to brew a new beer. Then we come up with a recipe, James, Phil, and I have plenty of home brewing experience, so sometimes a recipe is easy, other times we play a bit more with a prototype. Once we come up with recipe we have to see if there are any "non-traditional" ingredients or processes done. Traditional ingredients include the big 4, non traditional include spices, honey, berries, and other flavorings. Non-traditional processes include aging in barrels among other things that we have yet to find out about. If something non-traditional is done we have to file a Statement Of Process with the Federal Government, which they will either approve or reject. Once the SOP is approved (with labeling requirements) we can then brew the beer and make the label.

Once we create the label (Phil is the creative one) we send it off to be approved by the Federal Government once again. They look at lettering height, what the label says, if any trademarks might be infringed on, and if the name is acceptable. Once the label is approved and produced by the label maker, we can bottle the beer and get it out to our distributors.

Each state has their own labeling laws, so what might be acceptable in one state, may not be acceptable in another state. Also, with the way the government works, what would be acceptable to one reviewer might not to another. It can be a confusing process.

That is about it today

Cheers,

Damase

Engine 5

2008-10-28T16:20:00.001-04:00

Well, we just finished bottling some Engine 5 (102 cases worth) we'll end up bottling about 200 more cases next week. One the schedule for the rest of this week...
Filter Balsam's Lager
Brew Balsam's Lager
Bottle Balsam's Lager

A busy week coming up.

At the end of next week we have the GIBF in Providence, it is a good festival, especially Saturday Afternoon. That is when the brewers find out if they won any awards for their beers!

Damase

A new Beer

2008-10-24T13:11:00.003-04:00

Well today we just finished brewing a new beer. The as of yet unnamed Chocolate Porter (so far we have discussed "Dalmatian, Backdraft, and Paramedic.) The goal is a beer with a subtle hint of Chocolate, coming from the imported Chocolate Malt (no chocolate used in the malt, but the taste is similar to chocolate.) We will find out in a few weeks how well we did in hitting out goal.

Now in the fermenters we have:
FV1: Pozharnik
FV2: Porter
FV3: Empty
FV4: Wassail
20BBL: Balsam's Lager
Barrels: Pompier (aging nicely if I do say so myself)
Bright Tank: Engine 5 (we should be bottling it out next week!)

Today we have two tastings we are attending, Phil and James are off to Fancestown, NH (The Village Store), and I am off to Sutton, MA (Heritage Starlight in the Manchaug Mills.) So if you are in the area, stop by and say hi!

Well off to make more boxes and assemble 6 pack holders for the Engine 5 bottling run next week.

Have a great weekend, and Cheers,

Damase

View The Brewery

2008-10-21T17:07:00.003-04:00

Forgive my shaking camera. I thought I would give this a shot. I will try to update the video at a later time with better camera angles.

The video shows the Mash Tun (Right) and the Brew Kettle (Left). The camera then swings to show the fermenters. We have a 15 barrel (465 Gallon) Brewhouse. The fermenters are 30 barrel fermenters with the exception of the 15 barrel fermenter and the 40 barrel conditioning tank.

James

Filtering Engine 5

2008-10-21T13:23:00.006-04:00

Today we are filtering 30 barrels of Engine 5 scheduled to be bottled on Monday and Tuesday.

Engine 5 is filtered using a plate and frame filter along with a cartridge filter. A plate and frame sandwiches sheets of filter membrane (paper) between two plastic plates. As the beer is pushed through the sheets, yeast, trub, and other particulates are stripped from the beer for a clean final product. Our filter sheets will strip any particle that is greater than 6 microns (0.0006 inches). Once the beer passes through the plate and frame filter, it goes into a cartridge filter. A cartridge filter is basically a large version of your home water filters. It has a filtering membrane inside the housing that will strip out any that is greater that 0.65 microns. At 0.65 microns, the beer is nearly sterile; meaning that any bacteria that may have survived the plate and frame filter, will most likely be stripped out by the cartridge before it enters the Bright Tank. Once it is in the Bright Tank, the beer is carbonated and ready for packaging.

A filter run can take anywhere from 3-8 hours. It has taken as long as 12 hours before. Therefore, it is always nice to have a brewery dog to play with in the meantime.

Here is a picture of the setup of the two filters. On the left-hand side is the Plate and Frame filter which leads into the cartridge filter on the right. After the cartridge filter, the beer goes into the Bright Tank.

Here is a better view of the cartridge filter and the connections to the filters.

James

Mowgli, The Brewery Dog.

2008-10-21T12:47:00.007-04:00

It is time to put some pictures up on the blog and what better than to start with the brewery dog, Mowgli.

Mowgli is a full German Shepard and will be two years old this December. He keeps us occupied throughout the day by following us everywhere, demanding that we play with him. I'm pretty sure we lose an hour or two a day having to entertain him. We ask that anyone who visits the brewery not to play with him since we have to suffer the consequences. Just kidding. All in all he is a great dog to have around the brewery. It sure makes filtering days a little easier.

James

Kegs of Pozharnik

2008-10-20T14:14:00.002-04:00

Well we finished the kegging of the Pozharnik today. All in all a successful day. The rest of the day is spent cleaning and sanitizing for tomorrow's filtering day. Tomorrow we filter Engine 5 into the Bright tank.

Now for a few definitions that you might read here on the website...
Ingredients in our beer:
Malt: Grain (Barley, Wheat, Rye, and others) that has begun to germinate and then the germination is stopped. The Malt is then kilned, or roasted, or some cobination of the two to create different colors (shades of brown.)
Water: Self explanitory, water is water. We do add various chemicals to the water to get it where we want. We add gypsum to make the water harder, which emulates much of the water in England.
Hops: The flower of the hop plant. We get two major properties from the hops, the first is the bitterness (the Alpha Acid) which is disolved after much boiling (at least 60 minutes), the second is Aroma, which if you boil too long you lose. What we do is put bittering hops in early in the boil, and then aroma hops in later (best of both worlds.) I have always joked about making a beer that smelled hoppy, so folks would think it is bitter, but with very little bittering hops, and another beer with very little Aroma hops. I would do this just for fun to see what I get.
Yeast: A living creature that makes beer. All we make is yeast food, the yeast makes the beer. Yeast, through their biochemical reactions, create all sorts of flavors for the beer.

That is all for definitions now. More will follow

Cheers,

Damase

Done!

2008-10-17T13:59:00.002-04:00

We have just finished bottling the last of the 200 cases of Pozharnik (filling about 16 kegs on Monday.) So now it is clean up time.

A little of what we have at the brewery for sale:

Growlers: Halligan, Engine 5, Feuerwehrmann, Shouboushi, Fireman's Pail, and The Big O
22 oz Bombers: Halligan, Feuerwehrmann, Shouboushi, Fireman's Pail, and The Big O
1L Swing Tops: POZHARNIK (as of just now!) and Bagpiper

The Beers (available right now):
Halligan, An IPA
Engine 5, A Red Ale
Feuewehrmann, A Black Lager
Shouboushi, A Ginger Pilsner
Fireman's Pail, A Pale Ale
The Big O, An Oktoberfest
Pozharnik, An Imperial Stout brewed with Vanilla and Espresso
Bagpier, A Scotch Ale, a portion of the Malt was smoked over locally grown apple wood.

I'll try to write more (or James will) this weekend about definitions that you might find on our blog, and who knows what else.

Damase

Pozharnik... Day 2

2008-10-15T20:08:00.003-04:00

Well got 64 cases done today, 111 cases left to go! As for the video camera idea, I'll look into it, the commentary will be exciting (well the banter will be as we all go slowly insane :))

Bottling

2008-10-15T12:35:00.002-04:00

Yesterday began the bottling run of Pozharnik, it continues today, tomorrow and Friday. We keg on Monday. Bottling the Pozharnik (and all our 1 L beers) is truly a labor of love. We do not have an automated bottler, we have a 4 bottle hand bottler. So each bottle is hand filled, hand capped, and then the shrink wrap is finally put on, by you guessed it... hand.

We have 200 cases to get out, our usually production day is about 50 cases, if all goes well. We did 25 cases yesterday, hoping for 75 today, then 50 a day for the rest of the week. We'll see how it goes. As for pitures of everything, I have to remember to bring in my camera.

Hope all is well, and time to get bottling!

Damase

Tank 1 Filled With Pozharnik

2008-10-11T08:59:00.002-04:00

As Damase has already informed, yesterday was a double brew day. After a total of three batches, Pozharnik is finally in the tank and already rocking!

For those of you have not been on a brewery tour or haven't homebrewed, when yeast is supplied with a sugar source (wort) they start consuming the sugars for growth and survival. This is what we call fermentation. When the yeast eats up sugar it creates two byproducts, CO2 and ethanol. During the first days of fermentation (Primary fermentation) there is a large volume of CO2 being released. If a fermentation tank did not have any means of rapidly releasing the CO2, the tank would build up pressure and possibly explode. This is why we have what is called a "Blow-off" hose. It is just a simple hose coming from the tank into a bucket filled with water to create an airlock but easily allow the CO2 to escape. When fermentation becomes visible, the water in the blow-off bucket will start to violently bubble. This is what we call "rocking."

Leaving the brewery around 8:45PM or so, all you could smell was the sweet smell of freshly brewed wort and vanilla balanced with the subtle scent of espresso.

Who says brewing is all fun and games...

2008-10-10T17:38:00.002-04:00

It is also hard work too!

Today was a double brew day of Pozharnik. This means the first batch starts at 6:30, the last person out the door at about 8ish (or 8:30 if all went well... did it James?)

Basically the same things happen, as in the last post on Pozharnik, but two of them happen back to back. A long day, but a good day. It is always good when you get to make beer!

Damase

Pozharnik Brew Day

2008-10-09T08:38:00.000-04:00

Today we brew the second batch of the 2008 Pozharnik Russian Imperial Stout. If you are wondering about the brewing process, I'll give you all a run down. (more detail will follow as time goes on.)

The Day before:
1) Heat the Water we need for the next day
2) Mill the Malt we need
3) Clean the Fermenter

The Brew Day:
1) Mash in (combine the milled Malt and water) in the Mash/Lauter Tun, let rest for 40 minutes
2) While Mashing, heat additional water
3) Sanitize the fermenter
4) after allow the mash to sit for 40 minutes, recirculate the wort
5) When the water is heated, transfer to the Hot Liquor tank (sanitizing the heat exchanger along the way)
5) After 20 minutes of recirculation we begin to send the wort into the kettle.
6) Collect the amount of wort we want, and bring to a boil
7) Empty, by hand, the wet grains in the Mash/Lauter tun (the grains are then sent to a local farmer, Fitch's Dairy Farm)
8) Boil for 90 minutes, while adding the hops at the various points of time
9) After the boil, we begin a 15 minute Whirpool (allowing the hops to settle in a cone at the center of the kettle)
10) A 20 minute rest, where we add the yeast to the fermenter
11) Knock Out, send the wort through the heat exchanger, allowing it to cool to 70 F (Ales) or 65 F (Lagers), to the Fermenter
12) CLEAN... Clean the kettle, the heat exchanger
13) End of the brew day, if we are brewing tomorrow, repeat the process with the grains. The water we recover into the hot liquor tank from the heat exchanger.

More on the various steps and parts later

Enjoy,

Damase

What do you do when you want to save a beer?

2008-10-08T09:14:00.000-04:00

Well you recreate it...

What do I mean. Well this year we brewed a little too much Oktoberfest. So we bottle a little of the third batch, and now we are going to "Spice it up." Adding Cinnamon, Allspice, Clove, Nutmeg, Brown Sugar, Pepper, Ginger and a few other spices we will make a Wassail (name to be determined.) It is going to be a draft only beer, and who knows, maybe it will become part of our regular cycle of beers.

Also today we are blending the hogshead of Pozharnik with the tank of Pozharnik, transferring the blend to the Bright Beer Tank and carbonate it for bottling and kegging next week. And if that was not enough, we brew prep (heat water, mill grains, clean the fermenter) for the next batch of Pozharnik.

Cheers,

Damase

2008-10-06T11:42:00.000-04:00

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Welcome

2008-10-05T18:38:00.001-04:00

Here is the first post of the new Pennichuck Brewer's Blog.

First a little about this blog:

Who we are: Pennichichuck Brewing Company, a small craft brewery brewing Ales and Lagers
Where we are: Milford, NH
Our Website: www.pennichuckbrewing.com
The Contributors:
Phil Jewett --- President and Chief Bottle Washer
James Moriarty --- Assistant Brewer
Damase Olsson --- Head Brewer
And that is it for now...

The goal of the blog is to write our thoughts, opinion, where we will be pouring, what is in the tanks, and other fun things that we think of, when we think of it.

What is in the Tanks:
FV1: Pozharnik Russian Imperial Stout, there is also 1 Heaven Hill Bourbon barrel of it ready to be blended (later today)
FV2: Engine 5
FV3: Hose Down yeast propagation!
FV4: Empty, soon to receive our Wassail
20BBL: Balsam's Lager
Conditioning Tank: Some Pompier, aging with French Oak Spirals, there is also 8 Heaven Hill Bourbon Barrels with Pompier aging in it.
BBT: The Big O Oktoberfest.

Now we will be taking the Big O, adding some spices (in FV4) and creating our Wassail from it. Should be a fun time!

That about covers the first post, more will be added later.

Damase