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.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
So What's Been Going On...
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
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
Thursday, February 26, 2009
One Month Later...
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
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
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Beer Dinner @ Murphy's Taproom
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.
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
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
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
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Fireman's Pail Ale
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
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
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Halligan
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
Next week, another beer...
Damase
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