The 2010 National Homebrewers Conference is a scant 3 months away.  If you haven’t registered yet – what ‘s the holdup?  Last year’s conference was pretty spectacular and this year’s event in Minneapolis promises to be even better.

Bring your liver; the party starts Wednesday (June 16) with pre-conference activities including some pub crawls, brewery tours and a baseball game at the new Twins stadium.  Sign up for one (or more) of them here.

If you want to arrive earlier, stay later, or bring the whole family and make it a vacation – the conference organizers have put together a site with lots of information about the area and extra-curricular activities.  Check it out at mnchillin.com.

Conference packages will start selling out soon and the discounted rate for early registration ends March 31.   It’s 3 days of the best beer and people you could ever wish for.  Pro-Brewers night puts all other festivals to shame.  Club night features some of the best homebrew in the country.  And be sure to get in on the multi-course beer dinner – the Grand Banquet featuring the food stylings of Sean Paxton.

As if all of that wasn’t enough – the conference also includes the second round of the  National Homebrew Competition.  The entry deadline is April 1 and the beer must arrive at the judging site by that date.

So what are you waiting for?  Get on over to the official page and sign up already.

Photo borrowed from the AHA.

As promised in the previous post, here’s the follow-up for my trip to Sierra Nevada’s Beer Camp.  All of the pictures I took are on Flickr here.  There are titles/descriptions for most of them.

Even if you’re just stopping in for the normal tour, Sierra Navada is still well worth the trip.  The front of the house is like a museum of cool beery things and the taproom has 15-ish beers on at all times.  Many of them aren’t distributed (at least not widely).  And the food is excellent.  Chico State raises cattle for the restaurant, they get fresh fish from nearby and they have a wood-fired oven which makes a mean pizza.

But you’re reading this for the secret behind the scenes stuff, right?  Steve Grossman (Ken’s brother) heads up the Beer Camp program and he’s recently brought in Terence Sullivan (one of the brewers) to help out.  Both of them are really great guys and did an exceptional job of giving us the inside scoop on all of the brewery operations.  After spending a couple of days together, they’re more like friends than just guys who work for Sierra Nevada.

The first day of camp was mainly touring the grounds. It’s like a campus compared to the “3 guys in a warehouse” breweries we have here.  So that lasted most of the day.

We started out with a brief history lesson – you can check out Ken Grossman’s keynote from NHC which covers most of it.  After that we headed over to the railroad spur.  Yes, they have their own railroad station for bringing in malt. It’s apparently much more efficient than the 3-4 trucks per day they were getting down from Canada.  One railroad car is one day worth of malt in the production brewhouses.

The main 100 and 200 barrel brewhouses are pretty much what you’d expect – check out the pictures.  The 200 barrel brewery has a pretty cool hand-painted mural all the way around that describes the brewing process.  Each of the characters in the mural is an employee!

I didn’t get any pictures of the big hop warehouse but it was pretty impressive – very little light inside, it’s about 30ºF and hop bales are stacked 5 or 6 high.  There are more hops lying around on the floor (that eventually get swept away) than any of us homebrewers could use in a year.

The labs were also pretty cool – mass spectrometers, gas chromatography and other assorted chemistry nerd stuff.  It was interesting to see that they do a forced ferment test on all of the batches.  If you have a stir-plate it’s a pretty easy thing to add to your repertoire.

In the afternoon we sat down as a group with pilot brewers Scott and Mark to iron out the details on our recipe.  We decided on something along the lines of an American-style Old/Stock/Strong ale. It should be a pretty good malty fall seasonal beer.

A quick trip through the gift shop and then over to the taproom for the 4:30pm Thursday cask.  This week it was wet-hopped Pale ale.  Excellent!  They’re working on getting more casks and barrels to expand those programs over the next couple of years.

The second day we brewed.

The pilot brewhouse is super cool.  The fermenters are 20 barrels but the brewhouse is only 10 barrels – so they have 2 boil kettles and separate mash and sparge tanks.  This way they can do 2 batches at once.

They also have a really sweet hydrating malt mill.  Basically the grain gets misted with water which helps the husk to peel away rather than shred.  Seems like something that’s easily adaptable for homebrewers.

All of the beer is brewed with de-aerated water and the mill is purged with nitrogen to prevent oxidation and improve stability in the finished beer.  Water combines with the grain as it exits the mill so at this point it’s mashing already.  From there the mash gets pumped up to the mash tun.

The second batch gets mashed in while the first batch is sparging.

While the brew was going on we got a chance to go into the Sensory lab and experience a quick version of their tasting program.  You sit in the booth, the window opens and someone passes you beer.  It’s a triangle test and you have to determine which of the 3 beers has a problem and what the problem is.  In the first round, one of the beers was spiked with an off flavor and in the second round one of the beers was 4 months older than the others.  The spiked beer was easy to identify, but I also managed to pick out the old beer – so that was cool.

The lab was also nice enough to analyzed some hoebrew for us.  They did the basic tests for SRM, ABV, BU, pH, and OG.  It was interesting to see how far off everyone’s IBU calculations were from actual.  Most were about 30% lower than what we calculated with Beersmith or Promash.

We wrapped up with a big group tasting with a bunch of the staff.  First on the menu was a vertical tasting of Bigfoot (’09, ’06, ’03, ’00).  And then a bunch of secret stuff I probably shouldn’t mention.  If you’re only familiar with the basic Pale Ale, Torpedo IPA, Kellerweis and Porter which you can find everywhere – then you’d be really surprised at some of the stuff the pilot brewery turns out.

After that we gave up on “tell us about this beer” and just lined everything up in the sensory room festival style.  We ended up with 6 previous beer camp brews on tap along with a 18 or so homebrew beer, mead and cider and a few commercials.  This social session ended up as one of the highlights for campers and staff alike.

It was definitely an action packed couple of days.  They haven’t decided if the winners of the NHC will be invited back again next year, but you can bet I’ll be doing my best to win again next year – just in case…

Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head giving a talk on "Extreme Fermentables"

This is part 2 of our 2009 National Homebrewers Conference trip.  Check out the pre-conference shenanigans here.

You know you’re having a good time when you can’t remember what day it is.

I seriously had to ask several times throughout the week.  And this state wasn’t even alcohol-induced.

We kicked off Thursday (I think it was Thursday anyway) with a trip to Oakland Chinatown for some dim-sum at Legendary Palace.  The conference hotel was only about a block away, which was nice.

You know you’re in the right place for ethnic food when there’s no English menu.  The food was excellent and the price was astonishingly low.

After that we wandered over back over to the conference Hospitality Suite to check out the scene.  The suite is open basically from 8:30am-2am (except on Thursday when it opened at 11:30am) and is manned by rotating clubs pouring homebrew.  There are also a number of merchants present during the day, homebrew shops, equipment/ingredient manufacturers and the like.

The official start of the conference is the Opening Toast and the bulk of each day is comprised of different seminars on a wide range of topics.   Chris Graham and Nathan Smith did a superb job of coordinating the guest speakers.

I was really blown away by the level high level of discussion at each talk.  This is definitely not Brewing 101.  I’m pretty sure there will be at least audio for all of the talks up on the AHA site at some point and you should really try to listen to all of them.

Most of the seminars also featured several beers relevant to the presentation.  Between that and the hospitality suite the liver gets quite a workout.  It would be impossible to list every beer we tasted, so I’m not even going to try.

After dinner, each night features a different social event.  Thursday was Pro-Brewers night, Friday Club night and Saturday the Grand Banquet and awards ceremony.

Pro-Brewers night totally rocked this year.  There were around 50 breweries represented serving their beers festival style.  It’s quite a treat to have the owners and head brewers of some of the most famous breweries in the world there pouring their own beers.

Greg Koch (@stonegreg) from Stone Brewing and me!

I think the most impressive thing is that all of these “rock-star” brewers are real people.  Nobody was ever too busy to chat or sign a book or take a picture.

It was kind of odd (yet completely awesome) to see your brewing “heroes” wandering around as regular conference attendees.  Most of them were there for the whole weekend too.  They weren’t just in to give their presentation or pour some beer and then jet off.

As if Pro-Brewers night wasn’t mad enough, Friday Club Night was lunacy.

Picture the best beer festival you’ve ever been to, then replace all of the beer with homebrew, throw in some free food at each booth and people dressed up in wacky costumes and you’ll be half-way there.

The sponsors for the event were also raffling off tons of prizes, including 2 MoreBeer brew sculptures.  And there was a live recording of the Sunday Session.

By the way, mad props to Tasty McDole and the cellermen (sounds like a bad ’60s band).  I don’t know how they kept the 500+ kegs of beer organized through out the weekend, but everything ran smoothly as far as I could tell.

Saturday night wrapped up the event with the Grand Banquet and awards ceremony.   The Homebrew Chef Sean Paxton designed and cooked the menu for the evening which featured 3 courses all made with Rogue beers.  Sometimes hotel food for 800 can be a little meh, but Sean and crew did an outstanding job!

Then came the announcement on the location for next year’s conference (more on that in a bit) and the awards from the National competition.  Congrats to everyone that placed.  Just making it to the second round is a huge accomplishment, and to win a medal is a great honor.  The full stats and list of winners is on the AHA site here.  Look closely and you might even see someone you know on the list (Hint: Category 8, First place)…

As if just placing in the competition wasn’t already cool enough, all of the Gold medal winners are going Sierra Nevada for a Beer Camp weekend.  There will be tours and tasting panels and other technical talks.  Then at the end of the weekend the homebrewers will team up to design and brew a recipe with the Sierra Nevada brewers that will be distributed to the winners’ hometowns.

All in all the whole weekend was a huge success.  Huge thanks to the organizers and everyone that worked so hard to make the conference possible.  These people really can’t be thanked enough for their efforts.

Fresh Anchor Steam on draft at SFO!

The only low point of the week was dealing with the silly airlines.  Of the 4 planes we took to get there and back only 1 was actually on schedule and not oversold.  grrr.  On the bright side no trip to the Bay Area can be complete without drinking some fresh Anchor Steam on draft and we had plenty of time to do just that at the airport bar!

So there you have it.  A brief summary of the most awesomest week in the history of ever.  The conference next year will be in Minneapolis, MN and is guaranteed to be an excellent time, so book your tickets as soon as they go on sale.

I’ll leave you with a few more pictures that will make you supremely jealous and ensure that you sign up for the next conference!

John Palmer and me!

Tomme Arthur from Port Brewing/Lost Abbey and me (and the projector)!

Sam Calagione and me!

The Golden Gate Bridge - taken by me!

One word:  Wow.

What an unbelievable week.  If you’ve been on the fence about going, or just never been to the National Homebrewer’s Convention – you’re really missing out on something special.

Seriously.

This year it was held in the bay area of California – home to dozens of breweries, brewpubs and excellent beer bars.  We decided to spend the full week and make a vacation out of it.

We flew in on Monday and kicked the week off by nearly missing our connecting flight from Philly to SFO.  The first plane was late taking off for no particular reason and US Airways decided to change the gate on our connecting flight to a whole different terminal.  If you have a choice, avoid the Philadelphia airport at all costs.

Anyway, upon arriving it was late in the afternoon, so we decided to just check out the area around the hotel.  The Trappist is closed on Mondays (grrr), so we found a little bar called Max’s in City Center.  Nothing out of this world, 10 taps or so – but a good selection for what it was.

I had a Mirror Pond from Deschutes and a Sierra Nevada Brown Ale.  Alison had a Trumer Pils.  We  hadn’t had any of them previously and they were all tasty so it worked out anyway.

Then it was off to meet up with some local-ish friends for sushi.  Unfortunately I don’t remember the name of the place, but it was quite good.

Woke up early on Tuesday.  Stupid time zones…  A leisurely breakfast and then off for some touristy stuff.

Redwoods in Muir Forrest. The picture doesn't do them justice.

Fortunately we had access to a  car, so we took a ride through Golden Gate Park then across the bridge and up the PCH to see some Redwood trees in Muir Forrest.  All in all pretty cool, but decidedly lacking in beer.

A problem soon remedied by a BART ride from the hotel to Berkeley where we visited our first beer Meccas of the week.

By the way, those of you that live in the bay area, D.C. or New York where there are such fine mass transit systems, I hate you.  Around here we get the city bus, or a taxi cab.  Stupid urban sprawl.

Anyway, just across the street from the station is Jupiter.  It’s a small brewpub who’s beer is apparently brewed off-site at Drake’s.  In addition to 10 or so of their own beers, they have another dozen-ish guest taps, so you’re sure to find something you’ll like.

We tried the Red-Spot Amber, Hefeweizen and Dry Stout.  All of them were well brewed, but maybe a little too standard brewpub fare.  They do sport an excellent outdoor courtyard beer garden which is definitely worth the trip.  Lots of shade from the adjacent buildings and copious plant life makes it a great sport to enjoy a few beers with friends.

After that it was off to Triple Rock.  Rodger makes some fantastic beers.  Check out the IPAX (on cask as well) if you go.  I hear the food is great too, but we didn’t have time to stay.

Dinner was with local friends again at a mom and pop Italian restaurant in Concord.  Wish I could remember the name as it was actually quite good.

Upon arriving back at the hotel I got a call from the other members of our local homebrew club who were across the street at The Trappist.

If you’ve not been before, go early.  The place is about the size of a traincar and fills up fast.  It probably didn’t help that other people were arriving for the conference that day too.

I joined them for a Brother Thelonious – fortunately they saved me a seat.

We didn’t last long though as everyone was still operating on east coast time.  Not to worry, Wednesday would be a long day.

Up and at ‘em early, again.  Did I say stupid time zones?

A quick bagel and a train ride and we were back in San Francisco.  This time headed for the World-Famous 21st Amendment.

If you have time, get off the BART at the Embarcadero station and head south towards the waterfront.  It’s a nice walk past the bay and there are a couple of marinas with some cool boats to look at, if that’s your thing.

You’ll also pass a sweet outdoor pancake house.  Note the empty Anchor Steam bottles on all of the tables at 10 am.  They do it up right here.

Pass the Giants baseball stadium, which is also quite cool, and head back up 2nd st 3 or so blocks to number 563.

We arrived just before they opened 11 and there was already a line outside.  Apparently nobody in San Francisco has a job.  The place was packed by 11:15.

Luckily, we got a table and started in on the carnitas (excellent!) and some of their fine beers.  You can’t go there without trying the flagship Hell or High Watermelon Wheat.

We also enjoyed the new Koelsh as well as the Altbier.  And of course the Tasty APA – brewed with one of the local homebrew heroes Mike’ “Tasty” McDole (who is a really great guy and excellent brewer).

After lunch we wandered out to the patio (past the brewhouse!) where they serve another 8 or so craft beers in cans.  They’re $4, which isn’t really a bad deal considering what you’d pay for the standard tumbler at most places.

Moose Drool and Maui Coconut Porter, neither of which we have locally, were wonderful.  Then another Watermelon wheat and Old Chub, which we can get here.

We also managed to catch owner and Sunday Show regular Shaun O’Sullivan (and of course Steffaneeeeee) as they were headed to the Giants game.  They were kind enough to spend awhile talking with us even though they were on their way out.

I had intended to check out the Toronado and Magnolia, but by that time we were ready to head back to the hotel for a bit.  Maybe next time.

A little rest and then back out to our next destination, the MoreBeer showroom in Concord.  On the way out, we bumped into Mr. Malty himself, Jamil Zainasheff – who again was kind enough to stop and say hi (notice the trend).  I think I nearly made him miss the elevator.

He kind of gave me a funny look when I mentioned walking over to MoreBeer from the Concord BART station.  But wished us luck and we were off.

We soon discovered why as we started our hike from the station.  It really doesn’t look that far on google maps, but it had to have been at least 2 miles.  Each way.

That kind of sucked.

But one more place I can say I’ve been at least.  And if you don’t already have a great homebrew store near you, it’s worth having a look as the place is quite nice (as homebrew shops go).

That pretty much finished off the afternoon, but the day wasn’t over yet.  That night was the much anticipated Brewing Network Anniversary party.

Definitely one of the highlights of the weekend, and worth the trip even if it hadn’t been at the same time as the conference.  It was held at the finally open Linden Street Brewery in Oakland.

They were kind enough to serve the first batch of their Urban People’s Common Lager for the party and there had to have been another 14 or so excellent craft brews.

Not to be outdone, the local clubs and the BN cast of characters also furnished another 20 kegs of their finest brew.  All of it was served festival style – buy the glass and drink all you want after that.

The food from Emergency BBQ was great – but very west coast.  Which was a nice change from what we’re used to here in North Carolina, the land of barbeque.

To top it all off there were live performances from Big Joe Hurt, The Session Band, and Cold Hot Crash.  The highlight of which might have very well been Push Eject and Justin, the 2 whitest guys ever, doing their rendition of the Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg classic “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang”.  Good times.  Good times…

Whew.  All that in only 2 and a half days.  I’m getting tired just trying to remember it all and we haven’t even started the actual conference yet!  But you’ll have to tune in next time to check that out.

If you’ve never done a group brew – where a bunch of brewers all make the same recipe and compare results – give it a try, its lots of fun.  This particular recipe was from the Aleuminati internet group.

The recipe is for an English bitter and to make it a little unique everyone selected a different English style yeast – which is where the “Innoculator” name came from.   Here’s a link to the forum post with all of the discussion and the original recipes.

As does happen – the home brew shop was out of Fuggles hops when I stopped in, so I went with all East Kent Goldings.  Next time I’ll try to brew it with both types.

For the yeast I picked the Wyeast special release 1768, which you might not be able to find anymore.  If not, the Wyeast 1968/White Labs WLP 002 will work just fine – or check the forum thread linked above for other suggestions.

More important than the recipe though, is how this beer is served.   To get that nice creamy pub-ale texture:

Start by carbonating to a lower level than normal.  When you serve the beer – pour it right down the middle of the glass.  There will be quite a bit of foam so let that settle out then top up.  This will also give the beer time to come up to serving temperature, about 50-55ºF.

I’m still working on a ‘caskerator’ of sorts, to serve proper cask ale at home.  I have the details mostly sorted out, except for maintaining the correct temperature.  Still looking for a balance between ‘cheap to build’ and ‘not a pain to maintain’.  When I find it, all of the project details will be here!

Innoculator ESB – All Grain

Innoculator ESB – Extract + Grains