Shades, Tones, and Variations: June 2014

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Home Brew - Campground Kolsch

Campground Kolsch
Original Gravity: 1.056
Final Gravity: 1.012
Alcohol by Volume: 5.78%
Apparent Attenuation: 78%

Ingredients:

1 lb Carapils
3 lb Pilsen Light dry malt extract
3.3 lb Pilsen liquid malt extract
1 oz - Hallertau hop pellets
1 oz Spaltz hop pellets
1 pkg Wyeast 2565 Kolsch Liquid Yeast
5 oz - corn sugar (for priming)

Steps:

Push the nutrients container in the yeast bag down the corner and smack it to release the nutrients into the yeast.
Bring 2 gallons of water to 165. Turn off heat.
Steep Carapils malts in grain bag for 1/2 hour.
Lift grain bag out and allow it to drain (don't squeeze the bag).
Sparge the grain - pour 2 gallons of water through the grain.
Bring wort to a boil.
Turn off heat and add Pilsen light dry malt extract.
Bring wort to a boil and let foam subside.
Add Hallertau hops - stirring occasionally (Leave cover off while boiling)
30 minutes after adding hops, add Pilsen liquid malt extract (tip - soak can in hot water 10 minutes before adding to wort).
Bring wort back to a boil.
15 minutes after adding liquid malt extract, add Spaltz
15 minute after adding Spaltz hops, submerge brewpot in a bath of ice water and cool wort to 75F.
Pour out the sanitizer in fermenter (save for bottling day)
Transfer wort to sanitized fermenter

straining through a sanitized strainer to strain out hops
strain back into cooking pot (wipe out inside with sanitized rag first)
strain a third time into fermenting bucket
Add water to equal 5 gallons while straining back and forth

Take Original Gravity reading (ours was 1.056)
Pitch the yeast (add it to the wort)
Cover fermenter with a sanitized lid and plug with sanitized airlock (with sanitizer in it)
Allow beer to sit and ferment in 60 area away from light for 2 weeks

We made this beer in May. Most days the temperature was between 65 and 70, so Tim decided to keep the beer cool by placing it in the bathtub filled about 2-3 inches with cold water (sometimes he added ice), draping a wet t-shirt over it, and putting a fan to blow on it. I'm not sure how much cooler this kept the beer, but after tasting it, it must have done the trick. The beer is a bit cloudy, but Tim thinks it is because of low flocculation. After "lagaring" it in the fridge for a few weeks it is beginning to be much more clear.

Enjoy :)

Our Tasting Notes:
* light taste - slightly malty
* creamy finish
* good carbonation
* very balanced

Hudson Valley

Practice camping ... definitely something one should do before heading out on a cross-country road trip. In the end, though, what we thought would just be a functional dry-run ended up being a magical weekend! More than anything else, it made us even more excited for our trip out west.

We left the city right after Tim got off work and headed over to Paramus, NJ to stop by Campmor and pick up a few supplies (ie: bed rolls, a ground cover, camping pillows, etc.) We were in a hurry because we wanted to get up to our campsite before dark, but I wish we could have spent an hour or so in there. It is a great spot, with amazingly knowledgeable workers, to pick up camping gear.

Friday Night
We made it to our campsite around 8:30/9:00. Setting up the tent was a breeze. Then we tried to put the rain fly on ... oh my! It started to drizzle, was getting very dark, and (most importantly) we hadn't eaten dinner yet! After several failed attempts we decided we just needed to eat and get to bed. So, we left the rain fly as we had it, got some pizza at a town nearby, and then went to bed. The next morning we had the rain fly on correctly in less than 5 minutes - apparently we just needed food and rest for our brains to think clearly.

Saturday
We woke up to the sound of birds, the weather was perfect, our neighbors offered us coffee, the
showers at the campsite were warm, and the diner where we had breakfast was a great find! From there, our day only kept getting better.

We drove to a local craft distillery - Tuthilltown Spirits. The location of the distillery is picturesque. There are two old buildings on the property used to be part of an old gristmill operation. One of the buildings is now a restaurant and the other is where they sell their liquor. (a new building has been added on the property for them to distill). We took a tour of the distillery; it was so neat to hear the process and know what they were talking about. The process before distillation is exactly the same as making beer. After the tour we had a tasting session. We weren't quite ready to leave, so we bought a bottle of hard cider, borrowed two glasses, sat on the porch swing, and enjoyed the weather and view.

Then we drove up to Poughkeepsie to walk across the Hudson River on a footbridge. The views from the bridge are phenomenal.

Next on our list to visit was Hyde Park, FDR's home. We took a guided tour of the house and then explored the Presidential Library. This was the first presidential library that either Tim or I had been in and it was fascinating. We weren't expecting it to be like a museum (we wonder if they are all like that). The whole museum was curated fabulously - we need to go back because we didn't have enough time to see it all before it closed for the day.

For dinner, Tim had found a craft brewery, Peekskill Brewery, that he wanted to check out, so we made our way down the Hudson to Peekskill. The city is right along the river and has a beautiful waterfront park. After eating and drinking we decided to spend some time in the park.

Sunday
Sunday morning was equally as gorgeous. After packing up the campsite, we made our way back down to Peekskill. We had breakfast outside at a quaint cafe right along the park. Then we spent some time exploring Peekskill. They have a fantastic used bookstore, Bruised Apple Books, where we spent a lot of time.

From Peekskill we started making our way back to NYC. Our last stop before heading home was Croton Point, the widest part of the Hudson River. Tim and I climbed down a mini-cliff to dip our toes in the Hudson River.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Beer Dinner - April 2014

Invitation

What better way to celebrate our love of food and beer than to throw a beer dinner - 5 courses paired with 5 beers.

The dinner was tons of work (!), but also tons of fun! I enjoyed the whole process - planning the menu, choosing the beer pairings, decorating the table, cooking the courses, and visiting with friends.

Tim spent several hours writing detailed and thoughtful beer pairing notes. Here are a few videos (thanks to Anna!) of his pairing deliveries.

Session Beer - Six Point Sweet Action
A session beer is a highly drinkable beer with low alcohol content. Because of the low alcohol content, it's the perfect type of beer to drink when you are going to consumer several beers in a short period of time. We started off the night with this - no food pairing, just something to start sipping while everyone arrived.