BetterBeerBlog

Triple Rock Brewery in Berkeley is having their Annual Firkin Festival tomorrow. What’s a firkin you say? Well, in “olden times”, it was an English unit of measurement equal to “a fourth of a barrel”. So, depending on who was making your barrels, variations in actual volume existed. In a modern, craft beer sense, a firkin refers to the actual vessel that holds a cask ale. Still confused? I’m sure it’s nothing going to the Firkin Festival won’t fix. Here are the event details:

Who: Triple Rock Brewery
What: 2010 Firkin Festival website (The information on this link is sure to change after the event is over)
Where: Triple Rock Brewery, 1920 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA map
When: Saturday, April 24, 2010 @ 11am
Why: Because firkins are an endangered species who cannot speak for themselves. It’s up to us to spread the word. Most importantly, this is a benefit for the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation.
Cost: $20 admission (Keepsake glass with 6 drink tickets/tokens). Additional tastes are $2 each, $5 for 3.

Despite the unusual name, this is a festival celebrating cask beer. Cask-conditioned beers are basically very fresh beers, naturally carbonated in their casks (firkins) that were meant to be consumed fresh. While there is no central flavor profile for all these beers, as you can cask-condition any beer, the one note to tie them all together will be a lower than usual carbonation level that will give these beers a smoother body, some have described as creamy, while other beers may seem flat or have very low carbonation. Believe it or not, this was how all beer was made back in “the olden days” so this festival is a throwback to traditional brewing methods/beer delivery process as much as anything else.

In any event, the last time I was there, I remember enjoying myself and wanting to try more beers than I had tokens for. Not sure if they’re still limiting the number of people that are able to enter the brewpub at any given time so be prepared for delays.

This month’s Fermentation Friday is hosted by the Brew Dudes. They ask a very simple, yet confounding question: How do you beat the heat of summertime brewing?

Brewing in the warmer, often hot, temperatures of the summer months has been an issue with not just homebrewers but all brewers since, I don’t know, the history of brewing (one could argue). The issue with brewing on hot days is temperature control. One of the most obvious issues with brewing on a hot day is cooling down your wort fast enough. Back when I used to use and ice bath, it would take hours and bags and bags of ice to finally cool the wort down enough to be able to pitch your yeast. Brewing in the evenings helped out some but it was still an issue. On the other end of the spectrum and not to much later after cooling, fermenting too hot will wind up with a lot of yeast character you may or may not want in your beer.

Traditionally, the Germans have avoided the issue of brewing in the summer heat by not brewing in the summer heat. They would brew their beers in the fall, winter and spring completely avoiding the summer altogether. The very idea of storing their beers in cool caves, or lagering, during the warm summer months to consume in the fall is well documented. The Belgians on the other hand have decided to just go along with the heat and brew year round. As a result, their beers often have a huge estery profile and tons of yeast character.

As a homebrewer, the cheapest (and arguably most fun) way of beating the heat would be to brew with it. Worded slightly differently, I could brew seasonally. I could brew Belgian-style beers during the summer to take advantage of the warmer fermentation temperatures needed for those styles. Instead of fighting mother nature, I could just roll with her flow.

Of course I can get stubborn as well and just fight it. I managed to pick up a spare fridge my local homebrew store wanted to get rid of. I slapped a temperature control unit to it so I can accurately control what temperature I want my fermentation to be as well. By having a spare fridge with temperature control, I am able to brew lagers during the summer months. When not in use, I simply unplug the machine to save energy.

Truth be told, when faced with the brewing options I do have, I tend to brew seasonally. Even though I may be restricted somewhat to what types of beers I can brew with I feel this is how brewers did things traditionally. Often times we (people in general) try and force the issue too much or bend things to our will. This can cause unnecessary grief and harm when there doesn’t need to be.

I’ve been meaning to participate in the Fermentation Friday write-ups but I always seem to forget. You can chalk it up to poor planning on my part. I never really plan out what I’m going to write, I just document whatever beer related things I happend to participate in or come across. Maybe that’ll change. Maybe pigs will learn to fly. Let’s see which happens first.

This month’s Fermentation Friday is being hosted by Ted’s Homebrew Journal. The topic this time around centers around homebrewing, specifically:

• What part of the your brewday brings you the most JOY?
• What part particularly brings out a good deal of STRESS?

It is difficult for me to pick a singular moment in the homebrewd process/day that I find the most joy in. Even something as mundane as watching waiting for water to boil is in itself a small joy. Some may argue that mashing their grains brings the most joy. A vast majority will probably say the addition of hops is the most joyful part. All great answers. For me though, the part of the homebrew day that brings me the most joy is when I pitch the yeast.

Pitching yeast brings me the most joy because I know my day is almost done. There’s no more water to boil, no more specialty grains to steep or hops to add. I have done everything in my limited ability as a homebrewer to create an environment for the yeast to live and thrive in. If I have done my job well, these microscopic, single-celled organisms will eat, multiply and be fruitful. I will measure my success in the days to come with every single “bloop, bloop, bloop” that rings forth from the airlock. With every bubble of CO2 that escapes, I am that much closer to drinking beer.

Because I enjoy virtually all aspects of the brewing process, it’s equally difficult to choose a time in which I am the most stressed. I view the homebrew day as a series of steps that are all interdependent and necessary to accomplish. To exclude one step or shortcut another is a recipe for disaster.

After much though, I would suppose the most stressful part of my homebrewing day is just getting started. This has less to do with homebrewing and more to do with my personality. If I knew I’m going to be brewing, I feel a level of anxiety and stress. I wonder if I bought all my ingredients. I wonder if there’s enough propane in the tank to power my burners. I think about my equipment and if I’m sanitizing everything well enough. Are my carboys clean? Will I remember to measure the original gravity? I think about all of these things even before I start brewing. That’s just me though. I do this with just about every activity I participate in.

So there you have it, the most joyous and stressful parts of my brewday. Turned out a little differently than what I expected to write but that’s the beauty of introspection.