Saison du Pint

Worst brew day ever....crazy windy, so I kept losing my boil, then the kettle wouldn't drain. I've had one stuck sparge in over 70 batches, but never this. I was banging on the kettle for like 15 minutes trying to get it unstuck, then I stuck a sanitized spoon in the wort. All this did was stir up all the crap in the bottom of the kettle, which is now in the fermenter. The spoon didn't work, so I had to sanitize a glove and stick my hand in the wort, remove the dipstick and let it drain down to 2 gallons. I then tilted the kettle to get as much out, but every ounce of sludge came with it. Fiasco.  I'd be shocked if this isn't my first contaminated batch.

Grist:
6lb Belgian Pilsner
5lb Briess White Wheat
8oz Castle Cara munich 20l
8oz Unmalted Wheat

Hops
1oz Saaz 60 min
1oz UK Kent Golding 30 min
1oz UK Kent Golding 2 min

Adjuncts:
1/4 tsp grains of paradise 10 min
1oz Bitter orange peel 10 min
1/2 oz coriander 10 min
1lb clear candi sugar 30 min

Yeast:
Wyeast 3944 Belgian Wit

Single infusion mash @148 75 minutes (4.75 gallons water 162 degrees)
Sparge 3.5 gallons 170 degree water

Target OG 1.058 Actual 1.061

Brewed Easter Sunday 03.31.13

Herve Mons Ovalie Cendree

Are you a Herve Mons fan? You will be after trying Ovalie Cendree. This long oval shaped cheese exhibits classic milky ovaltones( yeah, I went there), grassiness and citrus abound but with warm earthy attributes and hints of mushroom on the rind. Ovalie Cendree has the most unique depth to it and pairs wonderfully with artisan crusty bread and fruit.

Take Me Out To The Beer Game...

 The 2013 spring lineup:

Leading off…”Blonde Highlights”:  a 1.040 cream ale that’s a starter beer for Half Hearted.  Hey, sometimes beer is just a beer. Have one.  OG 1.040

Batting Second…”Yeah, I’m Bitter”: A sessionable American/British ale with a quite a bit of floral/citrus hop flavor and aroma thanks to dry hopping with 3 ounces of Glacier before bottling. OG 1.042

Third in the lineup…”Chinitra Pale Ale”: Straddling the line between APA and IPA, very drinkable and very unique. Chinook and Citra play off one another to create a rolling tide of tropical and citrus flavors. A definite early summer sipper. OG 1.052

Hitting Clean up…”Half Hearted IPA”: A larger-than-life American IPA with a hop aroma so thick you can almost see it. American base malt and crystal malt create the big body and supporting residual sweetness, while charge after charge of Centennial hops deliver pronounced bitterness with a dominant citrus aroma and flavor.  Modeled after the famed Bell’s Two Hearted Ale with a twist-an appearance by Simcoe as late addition aroma hops.  OG 1.064

Rounding out the heart of the order at number five…“It’s the Say-Sun for Saison”: A petite Saison and a starter beer for my Rye Saison, this session-strength Saison pervades the air with tangy Belgian yeast and pungent hop aromas; perfect for springtime outdoors. OG 1.041

Batting sixth…”Saison Du Pint”: This farmhouse Saison style is light, crisp and refreshing, perfect after a day in the sun. Orange peel and coriander add a refreshing zest combined with a peppery finish from Grains of Paradise. OG 1.053

Swinging seventh…”The Pauper”: A Belgian Single and a starter beer for the Prince.  This beer is reminder that when brewing with friends, it’s still important to close the kettle valve. Over a gallon of lost wort, some spring water, and some stale light dry malt extract later, I have a beer that hopefully won’t taste as old as the malt extract that got dumped in it.  Target OG 1.047 (Actual 1.043)

In the eighth spot …”Saison Gone A Rye”: A spicy Rye Saison that carries the smell of spicy rye, black pepper, clove, some citrusy tones and sour esters. The taste is spice dominated with the rye, but carries subtle notes of peach and sour apple, black pepper and a full array of estery Belgian yeast phenols. No kidding, Wyeast 3711 is the bomb, this is a sequel. OG 1.060

Bringing up the rear and Pitching some serious yeast…”The Prince”:  A Belgian Tripel. Sweet, tart, and spicy all within the same sip, the addition of clear candi sugar dilutes the malt bill, which helps preserve the golden color and makes the body deceptively light for a beer of this strength.  Before you uncork your first bottle of this ponderous 8% ABV sipper, I’d like to remind you that beer is food – treat your Tripel accordingly and have it for dinner with some artisanal cheese or salumi. OG 1.078

Parmageddon 2013

Arguably the greatest dairy product produced on the face of the earth, practically unchanged for over 700 years.

Parmigiano Reggiano has been documented to have been in existence as early as the 13th century. This is no laughing matter. There is nothing remotely laughable about this cheese. I use the term "cheese" for lack of a better word. It is quite possibly the greatest dairy product produced on the face of the earth and it has been practically unchanged for over 800 years.

Have you ever tried it? Have you ever experienced its delicacy or its nutty and slightly salient complexity? Were you aware that the swine raised to become prosciutto di Parma humbly nosh on the residual whey from the course of production of Parmigiano-Reggiano? And, did you know the consumption of this whey enhance the hams’s own flavor? Is it a coincidence that two of the most outstanding ingredients in gastronomy are interdependent on the same process? Probably not. And, is it fate that both these culinary operas derive from the same place on earth? Well, I am not completely confident fate exists, but it is fortuitous.

Still, there is a loop-hole. Look in your refrigerator. You might have an impostor, worthy of mocking. It is called parmesan (notice I did not capitalize it). Parmesan, I learned is a borrowed word from French that means Parmigiano. Parmigiano in Italian indicates something from Parma. In America, parmesan has become the generic term for cheeses that mimic the flavor of Parmigiano-Reggiano. These imitations are garbage. Sorry Kraft, nice try! We can make fun of them all we want. In the future, I might go on a blogging tirade about parmesan cheese, but we have more important issues at hand, and it's PARMAGEDDON. That's right, the end of the world record as we know it. This Saturday at 3:00pm EST Whole Foods Markets around the United States, Canada and the UK will attempt to simultaneously "crack" 500 wheels of authentic 2-year aged Pamigiano Reggiano. What will you be doing his Saturday afternoon? Shouldn't you be witnessing this historic event while scarfing down copious amounts of free Parmigiano Reggiano?

And I’m not trying to single out Kraft – I love their processed American Singles on burgers (as I recall this used to be called “American cheese food” because it couldn’t actually be labeled as “cheese,” but today they seem to dispense with the word cheese altogether). In fact, in terms of consumer confusion Kraft probably plays a very small role, since its ubiquitous dry powdered “cheese” in green cardboard tubes is so far removed from actual Parmigiano-Reggiano that virtually no one could confuse the two. In fact, an exhibit on imitation cheeses from other countries fills an entire room at the Parmigiano-Reggiano museum just outside of Parma, Italy. That's right, I said museum- a museum dedicated to a single recipe for cheese. The much bigger problem are the wedges of faux Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeses sold even at higher end supermarkets, gourmet stores, cheese specific shops and the high-priced national retailers purporting sell purer, better-for-you foods. Many of these imitators are produced here in the U.S. or South America, especially Argentina, and come with names such as Parmesan, Parmigiana, Parmesana, Parmabon, Real Parma, Parmezan, Parmezano and my all-time favorite, Permesansan (really). But most of the faux Parmigiano-Reggiano you will find here in the States is called simply Parmesan, and anyone who doubts for a second that its manufacturers are trading on the good name of the real stuff only has to consider that the 800 year old Parmigiano-Reggiano is named for its birthplace, Parma, an actual city.

American Cheese Society Conference August 2012