Constants and Variables: SMaSH Brewing and Bioshock Infinite

"There's always a lighthouse, there's always a man, there's always a city." -Elizabeth, Bioshock Infinite

"We brewers don't make beer, we just get all the ingredients together and the beer makes itself." --Fritz Maytag, President, Anchor Steam Brewing

WARNING, this post and the links contained herein contains spoilers. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

It's probably no lighting bolt from the sky for me to say that beer and video games go together. Nothing says, "have a cold one" like tearing through a few levels of your favorite shooter or role playing game. The choice you have for beer as a consumer is almost as infinite as the the worlds described in quantum physics. In the end there are constants and variables.

The constants:
There is always a game
There is always a beverage

The variables:
What game to play
What beverage to drink

It's all about constants and variables. You never row, you will always just sit there until you move. You will always be confined to enjoy commercial beer until you try brewing your own. The only way to that city is to be cleansed in the sweet baptismal waters of brewing your own beer at home.

In Bioshock Infinite you are asked to, "bring us the girl and wipe away the debt." While it's not clear until the end what debt you need to clear and why you need to bring the girl, that choice that was made for you before the game started is what sends you on the wild ride up the rabbit hole.

Do you throw the ball at the couple or the announcer?

Heads or tails?

These are some of the perceived choices the game gives you but in the end, whether you chose the bird or the cage, the choice has no impact to the overall story.

There is always a lighthouse.

The state of beer right now also gives the consumer the perception of choice. The problem is, unless you do your homework, your choices sometimes have less impact than you think. I willingly choose to drink craft beer. I look for the independent local producers to try but now there are big brewers hiding behind fake labels that look like independent brewers. Beware these false shepherds.

Constants and variables...there are always IPAs, Pale Ales, Stouts and Lagers each brewery puts their own spin on it.

The light in the dark that leads you to doors of infinite possibilities is learning to brew your own. You never have to worry if that pale ale is made by an independent or a big brewer because it's made by you. You can find great, easy to follow guides to beginning home brewing on YouTube and at the American Homebrewers Association. It's not as hard as you think. I'm not going to regurgitate how to brew here. Go look it up, we'll wait.

Beer is made from malted grains, hops, yeast and water. These are the constants, the variables lie in what grains, yeast, water and hops you use.

This is what SMaSH brewing is about. Constants and variables. Single Malt and Single Hop. Choose and learn the secrets. Brewing this way will teach you how flavors interact with each other. It will teach you what the true flavors of different malt types are when paired to different hop varieties. Use the same yeast for different batches with different hops and malts and you get to see how the yeast interacts to develop the flavors we all love.

Once you learn how the ingredients interact you have the keys to the universe. No matter what choice you make, remember one thing is true; There is always a beer, there is always a person, there is always a choice.

O'Leary's Barn Burner - Brewing

It's one thing to have an idea in your head and another to actually bring it to life. Like I described in my last post I had an idea of my brew day for O'Leary's Barn Burner. I figured I'd carefully measure out all of my ingredients and brew different batches in an attempt to nail down the flavors I was looking for. I planned to brew one day and had to push it to another. The best laid plans of mice and men...

Brew day arrived while my dad was in town for my birthday. We decided to do two batches, one with a stepped mash and one with a single mash at 152 degrees. The stepped mash we did at 99, 144 and 152 degrees. We did the full gallon for the stepped mash, adding water as it heated to bring the temperature up. The single mash was with two quarts of water.

The process of brewing went well. The only issue that popped up was we miss-measured the grains initially, I got a new scale and didn't read it right. We also found that the scale didn't go low enough for the hop measurements and we ended up guesstimating the hop measurements.

We split the two batches between my two carboys and sat back to wait.

After 14 days one batch went directly into bottles and the other went into secondary fermentation for another seven days.

Both batches of bottles sat for at least 14 days before they were put in the fridge.

What did I learn?

I would probably pull back a little on the smoked malt. I liked the flavor but it was just a little strong.

I would like to switch out the Cascade Hops for a UK variety. Don't know which yet but I'm open to suggestions.

If I make two batches at once again I would blend them before I bottle.

In the end I really like the results of this brew. It came in at 5.5% and, while the smokey smell is strong, it really mellows out.

If you've had it let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

Brewing next...Anchor Chucker Ale - A SMaSH Experiment.

Opening the third beer

So how did it turn out?

First of all it is a lively beer and by lively I mean explosive. No, none of my bottles have blown but the beer is definitely carbonated. It pours a robust, lingering head. The beer itself is actually light and refreshing with a small hint of honey. This is the first brew I’ve done that had sediment in the bottle. It didn’t detract from the flavor, it was just interesting. 

One friend who tasted it said, “it’s like summer.” 

Another review:

“Drank your brew last night under a Carolina Moon. The taste was smooth and clean. I poured the beer and a nice 2-inch head of frothy foam materialized but soon it settled down into a innocent-looking, reddish-brown brew. Your brew matched its rich color with a heavy mouthfeel. I wouldn’t call this a “session” beer, to be downed in multiples but one to be savored. A little stout for my taste but pretty darn good for a yankee-beer. ”

If you’ve had it, leave a comment and let me know what you thought.

What’s next?

It will be a take on Brooklyn Brew Shop’s Coffee and Doughnut Stout.

What’s brewing

Been a little busy around here so sorry about the lack of updates. Here’s the latest…I’ve recently bottled my latest batch of brew. This one is a Chocolate Maple Porter; another Brooklyn Brew Shop kit. The bottles have aged more than the two weeks they recommend and are now cold in the fridge. I sampled my 3/4 bottle and it wasn’t bad…a little on the bitter chocolate side, but not bad. 
My wonderful wife has delivered a coffee and doughnut stout kit to me for my birthday…now all I need is more bottles. The recipe calls for coffee and coconut flakes…I really need to think about this one and see if I can modify it a little.
I’ve designed a logo for my homebrew and it's been sitting around since I started back in October now just have to find the time to color it in. I’ve posted a photo of it here. What do you think? If anyone knows how to do coloring in Adobe Illustrator CS5 please let me know.

Bottling your first brew

You’ve patiently (or not) waited the two weeks for the fermentation to finish. If you are like me you probably took a peak each day to watch the yeast bubbling away. Now the time has finally come to bottle your brew.

Since I only brew a gallon at a time I only have to fill 6-10 bottles at a time. The bottles I use are 16 oz grolsch bottles in cobalt blue. I get 6 and 3/4 bottles of beer off of a one gallon brew.

The first step is washing and sanitizing the bottles. I wash the bottles inside and out using a bottle brush then I throw them in the dishwasher for a full cycle to make sure they are really clean. After they dry I soak the bottles in a sanitizing solution and place them back in their case, upside-down wrapped in paper towels. I really should get a bottle tree since it would make this step a lot easier.

To prime the bottles I use some maple syrup mixed with some water to thin it out. This is according to the instructions on the kit recipe.
I then siphon off the beer from the carboy into the pot with the primer. I’ve been pretty successful with my auto siphon for this step.

The hard part for me is trying to not get a lot of sediment out of the carboy. I have been really careful about not letting the siphon hose touch the bottom and I usually leave a little too much brew at the bottom but I’d rather be safe than sorry.

I next set up my bottling line in the kitchen with the primed pot on the stove at an angle and my empty bottles on a tv tray next to the stove. This puts the bottles at a lower level than the pot on the stove.

The first time I bottled I only had my auto siphon and my hose with a clamp. I got the hang of filling the bottles before I started by practicing with water and a bottle I wasn’t going to use. I figured out the hose clamp was harder to close than I thought.

Six and 3/4 bottles filled in about 20 minutes and they went back in the closet for another two weeks. Waiting is still the hardest part.