Dayton Brewvet: My Submission

And, as they say, the reporting. This is my tabulation for the Dayton Brewvet: 8 rides and 99.2 miles, all told. I had a lot of fun doing this—beer and bikes makes for a delightful combination. I’m looking forward to John Roche’s version next year, when I will actually be paying attention to biking in May. Until then, enjoy! 

Dayton Brewvet Ride 1: Can Beer
Dayton Brewvet Ride 2: Local Bar
Dayton Brewvet Ride 3: Go Exploring
Dayton Brewvet Ride 4: Co-op Brew
Dayton Brewvet Ride 5: Local Brew
Dayton Brewvet Ride 6: Beer at Home
Dayton Brewvet Ride 7: Bike Path Brew
Dayton Brewvet Ride 8: Outdoor Beer

Update: Including myself, there were only four people that completed the Dayton Brewvet: Elli (not surprising) as well as Jake and Sarah. Looks like I might need to get to work on that certificate. Maybe I can just buy them all off with beer.

(8/15/2014)

Fresh Hop w/ Brewer’s Gold Brewday

More in the way of my favorite seasonal beer style. I just can’t stop. And honestly, why would I even try? Exactly. Fresh hop ’til I die, yo. I mean, will you look at those beauties?

180. Fresh Hop w/ Brewer’s Gold
Mash
8 lbs. Best Malz Pilsen
2 lbs. MFB Vienna

Mash @ 150° F for 90 minutes w/ 3 ½ g. RO water & 10 g. gypsum; collected 2 ¼ g. @ 1.072
Batch-sparge @ 171° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 g. RO water $ 10 g. gypsum; collected 4 g. @ 1.026

Collected 6 ¼ gallons; topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (90 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 6 oz. Brewer’s Gold

w/20 to go: 6 oz. Brewer’s Gold

w/10 to go: 6 oz. Brewer’s Gold
3 g. Wyeast yeast nutrient

w/5 to go: 7 oz. Brewer’s Gold

w/0 to go: 7 oz. Brewer’s Gold

Let stand for 20 minutes, chilled and racked onto US 05 cake from 178. Fresh Hop w/ Cascade

Brewed: 8/10/2014 @ 78° F
Bottled: 9/23/2014 w/ 2.5 oz. table sugar

OG: 1.054
FG: 1.008

Tasting Notes: For the sake of science, I’ve combined my fresh hop tasting notes for the year. As the photos attest, I did try them all at the same time. The second picture is from the 2nd Annual Fresh Hop King of Ohio competition with Brent Osborne, where my beers came in 1st (183), 2nd (178), and 3rd (182). Yes, there were only seven beers, and four of them were mine. But I’m still the Fresh Hop King of Ohio for 2014, dammit. I would add (as I note below) that 178 is probably the best beer, but 183 is the best fresh hop beer.

178. Smith Hop: made with Cascades from my neighbors; last year, it was by far the best fresh hop beer I made, and it won me the Fresh Hop King of Ohio title. This year it is the best beer in terms of quality, but I am giving the nod to the Bike Path 
Fresh Hop as the best of this year’s fresh hop beers. Smith Hop is the lightest of the four in color, and the most effervescent; it pours a hazy straw with a rocky head, and has lemon zest, lemon, and grapefruit in the nose, along with hints of pepper and orange. Flavors open with lemon and lemon zest, moving into a mineral and pepper bite in the middle, and finish with grapefruit and a slight citrus pith. The malt flavors in the beer are mainly playing a supporting role, while the bitterness is medium and clean. I expected more grassiness from dry hopping this with 4.6 oz. of fresh hops for two weeks (I left a bunch on the vine, and then picked them fresh for dry hopping); as it warms, a slight phenol gaminess comes out, but it balances well with the citrus flavors. Those Smith Hops rock!

180. Brewer’s Gold Fresh Hop: I’ll start with this: I don’t like this beer. It has some off-putting flavors, starting with the phenol band-aid of stressed/unhealthy yeast (as opposed to infection) and ending with the blandness and wood-like flavors from the hops. Others did not have as strong of a negative reaction to this beer as me, but I’m going to chalk that up to them being nice. While the beer did sit too long on the yeast, I’m still not sure how it ended up here. I got these hops from Brent Osborn at Osborn Brewing; I’m not blaming him, however, as the Brewer’s Gold fresh hops I got from him last year were phenomenal. BGFH pours a hazy gold with a thin white head that leaves some lacing; at one point, there were hints of orange marmalade in the nose and body, but currently the nose is merely “hoppy.” Flavors include a light bitterness and scratchy green grass character, but not much else worth noting. Mouthfeel and body match, but off-flavors mar this beer. Haters gonna hate. 

182. Sour Fresh Hop: made with Nuggets from Heartland Hops. This beer is straw colored and crystal clear, with a thin white head that disappears quickly. The nose is herbal and earthy, followed by sour orange and candy pilsen; going into the carboy, there was a much more intense herbal hop aroma that I wish was still here. Flavors open with candy and a slight grain-y Cheerios flavor coupled with wood and herb; the middle features a spicy hop bite—albeit low—and more wood. The herbal flavors come out in the final third, lingering with a dry cracker malt flavor and a hint of sweetness. All in all, this beer is a hot mess—it is neither fresh hop nor sour, while showcasing components of both. While I do like it—it has some intangibles that make it eminently enjoyable—it is simultaneously a pedestrian beer that borders on insulting: I would be pissed off if this was served to me at a bar, but I am glad I made it. That clarify things enough for you?

183.Bike Path Fresh Hop: I’ve been lurking and picking hops off Dayton’s bike paths long enough to note that this year was an exceptionally good year. The hops for this particular beer came from a section of the bike path that I had not utilized before; these hops had none of the ephemeral pear and apple aromas found in previous years, but they did provide more actual bitterness to the beer. BPFH poured a hazy straw with a white head that had more retention and lacing than 180 and 182. The nose was all grimy green chlorophyll and game-y grass, and flavors followed. Unlike some previous iterations of bike path beers, the wild fresh hop character came through. Malt flavors played a back fiddle to the grassiness in the front; the middle was grassy and scratchy, while the finish featured a grimy medium bitterness that was not clean but was enjoyable. The medium to low body and medium carbonation suited the beer; as a whole, this beer was easy drinking. And this beer in particular taught me a lot about how to think about and implement a good fresh hop beer.

Dayton Brewvet Ride 8: Outdoor Beer

Sadly, it is time for the last of our Dayton Brewvet rides of the year, although that does mean that we have actually completed the brewvet! This ride was to the Yellow Cab Food Truck Rally, where they are also serving beer. We did end up getting there later than planned, so all of the Yellow Springs and Warped Wing beer was gone, but there was still Redhook Long Hammer IPA a-plenty to drink, which we did while wandering among all of the food truck offerings to be had. Which were plenty, mind you.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Redhook, mostly because I used to go to the Trollyman Pub back in the day when Redhook Brewery was located in Fremont, just past Queen Anne and right on the way to Ballard, back before the giant craft beer explosion and Redhook’s deal with the devil (i.e. A-B) for distribution. Back then, they’d fill our bike water bottles with beer on the way out the door for the ride home. Yes, my love affair with beer and bikes goes back to the early ’90s. And I will confess, that certainly makes me feel old. Thus, I think it a fitting conclusion to this year’s Dayton Brewvet that we close it out with one of the under-appreciated and oft-scorned founders of the craft beer movement. And before all you Boston Beer nay-sayers get started whining about Redhook, just remember that Jim Koch was himself a contract brewer until the mid-90s. So suck it.

Today’s ride was another short but sweet outing to wrap things up; all told, we covered 1.2 miles from start to finish. While today is the last day for completing Dayton Brewvet rides, you all have until August 22 to submit your control card and information. See here for more details! Remember, even if you didn’t cover everything, I’d love to hear what you did cover. And if nothing else, we’ll be back next year for more fun and hi-jinx with two wheels and some pints.

(8/8/2014)

Saison w/ Cascara Brewday

Another collaboration project with Press Coffee, this one a seasonal saison—or saisonal, as I like to call them—highlighting Cascara, which is the skin and pulp of the coffee bean. Brett gave me a pound, which I added to the wort at flame out; I let it steep for 20 minutes, then chilled the wort and racked it onto the yeast cake from the most recent iteration of the Great Saison Chain of Being. The Cascara imparted a plum and raisin element to the wort; it was much clearer and more pronounced in the actual beer when I racked it over to the secondary. With some carbonation, I think this will be some tasty, tasty beer.

179. Saison w/ Cascara
Mash
6 lbs. Best Malz Pilsen
3 lbs. Best Malz Spelt
1 lb. Weyermann Acidulated

Mash @ 150° F for 90 minutes w/ 3 ½ g. RO water & 5 g. gypsum; collected 2 ¼ g. @ 1.052
Batch-sparge @ 168° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 g. RO water & 5 g. gypsum; collected 4 g. @ 1.024

Collected 6 ¼ gallons; topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (90 minutes), & added:
w/80 to go: 1 ½ oz. Willamette leaf 7.8% AA
½ oz. Cluster leaf 7.6% AA

w/10 to go: 3 g. Wyeast yeast nutrient

w/0 to go: 1 lb. Cascara

Let stand for 20 minutes, chilled and racked onto Lallemand Belle Saison yeast cake from 177. Saison

Brewed: 8/8/2014 @ 76° F
Secondary: 8/19/2014 @ 1.004; racked two gallons to 3 g. carboy, and the rest into a corny keg to carbonate for Brett from Press for secret covert operations
Bottled:

OG: 1.042
FG:

Tasting Notes:

Dayton Brewvet Ride 7: Bike Path Brew

With the clock winding down on the Dayton Brewvet, it is time for our longer bike path ride to complete the fabled Bike Path Brew ride. Why fabled? Why not? This ride was intended to up everyone’s overall distance; in our case, however, this is only the second longest ride of our brewvet, following the initial Swallow Adventure Can Beer ride that opened our exploits. In fact, this ride is only half the distance of that ride. Basically what I’m saying is that sometimes we are foolish. In a good way.

Our jaunt to Star City Brewing in Miamisburg followed the Great Miami River Recreational Trail. Basically, we rode to the river, took a left, and followed the bike path to Miamisburg. It was that easy. And since it was only 13 miles one way, it was a nice leisurely ride (and remember the British pronunciation!) to our destination with plenty of delightful scenery: riverfront views, woods, some parks, and the occasional other trail denizen. I’m going to selectively ignore the section of the trail that parallels I-75 because, well, it is not scenic.

Once we arrived at Star City, we parked our bikes on the patio and grabbed beers to sit out in the sun. While we could have counted this for our Patio/Outdoor Beer ride, we’re saving that for the dramatic conclusion to our Dayton Brewvet tomorrow. Alright, so dramatic might be an overstatement. Anyway, I had the IPA while Elli had the Oatmeal Stout. The IPA was a bit too caramel-ly for my taste, but the bitterness in the finish was clean and sharp, so everything worked out in the end. Then it was time to head back to Dayton. A relaxing 26 miles on the bike with a beer fit into the middle? I can’t think of a better way to spend a Thursday afternoon.

(8/7/2104)

Dayton Brewvet Ride 6: Beer at Home

Time for another groovy Dayton Brevet ride! Since the time has come to tick off the last remaining rides, that means it is time for a quick jaunt to a local purveyor of craft beer, and then take it home to drink. We decided a late evening ride to Belmont Party Supply would be the best choice for us, especially considering that it was in the neighborhood of ten o’clock when we got started. Night time is for sleeping, yes, but also for biking and drinking. We did wear helmets and lots of lights so that we were clearly visible to motorists, but then again, we always do that. Ride smart, yo.

Our selections included Ommegang Hop House for me, Toøl Yeastus Christus for Elli (a brewery we’ve seen before), and Freigeist Geisterzug as a bonus beer, because it is almost physically impossible for me to resist the sweet siren-song of a Gose when one confronts me. Spoiler alert: needs more salt. Anyway. The rides there and back were smooth and uneventful—it was a cool evening. My phone had us covering 6.6 miles, while Elli’s phone recorded 7.7 miles for the same ride. And you can guess which one was the one not working right. I gotta get me a new phone. Our selection of beer for the evening was both solid and enjoyable, with the Ommegang Hop House being a particularly nice surprise—crisp and refreshing with a depth of flavor that made the beer a real treat. Yeastus Christus was good, but it did taste a bit aged, which is unsurprising for a beer from Denmark. And my remarks on Geisterzug have already been recorded: good, but not enough salt.

(8/5/2014)

Smith Hop Fresh Hop Brewday

Thus begins another year of Fresh Hop madness, in which I look to defend my Fresh Hop King of Ohio crown, and to brew any many Fresh Hop beers as possible. And straight out of the gate is this year’s version of Smith Hop, the beer made from the generously donated Cascade hops of my neighbors, the Smiths. In fact, this is the third year of Smith Hop; last year’s version won me the Fresh Hop King of Ohio crown. So a lot of history with these hops already. And like last year, I left enough hops on the vine to fresh dry hop the crud out of this beer.

178. Smith Hop Fresh Hop w/ Cascade
Mash
8 lbs. Best Malz Pilsen
1 lb. Breiss White Wheat
1 lb. Weyermann Acidulated

Mash @ 150° F for 90 minutes w/ 3 ½ g. RO water & 10 g. gypsum; collected 2 ¼ g. @ 1.064
Batch-sparge @ 164° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 g. RO water & 10 g. gypsum; collected 4 g @ 1.022

Collected 6 ¼ gallons; topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (90 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 5 oz. Cascade/Smith fresh hops

w/20 to go: 6.25 oz. Cascade/Smith fresh hops

w/10 to go: 6.25 oz. Cascade/Smith fresh hops
3 g. Wyeast yeast nutrient

w/5 to go: 6.4 oz. Cascade/Smith fresh hops

w/0 to go: 6.5 oz. Cascade/Smith fresh hops

Let stand for 20 minutes, chilled and racked to carboy; pitched 1 packet US 05

Brewed: 8/4/2014 @ 78° F; dropped to 73° F before fermentation took off
Secondary: 8/10/2014 @ 1.010; on 8/12/2014, dry hop w/ 4.6 oz. Cascade/Smith fresh hops
Bottled: 8/25/2014 w/ 2.5 oz. table sugar

OG: 1.044 @ 78° F
FG: 1.010

Tasting Notes: For the sake of science, I’ve combined my fresh hop tasting notes for the year. As the photos attest, I did try them all at the same time. The second picture is from the 2nd Annual Fresh Hop King of Ohio competition with Brent Osborne, where my beers came in 1st (183), 2nd (178), and 3rd (182). Yes, there were only seven beers, and four of them were mine. But I’m still the Fresh Hop King of Ohio for 2014, dammit. I would add (as I note below) that 178 is probably the best beer, but 183 is the best fresh hop beer.

178. Smith Hop: made with Cascades from my neighbors; last year, it was by far the best fresh hop beer I made, and it won me the Fresh Hop King of Ohio title. This year it is the best beer in terms of quality, but I am giving the nod to the Bike Path 

Fresh Hop as the best of this year’s fresh hop beers. Smith Hop is the lightest of the four in color, and the most effervescent; it pours a hazy straw with a rocky head, and has lemon zest, lemon, and grapefruit in the nose, along with hints of pepper and orange. Flavors open with lemon and lemon zest, moving into a mineral and pepper bite in the middle, and finish with grapefruit and a slight citrus pith. The malt flavors in the beer are mainly playing a supporting role, while the bitterness is medium and clean. I expected more grassiness from dry hopping this with 4.6 oz. of fresh hops for two weeks (I left a bunch on the vine, and then picked them fresh for dry hopping); as it warms, a slight phenol gaminess comes out, but it balances well with the citrus flavors. Those Smith Hops rock!

180. Brewer’s Gold Fresh Hop: I’ll start with this: I don’t like this beer. It has some off-putting flavors, starting with the phenol band-aid of stressed/unhealthy yeast (as opposed to infection) and ending with the blandness and wood-like flavors from the hops. Others did not have as strong of a negative reaction to this beer as me, but I’m going to chalk that up to them being nice. While the beer did sit too long on the yeast, I’m still not sure how it ended up here. I got these hops from Brent Osborn at Osborn Brewing; I’m not blaming him, however, as the Brewer’s Gold fresh hops I got from him last year were phenomenal. BGFH pours a hazy gold with a thin white head that leaves some lacing; at one point, there were hints of orange marmalade in the nose and body, but currently the nose is merely “hoppy.” Flavors include a light bitterness and scratchy green grass character, but not much else worth noting. Mouthfeel and body match, but off-flavors mar this beer. Haters gonna hate. 

182. Sour Fresh Hop: made with Nuggets from Heartland Hops. This beer is straw colored and crystal clear, with a thin white head that disappears quickly. The nose is herbal and earthy, followed by sour orange and candy pilsen; going into the carboy, there was a much more intense herbal hop aroma that I wish was still here. Flavors open with candy and a slight grain-y Cheerios flavor coupled with wood and herb; the middle features a spicy hop bite—albeit low—and more wood. The herbal flavors come out in the final third, lingering with a dry cracker malt flavor and a hint of sweetness. All in all, this beer is a hot mess—it is neither fresh hop nor sour, while showcasing components of both. While I do like it—it has some intangibles that make it eminently enjoyable—it is simultaneously a pedestrian beer that borders on insulting: I would be pissed off if this was served to me at a bar, but I am glad I made it. That clarify things enough for you?

183.Bike Path Fresh Hop: I’ve been lurking and picking hops off Dayton’s bike paths long enough to note that this year was an exceptionally good year. The hops for this particular beer came from a section of the bike path that I had not utilized before; these hops had none of the ephemeral pear and apple aromas found in previous years, but they did provide more actual bitterness to the beer. BPFH poured a hazy straw with a white head that had more retention and lacing than 180 and 182. The nose was all grimy green chlorophyll and game-y grass, and flavors followed. Unlike some previous iterations of bike path beers, the wild fresh hop character came through. Malt flavors played a back fiddle to the grassiness in the front; the middle was grassy and scratchy, while the finish featured a grimy medium bitterness that was not clean but was enjoyable. The medium to low body and medium carbonation suited the beer; as a whole, this beer was easy drinking. And this beer in particular taught me a lot about how to think about and implement a good fresh hop beer. 

Dayton Brewvet Ride 5: Local Brew

Thus begins the whirlwind final week of completing the last several Dayton Brewvet rides. Procrastination much? Indubitably! And since it is Sunday, and a supposed lazy Sunday at that, what would the aforementioned lazy Sunday be without beer, bike riding, and some half-ass gardening? Well, we managed to fit all three together in one wonderful outing: we rode out to our Wegerzyn Gardens Metropark garden plot to scavenge what ever beans and tomatillos had survived our summer-long neglect, then stopped by Warped Wing on the way home for a pint. We did not, sadly, make any friends.

Warped Wing is a nice addition to the other breweries in downtown Dayton: lots of open space in the brewery, lots of light, a good industrial vibe, and a huge-ass crane. The one thing, they are missing, however, is a bike rack. This lack of a bike rack has not quite reached the unforgivable stage yet, but a certain long-standing friend of the blog, Jeff Fortney, better mind his Ps and Qs if there isn’t an equitable solution to this problem soon. What good is knowing someone on the inside if you can’t use that pull for sweet, sweet bike rack action? Huh? I mean, seriously. As for beer selections, I had the Siam Thai Saison, while Elli opted for the Self Starter Session IPA. I like the spicy aggressive bite of Siam, although I can see how it might be a bit much for a less adventurous drinker. Still, delicious and quenching. The total distance for our ride was 10.3 miles, including the trip to the garden! More soon!

P.S. Warped Wing: get a bike rack!

(8/3/2014)