Maifest 2011 - Tee Shirts

We are proud to showcase this year's tee shirt design for Maifest 2011!! The shirts will be available in both men's and women's. Everybody loved the shirts from last year so we decided to go with the same shirt material and style but with a new design. Shirts are available for the pre-order price of $12 for the next two weeks. After the April 25th cutoff, the price will increase to $15 per shirt.

Last year we ran out of shirts very quickly (sorry Graham and Oz), so we highly recommend taking the time to pre-order. Payment is not required to pre-order but would be appreciated. So take a look at the designs, admit that you can't live without one, and click the Buy A Shirt button at the bottom of the post. Just make sure that you put your size in the comment line within PayPal. If you don't wish to pay now but still want to pre-order, send an email to maifest2010@gmail.com with the following: name, shirt quantity, and shirt sizes.

Maifest 2011 - May 7th

The weather is warming and the days are getting longer, which means that it is time to celebrate the coming of summer with the second annual Maifest. For all of you who attended last year, we thank you. For those of you whom have never heard of Maifest get ready for an awesome beercentric festival filled with friends, family, food, and of course a plethora of homebrew! If you are in doubt and don’t know if this is for you, check out how last year’s Maifest went. At Maifest 2010 we drank 18 different beers, ate 214 sausages and 100 burgers. Over 300 friends and family attended and we are expecting plenty more this year. 400? 500? 600? We’ll see. Don’t worry my friends; there will be plenty of beer.

The festival will kick off at 12PM and the beer will flow until 6:00PM. This year’s lineup will cover even more beer styles including favorites from last year: Belgian Ales, German Session Beers and of course HOPOCALYPSE! We have also added a 55 gallon American Oak Barrel to our arsenal so get ready for a couple specialty beers with excellent oak flavor.

PLEASE HAVE A DESIGNATED DRIVER!

As a special treat, we will have Gregory Kolsto with us. Gregory started the nano coffee roaster Oddly Correct which produces, in my humble opinion, the best fresh roasted coffee in town. We’re not sure what all Gregory will be bringing to the table, but we’re sure it will be good. Think Hop Hammer with fewer hops and more beans. The coffee club! Good thing we’ll have our local blackcoffeesmith to run that puppy. 

Food will be provided in the form of Bichelmeyer sausages and locally raised beef burgers with some sides to fill in the gaps. The beer and food are free so bring your beer loving friends, just make sure that they are 21 or older and bring an I.D.  

T-Shirt Info

We will be coming out with more information as the day approaches so stay tuned. For now, here is the current beer menu to wet your appetite!

This Year’s Beer List
Note: Italicized beers are the favorites from last year, retooled and even better!

Brewer: Kyle FitzGerald
10 G. Bavarian Wheat
10 G. Belgian Wit
15 G. Maibock
10 G. Hefeweizen
15 G. Pilsner
10 G. Extra Special Bitter (ESB)

Brewer: Thomas Sanford
10 G. Imperial IPA (with optional Hop Hammer)
10 G. Amber Ale
10 G. Brown Ale
10 G. Porter (with optional Coffee Club)
10 G. American Strong Ale
10 G. Belgian Golden Strong Ale
10 G. Black IPA

Brewer: Ashley Strube
10 G. Belgian Trippel
10 G. Belgian Blonde
10 G. Saison
10 G. Patersbier
10 G. Rye Pale Ale
10 G. Irish Red Rye
10 G. Dusseldorf Altbier
10 G. Dortmunder Export
5 G. Smoked Porter

Guest Brewer: Chris Thowe
10 G. American Wheat

Barrel Beers – aged in an American Oak Barrel
5 G. Oak Aged Russian Imperial Stout
5 G. Oak Aged Russian Imperial Stout with Chocolate and Orange
5 G. Virgin Russian Imperial Stout
10 G. Oak Aged Wee Heavy
10 G. Virgin Wee Heavy

Location:
The Pavilion at City Park, Kansas City, Kansas

It is the huge shelter at the very top of City Park, just keep driving up and you cannot miss it.

Link to Map

For any additional information, please RSVP to maifest2010@gmail.com.

Oak Barrel Aging for Homebrewers (Part 3)

The day of transferring our Russian Imperial Stout to our new 55 gallon American Oak (heavy charred) barrel was finally upon us.  With the winter's first blanket of snow outside we finally were ready to take the 12 fermentation vessels of beer and get them into an oaky new home!  We brewed this beer on October 30th and wanted to give it time to really finish out before introducing it to the barrel.  We transferred it from bucket to barrel on December 12th which gave it about 43 days to completely ferment and settle out.

We followed our prescribed steps to preparing the barrel found HERE.  Unfortunately, after letting the barrel fully soak up the water and expand, and filling the barrel with a water/barrolkleen mixture, we discovered a tiny leak in the end of the barrel.  To fix this problem, a small wedge of natural cork was cut and hammered into the hole.

After soaking up liquid, the cork followed the oak's lead and expanded, thus stopping the leak!  After fixing the leak and cleaning away the barrolkleen, we moved on to the next step.  We dissolved 1 Oz. of citric acid and 2 Ozs. of sodium metabisulfite into 2 gallons of warm water, and used this mixture to rinse the inside of the barrel for about 10-15 minutes.  This was done to kill any wild bacteria/yeasts.

We rinsed the barrel out until the water was running clear, and put it on it's stand where it will rest
until the beer is ready.

We moved all of the buckets to the garage so that they were ready to transfer.  My HERM's system has a March pump attached to the body, and we wanted to use this to move all of the beer instead of the tedious task of siphoning it all.  We set this all up and then took a set of Final Gravities which averaged about 10 Brix. After adjusting for the alcohol, we came up with a calculated ABV of around 9-9.25%.

It tasted pretty good and will definitely benefit from the added complexities of the oak barrel.  We made 60 gallons of the beer originally.  We put 55 gallons in the barrel and kept 5 gallons in a carboy to age as a control.  This will give us an idea of what the stout tasted like sans oak flavor.  Because this is a new barrel we will probably start testing the flavor fairly soon as to make sure and get the beer off of the oak before it becomes to flavor dominant.  Overall the process went smoothly and we are excited to taste the results!  Cheers and we look forward to letting everyone know how this turns out!

All photos courtesy of Libby Connell

Cooking with Brewing Equipment - Sous Vide Style!

I came across an article earlier this week about Dr. Nathan Myhrvold, a Microsoft millionaire who decided to follow his passion for cooking and develop a cookbook.  This cookbook (http://modernistcuisine.com/) started as a pet project that was supposed to be 300 pages and ended up taking over three years to develop and is 2400 pages long!  In the article it talked about his use of Sous Vide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sous-vide) which is a style of cooking re-discovered in the 60's and 70's that has been slowly spreading around the world.

Right now, it is used mainly in high-end restaurants around the world.  However, there has been a slow adoption among home based chefs and it has been increasing in popularity recently.  This website has some interesting information on it (http://www.cookingsousvide.com/).  The basic idea of the cooking style is to use precise temperature control to cook a meat EXACTLY to the desired temperature of serving, without the possibility of overcooking it.  To do this, the meat is vacuum sealed with some spices/herbs. 

Then the vacuum sealed package is placed into a temperature controlled water bath.

Coincidentally, my Hot Liquor Tank has a PID controller on it which can precisely control it's temperature.  This is where it relates to brewing beer.  Anyone with a brewing setup that can control water temperature for an extended period of time has the equipment to try this cooking method!  We decided to make some Chicken Marsala, so... we placed some flattened chicken breasts, salt, pepper, and sprigs of fresh thyme in a vacuum sealed bag and put them in 141 degree water for approximately two hours.  At 141 degrees, it takes about 20 minutes for all bacteria to be killed (http://www.cookingsousvide.com/story_image/image/92/sous-vide-chicken-cooking-time.png).  As the meat remains in solution, it becomes more and more moist as the proteins continue to break down.  Ours came out IMMENSELY moist and tender.  It really was amazing. 

Once removed from the pouches, we patted them dry while heating some extra virgin olive oil until it was smoking.  We then floured the chicken and flash seared them on both sides (less than a minute on both sides).  This achieved the proper maillard reaction to brown the chicken up both for added flavor and for presentation. 

After searing, we added some butter and baby portabello mushrooms to the skillet for 5 or 6 minutes until they soaked up all the EVOO and goodness.  After that we added 3/4 cup Marsala wine and 3/4 cup chicken stock and let it reduce for 10-15 minutes on medium.  We added 2 tablespoons of butter and poured over the chicken.  Finally, we garnished with some chopped Italian parsley. 

The chicken took on a new texture that was more moist and tender than any chicken I have had before.  It was absolutely delicious.  We paired it with some steamed broccoli and citrus/pecan/spinach salad.  All of it was delicious.  This is the recipe we loosely followed (http://www.cookingsousvide.com/info/sous-vide-recipes/more/sous-vide-chicken-marsala).  The cooking process itself is amazing because you CAN'T overcook it, which means it is basically error free.  The only work is vacuum sealing it, and setting the temp., after that a quick searing in a pan or on the grill and it is set to go!  I would highly recommend trying this out if your brewing equipment is capable.  It was really fun, interesting, and we look forward to perfecting the style to impress our guests! 

Please try this out and post results!  We'd love to hear from other people who have tried this! 

Oak Barrel Aging for Homebrewers (Part 2)

This is the second installment to the Barrel Aging series we are doing.  The link to the first is here....

http://kchopheaven.blogspot.com/2010/06/oak-barrel-aging-for-homebrewers-part-1.html

We finally got around to brewing the beer for this barrel.  Summertime activities seem to occupy precious brewing time, but we did it!  Because we acquired a new, heavy charred, oak barrel; we wanted to use a BIG beer to absorb the concentrated flavors.  This lead us to a Russian Imperial Stout recipe that we believe will help reduce the intensiveness of the flavors from the barrel.

Brew day went very well.  We had three 10-gallon systems up and running from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.  We had no hiccups in brewing.  This was probably due to our two beautiful brewing assistants (you know who you are).  This resulted in about 60 gallons of wort to ferment.  All of the initial gravity readings were pretty close to the estimated O.G.  Our microbiologist friend propagated a large concentrated batch of Wyeast #1056 (American Ale) for us.  All twelve of our fermentation vessels (buckets and a carboy) started without a problem within 16 hours and finished out nicely.  They were in a hallway that remained at about 66 degrees Fahrenheit.

Overall it was a great brew and we will be detailing the build for the stand and the transferring of the stout into the barrel soon.  

RECIPE:

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Oak Barrel Stout
Brewer: Thomas Sanford Asst Brewer:
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications --------------------------
Batch Size: 10.00 gal
Boil Size: 12.38 gal
Estimated OG: 1.090 SG
Estimated Color: 56.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 72.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients: ------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
25 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 72.46 %
3 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 8.70 %
2 lbs 8.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 7.25 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 4.35 %
1 lbs Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 2.90 %
1 lbs Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 2.90 %
8.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 1.45 %
2.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 13.5 IBU
2.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 14.9 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (45 min) Hops 6.2 IBU
2.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (45 min) Hops 21.1 IBU
2.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (30 min) Hops 11.4 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (10 min) Hops 2.5 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 2.7 IBU
10.00 gal Kansas City, KS Water
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale

Mash Schedule: Double Infusion, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 34.50 lb ----------------------------
Double Infusion, Medium Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
70 min Saccrification Add 27.60 qt of water at 172.7 F 154.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 24.15 qt of water at 187.6 F 168.0 F

Oak Barrel Aging for Homebrewers (Part 3)