Sierra Nevada

I stumbled across this great Q&A from Sam Calagione - the founder of Dogfish Head - with one of the founders of Sierra Nevada, Ken Grossman. I think the most interesting part is the similarities between the stories of these startup microbrews. They used second-hand or hand-built equipment, had little sense of the market and mainly went off a deep love of the product.

They also received a lot of help from other breweries. In no other business that I can think of do the competitors help one another in the way that microbreweries do. Grossman got yeast from other commercial breweries around San Francisco in the early days and Coors even was willing to sell him malted barley from its own stash. Today, the pathway for a microbrewery is much more difficult and easier. More people drink and seek out craft beer, but many more people are offering it as well.

In Detroit, there's an emerging brewing district off of Cass. With the impending arrival of a microbrewery near the Motor City Brewing Works and Traffic Jam, the potential to market the area as a destination has improved. Sadly, that area is where I had hoped to put my pie-in-the-sky green microbrewery. Opportunity lost, or delayed.

Brown Ale

I racked my new brown ale to the secondary fermenter and got a 1.020 gravity reading. Ugh. I am still not getting the kind of attenuation I want. I'm going to try to aerate the beer more the next time I do it and get a vigorous yeast starter going. The beer still should have a about 5.1 percent alcohol, which is strong enough to be fairly potent, but I was hoping for closer to 6 percent. It will sit in the secondary for at least two weeks and then I'll bottle it. I'd like it to be in the bottle for three weeks before serving it.

Real green beer

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery is the most interesting brewery in America. Best known for its India Pale Ales, the 60, 90 and 120 minute IPAs, named for the constant hop infusion over that amount of time, the brewery is really a playground for owner Sam Calagione. He makes wild beers that test the threshold of ``beer,'' including this one: Verdi Verdi Good. I think it's safe to say it didn't taste good, but it really is a green beer. The brewery makes Midas Touch, a strong golden ale with saffron that was based on a chemical analysis of the residue taken from a cup found in King Midas' tomb. Calagione started his brewery after making only about 10 homebrews. I love his story. This New Yorker story is amazing and traces his history.

Amber ale with three hop combinations.

I made a new beer, and I think it's going to be good. Here is the story:
6 pounds amber liquid malt extract. 1 pound briess sparkling amber dry malt extract. 1 ounce U.S. Goldings hops 60-minute boil. One ounce Liberty hops, 45-minute boil, and 1 ounce Willamette hops for 15 minutes. One cup of brown sugar. Original gravity is 1.060. Yeast is Danstar Windsor Ale yeast. Alternative is Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale yeast in a smack pack. Going to try to ferment at a cool temperature to limit esther creation.

At the same time I bought a sixer of Bell's Amber and I am trying to harvest the yeast. They make some good beer.