The Truth Behind Hoegaarden, If You Dare to Care

Hoegaarden is and has always been an enjoyable beer for me, among one of my favorite beers. I had no idea the truth until just a few weeks ago. You have to enjoy wheat beers to enjoy this beer. Comparable beers would be Blue Moon (which is actually owned by Coors, though they do their best to keep that secret from you), Weihenstephaner Witbier (The world's oldest brewery, founded 1040), and Celis White (which we'll get to).

So what's the scoop on Hoegaarden?

First, it hasn't been around long at all. It was all started in the 1970's by belgian brewer Pierre Celis. He named it after the town of Hoegaarden, which was producing wheat beers since the 1400's. The town of Hoegaarden had about 13 breweries and numerous distilleries at one point, the last brewery closing it's doors in the 1950's. Wheat beers were the prinicipal beer of this area, with common ingredients of Water, Yeast, Wheat, Hops, Coriander and Orange Peel. This style beer was on its way out until Pierre Celis stepped in during the 1970's.

His operation grew very quickly and he set up shop in an old factory in the town, now able to meet the demand of the customers. To his misfortune, a fire broke out and burnt his brewery inoperable. InBev (under a different name at that time) offered up loans so Celis could buy another building nearby to continue operations. InBev happens to be the largest beer conglomerate in the world now, which also owns Anheuser-Busch.

Celis worked to put his brewery back up in operations, but with ownership (significant loans) from InBev, Celis was under pressure to modify his beer to become more of a mass-market style wheat beer. Based on Celis's actions soon thereafter, I deem him an honorable man; a man of pride. He decided it was best to sell his Hoegaarden brewery to InBev and move on. Sure enough, InBev modified the recipe to make it more commercial to the masses, just as you would drink it today.

Don't get me wrong, I like the Hoegaarden I buy today. It's actually the only recipe I knew since i first had one in.....let's say 1996. The fact that it is owned and operated as a part of InBev doesn't affect any future purchase decisions. I buy mass-marketed beers and authentic microbrew beers. What matters most to me is, 'Do I like this beer'? If I enjoy it, then I'll buy it, or attempt to brew it myself.

But this whole series of events really got me thinking. What did the original Hoegaarden recipe taste like? Was it vastly different than the Hoegaarden we know today? My answer is, 'I don't know, but I'm about to find out'.

Pierre Celis decided to open up a brewery in Austin, Texas during the late 80's, early 90's and brew the beer he knew best. He set up operations quickly, under the name Celis Brewery. He manufactured his beers and contracted distribution to Miller for shares of his brewery. His recipe for the original Hoegaarden was branded Celis White. It didn't last many years, because when it came time to buy back his shares from Miller, he opted to sell the brewery to them. Miller took over ownership of the Celis Brewery, and then closed its doors due to weak revenues sometime in 2001.

That leaves me in a bit of a debacle. The Celis Brewery in Austin, Tx no longer exists. I previously stated that I'm going to try some Celis White soon. I have two ways to go about this, but which will give me a more authentic taste.

1. Attempt to search online for an old, unopened case of Celis White dating back almost 10 years. Would it last? My guess is no, considering the high sedimentation of yeast that wheat beers have. You never know though, if it's stored in the right conditions then it could be like drinking a fresh homebrew.


2. My other option is to find Celis White at a specialty beer store (Canal's in Jersey would probably have it), now revived from Michigan Brewing Company.

Soon after Miller closed the doors of the Celis Brewery in Austin, Michigan Brewing Company bought the Celis brand and continued operations. In late 2002, Celis hit the shelves and pubs in bars all over Michigan. Now, it's all over the place, just hard to find. The question remains, 'Does it taste the same as it did 40 years ago?' Did the Michigan Brewing Company obtain the actual recipe from Pierre Celis, or from Miller for that matter? We're not so sure about that.

I was perusing the web site http://www.michiganbrewing.com/ and they make a claim of "belief" that their Celis White brand represents the authenticity and natural flavors that were used by Pierre Celis 6 decades ago. Also according to the website, Pierre Celis visited the Michigan Brewing Company and agreed that its version was similar to the very original.

I could just continue to drink Hoegaarden, because I do like it, but at the same time I have a strong interest in trying the original Celis White from Austin, Tx. I don't see that happening, so I may just have to try Michigan Brewing Company's version of Celis and bellieve in the claim they make on their website. I may never know the truth.

Fermentation & Yeast

Fermentation & Yeast: The Do's and Don't's of Each




So what's the big deal about fermentation and yeast? Not much really, but if you don't follow these simple tips you ruin your batch of beer. Every batch of beer costs money whether you are brewing 5 gallons or 500 gallons, therefore a loss is a loss. Being that beer takes on average of 6 weeks from start to finish, every ruined batch is 6 more weeks longer you have to wait for the next.

Fermentation is a simple process, and is where the yeast 'feeds' on the fermentable sugars in the wort, converting the sugars into alcohol. During this process co2 is released from the fermentation vessel. A proper airlock with keep any bacterias from entering the fermentation vessel, preventing infection, all the while allowing the escape of co2, allowing the sugars to convert to alcohol. It's a beautiful thing really and without it it would be proof that God hates us all and doesn't want us to be happy. Lucky for us, he does want us to be happy, so this simple phenomena can occur (even at the homebrew level!).

Chronilogically, here is what happens during the brewing and fermentation process: in simple terms.

1.) Steep the grains at the ideal range of 145-158 F. This allows the grains to convert the starches to fermentable sugars. The result of this conversion is called wort.

2.) You then take the wort (malt extract) and add water to your desired batch size, boiling it for 60-90 minutes. A 90 minute boil will allow for a more crisp, dry taste (like a pale ale), versus a 60 minute boil resulting in a creamy, smooth stout (guiness). It affects the body of the beer. This is also where you would add hops and any other additions such as flavorings.

3.) After the boil, you must immediately cool down the wort as fast as possible to about 68 F for ales and 40 F for lagers and then transfer it into your fermentation vessel (typically a closed-lid bucket or carboy).

4.) Once your beer is cooled, you can pitch the yeast (aka, dump the yeast in) and let the fermentation begin. Fermentation can take anywhere from 3 days to weeks and months, depending on the beer.

5.) After fermentation is complete, you then transfer the fermented beer to bottles, adding sugar for carbonation, or to kegs, where you would force carbonate it with co2.

6.) Drink and Enjoy.

As you can see, there are really only a few steps involved in this process. It's because of the simplicity of this process that allowed people to drink beer for thousands of years. Don't be fooled though, it wasn't that easy long long ago. You'd be lucky to have 2 different styles of beer back then. This of course, was long before yeast strains and barleys became part of the international trade system. When thinking about this, think about your regional beers. Germany has a lot of wheat beers, because Germany is home to wheat. England is known for its English Ales because England has Pilsner malt, etc. You get the idea. Each style beer was the only option for beer hundreds of years in that particular part of the world.

And even though it's a simple process we tend to get caught up in the complexity of it all. Take make crazy homemade brewery I have going. I used to make beer using a $40 kit, now I use a handbuilt $.... system. So please, keep these tips for your own success. I've ruined batches before, so I can at least help others from doing it too. However, I'd still bet you my home that you will mess up one time or another.

Tips to Live By:

- Cool down the beer as fast as possible after the boil. The longer it takes to cool down, the more opportunity for bacteria to enter and cause infection. Some people use ice baths to cool down the beer. It can take hours in this process, but sometimes that's the only option. You can buy an immersion chiller http://morebeer.com/view_product/8766//B3-500_Immersion_Chiller_Option for under $60. This will cool the beer down in about 10-15 minutes. You want to cool it down in regards to the yeast you are using. When you transfer the beer to a fermentation vessel, get some oxygen in there, as oxygen help yeast multiply. Pour the beer back and forth from one bucket to another once or twice. That will allow for adequate aeration.

- Use a hydrometer and take a sample of the beer using a sanitized siphon or something of the sort. This is the Original Gravity (OG). Ex. 1.052. You use this number to determine alcohol content and to determine if your beer fermented or not.

-All yeast packages have ideal fermentation temperature ranges, so follow that. Most ales like to ferment between 60-75 F. Most lagers like to ferment at 34 F to 48 F.

- Do not pitch the yeast outside of this range. You can risk killing what were viable yeast cells. A typical dry packet of yeat contains about 200 billion cells, just enough for a 5 gallon batch.

- My personal preference is to ferment in a glass carboy versus plastic buckets. Plastic is porous, and the lids are not airtight. Plus, residues such as soap rinses from glass easier than plastic. You don't want any off-flavors in your beer do you? Oh yeah, you can't see through a white plastic bucket, but can see through glass. I like to watch fermentation from start to finish.

- Look for a layer of krausen (foam) to form within 4-24 hours after pitching the yeast. At this point you MAY or MAY NOT see bubbling occuring in the airlock. It's ok if it does not bubble. DO NOT use bubbling as a source to determine if fermentatin is active. DO NOT!

- After a week or two, take a sample of the beer (with a sanitized utensil!) and check the hydrometer reading again. At this point, the layer of krausen usually recedes and thins out and all airlock activity comes to a halt. The hydrometer reading should be much lower now. Ex. 1.012. This is your Final Gravity (FG).

- Determine alcohol content. Take your OG - FG * 131. In this case, it would be 1.052 -1.012 * 131 = 5.24% ABV. Use your head now. If the ABV is 2.3% then you did something wrong. You have never bought a beer that has that little alcohol, which means your beer is crap. Most beers are 4% or more.

Ok, I could write a whole book on fermentation alone, as well as yeast. So, I have to come back and revisit this topic again. There is too much to talk about, but for the beginner, this should help. We can talk about yeast starters, culturing, harvesting yeast, washing yeast, etc, all at a later time. Just know the key takeaways mentioned above.

Let me know if you have any questions though at any time. Facebook or jkhalbe@gmail.com.

cheers!

SMaSH Brewing - Take One

There will definately be a Take Two, Take Three, Take Four, etc. I'm new to this concept, but this is a concept that has been around for hundreds of years, if not thousands. It's a simple concept, because simple is sometimes the best. So what is SMaSH Brewing?

SMaSH is an an acronym for Single Malt and Single Hop. Every beer I have brewed to date has had some complex grain bill, ie. 40% base malt, 30 % wheat malt, 20% specialty malt, and 10% adjunct malts, plus a varietal hop schedule, ie. 20% cascade hops, 30% hallertau hops, 50% styrian hops, on top of some flavoring additions such as 1 oz coriander seed and/or 1 oz orange zest, for example. As you can see, these beers are complex, requiring a bit of this and bit of that and lot of this and some of that.

It never crossed my mind to do something so simple until Farmer Ian dedicated some of his homegrown hops to my homebrew setup. Because he had homegrown hops, there was some risk associated with the use of hops that had an UNKNOWN alpha acid content. Hops are what determine the level of bitterness, aroma, and flavor are in a particular beer. For example, a 120 Minute India Pale Ale (IPA), continuously hopped through the boil with end up with a bitterness of 141. This number 141 is a defined numerical data point that correlates with the amount of alpha acid in hops. A wheat beer, which is not hoppy in taste, may have a bitterness of 10. This number is referred to as IBU's, or International Bitterness Units. Commercially grown hops are tested for their average alpha acid content, therefore a homebrewer or commercial brewer can accurately set the level of bitterness in their brew. A pale ale could have 40 or more IBU's, etc. It really depends on the style beer. Obviously, a hoppy beer will have a higher IBU score.

So, back to brewing, I decided that since I can not determine how hoppy my brew will turn out, we better play it safe, for economical reasons. I didn't want to dump $40 into 2 cases of beer, or $80 into 4 cases of beer for that matter. Hence, I felt comfortable spending $12 on 2 cases of beer ($6 per case for those mathematically challenged) that way if it turned out a failure I wouldn't be out that much money. This is where the SMaSH beer came to play. Less grains = less costs. By now you are probably asking yourself if you ever consumed a SMaSH beer. Chances are yes if you have ever had Urquell Pilsner.

SMaSH beers are great for beer drinkers and great for homebrewers. It goes down just as good as any other beer (good for the beer drinker) and allows the homebrewer to identify the subtleties of a particular malt and a particular hop. Put your magic to the test and try drinking a specialty beer that has 4 or more hop additions. There is no way you can point out the certain flavors from the different hops, its just too hard to know what each one is. Unless of course you completed the Beer Judge Certification Program (www.bjcp.org). It is the neither the prior nor the latter that appeal to me more, I like to drink beer and I like to further understand how particular malts and particular hops are affecting the flavors of my beer.

Today we brewed the Wet Hot American Ale, consisting of the following SMaSH (Single Malt and Single Hop).

Wet Hot American Ale
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Boil Size: 6.50 gallons @ 90 Minutes
OG: 1.050
FG: 1.012
Est. ABV - 4.92%
Fermentation: 5 days in primary, 5 days in secondary
Yeast: Safale-05 (American Ale Yeast, dry)
Malt: 10 lbs Vienna Malt
Hops:
1.1 oz Cascades @ 60 minutes
1.9 oz Cascades @ 20 minutes
1.0 oz Cascades @ dryop in secondary fermenter
Single Infusion, Batch Sparge, steeping @ 60 minutes at 151 F, sparging with 168 F water.

We were targeting an original gravity of 1.052 and ended just shy at 1.050. It's good enough for beer, that's for sure. This particular style American Ale requires an OG of 1.045 - 1.060, so we're safe. We're also safe if Ian's homegrown hops have the average 5.5% alpha acid putting this beer at 38.1 IBU's. The American Ale style guidelines call for 30 - 45 IBU's. The color was within range at 5.7, where 5-14 was needed. As long as the FG is within 1.010 and 1.015, then we will have an authentic American Ale. Now, in regards to Ian's homegrown hops, we have no way of testing the alpha acid content. It is very costly to do, so we'll just have to compare beers. I just did a quick google search and found that Budweiser's new American Ale is 28 IBU's, so as along as the Wet Hot American Ale has a pinch more bitterness to it, then we scored. If not, no biggie. That's why I only spent $12 on this batch.

Tune back for an update.

Special thanks to Ian for sharing some of his beloved hops with me.

Bavarian Witbier aka Hoegaarden Blue Moon

Brewed up 10 gallons (4 cases) of a Bavarian Witbier. I missed some of my target gravities but not by too much, it still turned out pretty tasty. We were all drinking some yesterday and I got some decent compliments. My rule of thumb is, If I wont drink it, then no one else will drink it either. So whether I miss my target gravities or not, It's all a matter of whether I drink the product in the end or not. In this case, we are. Here's the recipe:

2 lbs Rice Hulls

9 lbs Pilsner 2-row

6 lbs White Wheat Malt

5 lbs Flaked Wheat

1 oz Cascade hops 60 minutes

1 oz Cascade hops 5 minutes

1 oz Coriander seed 15 minutes

1 oz Bitter Orange Peel 15 minutes

2 pkgs Belgian Wit Ale Yeast WLP400

This style beer calls for an Original Gravity of 1.044 - 1.052. I ended up at 1.042. If i was paying attention, I could have just boiled longer and hit my target. As you can see, I wasn't off by much, so it only minimally affects flavor. In fact, it makes it just a little bit sweeter, leaving more fermentable sugars in the beer. Like I said, I'm enjoying it.

Wheat beers utilize yeasts that are very high in sedimentation. I probably lost close to a gallon of beer in yeast alone. As is typical with wheat beers, I did not ferment in a secondary because unfiltered beer is how these are typically served, resulting in a cloudy, hazy lemon color beer. As a result of high yeast sedimentation, the shelf life for Wheat beers, this one included, is about 4 weeks. Carbonation is very high compared to ales. I'm not sure why the carbonation is set high. It could have something to do with the shelf life, force carbing fast and then drinking fast, or what not. Anyway, here it is.