Monday, April 25, 2011

The Winter, The Move, Spring and other Things

File Under:  ...And We're Back

Brewing is more like high school algebra than riding a bike.  While both algebra and biking take considerable time and effort to learn and perfect, once one learns to ride a bike it will never be forgotten.  Algebra, on the other hand, sneaks out of your head as soon as you turn your back on it like some over-sexed teenager with a fake ID and a ground-floor window.  One won’t even realize it’s gone until it is called upon and it doesn’t answer.
Sneaking out!

When the ice begin to melt and plans started to be put into place to restart our brewing operations, I called upon my brewing knowledge and there was no reply.  I called again, and again I was met with silence.  As I searched my mind for any sign of life all I found was a pile of clothes under a blanket made to look like a sleeping child, and an open window.
I could kick myself for getting soft this winter.  My usual emersion in all things brewing was replaced temporarily by other concerns, not the least of which was my move from Montclair in Essex County, NJ to Roselle Park in Union County.  Moving is difficult enough as it is, but purchasing one’s first house is a life-enveloping grind and single-minded determination is required.  Not to make excuses, but there was no time.  No time to brew.  No time to read.  No time to remember.

My New House....Nah!
Hops and barely and water and yeast – they all still make perfect sense to me.  I’m drawing blanks on the specific calculations.  How much water am I supposed to use?  What temperature am I aiming for?  How do I adjust this recipe to get that result?  These questions, when added together, represent a new beginning for us and our entire brewing enterprise, as they are the sum total of all we forgot and must relearn.

The move has afforded us a great many things to look forward to this brewing season.  Our process will be greatly simplified and our total brew time will be reduced significantly.  In Montclair we were constantly dealing with logistical issues related to my apartment’s location on the third floor and our need to brew outdoors.  With no direct access to the backyard, everything needed to be carried down two flights of stairs, out the front door and around the side of the house to the backyard.  The word ‘everything’ includes, but is not limited to, twenty-plus pounds of grain, twenty-five-plus gallons of water, various forty-eight quart coolers, three propane tanks, the Banjo Classic propane burner, various brewer’s pots, camping chairs, a table, at least 5 buckets and other brewing ingredients and equipment.  Once everything was moved out and the brew was completed, everything then needs to be moved back indoors – from the backyard, around to the front of the house, up the two flights and into the apartment.

The new house has two pieces of standard equipment that will eliminate the need to move any materials any great length of distance: a deck and a shed.  Simply move all necessary items from the house or the shed to the deck and viola.  It’s a matter of two feet instead of seventy-five yards.
Annoying Neighbor!
The other thing the move has provided us is a sense of privacy that was largely non-existent in Montclair.  Specifically, we had a neighbor that liked to ‘help’ when we brewed.  He would sit and drink and talk and talk and talk and change the music and offer advice and tell anecdotes upon anecdotes.  It would have been very helpful had our goal been to miss our temperatures and brew bad beer under strenuous conditions.  Brewing, racking, bottling - it didn't matter.  If there was work to be done, he was there to muck us up.  So long, annoying neighbor!  My 7 foot privacy fence will keep all the Roselle Park wannabes from bugging us, and to that I raise my glass.  Cold?  Perhaps, but there is something to be said for operating under optimal conditions and the sense of peace that arises from hard work.  When that feeling ceases, I might as well be at real work.
In any case, both Doug and I are extremely excited to brew in our new digs.  Every aspect of our process will be greatly improved and will be much easier.  Brewing will be easier because of logistical reasons.  Fermentation will be easier because, as luck would have it, my 1900s era basement maintains a perfect fermentation temperature of sixty-eight degrees at all times.  Storage will be easier because it’s my house and I can store things where ever the hell I want!
As much as the new brewing venue has us all jazzed up, nothing has been as invigorating as the changing of the seasons.  Anyone in the North East this winter knows what I am talking about.  It was a winter that we will compare all up-coming winters to for a long time.  Snow, shovel, repeat.  Show, shovel, repeat.  Finally the winter has passed and we can get on with what we do best.  Brew it, drink it, repeat!
So what if I have forgotten the majority of what I learned last year?  Half the fun was in the discovery anyway, so I will gladly get back to the books.  It's beer season again...finally.
Balanced Beer?

Our first brew of the season will be ten gallons of Pershing Pale Ale, named for the street in Roselle Park the beer will be brewed on.  Pershing Pale Ale is brewed with the finest base malt from the UK, generous amounts of Crystal Malt from the US, sweet Munich Malt from Germany and Aromatic Malt from Belgium.  Amber in color, this pale ale is generously hopped with US Golding and Czech Saaz hops, and then dry-hopped with more Saaz for good measure.  Clocking at just over five percent alcohol, Pershing Pale Ale is at once approachable and complicated, malty and hoppy - a session beer and a sipper.  Balanced.
As beer season begins again my mantra becomes balance.  It is as important in life as it is in beer.  Since moving I have done little more than work, paint, build and spend.  This winter I focused on the house and working out and did little else.  I have calloused hands and I feel oddly healthy.  I’d never downplay the importance of a healthy lifestyle, but I will contend that a balanced lifestyle is as important to mental health as diet and exercise are to physical health.  Work balanced with play, rest balanced with activity and malt balanced with hops.  Here's to our health!
Burt
Brewing: Pershing Pale Ale 4/30/11
On Deck: Feastbier Toasted Ale ?/?/?
Primary Fermentation: Nothing
Secondary Fermentation: Nada

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