Original Brewhouse Lives!

A couple of weeks ago I paid a visit to Salmon Creek Brewing in Vancouver, WA. They bought the original kettle and mash tun from the West Seattle pub when we moved our brewing operations out back. It was great to see the old equipment in its new setting. We brewed about 600 batches on that system, three of which won GABF medals. And after some minor modifications, she's still going strong for the brewers at Salmon Creek. Old brewing equipment never really dies, it just gets reappropriated for new jobs.

A Bevy of EBay Lagers

We're brewing a series of lager beers this month, including a Schwarzbier and Helles in West Seattle and Märzen and Irish Red in Burien. Given that we mainly focus on producing ales, this is a major seasonal departure for us. But the first two batches are tasting good and should be released in early March. Look for a cask-conditioned / kellerbier version of the Märzen at the Third Thursday Cask Night in West Seattle on 2.19.08. It was tasting yummy today when we drew a sample from the keg!

Saison is in the Tank!

Last week we brewed a variation on a Belgian spiced ale using our house Belgian yeast and cardamon seeds.

The hazy, faintly orange color is characteristic of these farmhouse style ales that were traditionally brewed for consumption during the warmer months of the year. Now that we've had a few days over 40F and are looking forward to some more sunshine, this style seemed appropriate.

Look for the Saison to be pouring in both pubs by late February.

Burien Birthday Beer #2

Burien Birthday Beer #2 is now in the fermentor and will be ready to drink in about a month. This year we brewed our first lager beer at the Brewhouse - a Märzen style that is a lovely orange color and only mildly hopped.

Come by on Sat., March 7 and celebrate our second anniversary in Burien. There will be music, food, and beer specials. Prost!

Chocolate Porter

We lauched a new seasonal earlier this year, a robust Porter in which we steeped organic cacao nibs from local chocolatier, Theo Chocolates.

The beer was brewed in West Seattle but kegs are currently pouring in both locations.

The nibs help round out the the beer with a touch of added sweetness and a mild amount of bitterness that complements the dark roasted malts.

Elliott Bay Brewers' Night @ Naked City

WHEN: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 @ 7:00 PM
WHERE: Naked City Taphouse, Greenwood neighborhood (map)
WHAT: Kegs of Pro-Am Imperial IPA, Smoked Porter, Red von Boorian, Cali Ave. IPA, Barrel-aged something-or-other
WHO: All the brewers responsible for creating the various beers

PLUS: EBay schwag

Zoigl, Zwickel, and Kellerbier : German "Cask" Beer Tradition

The name Zoiglbier stems from "Zoigl," the Franconian vernacular for "sign." In Franconian home brewing, a Zoigl was a six-pointed blue-white star, shaped from two triangles similar to a Star of David. The star was made from wooden slats. In the center was a cutout of a beer mug or a pine branch. In the feudal system of the 13th and 14th centuries, every Bavarian home- and landowner in the region north of the River Danube also automatically owned the right to brew beer, and these medieval burghers and farmers used to hang the Zoigl in front of their doors whenever they had home brew ready to drink. The Zoigl was in invitation to their neighbors to come over and have a few. These early burgher-brewers often also made their Zoiglbier in communal brew houses...a natural precursor to the brew's communal consumption under the Zoigl.

One triangle of the Zoigl symbolized the three "elements" involved in brewing: fire, water and air; the other symbolized the three "ingredients" used in brewing: malt, hops and water. The function of yeast had not yet been discovered in the Middle Ages. Rather yeast was considered a byproduct of fermentation, known as "stuff" ("Zeug" in German) to be discarded.

Nowadays, Zoiglbier is brewed exclusively with noble hops from the Hallertau region of Bavaria (slightly north of the Danube). Like Kellerbier, Zoiglbier is unfiltered, unpasteurized, uncapped ("ungespundet"), and low in carbonation; but unlike Kellerbier, it is aged for only of few weeks, before it is served. It tends to have a shorter shelflife than Kellerbier and is generally not sold outside Bavaria.

The name Zwickelbier stems from the sampling cock ("Zwickel" in German) mounted at the outside of a cask or tank to take tastes for assessing the brew's progress during fermentation. Like Kellerbier, Zwickelbier originated in the small artisanal and home breweries of Franconia. It is rarely exported to other German States or internationally. Thus, it is generally not available in the North America. Zwickelbier is unfiltered and unpasteurised, but, unlike Kellerbier, the maturation casks (or modern tanks) are bunged or capped ("gespundet" in German) just before the end of fermentation. This furthers the dissolution of carbon dioxide gas in the brew. As a result, Zwickelbier, unlike Kellerbier, builds up effervescence and has a nice creamy head when poured into a glass. While Kellerbier is aged for months, Zwickelbier tends to be served as soon as it is finished fermenting. Because Zwickelbier has less hops than Kellerbier (the acids in hops serve as a preservative) it tends to have only a short shelf life, which is the main reason why it is not shipped to distant markets.

Literally "cellar beer," this is an unfiltered lager, usually strongly flavored with aromatic hops. Kellerbiers come in a wide range of strengths, but they are often brewed to an Okoberfestbier-Märzenbier strength of about 5 to 5.3% alcohol by volume More often than not, a Kellerbier is deep amber in color, perhaps with a reddish tinge, as a result of a good addition of slightly caramelized malt (called Munich malt) to the grain bill. Authentic Kellerbiers have very little effervescence, because they are typically served "ungespunded" (unbunged) meaning they are matured in wodden casks with the yeast still active, but with the bung ("Spund" in German) not tightened. As the yeast ferments the remaining sugars in the brew and converts these into additional carbon dioxide gas, the gas is allowed to escape through the bung hole ("Spundloch"). When tapped under just atmospheric pressure, a traditional Kellerbier is very yeast-turbid and has next to no head because of the lack of carbonation. It finishes very dry with both noticeable hop and malt notes in balance. This unpasteurized brew originates with the small artisanal breweries of Franconia, where Kellerbier is still a favorite beverage in the local beer gardens. It is usually drunk out of earthenware rather than glass mugs.

SOURCE: German Beer Institute