Aloha............

For the next two weeks, my wife and I will be on the islands of Molokai and Kauai. I will be visiting a few breweries and will post my reviews at some point. So, don't expect too much until early July.

G-Free

In response to a request from a local restaurant chain, we brewed a gluten-free beer early last month. Last Friday, I filtered, carbonated and kegged out the beer which we call G-Free. The beer, which was made with 660 lbs of sorghum syrup also contains four pounds of coriander and four pounds of Orange peel. We used a Belgian White yeast strain and hopped it with EKG's and Czech Saaz. The coriander and orange peel are very noticeable on the nose and palate of the beer. It definitely doesn't taste like a normal beer, there's no doubt about that. I really haven't had many gluten-free beers, so I don't have a large basis for comparison. Light-bodied with orange fruit notes is about the best one-sentence description I could write. G-Free is carbonated to a fairly high level, so it has a nice thick, creamy head that lingers for some time. Not exactly sure when or if G-Free will be available at the brewery. It may only be available at the restaurant. With the G-Free in kegs, this means that our 15 BBL fermenter, used solely for seasonals/specialities is wide open. We're still kicking around ideas on what to brew next. Due to hop shortages and prices it doesn't look like it will be an IPA.

One Year in The Game

Well, I turned 1-year-old at the Oak Creek Brewing Company yesterday. The past year has moved fast and it hardly seems possible that 365 days have past since I started. I can't even begin to list all the things I've learned. It's pretty amazing. A year ago, I walked through the door not knowing what to expect or how things would go for me. Yesterday I walked out the door feeling good. I've got a long ways to go, but I feel solid about what I've accomplished so far. For the first four months all I did was bottle, keg and clean tanks. Occasionally I would be given the task of prepping the filter. Slowly, OCBC Head Brewer Jim Strelau started to give me more responsibility as I earned trust. At the end of a day around my six-month mark, he told me, "You now know enough to be really dangerous. Be careful at all times." Right around this time, I began to start a rather intensive brew-training program. I shadowed Jim and OCBC Brewer Zach Beckwith, taking notes and direction and most importantly asking a lot of questions. One day while working with Jim, he had to unexpectedly leave the brewery, just as the boil started. He came up to me and told me that he was turning the brew over to me. "You're brewing now and I'll be back later," he said. I remember asking him if he thought I could handle it. He replied, "I guess we'll find out." His reaction to my question wasn't harsh, it was honest and I think he said what he did to keep me level. I watched him walk out the door that day and thought, "Holy Shit...I'm in charge of this brew." Not too long after that, I was given my first solo brew day and a true shot at becoming a member of the brew staff. It's been a challenge -- this job is not easy. It doesn't involve sitting around sipping brews mid-afternoon. It's hard, dirty work.....but it's also the best job I've ever had.

Head Ramblings

After a fairly hectic end to last week, this one seems to be moving along a little easier. I'm right in the middle of a stretch of three consecutive brew days, which is always nice. It's great to hear all the commotion of the bottling and be in a different room with a legitimate reason for not being on the line. The "Team B" Bottling crew is doing about 300 cases of Amber and Gold Lager. Rumor has it that we'll be bottling again this week on Thursday or Friday. My beer is behaving very bizarrely today. I almost came to a boil about 3/4 of the way through my lauter, which is taking forever today. In fact it took two hours and fifteen minutes -- far slower than normal. My grain bed somewhat resembled a concrete brick. In the end, it all went fine and is likely just starting to ferment right about now. Our monthly mention in the Southwest Brewing News, written by Ben Jones, talks about our new Gluten free beer(G-Free) and a couple of our "Green" practices that we employ at the brewery. Be sure to check it out. We're also going to be pouring beer this Sunday, June 8, at the Taste of Sedona at Los Abrigados Resort and Spa. It's a good cause and will feature plenty of great food, wine and our beer. If you do go, make sure to check out Page Springs Vineyards and Cellars. These guys make excellent Rhone wines and it's also where we get our barrels for beers like Rare Earth.

What a Day

I take back every questioning word about "Beer Season" I previously wrote. The demand for our beers has noticeably increased since the weather turned into warm days. So much so that we're bottling two days a week now. Today was supposed to be the second day and final day of bottling for the week, but things didn't quite work out. After bottling 375 cases of Amber and Nut Brown yesterday, we were planning to do some Pale Ale and more Nut Brown. Well, directions got a bit jumbled and the tank we wanted to filter into this morning wasn't available until 9 a.m. That's far too late to filter and then try to bottle. So, bottling got pushed back until tomorrow. Now here's where things get interesting. We get the filter going and it flys, only taking about 40 minutes. Pale Ale filters usually take about an hour for a 30 BBL batch, due to the amount of sediment from yeast drop out and dry hopping. Maybe we just got lucky today? No such luck. While I was carbonating the beer, I pulled a pint out of the sample port and noticed that it was really cloudy. My first thoughts were a chill or protein haze. OCBC Head Brewer Jim Strelau quickly dismissed the chill haze theory and put his money on the protein. What's the solution? Re-filter the beer. I quickly start cleaning the tank that the Pale Ale originally came out of earlier this morning. While doing that, I prep the serving tank for the transfer and start getting the filter set up. We use a plate/frame filter that takes 40 pads. With the transfer going (it takes about 30 minutes) I begin the hot loop on the filter. The hot loop heat sanitizes the pads, which is important. Following the hot loop, we cool down the pads by running cold water through filter. You don't want to put 34 degree beer through hot pads. As soon as the transfer finishes, I set up the filter and begin to send it directly back into the serving tank. The filter starts off good, only at about 2 bars on the pressure gauge. Almost an hour later, the filter has finished and I take a sample out of the tank. It still looks a little hazy, but it's much better than it was before. Thankfully, the double filtration has not robbed the beer of its aroma or body. The following day, we take another sample out of the tank and the beer looks good. Jim gives it the final OK and we are finally ready to bottle it. We cranked out 150 cases on Thursday. Some things surrounding this still remain a bit of mystery. We are certain that there was far more yeast still in suspension in the beer than we normally have. Our records show that yeast was dropped off the tank at various stages of the beer's life. We'll be keeping a close eye on the next batch.

All is calm...Not really

It's 5 a.m. Monday morning and all is quiet -- Just like I like it. Of the three brewers wo work here, I'm the weirdo who comes in early -- sometimes at 4 a.m. to start brewing. Most days start at 7 a.m. I think I've always been this way with any job that I've had. I love to get an early start. Part of coming in early gives me more flexibility and time to get everything done that I need to accomplish. In addition, the phones don't ring, trucks don't show up and thirsty customers rarely stop by at 5 a.m. -- although it has happened. Despite this being a pretty loud job, I enjoy the early mornings where during conversion or lauter rest, the only thing you hear is the sound of the blow-off buckets -- a Co2 symphony, if you will. So today, I'm brewing a second day gold lager. Gold lager is one of our most simple beers in terms of the recipe, 50lbs of speciality grains and about 850 lbs of silo malt. Unlike the other beers we brew, this one doesn't cause you break out in a full sweat first thing in the morning. Kind of a nice way to start your day. Looks like we're in for another busy week, now that we're "in season." Is there really a beer season? I understand that summer is a time for lawnmower beers, but it seems to me that there are clearly beers for every season. None the less, we're brewing almost every day of the weeks. One of our seasonals, the Brusselz Stout (made by OCBC Brewer Zach Beckwith) is now out. Hope you had a chance to try this one, it was great.

Be ready for anything

If there's anything I've learned from working at a brewery, it's that change is constant. Everything from the beer itself to our schedule to the needs of our distributor is constantly in flux. You've got to be ready for anything, and be able to (Excuse my hockey reference here) "change on the fly." Perhaps a run down of one of my days last week will better illustrate my point: Arrive at the brewery at 5 a.m. to brew. Start a cleaning cycle on my fermenter. Lay out grain and adjust water level in the kettle. Mash In. During mash in, I switch cycles on my fermenter and stir the kettle regularly. Thirty minutes later, I'm at conversion rest and find myself helping to set up a hot loop for a double filter. Finish hot loop and raise the kettle temperature for the mash transfer. Help get filter to the tank and started. Begin mash transfer. After that I go back to brewing, but know there's a truck coming at noon to pick up some kegs and a grain delivery on the way. As cliche as it sounds, if you can't multi-task, I've found that you'll always find yourself one step behind around here.

Week Wrap Up/Hefeweizen Update

After what turned out to be a pretty busy week, we wrapped things up with a short bottling day on Thursday. Jim and I and Harmony kicked out 120 cases of Gold Lager, which will be sent out to the distributor next week. So, despite getting a pass on the Monday bottling, I didn't escape the week without a bottling day. It was short and quick, the best kind of bottling day. Zach closed out the brewing week with a second day Nutbrown. Looks like we'll start brewing again on Sunday and keep on going through next Friday. This time of year is considered our busy season and the demands for the beer are certainly increasing. We seem to be running through our in-house supplies pretty fast. The beer that we have the most trouble keeping on tap is our Hefeweizen. Always a favorite, this beer has been disappearing like mad lately. I am happy to report that a fresh batch was put on tap yesterday and is pouring very nicely. We don't have another Hefe in tank yet, so get it while you can. In addition, we started bottling the Hefeweizen in March. It went to our distributor in late April and has shown up at Top Shelf Liquors in Sedona. It should be in other locations throughout Northern Arizona. Keep your eyes out for the Bavarian blue six packs and ask for it if you don't see it. Just don't forget to swirl that last little bit in the bottle and pour it in your glass.

The week presses on...

After getting a nice start to the week with a brew day, OCBC Brewer Zach Beckwith took over today to handle the second day brewing. As such, I turned my attention to our Big Brite Tank, which had about 20 BBLS of Nut Brown in it. With clear direction, I set up the Mini King Keg Machine and started pre-washing kegs while my caustic heated up. Although the Mini King looks like its seen better days, it's a great machine. The thing cleans, sanitizes and fills -What more could you really ask for? It sure beats the hell out of single filling kegs from the tank, that much I can assure you. So, I kegged out about 40 half barrels and some 5.2 gallon kegs, most of which will go out to our distributor tomorrow morning. We usually do all of our of kegging on Tuesdays and Wednesday mornings. Today was a fairly light load by all accounts and some weeks are like that, depending on what the distributor wants and how many empty kegs we actually have. Kegging was the very first thing I learned how to do at the brewery. I can still remember getting my instructions and then being handed a pair of rubber gloves to scrub the fittings. Some brewers have told me that they despise kegging, but there's something about it I still enjoy. Maybe it's the fact that I'm alone in the back of the brewery, stereo up pretty loud, working at fast pace and getting a decent workout in the process. Then again, maybe it's because it was the very first thing I learned and the first way I was able to contribute to the brewery. Working with beer in any form has become a rewarding experience for me. Got some interesting things to share in the next few days, including an update on our Hefeweizen and a few words about something called G-Free.

A different kind of Monday...

Everyone once in awhile you get lucky. I found out late Sunday night that instead of bottling today that I would be brewing a first day Amber Ale. Don't get me wrong, I have appreciation and respect for every aspect of the craft brewing process, but bottling is often a tough way to start your week -- kind of like walking to work during a mid-west winter with no pants on. Feeling optomistic about the day, I arrived at the brewery just before 5 a.m. and prepared to mash in. I got my grain layed out, adjusted the leve of my kettle and fired up the mill. About 30 minutes later, I was at conversion rest and switched gears to start cleaing tanks, one of which I used today and the other for Jim Strelau, OCBC Head Brewer, who will be dry hopping a fresh batch of pale ale. The rest of my brew day went really well. I had a good boil and the grain out procedure went quickly today, which is always good. Nothing can slow down a day like 1,500lbs of wet grain. I got a 13.0 for my gravity, which is right on the money. I found myself thinking back to our Big Brew event on Saturday where someone said the following to me "I understand you have to make Amber and Nut Brown to pay the bills, but your specialty beers are what really set you apart." I can totally see where this person is coming from. Many beer drinkers have moved far beyond Ambers, Nut Browns and light lagers. They are quite simply looking for something more. At the same time, we have some loyal locals who will hunt you down if the the Amber or the Nut Brown run dry. These folks couldn't care less about a Saison, Belgian Stout or an Imperial Red. So, what's my point? I'm really not sure. I think I just found that whole dichotomy to be interesting. I guess what these folks have in common is that they both love good craft beer. Breaking it down further, I started thinking about the excitement that often goes along with brewing a specialty beer. Is brewing a specialty more fun or exciting? I guess for some it probably is. It's certainly more challenging in many cases. I was trained and taught that no matter what style you're brewing, you give it all you've got and make great beer. So what does define a great brewery? Is the specialty beers? Is the standards? Most likely, it's the ability to do both-- and to do them extremely well. In honor of the bottling crew, here's a shot of Zach Beckwith, OCBC Brewer, hard at work. I'm sure I won't be nearly as lucky next Monday.

The Big Brew-National Homebrew Day

Just want to say a big Thank You to the homebrewers from the Northern Arizona Homebrewers club for coming down to the Oak Creek Brewery on May 3 for the Big Brew. We had four homebrewers set up in the beer garden and they brewed up a range a beers from a Blonde Ale to a Barley Wine. The brewery set up the homebrewers with grain and hops and kept them well hydrated throughout the day with an Imperial Porter and Rare Earth, a Belgian Saison aged in American Oak for nine months. The Rare Earth proved to be a perfect beer for a day of outdoor brewing. In fact, we drained the last quarter barrel of Rare Earth during the event. I couldn't think of a better group of people to share the last pints of this beer with. Needless to say, these guys provided some great feedback on the beer and have me really excited for Rare Earth II, which is in barrel now. During the Big Brew at OCBC, the brewers got a chance to showcase their skills and equipment, some of which was pretty impressive. In addition, they also answered questions from bar patrons and provided information on how to get involved in homebrewing. Overall, the day was a huge success and we hope to do more events with our local homebrewers on a regular basis. Thanks again to all of our homebrewers for their time, passion and enthusiasm. Click Here to check out pictures from the event.

First Post

Hello everyone. My name is John Walsh. I am a brewer at Oak Creek Brewing Company in Sedona, AZ. I've been thinking about creating a blog for sometime now and I guess today was the day it actually happened. This blog will mainly focus on my job as a brewer and also likely delve into issues surrounding the craft brewing community.