We brewed the second batch of beer of 2012 on March 9. It was the first Daddy’s Chocolate Milk batch of the year. A favorite among folks that have been enjoying our beer since the beginning, DCM (also known as Super Bowl Stout once a year) is an English Sweet Stout made with Maris Otter, chocolate, black and Carafa malts and a combination of cluster and UK Golding hops. This “session stout” lives up to its name with a rich and creamy finish. Unfortunately, it cannot be enjoyed by the lactose intolerant due to the lactose – an unfermentable sugar – that we add during the boil.

The brew was relatively stress free and, with just two brews on Molly (pictured above) in 2012, we’re already starting to hit our stride.

However, no brew day at ESB would be complete without some kind of drama. This time we experienced a tear in the wort chiller (second time I’ve had this happen in 7 years) so went into a bit of an immediate panic given the situation. Thankfully, Twitter came to our rescue:

URGENT: any homebrewers near Noe Valley? My wort chiller just ruptured. Need a quick chiller fix. Crap.

— Richard Brewer-Hay (@ESBAle) March 9, 2012

@ESBAle Drain half into another sanitized pot. Cool both with the bathtub method + triple the ice bags. Cc/ @McClure_SF @jrizzo

— local brewing co. (@localbrewingco) March 9, 2012

It had been over 5 years since I had used an ice-bath to chill the beer down to the right temperature for pitching the yeast so I could be excused for the brain-fart. It was great to get immediate help from folks via Twitter all the same.

Like every beer we plan on brewing this year, the ESBrew 2012 Batch #2 had its own soundtrack and inspirational beer. This time, I listened to Bruce Springsteen’s new “Wrecking Ball” album on a continuous loop throughout the brew and drank Marin Brewing Company‘s San Quentin Breakout Stout for inspiration. One of our favorite stouts here at the ESB – and my wife’s favorite local beer.

For all the pictures from the brew day, check out the Elizabeth Street Brewery Flickr page.

The Famous Podcast – Episode 3
A reminder that one of our favorite bands, The Famous, has launched its very own podcast bringing you the best in craft beer, country music and NASCAR. Each episode includes a beer update from yours truly.

Here is episode 3:

You can also subscribe via iTunes.

Cheers!
Richard.

We’re back up and running here at The ESB and kicked off the year with our first #ESBrew2012 on March 3, 2012 with a brand new recipe that I hope will be a nice addition to our selection of beers. We’re calling it Bluesbreaker’s Black.

#ESBrew2012
This will be our brewday hashtag on Twitter for the duration of the year. I am committed to chronicling each of our brew days this year here on the blog and on Twitter @ESBAle. We’ll also maintain a photo journal on our ESB Flickr page and, from time to time, we’ll also upload videos to our ESB YouTube channel.

Bluesbreaker’s Black IPA
Bluesbreaker’s Black is our latest brew here at The ESB. It was inspired by 21st Amendment’s Back in Black IPA and Sierra Nevada’s Ruthless Rye IPA. It is definitely a work in progress but an exciting one to be sure. It’s a 27 lb grain bill for a 12-gallon yield. 3 lbs of rye are included and we use a combo of Warrior and Cascade hops during the boil. More info on the beer as we dial it in.

The name of the beer – Bluesbreaker’s Black – comes from the music played during the brew. Throughout the brew day, all that was played was blues music performed by British artists like Eric Clapton and John Mayall. Primarily the beer was brewed to John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. One of my favorite bands. Music plays an integral part of the process with every beer we brew. Every beer has it’s own soundtrack.

The Famous Podcast
We’re huge fans of The Famous here at The ESB and have been following their musical escapades for as long as we’ve been brewing. They play regular shows at The Russian River Brewing Company in Santa Rosa (the next show is on April 7 at the home of Pliny The Elder). They started their own podcast last week and in addition to playing all manner of traditional country music – and highlighting NASCAR so far – they also want to chat about beer so I sent an update to the show talking about Bluesbreaker’s Black… something I hope to do on a regular basis over the coming months.

We look forward to keeping you up to speed on developments here at The ESB. More importantly, we look forward to sharing and brewing the beers with you all.

Cheers!
RBH

We’ve been getting a lot of inquiries these past few weeks regarding what’s going on here at the Elizabeth Street Brewery. The short answer is, “not a lot” to be honest. But that would be selling our efforts a bit short.

Since we invested in the 20-gallon tippy dump system and conical fermenter last Summer, we haven’t done much brewing to be frank. In addition to heightened activity at my day job, the system is currently getting a few minor adjustments to help optimize brewing efficiency moving forward so, as a result, I’ve only brewed three times in the past 6 months.

Like most things I’ve tackled in my life, I’ve always said that the growth of the Elizabeth Street Brewery would be a natural progression. Nothing forced. I need to keep reminding myself of this fact when I worry that we’re not as involved in the “beer community” as we were just 12 months ago. I’ve had to make some difficult decisions to start the year with regard to the work around the ESB. I will not be participating in SF Beer Week in 2012. We’re not throwing our annual Super Bowl Extravaganza here at the ESB next month (for the first time in a decade), and I think I’m also going to take a year off from traveling to the Craft Brewer’s Conference. I don’t take any of these decisions lightly.

It’s not all doom and gloom here though and the new brewery wasn’t the only milestone we hit in 2011. We’re an officially licensed business of California and the business plan has undertaken three major adaptations over the past 12 months also. There are a lot of positives ahead for us in 2012 too. When we do have “Molly” back up and running, we are going to brew. We are going to brew some of the best beers we’ve ever brewed. And we’re hoping you’re going to help us. This Spring, I’ve committed to brewing three beers with people that have never brewed before – tackling recipes of their choosing – and really experimenting with styles and advanced brewing. I hope to carry that into the rest of the year; inviting groups of people interested in the brewing process but not sure where to start. We’ve always said we were a “brewery for the people, by the people” – now we’re committed to being exactly that.

The ultimate goal is still the same – and we’ll never waiver in our commitment – to introduce a craft beer establishment to our good friends and neighbors of Noe Valley. Everything we do has that prize in mind… but until then, we’re determined to enjoy every step of the way. This is definitely a case of the journey being just as important and rewarding as the destination.

So, thanks for sticking with us and we can’t wait to get back to brewing and pouring frothy goodness for you over the months ahead. Until then… Cheers!

Richard, Allie, Addison & Quincy.

From the ESC website:
Elizabeth Street Cosmetics is a boutique collection of lipsticks and glosses that pays tribute to San Francisco’s charming Noe Valley district. As a twelve year resident of Elizabeth Street, nestled just off the business corridor of 24th Street, I continue to be inspired everyday by my beloved Victorian neighborhood. All lip products are named for streets in Noe Valley. – Kelly Crispen

My wife, Allie, is a big fan so go check it out. Maybe we should work with Kelly on some ESB-themed shades in the future.

Be sure to follow them on Twitter @elizstcosmetics and become a fan on Facebook.

Cheers,
Richard.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011
St. Philip’s Catholic Church, 725 Diamond (at 24th St.), Noe Valley, S.F.
Doors open at 7 p.m. / meeting begins at 7:30pm

A cable car at Castro and 26th streets in 1940. Photo courtesy of Bill Yenne and the Noe Valley Archives.

Bill Yenne is a 37-year resident of Noe Valley and the author of “San Francisco’s Noe Valley” and “San Francisco: Then and Now,” as well as more than six dozen nonfiction books and novels on a variety of topics, including history, popular culture, and transportation. You may know him best for his book “Guinness: The 250 Year Quest for the Perfect Pint”. He is also an acclaimed photographer and illustrator.

Bill is presenting a slideshow and talk that will include a host of previously unseen historical images. He will take people on a stroll through Noe Valley, from the site of the Gray Brothers quarry to 24th Street as it was, asking the provocative question “Who’s buried in Noe’s Tomb?” and helping us relive the great snowstorm of February 1976.

Doors open at 7 p.m. with refreshments and a S.F. historical book sale, while the meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. sharp. There is a $5 admission for nonmembers. Limited parking in schoolyard (entrance on Elizabeth St.), but additional parking is available on surrounding streets. Muni: 24-Divisadero and 48-Quintara stop at Castro and 24th streets; 35-Eureka stops at Diamond and 24th streets.

I’ll be getting there around 7:20pm and we may have to nip down to the Tavern for a pint of Guinness afterwards with the author himself.

Cheers!
Richard.

In addition to being the Brewmaster of Social Kitchen & Brewery, organizing the San Francisco Brewer’s Guild, and living just a few short blocks from the Elizabeth Street Brewery, Rich Higgins is also a certified Master Cicerone.

He is bringing his knowledge and expertise to the good people of San Francisco starting this month and running through February 13, 2012. You’ve already missed the UK Beer Tradition course but feel free to come over to the ESB for a private session on that in the near future. In the meantime, check out all the other classes and dates below:

World Beer Traditions (http://beertraditions.eventbrite.com)
November 6: UK Beer Tradition
November 13: German Beer Tradition
December 4: Belgian Beer Tradition
January 8: US Beer Tradition

Beer & Food Pairing (http://beerandfood.eventbrite.com)
November 20: Beer & Thanksgiving Food
December 18: Beer & Italian Cuisine from Delarosa Restaurant
January 29: Beer & Superbowl Eats
February 13: Beer & Valentine’s Chocolate & Candy

You can use promotion code “weissbier” to receive a $10 discount for each ticket purchased. Also, discounted 4-class packages are available for a limited time. Tickets cost $55-$65 and are a fundraiser for the non-profit Barbary Coast Conservancy for the American Cocktail.

Classes are on Sundays from 5-7 PM (except the Valentine’s class is on a Monday). I definitely plan on attending a few of these over the next couple of months so maybe I’ll see you there.

Cheers!
Richard.

Thanks to Liz Ryan of The Sycamore for sharing with me.

Cheers!
Richard.

As some of you already know, a fire broke out at the Radio Shack building on 24th Street in Noe Valley on Saturday, September 10. As a result, 7 residents of that building have been displaced and they need our help. Noe Valley resident (and ESBAle-fan) Catherine Bergstrom is organizing a raffle fund-raiser for the victims to take place on October 6 at the Valley Tavern.

Allie and I want to help in anyway we can so we’ve decided to raffle off a full brew-day at the Elizabeth Street Brewery.

This will include:
- Picking out a recipe of your choice
- A trip to the brewery supply store to get all the ingredients (all paid for by Elizabeth Street Brewery)
- Full brew-day on the new 20-gallon tippy dump ESBAle sculpture – “MOLLY”
- 4 cases of the beer brewed on that day
- 2 brand-new ESBAle T-Shirts
- Special beer-tastings throughout the brewday

We’ll work with the raffle winner on a date that works for all involved.

Raffle tickets will be sold at The Valley Tavern beginning Saturday, September 17th. You can find out all the information about how to help the victims, by clicking on the flyer below.

Cheers!
RBH

I could stop brewing today and I would still owe a lot of people a great deal of thanks for the amazing ride it has been as a homebrewer since 2003. To my wife for putting up with some of the spills, smells, and “mistakes” brewed in our kitchen and back yard; to Griz, Eric, Andre and the whole crew at SF Brewcraft; to Shaun, Nico, Jesse, Zambo and everyone at 21st Amendment over the past 4 years… I could go on – the list is long.

But I don’t plan on stopping brewing anytime soon. In fact, I think I may just be getting started. But as most of you know, I have a day job down in Campbell, CA that sees me drive 110 miles round trip every day. That’s a lot of time in the car. That’s a lot of time wasted that I could be spending on working on the Elizabeth Street Brewery. However, I have a new group of folks to thank. Primarily Justin, Doc, Tasty, JP, Beevo, Moscow and everyone involved with The Session of the Brewing Network.

I used to work for PodShow before joining eBay so I was exposed to a LOT of independent podcasts devoted to any number of topics – including beer – and I’ve subscribed to quite a few of them for a while now from John Foster’s Beer School to Craft Beer Radio. I always found it difficult to listen to them without a beer in front of me. However, now that I’ve been doing this commute for over 3 years now, I’ve made an effort to ignore those cravings and actually make the most of my time in the car… and not just to listen to JP and Tasty burp at 7:45 in the morning as I drive to work.

For those of you interested in beer and brewing specifically, I highly recommend checking them out. I realized as I was driving in to work this morning, listening to an episode that included an interview with Lucky Bucket Brewing Co, how lucky I am to be able to get value out of what would be normally perceived as a repetitive time-sink. 2 hours in the car every day keeps me away from both my day-job duties (social media & blogging for eBay) and my brewing activities at the Elizabeth Street Brewery.

The Lucky Bucket Brewing conversation was perfect inspiration to get me started on a sluggish Tuesday. I hit the ground running at the office, drafted a couple of posts for work and got ready for our earnings call tomorrow and now, during my lunch break, I’m putting together this post for ESB. The irony of having corporate blogger as one of my primary job descriptions means that I don’t have the energy or time I used to have to devote to this ESB Blog. Let’s hope I keep getting inspired on the commute to and from work so that I can get my beer blogging, education and practical output back to a respectable level.

Cheers to the Brewing Network for making me realize that!

-Richard.

We’ve been hard at work behind the scenes here at the Elizabeth Street Brewery. We are now an official LLC and have our sellers permit (for merchandise, etc.) and we have a new 20-gallon brewing sculpture built by the good folks at MoreBeer. We have decided to name her “Molly” after my Grandmother. We named the award-winning collaboration beer with 21st Amendment , Imperial Jack, after her husband – my Grandpa – so it seemed only fitting to name the brewery after her. After all, behind every good man is a great woman.

Transporting her solo home from Concord was quite a rush… particularly once I got onto the Bay Bridge. My buddy Chris helped us set her up at her new home at the Elizabeth Street Brewery. I brewed the first batch on Molly on Sunday, July 10 and it was a 15-gallon version of our stout – Daddy’s Chocolate Milk. The grain bill consisted of 38 lbs of grain…

Considering it was our maiden voyage with Molly, I felt the brew went surprisingly smoothly. After I figured out how to stop the pump from cavitating (as shown in the below video) we were really in business…

Clean-up was a snap too. Mainly because of my two little brewing fairies…

I’m looking forward to assembling our large conical fermenter and brewing a pilsner or lager on there (it’s temperature controlled). Until then… back to beer. Looking forward to pouring for you all very soon.

Cheers!
Richard.