85: Russian River Brewing’s Vinnie Cilurzo: Sweating the Small Stuff When Brewing Hoppy Beers

Troy Casey has built a reputation for his eponymously-named brewery by crafting gorgeously nuanced mixed-fermentation farmhouse ales and thoughtfully edited wild and sour beers (many with fruit sourced from local growers and processed by hand). In this conversation, he discusses his approach to open fermentation, using hops to control acidity in mixed culture and sour beers, the seasonal impacts of temperature on his brewing process, acid production in smaller versus larger vessels, blending and selecting barrels of base beer for fruit additions, working with local growers to secure not just the highest quality but the most characterful fruit, the processes by which he selects and macerates fruit, and even how the trauma of processing fruit has impact his own fruit consumption. With a new-ish brewhouse now fully operational and a second (downtown) taproom on the way, he’s making the inverse leap of many brewers by adding non-sour styles to their brewing lineup, and discusses that development as well. This episode is brought to you by: G&D Chillers (https://gdchillers.com): As the brewing industry’s premier choice for glycol chilling, G&D Chillers has set the standard on quality, service, reliability and dedication to their customer’s craft. For 25 years G&D has led the way with innovative solutions for the craft brewing industry. Contact G&D Chillers today at 800.555.0973 or reach out online at Gdchillers.com. Mention Craft Beer and Brewing podcast and you’ll receive up to $1000 worth of glycol with the purchase of any new G&D chiller unit. Tavour (https://about.tavour.com): Tavour is the tastiest way to explore the world from the comfort of your home. Select delicious craft beers on the Tavour app that you cannot find in your area and get them delivered right to your door. It's not a beer of the month club where you end up with lagers you have to give to your grandpa. Download the free Tavour app today and get $10 in beer money with code “brewing”. Clarion Lubricants (https://www.clarionlubricants.com): Clarion Lubricants, balancing barley and hops is your expertise, food-grade lubricants is ours. The team at Clarion knows that when it comes to making great beer, you’re the expert, and when it comes to supplying food-grade lubricants backed by service-oriented professionals, they're the experts. Clarion will work with you to create an efficient lubrication program that helps protect your brewery. To speak with an expert dial 1-855-MY-CLARION (855-692-5274) or visit clarionlubricants.com. Clarion Lubricants. The expert that experts trust. Country Malt Group (https://countrymaltgroup.com): With over 200 years of combined experience in the craft beverage industry, Country Malt Group’s dedicated sales and support staff understand the importance of excellent ingredients, product knowledge, and expertise in making great beer. Country Malt Group’s mission is to provide the products and services you need while making the process of ordering ingredients easy – the focus is to inspire your best craft! Order online at shop.countrymalt.com

19 Juli 20191h 16min

It’s been a tough week for Frisco, Colorado’s Outer Range Brewing. Less than a week ago, customers notified the brewery of an unexpected Belgian-ish flavor in the week’s IPA release. After testing and confirming cross-contamination by one of their aggressive saison yeast strains, the brewery notified customers of a voluntary recall and dumped almost 4,000 gallons of beer fermenting in tanks, then cleaned the brewhouse and cranked up the brewing schedule to fill those tanks again. In this candid conversation, cofounder and head brewer Lee Cleghorn discusses their challenges in troubleshooting the cross-contamination and the aggressive steps they’ve taken to recover from the setback. The conversation then turns to their creative process on IPA design and brewing, yeast choice, driving attractive esters from New England-style IPA yeasts, blending unexpected Noble hops into progressive IPA hops blends, the effects of warm dry hopping temperatures on their dry hopped saisons, and more. This episode is brought to you by: G&D Chillers (https://gdchillers.com): As the brewing industry’s premier choice for glycol chilling, G&D Chillers has set the standard on quality, service, reliability and dedication to their customer’s craft. For 25 years G&D has led the way with innovative solutions for the craft brewing industry. Contact G&D Chillers today at 800.555.0973 or reach out online at Gdchillers.com. Mention Craft Beer and Brewing podcast and you’ll receive up to $1000 worth of glycol with the purchase of any new G&D chiller unit. Tavour (https://about.tavour.com): Tavour is the tastiest way to explore the world from the comfort of your home. Select delicious craft beers on the Tavour app that you cannot find in your area and get them delivered right to your door. It's not a beer of the month club where you end up with lagers you have to give to your grandpa. Download the free Tavour app today and get $10 in beer money with code “brewing”. Clarion Lubricants (https://www.clarionlubricants.com): Clarion Lubricants, balancing barley and hops is your expertise, food-grade lubricants is ours. The team at Clarion knows that when it comes to making great beer, you’re the expert, and when it comes to supplying food-grade lubricants backed by service-oriented professionals, they're the experts. Clarion will work with you to create an efficient lubrication program that helps protect your brewery. To speak with an expert dial 1-855-MY-CLARION (855-692-5274) or visit clarionlubricants.com. Clarion Lubricants. The expert that experts trust.

12 Juli 201951min

Steve Bischoff, lead brewer at Root Down Brewing Co. knows a thing or two about traditional American IPA. Last year he won gold at the Great American Beer Festival in the category and nabbed best mid-side brewer and mid-size brewery in the process. He talks about developing the Bine recipe, layering hop flavors, and why the usual boil times and addition don’t work for him. Bischoff, a long-time brewer in Eastern, Pennsylvania for places including Sly Fox, opens up on keeping the creative process top-of-mind and how it’s led to experimentation with new ingredients and processes. This episode is brought to you by: G&D Chillers (https://gdchillers.com): As the brewing industry’s premier choice for glycol chilling, G&D Chillers has set the standard on quality, service, reliability and dedication to their customer’s craft. For 25 years G&D has led the way with innovative solutions for the craft brewing industry. Contact G&D Chillers today at 800.555.0973 or reach out online at Gdchillers.com. Mention Craft Beer and Brewing podcast and you’ll receive up to $1000 worth of glycol with the purchase of any new G&D chiller unit. Tavour (https://about.tavour.com): Tavour is the tastiest way to explore the world from the comfort of your home. Select delicious craft beers on the Tavour app that you cannot find in your area and get them delivered right to your door. It's not a beer of the month club where you end up with lagers you have to give to your grandpa. Download the free Tavour app today and get $10 in beer money with code “brewing”. Ska Fabricating (https://skafabricating.com):Ska Fabricating is the craft industry’s leading choice for packaging line automation. Specializing in depalletizing, repalletizing, conveyance, rinsing, drying, fill detection and date coding, Ska Fab has over 600 installations in breweries, wineries, and distilleries worldwide. With a reliable team of engineers dedicated to fast, reliable customer service, you can count on us to provide systems custom tailored for your specific needs. Contact Ska Fab today at (970) 403-8562 or reach out online at skafabricating.com. Clarion Lubricants (https://www.clarionlubricants.com): Clarion Lubricants, balancing barley and hops is your expertise, food-grade lubricants is ours. The team at Clarion knows that when it comes to making great beer, you’re the expert, and when it comes to supplying food-grade lubricants backed by service-oriented professionals, they're the experts. Clarion will work with you to create an efficient lubrication program that helps protect your brewery. To speak with an expert dial 1-855-MY-CLARION (855-692-5274) or visit clarionlubricants.com. Clarion Lubricants. The expert that experts trust.

5 Juli 201945min

The founder of Modern Times Beer talks about how his homebrewing hobby led him into the beer industry and different jobs before starting his own company. Now, with a growing number of breweries and tasting rooms, he advocates for opening in well-saturated and savvy beer areas because the friction of competition keeps his brewery sharp. This episode is brought to you by: CraftBeer.com (http://craftbeer.com): This episode is brought to you by CraftBeer.com, whose mission is to tell the stories behind America’s small and independent breweries and the cities and businesses that support them. Ss Brewtech (https://www.ssbrewtech.com): The founders launched Ss Brewtech with a very clear goal to advance brewing equipment design, performance, and quality to the very highest standards in the industry. With a team that draws upon strong functional backgrounds in brewing science, mechanical engineering, industrial design, supply chain, and manufacturing, Ss Brewtech has the people and skill sets you would want and expect from your supplier of pro brewing equipment. Head over to SsBrewtech.com for more information on their brewhouses and brewing gear. BSG (http://bsgcraftbrewing.com): Great beers are made from select ingredients. With BSG, you’ll bring the world to your brewhouse with an unparalleled and diverse selection of ingredients, from across the globe to just down the road. Our dedicated customer service team and industry experience provides you with the assistance you need in every step of the way. Let BSG be your supplier of choice for products essential to making great artisanal beverages, so you can stay focused on your craft. For more information, visit us as bsgcraftbrewing.com, or contact us at 1.800.374.2739. G&D Chillers (http://www.Gdchillers.com): As the brewing industry’s premier choice for glycol chilling, G&D Chillers has set the standard on quality, service, and dedication to their customer’s craft. For 25 years G&D has led the way on innovative solutions that match their brewing customers immediate and future needs. With a wide selection of custom built chillers; G&D offers the Nano chiller, the perfect solution for Nano breweries all the way up to their larger capacity units like the Vertical Air Chiller, built for higher volume operations. Contact G&D Chillers today for your chiller sizing needs at 800.555.0973 or reach out online at Gdchillers.com

28 Juni 201954min

Over his two decade tenure at Allagash, Jason Perkins has made a mark on the world of brewing. The Portland, Maine brewery is best known for their Belgian-style beers, from the iconic witbier Allagash White to their groundbreaking forays into spontaneous fermentation with the Coolship Resurgam series. In this episode, Perkins discusses mash and process regimens for haze stability, the impact of various inputs on ester production in Belgian yeasts, controlling time and temperature for more consistent results in spontaneous beer, blending strategies for sour beer, adding fruit in horizontal tanks to improve contact and extraction, working with Brettanomyces, and more. This episode is brought to you by: CraftBeer.com (http://craftbeer.com): This episode is brought to you by CraftBeer.com, whose mission is to tell the stories behind America’s small and independent breweries and the cities and businesses that support them. Ss Brewtech (https://www.ssbrewtech.com): The founders launched Ss Brewtech with a very clear goal to advance brewing equipment design, performance, and quality to the very highest standards in the industry. With a team that draws upon strong functional backgrounds in brewing science, mechanical engineering, industrial design, supply chain, and manufacturing, Ss Brewtech has the people and skill sets you would want and expect from your supplier of pro brewing equipment. Head over to SsBrewtech.com for more information on their brewhouses and brewing gear. BSG (http://bsgcraftbrewing.com): Great beers are made from select ingredients. With BSG, you’ll bring the world to your brewhouse with an unparalleled and diverse selection of ingredients, from across the globe to just down the road. Our dedicated customer service team and industry experience provides you with the assistance you need in every step of the way. Let BSG be your supplier of choice for products essential to making great artisanal beverages, so you can stay focused on your craft. For more information, visit us as bsgcraftbrewing.com, or contact us at 1.800.374.2739. G&D Chillers (http://www.Gdchillers.com): As the brewing industry’s premier choice for glycol chilling, G&D Chillers has set the standard on quality, service, and dedication to their customer’s craft. For 25 years G&D has led the way on innovative solutions that match their brewing customers immediate and future needs. With a wide selection of custom built chillers; G&D offers the Nano chiller, the perfect solution for Nano breweries all the way up to their larger capacity units like the Vertical Air Chiller, built for higher volume operations. Contact G&D Chillers today for your chiller sizing needs at 800.555.0973 or reach out online at Gdchillers.com

21 Juni 201953min

Mash filters are common in commercial brewing—most large-scale commercial breweries use them—but they’re far, far less common in craft brewing. While most breweries use them to maximize efficiency, Modist Brewing (Minneapolis, Minnesota) cofounder and head brewer Keigan Knee has pushed in a different direction, using them to produce IPAs with no barley (only wheat and oats) or pushing the percentage limits on alternate grains like spelt. The result is unique-tasting beers that surprise and delight. In this episode, Knee discusses the mash filter process and unique design considerations, the finer points of malt in designing hoppy beers, layering cryo and T-90 hops of the same variety on top of each other for heightened effect, locking in flavors using cryo hops on the hot side, designing fruited beers to finish at the same gravities as that fruit, and wood prep processes for foeder-aged lagers. This episode is brought to you by: CraftBeer.com (http://craftbeer.com): This episode is brought to you by CraftBeer.com, whose mission is to tell the stories behind America’s small and independent breweries and the cities and businesses that support them. Ss Brewtech (https://www.ssbrewtech.com): The founders launched Ss Brewtech with a very clear goal to advance brewing equipment design, performance, and quality to the very highest standards in the industry. With a team that draws upon strong functional backgrounds in brewing science, mechanical engineering, industrial design, supply chain, and manufacturing, Ss Brewtech has the people and skill sets you would want and expect from your supplier of pro brewing equipment. Head over to SsBrewtech.com for more information on their brewhouses and brewing gear. BSG (http://bsgcraftbrewing.com): Great beers are made from select ingredients. With BSG, you’ll bring the world to your brewhouse with an unparalleled and diverse selection of ingredients, from across the globe to just down the road. Our dedicated customer service team and industry experience provides you with the assistance you need in every step of the way. Let BSG be your supplier of choice for products essential to making great artisanal beverages, so you can stay focused on your craft. For more information, visit us as bsgcraftbrewing.com, or contact us at 1.800.374.2739. G&D Chillers (http://www.Gdchillers.com): As the brewing industry’s premier choice for glycol chilling, G&D Chillers has set the standard on quality, service, and dedication to their customer’s craft. For 25 years G&D has led the way on innovative solutions that match their brewing customers immediate and future needs. With a wide selection of custom built chillers; G&D offers the Nano chiller, the perfect solution for Nano breweries all the way up to their larger capacity units like the Vertical Air Chiller, built for higher volume operations. Contact G&D Chillers today for your chiller sizing needs at 800.555.0973 or reach out online at Gdchillers.com

14 Juni 201954min

In part two with Vinnie Cilurzo, he discusses the story of Simcoe, open fermentation for everything from Pliny the Elder to STS Pils, the impact of tank geometry, the origins and stages of their sour and spontaneous brewing program, de-barreling sour beer without worry about oxygen exposure, the impacts of aged hops, controlling acidity with temperature, macerating with dried fruit, grape processing methods for their wine-beer hybrids, his secret stash of not-commercially-available Brettanomyces strains, and more. This episode is brought to you by: Ss Brewtech (https://www.ssbrewtech.com): The founders launched Ss Brewtech with a very clear goal to advance brewing equipment design, performance, and quality to the very highest standards in the industry. With a team that draws upon strong functional backgrounds in brewing science, mechanical engineering, industrial design, supply chain, and manufacturing, Ss Brewtech has the people and skill sets you would want and expect from your supplier of pro brewing equipment. Head over to SsBrewtech.com for more information on their brewhouses and brewing gear. American Homebrewers Association (https://www.homebrewersassociation.org): This episode is brought to you by the American Homebrewers Association, an orgnization dedicated to homebrewing and the worldwide community of homebrewers. BSG (http://bsgcraftbrewing.com): Great beers are made from select ingredients. With BSG, you’ll bring the world to your brewhouse with an unparalleled and diverse selection of ingredients, from across the globe to just down the road. Our dedicated customer service team and industry experience provides you with the assistance you need in every step of the way. Let BSG be your supplier of choice for products essential to making great artisanal beverages, so you can stay focused on your craft. For more information, visit us as bsgcraftbrewing.com, or contact us at 1.800.374.2739. G&D Chillers (http://www.Gdchillers.com): As the brewing industry’s premier choice for glycol chilling, G&D Chillers has set the standard on quality, service, and dedication to their customer’s craft. For 25 years G&D has led the way on innovative solutions that match their brewing customers immediate and future needs. With a wide selection of custom built chillers; G&D offers the Nano chiller, the perfect solution for Nano breweries all the way up to their larger capacity units like the Vertical Air Chiller, built for higher volume operations. Contact G&D Chillers today for your chiller sizing needs at 800.555.0973 or reach out online at Gdchillers.com

7 Juni 20191h 3min