Last Saturday, I toured Austin's (512) Brewery. The name comes from the fact that Austin's telephone area code is 512. The owner and brewer Kevin Brand invited the Austin ZEALOTS homebrewing club for a tour and 30-40 of us showed up.

(512) has four beers in their lineup, their Wit, Pale Ale, IPA and Pecan Porter. The porter was originally supposed to be a seasonal, but has caught on and is -- for now at least -- in their regular rotation. The porter is a nice, roasty beer and is a great match to the carbonate-rich water of Austin. (In their lighter beers, the carbonate is neutralized with acid added to the brewing liquor.)

Pecans are, of course, a Texas-grown product and (512) uses locally-grown grapefruit peel in their Wit. Many of the ZEALOTS commented that it is great to have a brewery with a focus on witbier back in Austin (former home of Celis). 

Currently, (512) only distributes kegs to Austin-area bars and restaurants, but they are growing at a rate of 15% a month, so who knows what the future holds?

Here' a picture of the event:

Kevin from (512) is in the lower left of the photo. In the background, you can see the mash tun and kettle. [Corey Martin (left), the ZEALOTS Primary Fermenter, and Joe Walton (right) are up on the scaffolding.]

On Monday (Texas Independence Day), John "JB" Brack of Austin Homebrew Supply made the trip out to my house in Bastrop and we brewed an IPA. We were aiming for a pale, dry, single IPA with a nice hop profile. Brewing went smoothly, although JB was fighting off a cold and had to leave during the boil. The IPA carboys have been fermenting happily for days. Here's the recipe:

Texas IPA

(10 gallons, all-grain) 

OG = 1.064

IBU = 62

Ingredients

22.8 lbs.  Rahr Premium Pilsner malt

1 lb. 2 oz. crystal malt (15 °L)

1 lb. cane sugar (15 mins)

33 AAU Summit whole hops (30 mins) 

    (2 oz. of 16.5% alpha acids)

[late hops to be added via French press extract -- probably a mix of Cascade and Amarillo)]

2 tsp. Irish moss (15 mins)

1.2 tsp. yeast nutrients(15 mins)

Wyeast 1056 (two 1,500 mL starters) 

Step by Step

Made 18 gallons of brewing liquor from 15 gallons distilled water, 3 gallons of tap water and 6 tsp. Irish moss. Heated brewing liquor, in my 20-gallon pot, to 163 °F. Mashed in to 150 °F and held for 1 hour. Didn't have room for a water infusion for a mash-out, so sparged with 190 °F water until grain bed temperature rose to near 170 °F.  Collected 12 gallons of wort in converted Sanke keg and boiled for 1 hour 45 minutes, adding hops for last 60 minutes. Saw enormously big, fluffy hot break. Chilled wort (and, for a variety of reasons, let it sit for several hours to settle). Racked to two carboys, aerated each with 1 minute of oxygen and pitched the yeast. Yielded 10 gallons (before yeast starter additions) at 68 °F. Fermentation started the next day and has been proceeding at 72 °F.