Am I the highest brewer in America?

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skultch

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No, it's not what you think. :cross: haha

My house is at ~11,200 ft elevation. I am curious if there are any home brewers here in the Rockies that might be close or higher. I highly doubt there are any professorial breweries this high, as Alma, CO near me is the highest incorporated town in North America, and they are only at 10,578. A quick google search came up with a brewery in Potosi, Bolivia, that is above 13k, so I guess I'm out of the running for the world title. :p
 
I recall staying in Breck and unable to get a roaring fire going in the fireplace; I assume due to decreased oxygen.

It would burn, but not a satisfying burn. Good thing you only need 190 to boil.

The Breckenridge Brewery (which I've visited) distributes in Wisconsin. I assume they are "down" the hill from your home?
 
My house is 68 feet above sea level.. You've got me beat, just by a little bit.
 
I got you beat, drac.. I am the lowest brewer in the thread.... 16 feet ASL

Last time I was up at 10k I had to stop to catch my breath every three steps... and I couldn't walk and talk at the same time.
 
Malintent said:
I got you beat, drac.. I am the lowest brewer in the thread.... 16 feet ASL

Last time I was up at 10k I had to stop to catch my breath every three steps... and I couldn't walk and talk at the same time.
Click to expand...

Assuming there are no homebrewers in new orleans... You might be the lowest
 
skultch,

It's like you are sitting on the peak of Mt. Hood! The highest point in Oregon. Wow!

NRS
 
So, I took so long to rejoin my own thread because I was buying a barley crusher and a BIAG custom made bag from http://brewinabag.weebly.com :ban: AG here I come!!

My water boils at 192F. I guess I get a little extra boil off due to the extremely low humidity, but I've never brewed anywhere else to compare to. Any of you desert guys have extremely high boil off?

I have a lot of improvement ahead of me, especially with water volume levels. It's tough brewing outside with the low temps and wind. It seems to do weird things with the propane flames. I've had very different boil off amounts between my 3 batches, I think due to the wind.

I probably have slightly lower hop utilization, too, I'm told. I'm not at the level yet where I can reliably test different factors, so I just boil my bittering hops for an extra 10 minutes or so and call it good. I'm just now planning my 4th batch ever, and it will be my first all grain and BIAB.

Yeah, Breckenridge BrewPub is at ~9,600 ft, so quite lower. I drive past it every day on the way to work or snowboard. I think there is a small brew pub in Winter Park that might be higher, but I'm not sure about that. (Edit: They are at ~9,000 ft) The 3 other breweries in Summit County are probably all higher than Winter Park, and lower than Breck.

I think the best part of brewing where I am is the water. There aren't any permanent residents that live up hill from me. I have a simple well, with a simple paper filter, and no chlorine or any chems needed. It is f'ing delicious right outta the tap. I might test my water some day, but I'm not that dialed in yet for it to be significant, I think. I've only ever tasted my first batch (Great Lakes Eddie Fitz tribute) and it was way better than I expected, so I doubt my water has any serious issues.
 
Oh, and in celebration of this fine day, I guess I've gotta talk about my next favorite inebriant. As you all may know, Colorado has some fine product, AND it's legal. I don't want to go into details, but I'll just say that it is very easy to obtain useful byproduct of the cultivation process and I DO INTEND to perfect the infusion of said byproduct into an IPA of some sort. I also intend on aging an Pale Ale on top of some local pine wood. I've got a sample that smells like it would go great with a PA or mild IPA.
 
skultch said:
So, I took so long to rejoin my own thread because I was buying a barley crusher and a BIAG custom made bag from http://brewinabag.weebly.com :ban: AG here I come!!

My water boils at 192F. I guess I get a little extra boil off due to the extremely low humidity, but I've never brewed anywhere else to compare to. Any of you desert guys have extremely high boil off?

I have a lot of improvement ahead of me, especially with water volume levels. It's tough brewing outside with the low temps and wind. It seems to do weird things with the propane flames. I've had very different boil off amounts between my 3 batches, I think due to the wind.

I probably have slightly lower hop utilization, too, I'm told. I'm not at the level yet where I can reliably test different factors, so I just boil my bittering hops for an extra 10 minutes or so and call it good. I'm just now planning my 4th batch ever, and it will be my first all grain and BIAB.

Yeah, Breckenridge BrewPub is at ~9,600 ft, so quite lower. I drive past it every day on the way to work or snowboard. I think there is a small brew pub in Winter Park that might be higher, but I'm not sure about that. (Edit: They are at ~9,000 ft) The 3 other breweries in Summit County are probably all higher than Winter Park, and lower than Breck.

I think the best part of brewing where I am is the water. There aren't any permanent residents that live up hill from me. I have a simple well, with a simple paper filter, and no chlorine or any chems needed. It is f'ing delicious right outta the tap. I might test my water some day, but I'm not that dialed in yet for it to be significant, I think. I've only ever tasted my first batch (Great Lakes Eddie Fitz tribute) and it was way better than I expected, so I doubt my water has any serious issues.
Click to expand...

I have to find that Winter Park brewpub. My brother's B-I-L has a place out there and I am invited each year. I did not see it on the last trip.
 
Regarding fire and altitude, I've had bad luck with Bic lighters above 8,000' MSL. A Zippo always works perfectly.

Unless you are unable to sustain a somewhat vigorous/rolling boil with your rig, I doubt your hop utilization suffers. Have you noticed any other odd things when brewing at such a high elevation?

Hypoxia comes to mind, but that's not really what I meant...
 
Oooo yeah I've been to the brewery in Potosi Bolivia.. One of the craziest places I've ever been..

The mines of Potosi are definitely worth googling...
 
Never thought about this altitude boiling thing. I am at 500' altitude and have to boil at 212° for 15 minutes to kill the nastys. Skultch can boil at 192° and accomplish the same? What about when using a pressure cooker as an autoclave? In high altitude does a pressure cooker reach the same temperature as sea level?.... hmmm I need to do a internet search.

EDIT: Searched Google and got my answers...very interesting information out there..learned something today.
 
skultch said:
Oh, and in celebration of this fine day, I guess I've gotta talk about my next favorite inebriant. As you all may know, Colorado has some fine product, AND it's legal. I don't want to go into details, but I'll just say that it is very easy to obtain useful byproduct of the cultivation process and I DO INTEND to perfect the infusion of said byproduct into an IPA of some sort. I also intend on aging an Pale Ale on top of some local pine wood. I've got a sample that smells like it would go great with a PA or mild IPA.
Click to expand...

Sooo......um......when are you brewing next? I wanna come over:fro::drunk::rockin:
 
pd230soi said:
2,200 feet here. Might take my gear up the local mtn for a group grope at 7,000.
Click to expand...

2,200 feet? OK guys, the two millipedes dancing the conga wins this thread. :)



Edit: innacurate joke, so sue me. I've been dricking the whicksey and couldn't do the math or the etiomonologiocal research.
 
Only at about 3,500 here. It has been a long time since I lived in Bolivia, and I'm not sure how happy I'd be at 11,000 ft these days. Although, it's a great way to burn off all the beer calories.
 
I would think that the elevation has a big effect on hops utilization. wouldnt his boil be exactly like me at ground level trying to cook the wort at 192?
 
truebe said:
I would think that the elevation has a big effect on hops utilization. wouldnt his boil be exactly like me at ground level trying to cook the wort at 192?
Click to expand...
Not at all. Boil vigor has a big impact on isomerization. The more mechanical agitation, the better the utilization. If you tried to "cook" the wort at 192º F at sea level, there would be little to no movement in the wort. However, when the OP does a boil at 192º F, he should be able to achieve a vigorous, rolling boil.

However, I did some more reading, and it appears that temperature does have a significant effect on the process. Here is an abstract that gives a bit of evidence:

http://ift.confex.com/ift/2004/techprogram/paper_25787.htm

It would be very difficult for the OP to quantify utilization at altitude without a lab. If I were him, I'd make no hop adjustments for the first attempt at any recipe, then use my palate to gauge whether more hops would be an improvement in future brews using the same recipe as a base.
 
joety said:
I have to find that Winter Park brewpub. My brother's B-I-L has a place out there and I am invited each year. I did not see it on the last trip.
Click to expand...

Cool. I work in WP every now and then, but I've only been to that brewery twice. It's been a while, but I don't remember being blown away by the taste.

Here's their site: Moffat Station It's inside the hotel right across the street from the main base are of the ski resort. I hear they're a little inconsistent and limited on their beer selection, though.

There's another brewery about 45 minutes north of there, in Grand Lake. http://www.grandlakebrewing.com/ I've had some of their bottles; not bad at all. Totally worth the trip, I'm sure.

I could have sworn there was another brewpub in Winter Park or Fraser, but maybe it was just a nicer looking bar.
 
Yuri_Rage said:
Regarding fire and altitude, I've had bad luck with Bic lighters above 8,000' MSL. A Zippo always works perfectly.

Unless you are unable to sustain a somewhat vigorous/rolling boil with your rig, I doubt your hop utilization suffers. Have you noticed any other odd things when brewing at such a high elevation?

Hypoxia comes to mind, but that's not really what I meant...
Click to expand...

I use Bic lighters almost every day with no issues. I've used them above 14k feet several times. You must have just had a bad one. Are you sure it didn't get snow in it?

I do get a nice rolling boil. No issues there.

High altitude brewing odd things? Hmmm. Maybe. Not sure if this counts, but I once blacked out and fell because I was too drunk to remember not to lock my knees after waking up and running up the stairs to the pisser. Does that count? :cross:
 
iaefebs said:
Never thought about this altitude boiling thing. I am at 500' altitude and have to boil at 212° for 15 minutes to kill the nastys. Skultch can boil at 192° and accomplish the same?
Click to expand...

I don't think so. I don't think it's the boiling action that kills the nastys, but the temps. I'm pretty sure I have to boil a little longer to achieve sterilization.
 
Dahoov said:
Sooo......um......when are you brewing next? I wanna come over:fro::drunk::rockin:
Click to expand...

Haha. The weekend of April 30th / May 1st. It's probably going to be a little brew party. We'll probably have 2 or 3 keggles boiling and maybe another stove top extract going. The more the merrier. :mug:

No plans yet on the THCIPA, though. It takes a month or two for the THC to infuse in alcohol. I should probably get that going soon.
 
Yuri_Rage said:
It would be very difficult for the OP to quantify utilization at altitude without a lab. If I were him, I'd make no hop adjustments for the first attempt at any recipe, then use my palate to gauge whether more hops would be an improvement in future brews using the same recipe as a base.
Click to expand...

This is the plan. Once I'm dialed in to my AG BIAB process, I'll start the testing. Yeah, the hops will be pretty subjective. I also plan on splitting 10g batches into two fermenters for yeast comparisons. My buddy that's near Taos, NM recently made an India Dark Lager, because that was the only yeast he had. I'm not sure what temps he fermented at, but I'll be trying it next week.
 
Oh, and I forgot about one possibly altitude induced weirdness. I've aerated the wort on all my batches, but after the first two missed FG by a few digits, I aerated much more vigorously on the 3rd and it reached FG very quickly. Good thing, too, because that one started at 1078. All three used the same yeast, Munton's dry, and same temps. I figure with such low O2 content in my air I need to really aerate as well as possible.
 
skultch said:
Cool. I work in WP every now and then, but I've only been to that brewery twice. It's been a while, but I don't remember being blown away by the taste.

Here's their site: Moffat Station It's inside the hotel right across the street from the main base are of the ski resort. I hear they're a little inconsistent and limited on their beer selection, though.

There's another brewery about 45 minutes north of there, in Grand Lake. http://www.grandlakebrewing.com/ I've had some of their bottles; not bad at all. Totally worth the trip, I'm sure.

I could have sworn there was another brewpub in Winter Park or Fraser, but maybe it was just a nicer looking bar.
Click to expand...

I'm down on the Front Range (Monument) at about 6,900ft. I'm boiling at 200 deg on the money. I was in Breck a couple of weekends ago when the Wailers were playing - probably the 'cloudiest' day of the year (at least at the Peak 8 base:fro:). You should get ahold of Jason at Trinity Brewing in the Springs. I know that he's brewed with hemp seeds, but I would bet that he could give you some off-record tips on spicing up an IPA with some cousin.
 

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