Dirty Couch - Washington Beer Talk #9

You may have been hearing whispers of a new brewery in Ballard. It is a bit difficult to describe this brewery in its bizarre state of being opening. Technically it is a production only facility with beers on tap in a few local bars and bottle houses. Despite that, it feels more like an advanced homebrew set up and owners Rob, Jon, and Frank, who at various points in the week find time to attend their day jobs, all seem to agree. That won’t be the case much longer (hopefully) as they have just started making moves to open a new taproom in Magnolia as well as hired a brand new full-time brewer, Sean, who contributes his experience and opinions to this sours-only brewery. Welcome to Dirty Couch.​​​​​​​Glossary of Terms-Bright Tank - A big, cold vessel where beer cools down and sediment drops out of solution. The beer clears up over the course of a a few days to weeks, becoming “brighter”Cool ship - a long, wide, shallow vessel where hot wort is set to cool. This process is much slower than modern cooling techniques so it gives bacteria and yeast time to settle in. This is done deliberately for “wild fermentation”Fouder - A big wooden fermentation vessel. Similar to big barrel except in here beer undergoes its primary fermentation as it picks up the fouders indigenous bugs and flavors in the wood.