I think I have a new favorite.
The Helles is now kegged, somewhat carbonated and a pleasure to drink.
I know it was made from barley, not corn, and I've never been there, but I'm unable to purge this underated movie quote from my mind:
John Kinsella: Is this heaven?
Ray Kinsella: It's Iowa.
John Kinsella: Iowa? I could have sworn this was heaven.
I also can't get "Southern Cross" by CS&N out of my mind either, but completely unrelated.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The BeerGun
What an invention.
I'm sure there are some Southerners out there who bought this thing with something else in mind. I reckon it sure do make sense that if you still think the War is going on and ya got some yanks to dun kill, ya might as well do proper and settle yer hankerin' for a good swig o' brew. Beer and Guns - yeeha!
Please pardon that little rant, but understand that I'm listening to Huckelberry Finn during my drives to work and it just seemed fitting.
At any rate, today I used the beergun to fill a case worth of the Doppelbock. Hopefully, I'll be able to let it age by taking away the temptation to drink it with the ease of pouring a glass from the keg. There's still some left though. Stop by and I'll pour you one - at least as long as there's some still left. I won't be opening bottles for a while though. I just tapped a keg of the pale ale too - the same stuff that wrecked so many of us at the Gingerbread House party.
I'm sure there are some Southerners out there who bought this thing with something else in mind. I reckon it sure do make sense that if you still think the War is going on and ya got some yanks to dun kill, ya might as well do proper and settle yer hankerin' for a good swig o' brew. Beer and Guns - yeeha!
Please pardon that little rant, but understand that I'm listening to Huckelberry Finn during my drives to work and it just seemed fitting.
At any rate, today I used the beergun to fill a case worth of the Doppelbock. Hopefully, I'll be able to let it age by taking away the temptation to drink it with the ease of pouring a glass from the keg. There's still some left though. Stop by and I'll pour you one - at least as long as there's some still left. I won't be opening bottles for a while though. I just tapped a keg of the pale ale too - the same stuff that wrecked so many of us at the Gingerbread House party.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
"Dad, smell my finger"
I must admit that this would not be the best thing to hear from your four-year old brew partner. I stepped back and said "NOoooo". He assured me the finger of concern only had the aroma of brewing grains. And, with a small leap of faith and an extremely tentative lean in, the little man was proven correct.
On to the brew day... We did the Pale Ale. Really not much to mention other than I was able to slay another bee. I guess if that's how you want to go, so be it.
Enough talk about stuff that isn't ready to drink. How about what is?
The Scottish Ale turned out alright. Last night, I did a side by side comparison against Four Peaks' Kiltlifter. It's surprisingly close considering I wasn't trying to copy it. Mine has a little more roast to it and theirs is a little sweeter and fruitier.
The Doppelbock didn't turn out that bad either. Hell, it should be absolutely amazing after sitting around for as long as it has. I'll be comparing it against Celebrator, but haven't had the chance yet. I did drink a slightly under-carbonated half-liter. It went down oh-so smooth. I was expecting it to be a little too sweet. If you've had Gordon Bierch's Blonde Bock you know what I mean. But, it wasn't bad at all. The alcohol burn was almost non-existent which is pretty nice for something over 7%.
Feel free to stop by and sample. No promises on how long the Scottish is going to last.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
I'm OK
Is it fair for me to egotistically assume that going post-less for two month could possibly elicit any concern from you? I didn't think so. Truth is, I'm a lousy blogger - it requires way too much attention. I guess I can only hope to compensate for my sporadic post habits with spectacular content.
I'm OK: I've brewed three times since the last post. I suppose I should try to write something about each one.
I'm OK: The real reason I fell off the face of the earth was due to work. School is over. I'm now a licenced Senior Reactor Operator. This really only means that after two years of employment, I actually have to start doing my job. The good news is that I managed to pull it off without turning to heavy dosages of prescription psych-meds or not so prescription (or legal) alternatives
I'm OK: The true motivation for writing now hasn't whooped me yet. In the last 24 hours I've been able to eat one banana and drink one Sprite. More significant is that I haven't felt like a beer in over 60 hours. Turns out that a two-year old's stomach bug can transfer to daddy very easily. So, I've been sitting around a lot over the last couple days - no need to explain I'm sure.
But, I bet you didn't know it was possible to hear your bowels (and I use that term "loosely") do race tracks around your digestive system. Left - Right - Left - Right, complete with the Doppler effect of a NASCAR race.
Back to the beer. Since the last pale ale I wrote about, I've made a blonde, a retry on the pale ale and a scottish ale. The blonde turned out less than perfect. It has some sort of clove like smell/flavor to it. I probably fermented it too warm, but the story I like is that I used the wrong yeast and we'll call it a Belgian. I've heard that if any beer turns out goofy, just call it a Belgian. The pale ale was great. It was the same recipe as before except I went a little lighter on the bittering hops, using cascade instead of amarillo. It turned out great. The only reason I say that is it was well received at the Gingerbread House Party. We almost floated the keg. Raise your hand if you got drunk - mine's up. The scottish ale is still fermenting but there is no reason to suspect it will be bad.
Sorry for the absence. Maybe I'll try to write more.
I'm OK: I've brewed three times since the last post. I suppose I should try to write something about each one.
I'm OK: The real reason I fell off the face of the earth was due to work. School is over. I'm now a licenced Senior Reactor Operator. This really only means that after two years of employment, I actually have to start doing my job. The good news is that I managed to pull it off without turning to heavy dosages of prescription psych-meds or not so prescription (or legal) alternatives
I'm OK: The true motivation for writing now hasn't whooped me yet. In the last 24 hours I've been able to eat one banana and drink one Sprite. More significant is that I haven't felt like a beer in over 60 hours. Turns out that a two-year old's stomach bug can transfer to daddy very easily. So, I've been sitting around a lot over the last couple days - no need to explain I'm sure.
But, I bet you didn't know it was possible to hear your bowels (and I use that term "loosely") do race tracks around your digestive system. Left - Right - Left - Right, complete with the Doppler effect of a NASCAR race.
Back to the beer. Since the last pale ale I wrote about, I've made a blonde, a retry on the pale ale and a scottish ale. The blonde turned out less than perfect. It has some sort of clove like smell/flavor to it. I probably fermented it too warm, but the story I like is that I used the wrong yeast and we'll call it a Belgian. I've heard that if any beer turns out goofy, just call it a Belgian. The pale ale was great. It was the same recipe as before except I went a little lighter on the bittering hops, using cascade instead of amarillo. It turned out great. The only reason I say that is it was well received at the Gingerbread House Party. We almost floated the keg. Raise your hand if you got drunk - mine's up. The scottish ale is still fermenting but there is no reason to suspect it will be bad.
Sorry for the absence. Maybe I'll try to write more.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Don't even bother
To my loyal throng of blog followers (aka: Mom), this one may seem to lack my typical comedic wit and unparalleled gift of prose only rivaled by William Shakespeare and Judy Bloom. This will just be my boring documentation of what I did today.
I cleaned the keg out. I'm sorry for those of you who didn't get the chance to sample the Helles, it was a delight and I will miss is so. I transferred the Pale Ale into the keg. It's still quite green, but give it a few weeks and I'm sure it will be fine.
That's it. I told you it would be lame.
I cleaned the keg out. I'm sorry for those of you who didn't get the chance to sample the Helles, it was a delight and I will miss is so. I transferred the Pale Ale into the keg. It's still quite green, but give it a few weeks and I'm sure it will be fine.
That's it. I told you it would be lame.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
A sign of good conversion
The Pale Ale has been brewed. It's trending darker though, so I may start calling it an Amber, but that's neither here nor there. So here's the recipe:
12.75 lbs Maris Otter
1 lb Munich
.75 lb Crystal (40L)
All Amarillo hops
1 oz at 60, 10 and 0 min. each
Safale S-05
Everything went pretty good except for forgetting the Whirlfloc. The beer may turn out a little hazy, but I'm pretty sure I'm not drinking it for the looks.
Typically during the mash, I can tell if I'm getting good conversion of starch to sugar when the flys start buzzing around the runoff. I can't say that I blame them for wanting to get close to that sweet, sweet beer precursor. It usually ends there when the pot goes over the flame. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but it went a little further today than I'm used to. It was about 15 minutes into the boil and I went outside to see how it was going. To my surprise, I saw something surface in the roll of the boil and go back down. Hmm, that wasn't expected. And, there it is again. Interesting, it has wings. So, what you hopefully can see in that picture is a bee with an extreme sweet tooth. And the moral is: Dessert is delicious, boiling liquid - not so much.
12.75 lbs Maris Otter
1 lb Munich
.75 lb Crystal (40L)
All Amarillo hops
1 oz at 60, 10 and 0 min. each
Safale S-05
Everything went pretty good except for forgetting the Whirlfloc. The beer may turn out a little hazy, but I'm pretty sure I'm not drinking it for the looks.
Typically during the mash, I can tell if I'm getting good conversion of starch to sugar when the flys start buzzing around the runoff. I can't say that I blame them for wanting to get close to that sweet, sweet beer precursor. It usually ends there when the pot goes over the flame. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but it went a little further today than I'm used to. It was about 15 minutes into the boil and I went outside to see how it was going. To my surprise, I saw something surface in the roll of the boil and go back down. Hmm, that wasn't expected. And, there it is again. Interesting, it has wings. So, what you hopefully can see in that picture is a bee with an extreme sweet tooth. And the moral is: Dessert is delicious, boiling liquid - not so much.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Theory to Practice
As I study for my audit exam, surrounded by mountains of textbooks, two computers and enough technical drawings and schematics to make any sane person consider a humble, simple life of living in a van down by the river, I had to take a small break for a very necessary errand. So, to the brew shop I went. The plan is to brew my pale ale, but since I was there, I asked about my keg issue. See, I'm not able to rig the type of tap that you would see at a bar, so I'm relegated to using the type of tap that you've seen at every kegger you went to in college. This poses some issues. But first, you must be warned...
WARNING: I'm about to go full nerd. My own brain is going to hurt after this, so proceed at your own risk. I wouldn't blame you for turning away.
The bar tap has a diffuser in it to drop the pressure from the keg, at about 12 pounds gage, down to the glass at atmosphere. This makes for a nice smooth pour. The party tap, however, lacks this oh so simple device which has left me with a choice. A) drop the pressure in the keg to about 2 pounds and get a perfect pour of flat beer, or B) send a beer geyser across my garage. So, at the beer store, I asked the guy for some help with a solution. Honestly, I'm a little embarrassed I didn't come up with it on my own.
If you've kept up with me this far, brace yourself. It's gonna get worse.
See, the keg needs to be kept around 12 pounds to keep the gas in solution. Everyone remember partial pressures and equilibrium from high school chemistry? Less pressure means less carbonation. I needed a way to drop the pressure a bit more smoothly than just across that party tap.
And for the peak of nerd-dom...
HEAD LOSS is inversely proportional to DIAMETER squared. Something about the Reynolds number and other crap I barely remember from college too, but this will work for now.
The beer store guy hooked me up with about six feet of 3/16" inside diameter hose. I was using 3/8" before. The pressure drop in the line is good enough to give me a carbonated beer. Victory! The Helles is flowing.
WARNING: I'm about to go full nerd. My own brain is going to hurt after this, so proceed at your own risk. I wouldn't blame you for turning away.
The bar tap has a diffuser in it to drop the pressure from the keg, at about 12 pounds gage, down to the glass at atmosphere. This makes for a nice smooth pour. The party tap, however, lacks this oh so simple device which has left me with a choice. A) drop the pressure in the keg to about 2 pounds and get a perfect pour of flat beer, or B) send a beer geyser across my garage. So, at the beer store, I asked the guy for some help with a solution. Honestly, I'm a little embarrassed I didn't come up with it on my own.
If you've kept up with me this far, brace yourself. It's gonna get worse.
See, the keg needs to be kept around 12 pounds to keep the gas in solution. Everyone remember partial pressures and equilibrium from high school chemistry? Less pressure means less carbonation. I needed a way to drop the pressure a bit more smoothly than just across that party tap.
And for the peak of nerd-dom...
HEAD LOSS is inversely proportional to DIAMETER squared. Something about the Reynolds number and other crap I barely remember from college too, but this will work for now.
The beer store guy hooked me up with about six feet of 3/16" inside diameter hose. I was using 3/8" before. The pressure drop in the line is good enough to give me a carbonated beer. Victory! The Helles is flowing.
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