Such a blessing!

I feel so lucky to have found not only the great community, but the great individuals who I have met in home brewing. Definitely not boring, very giving, and simply honest.

I brewed a batch of popcorn pale with zythos flavoring and Citra aroma hops. Should be delish.

Tried the portly squirrel again and AGAIN, it is too porter-like. I've just now decided that I did something different the first time I made it, from the recorded recipe. Because I have tried 4 times to recreate it and it really does come out consistently delicious, but not the same. It's far more porter than nut brown. I need to revisit the entire recipe. To be fair, the original was in the first 10 brews I did. And it was AWESOME. I guess if I can let go of that recipe guideline, I can recreate it without the pain :)

Had a great time brewing today- many friends dropped by and we tasted some great commercial and homebrews. Many of my friends who brew, do not brew enough. It's a sad but true fact. I have been lucky to have the support of my wife, who tells me to get the F out of the house ;)

I have move quickly from brewing extract, to all-grain and extract, to all-grain only. This is because my process has been greatly simplified by the system I have created. The move to all-grain is so much more economical compared to extract that it is about half the cost. I remember that a few months ago, I was warned to not brew too much and "burn out". At the time, and now, I thought that was crazy talk. I have, in the 50 brews I have accomplished in the first year I have been brewing, proven that burnout is not an issue for me. My 1 year anniversary was March 23rd. I currently have, as of March 25th, brewed 52 batches.

I have learned so much about brewing that it really surprises me. Other than the 3 batches which froze (reviews are actually mixed, several people think they are still delicious) and exploding IPA, and the punisher, had a pretty great track record.

Many Homebrewers feel that being able to repeat a brew is the most important thing to improving your homebrew. I think if you have a decent process, you can do that quite simply. Being creative is what makes Homebrewers who they are. There is room in the hobby for ALL types of brewers, that's really what is so great. People who brew 4 batches of the same lager every year, those who brew Lemongrass Tangelo Cream Ale, and those who do mead ;)

The supply side of the craft is a field of opportunity which should be explored by crafty, dedicated, brewing individuals such as me.

Ramblings

OK, so my pipeline consists of these beers on a regular basis:

Grilled Lemon Cream Ale
Oxy Clean DIPA
Rosemary IPA
Right Red Rye
Portly Squirrel
Arc Porter

This really is a pretty extensive list of "regular" homebrews, ach will be brewed at least 3 times a year.

It is fun doing other crazy beers, but I need to get these consistent and then make slight improvements to each.  I tried this with Portly Squrrel, which then became Arc Porter and in its most recent revision, Arc Squirrel.  The Arc Porter is a true robust porter- very roasty, very dark, not quite a stout.  The Arc Squirrel is a Brown Porter, really between Portly Squirrel and Arc Porter.  Easy drinking, it's a beauty.

Beer meanderings

Last night I had the opportunity to try AZ Wilderness Pale.  AZ Wilderness is a new brewery which is trying to open in Queen Creek, about 7 miles from my house.  The brewmaster/owner, Johnathen Buford is a great guy and a SERIOUS outdoor adventurer.  He also plans on doing some "out of the box" brewing, thank goodness! This will be mostly taphouse with a few handles at local craft beer bars.  The pale was a nice easy drinker.

The Cake-And-A-Card had a little issue- what's called a stuck fermentation.  This is OK, I pitched a packet of dry ale yeast and hopefully this will get it started again.  Over the last 24 hours, it has been bubbling again, so I'm not too worried.  Apparently the fats in the ice cream can muck up the works. No worries though.  (I do have 12 liters of another porter as a backup, so... they won't be without beer :)

Looking at doing 3 all-grain batches on Sunday- I got the day all planned out in a spreadsheet, no all I have to do is make the plan work.  My only concern is water heating times.  It can take an hour for the hot-lauter tanks to heat the water to 180, so I need to have a backup to stay on schedule.  Probably keep some water simmering on the stove.

Also looking into alternative hop varieties-  I have Pallisade and Zythos in the freezer, so I want to use them correctly.  Apparently Zythos is a blend of "C" hops, which is fine.  I think after the 3 on Sunday, my next brew will be an all Zythos pale.

It IS, after all, session brew season.  Time to kick those heavy imperial IPA's to the curb. Some nice light session ales.  Right Red Rye is good at 6.5 it is a bit high though.  Portly Squirrel is a nut brown- not necessarily a summer beer, but a 5% delicious drink.  I'm also doing the Grilled Lemon Cream Ale again on Sunday which is clearly a perfect summer drink :)

Cheers!  OH!  And Happy St Paddy's Day!

Everything is more fun with friends!

Yesterday was Cake and a Card brew day. And a massive party in my driveway. What a BLAST!

ANYWAYS, here is a picture of the cake going into the boil

Homebrew WIN!

I was able to share 13 brews with 5 different people people today! Woohoo!

I worked all day from 9-9, after getting 4 hours of sleep last night. Because I woke up with brewing dreams and couldn't go back to sleep because I was too jazzed about brewing to sleep. This sounds like I am obsessing. In an unhealthy way.

There will be a few people over to brew on Saturday.

Tonight was a "rally" at Four Peaks Brewery with Charlie Papazian, which I missed. The room was emptying as I arrived after work. None the less, many friends to chat with.

I shared some beer with Chris. I turned someone on to brewing, who is a craft beer lover, twice. I shared beer with a friend who suggested to a reporter that I be the subject of an article about homebrewing in Phoenix. I shared beer with an event manager for a local brewery.

This is why I brew. To spread Joy :)

Enjoy friends.

Things I need to do

While brewing last week, it became very clear that circulating the wort while chilling with my immersion chiller, exponentially speeded up the process. So with this in mind, I needed to build a motor with a long shaft, ending in a stirring device. It needs to be able to stir gently but not aerate too much.

I need to help Sean with his ETC and build one with Ben. I also need to build my extra one. Apparently there is going to be a 3 way going down this weekend.

Also, I am brewing a beer with ice cream cake for a friend. Still mulling over the process, but... Fun challenge!

Another Saturday

So I wanted to find out- why, oh why, did the Portly Squirrel morph into the Arc Porter?  I have changed a few ingredients, but not to the extent that it should become the roasty thick porter that it is now.  Well, the most recent batch is the same.  So I'm still confused.

However, this brings me to 65 gallons brewed so far in 2012.

The legal limit is 200 gallons.

Sigh.  I think that I will now have to teach Bonnie to brew and be her "co-brewer.  That will allow me some room to brew for contests under the 200 gallon limit, in my own name.

Also on Saturday was a beer fest.  It was fine.  The Great AZ Beer Fest.  Lots of lines, however "knowing" people can relly prove a benefit to this problem.  We didn't wait in any lines.  WooHoo!

The frozen beers are fermenting again, looking no worse for the wear.  HOWEVER, this kind of temperature variation causes a lot of stress on the yeast which produces off- flavors.

Certainly there will be something different about these beers from their "normal" counterparts.  Imagine if it created the most perfect brew in the universe, and now I have to cold crash the fermentation 3 days after it starts, every time.  That would be a huge pain in the butt.

And delicious :)

NHC Entries

The National Homebrew Competition is the brewing competition part of the National Homebrewers Conference.  I got tickets to the conference, so why not pick up some medals while I'm there ;)

It's an intense competition, with over 7000 entries.  These are divided amongst 10 judging centers across the country.

I am entered into the San Diego judging center for First Round.  As I write this, I think- gosh, with all the homebrewers in California, am I putting myself into the most difficult competition center?  It really doesn't matter- there are great homebrewers everywhere entering. 

The beers are judged in the first round at the San Diego site.  Whoever wins first place in each category, at each judging center, moves on to second round.  There are now 10 beers in each category to be judged.

Can you imagine being in charge of these cellars?  SERIOUSLY, that would be a HUGE job...

I entered:

Right Red Rye
Rosemary IPA (Rosemary's IPBaby)
Sesame Street Amber
Arc Porter
Bonnie's Brown
It's A Peach (peach wheat)

The last time I made Portly Squirrel, it ended up as Arc Porter, so - no Portly Squirrel to enter :(

Our homebrew club picks up the shipping costs on sending the beer to San Diego, which is quite significant.

Thanks, world!  Send good beer thoughts!

Crisis!!!

So upon inspecting my babies yesterday morning, one of the fermenters had blown off its airlock.  You'd think that I would, at some point, learn to put a blow-off tube on all the carboys for the first few days.

I cleaned up the mess and re-adjusted everything...

And apparently did not place the temperature sensor for the controlled, back in the freezer.

Needless to say, this morning I found 3 big ice-filled containers of what I had hoped was going to be beer, sitting in my fermenter.

Not sure how this is all going to roll out- I suppose it could just warm up and keep going, I can re-pitch the yeast and let it finish off, or I can create half-fermented beer pops.  Which isn't a terrible idea, as I see it.