PPHEW!
After being in homebrew oblivion for the last little while, I bottled on Thursday and Monday.
Chances are I will be brewing tonight.
I've missed it!
Also, my beer supplies are dangerously low. The word is out about how delicious my brew is, so I have been inundated with requests. Seriously, I have less beer today than I have had in a year.
Coming soon- a post about a new toy called the OneDerBrew once I actually use it.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Thursday, July 26, 2012
HALP!!!
Oy vey.
It has been oh... a month since I brewed? Ok, 19 days. STILL! That''s like a lifetime. I have 3 brews sitting in the fermentation cooler waiting to be bottled. I even TRIED bottling yesterday, but the childrenz and the lifes got in te way.
SO FRUSTRATING.
We'll see if today maybe I get in there. This weekend, I am taking the chillrinz camping, so no brewing time.
I've kind-of recommitted myself to the boy child surviving school, instead of brewing constantly. Also the brewery has so much stuff piled up in it, I hardly know where to begin. I have a LOT of bottles.
Maybe these guys are on to something with the whole "kegging" thing...
It has been oh... a month since I brewed? Ok, 19 days. STILL! That''s like a lifetime. I have 3 brews sitting in the fermentation cooler waiting to be bottled. I even TRIED bottling yesterday, but the childrenz and the lifes got in te way.
SO FRUSTRATING.
We'll see if today maybe I get in there. This weekend, I am taking the chillrinz camping, so no brewing time.
I've kind-of recommitted myself to the boy child surviving school, instead of brewing constantly. Also the brewery has so much stuff piled up in it, I hardly know where to begin. I have a LOT of bottles.
Maybe these guys are on to something with the whole "kegging" thing...
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Brewing is FUN!
MAN, is brewing fun!
On Saturday, I brewed the base for Grilled Lemon Cream Ale.
I don't say I brewed Grilled Lemon Cream ALe (GLCA) because the highlight is in the secondary with the grilled lemons, so... I brewed a Cream Ale.
Why did I brew this? Because my good friends LOVE this beer. And why do I brew? To share beer with people.
I've always been the crafty one in the house- making mothers day presents with the kids, painting the kitchen just because I wanted to see what the new color would look like. I have the Pinterest page, my wife loathes Pinterest.
Sharing beer that I have made, with equipment that I built, is about the pinnacle of manly crafting. I don't feel the need to do scrapbooks and knitting and such- these things are mind-numbingly boring to me. I will however encourage my children to do these things if it's something they like.
I love brewing because It is a multi-tasker's HEAVEN! I mean... you can make brewing a slow, easy day (which I do sometimes) or you can make it a frantic, have 6 irons in the fire, organizational THRILL RIDE (which I do most often)
I'll start a series of the process soon so you dedicated readers can better understand the way breing works. I mean, this is all duplication because SHEESH! there are a million web-pages dedicated to it, thousands of youtube videos, and many many books. Still- I'm freaking hilarious ;)
On Saturday, I brewed the base for Grilled Lemon Cream Ale.
I don't say I brewed Grilled Lemon Cream ALe (GLCA) because the highlight is in the secondary with the grilled lemons, so... I brewed a Cream Ale.
Why did I brew this? Because my good friends LOVE this beer. And why do I brew? To share beer with people.
I've always been the crafty one in the house- making mothers day presents with the kids, painting the kitchen just because I wanted to see what the new color would look like. I have the Pinterest page, my wife loathes Pinterest.
Sharing beer that I have made, with equipment that I built, is about the pinnacle of manly crafting. I don't feel the need to do scrapbooks and knitting and such- these things are mind-numbingly boring to me. I will however encourage my children to do these things if it's something they like.
I love brewing because It is a multi-tasker's HEAVEN! I mean... you can make brewing a slow, easy day (which I do sometimes) or you can make it a frantic, have 6 irons in the fire, organizational THRILL RIDE (which I do most often)
I'll start a series of the process soon so you dedicated readers can better understand the way breing works. I mean, this is all duplication because SHEESH! there are a million web-pages dedicated to it, thousands of youtube videos, and many many books. Still- I'm freaking hilarious ;)
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Such a glorious day
OK, so yesterday (July 4th) I woke up around 8 AM. I was interwebzing while the lovely and sleepy Bonnie continued her day-off slumber. I saw a couple of homebrew tweets and thought "Let's do this!"
I already had my popcorn popped for Popcorn Pale, so BINGO!
My rig wasn't really ready to go. Typically, I 'll have the water hot and the brew day is quick. This time, I decided to brew spontaneously. So, I had to fill my HLT's, get the water hot, etc. No matter, as I still had to formulate my recipe, get the grain crushed, etc etc.
Also today seemed like the perfect day to bottle the Collaboration beer which Jeremy and I brewed on the 10th of June, which I dry-hopped a week ago. BTW- it tastes absolutely AWESOME.
My little neighbor buddy, Tanner, swung by and ended up spending 4 hours hanging out with me brewing. If only my 9 year old son had the same interest as this random 8-year old... oh well. This little punkin...
A) Sanitized all my bottles
B) Filled all my bottles
C) Capped all my bottles
D) LABELED every bottle cap
E) De-labeled some random bottles I had lying around
ALL FREE CHILD LABOR!!! SCORE!!!
When his mom came over to see where he was (after 3 hours) I showed her all the science we were accomplishing , and her reply was "If he gets to be a pest, just send him home"
Do you have any idea how much popcorn, 3 and a hlaf punds is? It's 3 paper grocery bags full. Yes. 3. That's a LOT of popcorn. When I pour it into my 5 gallon mash tun, it melts of course, and it all fits with no problem. Very interesting process though.
My hope is that this batch wil have more of the popcorn flavor in it. The last couple of batches really didn't, so I increased the popcorn ratio on this one. Also used some different hops. I should have looked at some liquid yeasts which potentially highlight "malt" flavors. Maybe next time.
The brew day went smooth as silk.
I really feel fortunate that my "rig" makes brewing so simple. I can decide that I want to brew, and it takes less than 5 minutes to have the brew stand completely assembled and the water heating up. I mean, that's just awesome.
Today I am working on my homebrew class syllabus. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to teach new brewers.
I already had my popcorn popped for Popcorn Pale, so BINGO!
My rig wasn't really ready to go. Typically, I 'll have the water hot and the brew day is quick. This time, I decided to brew spontaneously. So, I had to fill my HLT's, get the water hot, etc. No matter, as I still had to formulate my recipe, get the grain crushed, etc etc.
Also today seemed like the perfect day to bottle the Collaboration beer which Jeremy and I brewed on the 10th of June, which I dry-hopped a week ago. BTW- it tastes absolutely AWESOME.
My little neighbor buddy, Tanner, swung by and ended up spending 4 hours hanging out with me brewing. If only my 9 year old son had the same interest as this random 8-year old... oh well. This little punkin...
A) Sanitized all my bottles
B) Filled all my bottles
C) Capped all my bottles
D) LABELED every bottle cap
E) De-labeled some random bottles I had lying around
ALL FREE CHILD LABOR!!! SCORE!!!
When his mom came over to see where he was (after 3 hours) I showed her all the science we were accomplishing , and her reply was "If he gets to be a pest, just send him home"
Do you have any idea how much popcorn, 3 and a hlaf punds is? It's 3 paper grocery bags full. Yes. 3. That's a LOT of popcorn. When I pour it into my 5 gallon mash tun, it melts of course, and it all fits with no problem. Very interesting process though.
My hope is that this batch wil have more of the popcorn flavor in it. The last couple of batches really didn't, so I increased the popcorn ratio on this one. Also used some different hops. I should have looked at some liquid yeasts which potentially highlight "malt" flavors. Maybe next time.
The brew day went smooth as silk.
I really feel fortunate that my "rig" makes brewing so simple. I can decide that I want to brew, and it takes less than 5 minutes to have the brew stand completely assembled and the water heating up. I mean, that's just awesome.
Today I am working on my homebrew class syllabus. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to teach new brewers.
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