Brew Day Pictures

Here's some pictures that I snapped during our brew day yesterday.  We decided to brew up a Hefeweizen for a family reunion for Abby's family that is coming up.  We also had to transfer the Apocalypso into the secondary and add our peach / apricot mixture to it.  In about seven days we'll throw a couple of scotch bonnet peppers in to kick up the spiciness.  After we transferred the Apocalypso we decided to throw together another batch of Apfelwein.  Here's a picture of the yeast going to work in the Apfelwein.


Apfelwein!

One rule that Gus and I have had since we started brewing was that we had to be enjoying brews at the same time to keep the Beer Gods happy.  Yesterday was no different as we sampled some brown ales.  We had Newcastle Brown, Rogue's Hazelnut Brown and our very own Beach Dog Brown.  They were all delicious and I am proud to say that the Beach Dog tasted just as good if not better than the others.



Brown Ales!

 After getting some brown ales in our system and getting the Apfelwein done Gus decided to grab it and move it to the fermenting closet.  We've been using the carboy carrier to move our batches of beer and it works out great.  Here's Gus getting it done.

Gun Show!

After the transferring, tasting and moving of beers we decided to get down to business on the brewing end of it.  Here's a shot from early on in the brew process of the grains soaking in the water.  After we pulled the grains we added an ounce of hops, a few pounds of honey and some extract and let it go.  We decided to try re-using some yeast from the Apocalypso batch and after the Hefe cooled we threw the yeast right on top.



Hefeweizen Brew!

 With another brew day in the books I decided to head home and reward myself with a delicious brew.  I ended up going with a Stormtrooper Imperial IPA and it was the perfect choice to end the evening with.  I also decided to take one more picture, this time of the inside of my kegerator / beer fridge.  Every beer in the fridge was made by L-Town Brewing.  Great Success!


LTB Brews!



Top Secret Ale a.k.a. Barb's Birthday Brew

Placeholder Cap

So last weekend was my girlfriend Barbara's birthday and I decided to surprise her with a batch of beer.  I went with a Cream Ale because that was one of her favorite styles.  I also know how much she loves the Southern Tier Creme Brule so I thought I'd try to make an Ale that was a little sweet with some nice vanilla flavoring.

This brew has only been in bottles for ten days so it's still a little early to know how it's going to taste but Barbara wanted to try one on her birthday.  Since I was extremely curious as to how this beer turned out I agreed and we threw a bottle in the fridge to let it cool.  After it chilled out for a few hours we decided to crack one open and check it out.  Read my review after the jump.

best tasting ever

I highly recommend the brewvana tour.  I added a ton of beers to my list, as well as tasting a lot of those beers, and I am now at 744 thanks to the Southern Oregon Holy Water Maibock I am enjoying after wiffle ball.  I passed Darryl Strawberry and David Wright on the all time career RBIs for the Mets.  Which is saying something.  Another week and Barry Bonds is going down.

Brewvana

Friends Stacy and Pat are coming back to town for the week from Arizona.  And in celebration of Pat being born some 35 some odd years ago, we are going on a Brewvana tour to hit up about 4 breweries in Portland tonight.  I am pretty excited and will post more next week.

In other news, I like beer.  And this has been a long week as part of a long month at work, and looking forward to beers tonight.  Also, Happy Birthday Barbara, or we call her, reader #2.  Enjoy the beer. :)

2nd tasting=great success

2nd Tasting went off well, and tasted the Stout, President, Emperor, IIPA as well as the brown that actually carbed now that we let it sit longer.  So it was an awesome day.  Plus more people came over later before dinner and I tasted with them too and they were all impressed as well.

Bottled two beers and the apocolypso is still bubbling away so will have to wait to transfer that one.  But its after five so its time to go home and "taste" another.  Cheers.

It's New Beer Day!

It's finally here!  Gus and I will be opening our first bottles of our St. Helens Stout, the Erik for President and the Erik for Emperor later this afternoon at the LTB Brewhaus.  I will also be bringing a growler of the Stormtrooper IIPA so we can taste all four of them at the same time. 

We will also be bottling our Apfelwein and our Top Secret Ale.  We should be revealing the true identity of the Top Secret Ale in the next few weeks.  I'm just hoping it turned out alright since it's one of my first attempts at building a recipe. 

Have a good weekend everybody!  I'll be back on Monday to talk about the three new beers.

Cheers!

Shift

Yes, three posts in one day.  So busy right now, this is my only distraction.

I plan to go to Safeway to see if they have Shift by New Belgium.  It sounds so tasty right now.  And even Hop N Grape doesn't have it.  The beer locator says Safeway has purchased some, so lets see how accurate that map is.

The site says they have a beer after each brewery shift (kind of like how we do) and this is the beer, and they wanted to share.  I hope I can find some.  Maybe some Dig too to compare the two, even though it replaced Mighty Arrow and Nate said MA was better.

Can it

The packaging on both the box and can of Monk's Blood is so cool, I had to share.

I typed the whole thing out, and then found a pic on Beer Pulse.  I also found an article re-stating that Sam Adams also wants to can their beer as soon as they perfect the can.  Strange seeing that multiple highly respected places can their beers and have just as good palates as Koch, but I guess that means we can finally have another option at the course.

Legend has it that in the evenings, the monks would retire to their chambers & settle in with a few passages from the good book.  But brothers Nicolas and O’Sullivan had other plans.  Working in the brewhouse all day, they were forced to repeat the same old recipes the elder monks had invented years before.  They needed a little diversion.  And found it in the cellar of the monastery with a fresh twist they put on the beer and the way they enjoyed it.  Brother Nicolas (or ‘Nico’ to his close friend) brought some hand-rolled cigars.  O’Sullivan, the outspoken one, broke the vow of silence by spinning a remix of some Gregorian chants.  Together they’d throw down a couple nice hands of Texas Hold Em and savor the handcrafted brew they created in secrecy.  Everything was good.  Or so it seemed.  But deep in his heart Nico knew they were drifting into the ‘dark side’ of beer.  Next thing you know, they’d be skipping Lent.  Then one night they’d face the judgment for their actions with a hard knock at the door.  Outside, the Abbot and elders would be holding stones in the air.  A threat the brothers were sure would lead to the spilling of MONK’S BLOOD

No one knows the real story.  But one thing’s certain.  Shaun O’Sullivan & Nico Freccia are the master brewers behind this unique Belgian Style Ale.  Brewed with eight malts, rich Belgian candi sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and a heap of Northwest hops, then aged with oak chips and dried black mission figs.  It’s a secret recipe, but too good to keep their vow of silence.

21ST-AMENDMENT.COM

Insurrection Series, 8.3% ABV

Too many beers

I am tied with Clyde the Glide.  Not because I had a new beer at the Masthead.  Because they have 20 taps and I have had them all.  But because I had a can of Monk's Blood when I got home.  21st-Amendment does it again, with this limited release.  Read the link, you need to get some now before it is gone.  Belgian Style Dark Ale brewed with Cinnamon, Vanilla, Oak Chips and Dried Figs.

But I did have a tasty tray of beers at the Masthead, the ninkasi tricerahops, bridgeport ipa, fort george vortex, and rogue dead guy.  That is a pretty tasty lineup.  And surprisingly, although all four are excellent beers, 5/5 easy, the rogue was the best, and the bridgeport was the best of the ipas.  I need to drink more bridgeport.  They do good work.

And this weekend we finally are going to taste the 3 beers we bottled three weeks ago.  Opinions vary on the time to wait after bottling, but 3 weeks seems to be the consensus on home brew talk, so Saturday it is.  Add those to some stormtrooper and we can fill a taster tray this weekend.  Great Success!  Speaking of which, my uncle makes the trays and I found a great hookup for taster glasses.  For $20 you can get a taster tray and glasses, about $10-20 less than at most places.  Let me know if you need to get hooked up.

Destroying stat lists

With a break in between the Babe and Mr. Aaron on the home run list, I need a new stat to bust up.  Watching Joel the Thrilla stuff a couple Warriors last night made me think, I wonder where I am on the NBA Career Blocks list.  Turns out I will pass Clyde (Abby's favorite player) tonight when I get a beer at The Masthead for my Dad's birthday.  So excited because they have about 10-20 beers on tap I think.  The Thrilla has over 830 blocks so I have a ways to go to catch up.

132.	Kevin Willis	750
	Randy Breuer	750
134.	Rich Kelley	749
135.	Dave Greenwood	736
136.	Ron Harper	729
	Kendrick Perkins	729
138.	Michael Cage	725
139.	Clyde Drexler*	719
140.	Clemon Johnson	717

Bacon Taco

This is quite possibly the second greatest thing to ever be invented (behind beer).  Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bacon Taco...

Waiting is the Hardest Part

I am so ready to pop open a bottle of St. Helens Stout or Erik for President and enjoy it's goodness.  But they (along with the Erik for Emperor) won't be ready until this upcoming weekend.  I do have some Stormtrooper IIPA in my kegerator but I'm trying my hardest not to empty the keg quickly.  So last weekend while I was at the local mini mart I grabbed a sixer of Kona Brewing's Koko Brown.  Man that stuff is good!  The next day I was grocery shopping and noticed the New Belgium Folly Pack that contains their new Dig Spring Seasonal Ale along with Ranger IPA, Fat Tire and 1554 Black Ale.  I love me some New Belgium so this was a no-brainer for me.  Having these delicious beers has made the wait a little easier for me but I can't wait for this weekend to get here so I can try some more of our delicious beers. 

I like most beers

I do.  I like most beers.

Which is why I am extra disappointed when I have one I don't like.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I finish it.  (Except that Hooch beer.  I wouldn't feed that to a dog to wash the taste of his ass out of his mouth.  It would work, but he would have to find something else more heinous to wash out the hooch aftertaste, and upon not finding anything would probably run into traffic.)

But normal micros and craft beers that just don't do it and have a bad aftertaste or whatever, really suck.  Nate has a more refined palate, and will actually turn down some beers.  He didn't want to taste the beers that had gone bad.  And won't drink something he doesn't like.  But after my experience with a few beers that had gone bad in the same month, now the next month I have now had two beers that I actually realized I didn't like.  Again, I finished them.  Actually am finishing one now.  But the Proletariat Red and The Monster Mash from Lompoc were just not good.  No other way to say it.  I might need another beer to wash the taste of the Red out of my mouth here in a little bit.

And realizing that their others beers were merely okay, I think I will move on down the line when next I see a beer of theirs I haven't had.  Plenty of other good beers to try.  Sorry Lompoc.

Grinder

This weekend was a grinder.  Cleaning bottles I got from the judge and starting to clean the carboys I got too.  So I have a fancy bottling tree that works great, but some of those flip tops were not cleaned before storage so really took some work.  But I did go taste a couple of beers from Big Gun Brewing (my cousin's two houses down) and snapped a picture of his kegorator.  And I had numerous cans and bottles of beers Thu-Mon including a Sam Adams sampler pack, Oksar Blues, and a few from Widmer I hadn't had yet.

And with that, I am at 716 and have passed Babe Ruth on the Home Run List and now sit at 3rd.  Outstanding.

Ouch, My Head

The Oskar Blues Brewing company makes some good beers. And in cans no less, which is perfect for drafting a baseball team.

Except for my failure to comprehend that smaller beers can still make your head hurt. I only had 4 beers, but one was a tall boy, and one was a 22, and all were very strong I realized as I passed out. And now I have a headache. Seriously, 8% beer in a can? It would be awesome if my head didn't hurt.

I am totally not drinking again. Until tomorrow...

baseball time

With tonight's opening night games, and my looming fantasy baseball draft, it is time to get serious. I am sitting at 704 beers and have 10 to go to pass the Babe. Or if you are a Sandlot fan, "The Sultan of Swat", "The King of Crash", "The Colosus of Clout", and the most known "The Great Bambino".

1	Barry Bonds	762
2	Hank Aaron	755
3	Babe Ruth	714
4	Willie Mays	660
5	Ken Griffey, Jr.	630
6	Alex Rodriguez	629
7	Sammy Sosa	609
8	Jim Thome	604
9	Frank Robinson	586
10	Mark McGwire	583

I even have a few cans of Deviant Dave's IPA from Oskar Blues thanks to my winnings from Hewey because the Huskies suck. You have to have cans when you talk baseball. So it's nice that some good beers come in cans now. LET'S GO M's!

our first brew class

Just a couple quick shots from our first attempt at edumacating the masses. Here are Booth and Nate enjoying the fruits of our respective labors, the Stormtrooper Imperial IPA and Booth's Leap Year IPA. And we mixed some to try a poor man's collaboration. A phrase I just invented for mixing two homebrewer's beers together. And here is Booth trying to enjoy Nate's other fruits.


And we had Shaun over who is curious how this whole thing works. And his kids and Booth's and mine all went crazy running around while we talked beer. And lastly a shot of the brewmaster and the VP of CAY (cooling and yeast). That is now added to my titles along with VP of clean up. Brewing on weeknights can run long sometimes...


And since we had our beer, and Booth's beer, and some Rogue Track town 200, and some of the Judge's Belgian Double, I only checked one off my list, so sit at 702 for those keeping score at home. And as you can see from the list at the left, we now have a past brew. The CCWA finally hit bottom. Time to brew some more I think...

Apocalypso Now

Tonight Gus and I are going to brew up the Apocalypso.  I'm pretty excited about this beer as it's based on one of my favorite beers of all time, the Roots Brewery's Calypso.  It's a nice, easy going wheat ale with some nectarines and peaches added to sweeten it a little bit and a few scotch bonnet peppers thrown in to spice things up.  If it turns out even close to the Roots epic summertime ale I'll be extremely happy.  Unfortunately it's going to have to sit in fermenters for about a month so we won't be cracking any bottles of these open until late May, early June.  I'm just hoping it'll be worth the wait.  I'm sure it will be.

I ❤ Beer

oooh baby

With March Madness finally over, I didn't win all the money from the various pools and brackets. But Shaun won 2nd in a pool with Kansas and a bracket, and will clean up. I did win 2nd in our NIT pool with Minnesota (suck it Huskies). And I won three sixers with Pitt in the CBI (sorry Cougs). So between that and the fact that I found a 12 pack of Sam Adams with 4-5 beers I haven't tried yet, my fridge is now bursting again.

Trying the Stormtrooper tonight will put me at 702 beers on my list plus Nate and I will probably try something else for 703. And I think I have 20+ new beers still in my fridge, not including the ones we brewed.

Barry Bonds here I come.

I had the Green Lakes Organic from Deschutes last night as part of my CBI tourney winnings. Plus I found I had forgotten to add Red Chair to my list, so checked that off too. And I had two different dark IPAs last night, Oaskshire O Dark:30 and Laurelwood Dark Heart.

Plus I had Booth's Leap Year IPA a few days ago and some other beers this weekend, so I am really cooking now. Booth's beer was very good and as another new brewer like ourselves, I was impressed.

He has a name for his home brewery but won't tell me, so it better live up to the hype. Maybe it's Great White Hype? Regardless, I think its time for a collaboration beer.

I have also added a bunch of breweries to the lists at the left for Washington and Oregon. If you don't see your favorite or your brewery, please leave a comment so I can add it. Or if you find a broken link, please let me know. Cheers.

the First Stormtrooper

So last night was the first night that the Stormtrooper Imperial IPA was going to be ready to drink.  I had put it in the kegerator over a week ago and decided to slowly carb it over the course of the week.  I set my CO2 regulator to 12 psi and just let it sit in the fridge.  Last night my patience was rewarded.

The Stormtrooper is definitely not a beer for the faint of heart.  At roughly 7.6% ABV and around 120 IBUs this beer is a hophead's dream.  The mix of hops that Gus and I added to this one I think turned out great.  For having over 100 IBUs this beer really isn't too overpowering.  It has a very good malty base that really compliments the hoppiness of it. 

Tonight I'll be taking Gus a growler or two of the Stormtrooper so he can try it out.  I think he's in for a real treat.  While we're enjoying our IIPAs we'll be transferring the Top Secret Ale into the secondary and adding a few of our top secret ingredients.  It should be ready to bottle in another week and ready to drink by May.  I'm just hoping it turns out as well as our beers have so far.

the Foggy Noggin

Our Fn Beers!

This past weekend my girlfriend Barbara told me about a guy in Bothell who opened a nano-brewery.  For those not in the know a nano-brewery is defined as a brewery that brews less then 4 barrels at a time.  The Foggy Noggin definitely meets that criteria as they brew English style ales on a 1/2 barrel system. 

The Foggy Noggin is located in a rural area of Bothell and is actually operated out of a garage.  You step into the garage and sitting in the middle is a keezer hooked up with four beers on tap with another, smaller keezer next to it with two nitro taps.  To the right of the taps is a large walk-in freezer and next to it sits a display fridge full of growlers.  The head brew-master's daughter and her boyfriend (I think) were in charge of the taps when we visited.

I decided to try the Christmas Duck porter for my first pint and it was delicious.  Probably one of the best porters I have ever tried.  Barbara wanted to sample their beers so she got tasters of their other beers, the Bit o' Beaver English Bitter, the Diablo del Sol English Pale, the Anniversary Old English Ale, the Whasky (on Nitro) and another sample of the Anniversary (on Nitro).  I helped Barb finish a few of her beers and the Diablo del Sol was my favorite, so I had another pint of that.  Their Anniversary Ale on Nitro was also delicious.

After we sampled some beers we wandered out back to their brew shed and met the head brew-master Jim.  He had just transferred the beer he had made into the fermenter and was in the middle of the cleaning process but still took the time to talk to me and answer some questions that I had.  Jim started brewing roughly twenty years ago and opened the Foggy Noggin in 2008. 

All in all it was a great place and I will definitely be visiting again in the near future.  Seeing a successful brewery that was that small really made me dream about what is possible.  I would love to someday open a little brewery and be able to sell our beers.  Gus and I have a long way to go, but it's always nice to dream.