R.I.P.

I finally dumped it.

It took me a while to build up the courage to dump 5 gallons of beer down the drain, but I did it.

This was my first total loss.

oops, I did it again.

I'm kind of like this:

I once had trouble with a bit of a beer geyser. Well, tonight I got fooled again. Shame on me..or.. don't get fooled a second time... whatever.

After killing three kegs within the matter of 2 days (thanks in large part to my family), I went about filling those three kegs.

I had removed the faucets for cleaning and...um... well...err...forgot to attach them... again... like that other time. I had a nice spray of pale ale flying out of my tap tower.

BUT!!!!!! Since God apparently likes me, 97% of the beer was sprayed into a garbage can. For 12 seconds I was pissed off!!!! But then, I realized all of the beer was in the garbage can. How sweet.

Still, it was a pretty stupid thing to do.

It's torture

Since the beginning of August (± several days), I have had three beers on tap. I have a pale ale, a dark lager and a saison. All fine beers.

About a month ago, I found out my brother was going to be in town during this coming weekend. Since he is an enjoyer of beer, I figured I would save some for him. Easier said than done.

I've spent the last several weeks doing my best to ration my beer. This has been challenging... no actually it's been torture. I enjoy drinking my beer, but I've abstained. I've limited myself to one (or two) beers every few days. I think I should have enough.

Thankfully, my local neighborhood liquor store is closing to make room for a CVS pharmacy. They've been selling everything dirt cheap. I've taken advantage to the tune of 2 cases of wine for $3 a bottle. Not bad.

Long story short, I should have enough beer to share with my brother, but it wasn't easy. I'll be sure to remind him of that.

stupid, stupid, stupid....

I have brewed over 115 batches of beer in my homebrewing career. I would like to think I know what I am doing. Recently, I brewed a partial mash rye ale. I was excited because I had never brewed a batch with rye in it.

I have a large kettle in which I can boil about 4.5 gallons of wort. After boiling the wort and chilling it, I dumped it into my carboy. My carboy has a mark on it to indicate 5 gallons. After dumping the wort in, the liquid level was about a half-gallon OVER the mark!!!!

I spent several minutes trying to figure out how I had made a gallon of liquid out of nothing. Maybe I had somehow acquired divine abilities. Sweet. What should I do first with my powers?

After thinking for a few minutes I realize what has happened. I didn't create matter. I forgot to dump the sanitizing solution out of the carboy.

Stupid.

Wort as a beverage

My wife and I recently took a trip to Puerto Rico. We picked the most perfect time. Minnesota was suffering from record cold temperatures and Puerto Rico was not. It was great.

While in Puerto Rico, I discovered a drink that is very popular in the Caribbean, but I had never heard of before. And it is related to beer.

Malta. No, not the island, the drink.

Malta is essentially wort that has not been fermented. Wort, of course, is what beer is made from. It is made using barley, hops and water. In the case of malta, it is bottled and carbonated.

In Puerto Rico the brand I had was Malta India. It was exactly what anyone who has brewed would expect. It tasted like wort. It was sweet, balanced with a gentle bitterness. It is not a refreshing drink and one that requires an acquired taste. For those unfamiliar with wort, imagine watering down some molasses.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone. I hope 2010 treats you well.

My family and I spent the night at a friends house. I drank some a pale ale that I designed and brewed with my friend. He had it on tap. It was delicious. Almost a bit too cascady (if that is possible).

Of all of the beer I drank during 2009, none of it compares to the beer that Al over at HopTalk drank. He finished 365 days of beer. During 2009 he drank 365 unique beers. Impressive and probably more of a burden than it seems.

Have a great 2010!!!

My pipeline bursteth

I currently have 9 beers in my pipeline:

1. Imperial Stout 100
2. Metathesis Pale Ale
3. Generic pale ale #1
4. Generic pale ale #2
5. Oatmeal Stout #1
6. Oatmeal Stout #2
7. Guinness clone
8. Doppelbock
9. Grain Belt Premium lager clone

Four of these batches are for friends. I'm contract brewing now, sort of.

A few reasons why I might be awesome

I brewed two batches of beer tonight. A pale ale and a pale ale.

I racked two beers to secondaries. An oatmeal stout and a doppel bock.

I cleaned and sanitized three carboys during the process.

I changed a poopy diaper.

I fed my kids*.

I put my kids to bed*.

I wrote a math quiz today.

I taught 4 classes and an organic lab.

I wrote a gen chem exam.

I got my kids to school...on time.

I graded homework.

I bought new jeans for the first time in 6 years (true story).

I bought salt for our water softener.

and

I got a flu shot. Seasonal, not H1N1. They won't give that to me, yet.

And I did this all before 10 PM. Now, I'm watching Scrubs on WGN and then I'm going to bed.

* with my wife's help.

Lager picture

Here is a picture of a glass full of lager I made a few months ago. It never actually lagered as long as it should have. I was too impatient.

Since the winter months are upon us here in Minnesota and my lagering fridge is in my unheated garage, I was looking at the possibility of shutting the lagering portion of my brewery down for a while. No way!!! I went to Walmart and spent $10 on a really crappy heater. I connected it to my temp controller, switched it to the heating setting and I continue to lager by using a heater in my fridge to get the 52°F temp needed.

Right now I am fermenting a clone of Grain Belt Premium and a doppelbock.

beer 100

As you may recall, I've brewed a few batches of beer. Over 100 now to be inexact. For batch 100, I decided to do an imperial stout that weighs in at 10.0% ABV.

It's currently in the secondary chillin' over some oak. The gravity is now down to 1.028 from an OG of 1.098

Here are some pictures:

The big starter. I got this baby going. So big that when I gave it a good swirl, the entire thing erupted into a 6 foot geyser out of the airlock all over my kitchen. It reminded me of something. I had quite a mess to clean up.

Here the brew kettle:

Here's the fermentation

Here's the blow off tube. This thing was really bubbling. I was impressed.

I tasted some recently and it is strong and good.

Victory for the little guy

The little guy has won. Rock Art Brewery in Vermont has won the right to use the name "Vermonster" for one of their beers. This came several weeks after receiving a "cease and desist" letter from the makers of "Monster" energy drink telling them to stop using the "Vermonster" name as people may get confused by the similar names. That's pretty stupid if you ask me.

You can read all about it here.

Rock Art Brewery realistically had no chance of surviving the potential lawsuits. Even though they had every right to use the name "Vermonster" the mega-corp had the money to sue Rock Art into submission.

Well, that was until the people spoke up. They spoke loudly and persistently enough to convince the Monster people that it wasn't worth it.

A victory for a small business, but more importantly, a victory for a craft brewery.

Until this, I had never heard of Rock Art Brewery, but I would love to try the Vermonster some day. I hope the attention increases their brand awareness and improves sales.

Being all three stooges

Have you ever felt like all Three Stooges at the same time. I do sometimes.

Yesterday, I was reconnecting my kegerator after having defrosted and cleaned it. Here's a description of the system (it's pretty standard, really):

One red plastic tube goes from the regulated gas cylinder...

...to a 3-way gas splitter valve.
The earth destroying gas continues its journey through another red tube which is terminated in a threaded Cornelius ball lock gas quick connect device....
...which connects to the "gas in" post on the beer filled Cornelius keg:

The gas enters the keg through a small tube and provides an atmosphere of carbon dioxide which carbonates the beer.
The gas pressure (being greater than atmospheric pressure) pushes the yummy beer out of the keg through a tube that begins from the bottom of the keg.
The beer is accessed from the keg by a threaded Cornelius ball lock beer quick connect device...
The beer will flow through a tube to my three-tap tower...
... where it is dispensed with the greatest deal of satisfaction.

But, here's the deal. See those devices at the terminus end of the beer delivery system? Yeah, the taps. They are what we call in the industry "important." See, they're valves. On/Off. That sort of thing. But, mostly off. Without a valve in place, it's pretty much 'on.'


As I was reconnecting all of the previously describe components, I failed to connect the taps (a.k.a. the ON-OFF valves). The gas was connected and the cylinder was open. The keg was again pressurized. My last connection (or so I thought at the time) was the connection of the line that runs from the keg to the tap. I made the quick connection, locking the connector in place when the fun started.

Without having the taps in place, the beer started shooting out of the tap tower (sans tap) with about 6.89475728e+28 yoctopascals of pressure (thats 10 psi). It was a steady stream of unrestrained beer. My first indication that I was on the receiving end of a beer jet was that my shoulder was getting wet. I turned to look and started getting right in the chest. Here's where it got real Stoogy. I frantically panicked and in typical fashion spent the next several seconds doing nothing useful to correct the problem. Meanwhile, I'm getting hosed down by beer. I know, it sounds like a dream, but when it's in your house it's not.

I finally gathered my wits. Using one hand to deflect the torrent, I pulled the connection off of the keg and the beer deluge ceased. I looked at myself and all of the beer covering my bar and tile floor (about a half gallon in total) and started to clean up. Thankfully, because I was at the receiving end of the beer jet, the beer never reached the carpet. So I got that going for me.

Lager update

It's been a bit over 10 days since I started my lagers. I just raised the temperature of my fridge to 66°F for a diacetyl rest. The goal of this is to raise the temp enough to drive off as much of the diacetyl as possible while getting the yeast active enough to consume the rest. If the diacetyl is not driven off, the beer will have a butterscotch flavor. That is not desired.

After two days, I will rack to a 2° fermenter and start the cold temp lagering.

Adventures in lager

Since I'm at the start of a lager beer temperature cycle, I decided to get another beer in the lagering fridge and take advantage of the cycle.

Alas, I have nothing that can be used to make a beer in the style of a lager.... or do I? Time for a pantry raid. Here is what I found in my supplies and here is my recipe:

Partial mash: 1.5 gallons H2O at 164°F added to the grains in a beverage cooler and mashed at 152°F for 90 minutes. Sparged with 1.5 gallons of H2O at 168°F (2 x 0.75 gal).

2 lb pilsner malt
10 oz Munich malt
10 oz Caramel 10°L

4 lb extra light dry malt extract

1 oz Northern Brewer leaf hops (8.5% a.a.) 60 minutes
0.75 oz Tettnang (4.5% a.a.) 15 minutes
0.75 Hallertau Select (1.5%) 5 minutes

2 packs of Saflager S-23 Fermentis dry yeast.

Fermentation at 54°F.

I'm pretty pleased with what I came up with considering I've never purchased anything with the intention of brewing a lager. In about 8 weeks, I will know what I have.

Lager beer

I am brewing a lager and will ferment at the appropriate temperatures for the first time ever using my newly acquired lagering fridge with a temperature controlling device.

I'm brewing a lager kit from Midwest supply. Here is the ingredient list:

6 lbs pilsner DME
2 oz. Munich
8 oz. Caramel 10°L
Saaz, Saaz, Saaz (3 ounces)
Wyeast 2001 Urquell Lager yeast

I'm boiling it right now.

For the fermentation, I'm going to start the temperature at 62°F for a day and then drop it down to 52°F for the bulk of the fermentation. After about 10 days, I will raise the temperature to 66°F for 2 days to drive off any diacetyl. After which, I will transfer to a secondary and lager it at 40°F for 6 weeks.

Wish me luck.

Lager is imminent

Crap! It's been a week since I posted last. I've been busy and just too lazy to write anything.

But, I have some news. A little less than a year ago, I got an old spare fridge for with which to lager beers. It didn't survive the move. The coldest I could get it was ambient temperature.

Well, I am pleased to report that I moved another fridge into my garage and IT WORKS!!!! (I was going to show pictures, but I'm not sure where my camera is. If anyone knows, please tell me).

I have not used it for beer brewing yet, but I did use it to chill some beer.

I still needed a temperature control device. Normal fridge temperatures are too cold for lagering. That has to be done anywhere from 40-55°F. So, I went on the eBay and found me this:

I need to add the power cable to it. I have an extension cord I will cut in half and wire it to and from the temperature controller. The fridge is set to its lowest setting, the temperature probe is put inside the fridge and the ETC cycles the power on or off as necessary to maintain the temperature. I plan on starting my first legit lager on Sunday.

Beer and Celiacs

I'm brewing tonight, and as I do, I thought I'd tell a little story.

A few weeks ago, my family and I participated in the 8th International Walk for Celiac Disease.[1] I talked about this two years ago. Remember? If not, here's the link.

The main issue with Celiacs disease is those afflicted cannot tolerate gluten in their diet. Gluten is found in many grains including barley. That means no beer for those with Celiacs. That's not as bad as being allergic to hops because there is a solution: beer made using sorghum.

In 2007 I discovered Redbridge. The Anheuser-Busch gluten-free beer. OK, but not really that good. Very low hop flavor.

In 2009, I discovered Bards. Now this beer is a lot more interesting and flavorful. The most notable difference between this and the Redbridge is that the Bard's brewers don't mind using hops. The Hersbruker and Tettenang come shining through in the most delightful way. The result is a beer I would drink not because I had to, but because I want to.

Sadly, at the walk I only got a few small tastes. I will hopefully be able to find it around here. I'd like to try an entire 6

[1] the name is a bit misleading. We were not walking 'for' Celiacs disease. We are actually quite against it. We were walking to raise funds to research a cure.

Boulder brewpub advice needed

Tomorrow I am off to attend the National Organic Symposium in Boulder, CO. I expect it to be a superb time.

As is my custom, when I travel, I like to visit local brewpubs and sample their wares. I'm going to go out a limb here and guess that Boulder might have some brewpubs (yup, a few).

I'm looking for suggestions from my highly experienced readership. Where should I go? I will have about 3-4 chances to get out and experience the local brews. So, I need several suggestions of which brewpubs to visit.

I know what you (at least one of you) are thinking. Drive up to Fort Collins and visit Fat Tire world. That possibility is still on the tentative agenda. The NOS lineup is superb, as usual, and I don't plan on skipping any talks. OK, maybe one or two. But that's it. I just might drive to Fort Collins.

Or, I could drive down to Golden and have them bottle some of my piss.... I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. They have enough piss. They don't need mine.

Please, submit all suggestions. Danke!!!!

Brewing... finally

I have finally found some time to brew. The end of the school year is always packed with non-brewing activities. In addition to finally having time to brew, I am motivated to get things in my pipeline before it gets too warm for proper fermentation. Right now the basement is perfect for ales, but it will not be by July.

In my pipeline I have an IPA, a Red Ale and my Metathesis Pale Ale. The IPA should be a pretty standard IPA, but the Red Ale deserves a little description.

First, I admit that this is a bastardized version of an Irish and American Red. The base malt (partial mash) was some Marris Otter I had sitting around. The red color (or what I hope will make it red) comes from a combination of 8 oz Special B and 8 oz Crystal (10°L). I got this idea off of forum somewhere, but lost track of what forum. So, I can't properly give it credit.

Next up: A wheat beer and a couple of stouts. I know, a stout is not really a summer beer, but my wife likes it (and so do I).

In the next few days, I hope to show you my latest improvement to my bar.

Final exam writing break

This isn't a study break, but a final exam writing break. I'm almost done with my Organic final and I thought I'd take a break and post two things.
*****

First, remember the Big and Easy Bottle Brew I told you about? Well, I followed the directions and brewed me up some beer in a plastic bottle. After about 3 weeks a friend and I cracked open our bottles. Verdict: crap, crap, crappity crap poop. First of all, I didn't expect much. I got exactly what I expected. It was fizzy; it was sulfury; it was undrinkable. It had all the hallmarks of bad homebrew. This is the type of thing that turns people of to homebrew. I barely consumed a pint. But then, how could I drink that beer when I had my own beer on tap. See:

******

Second, Happy Mother's day all of you mothers out there. We have a tradition in our house that we take Mom out for a picnic on Mother's Day. In Minnesota this time of year, most of the crabapple trees are in full bloom. Our tradition involves having the picnic under the same tree every year. It is a beautiful tree and with a gentle breeze, we get rained on by flower petals. It is quite picturesque.

This year we got all loaded up and headed to the park only to find a dirt patch where the tree once stood, where our tree once stood. At some time since last summer, the tree was cut down and replaced with a pine tree. How sad. We walked past the dirt patch with a melancholy stroll, heaving a despondent sigh and found a new tree. Actually, we found a stand of three flowering trees. There would be safety in numbers for our continuing tradition.