Negligence

Wow, just Wow...

I've been so busy over the past few weeks I didn't even take the time to post on my blog. Lets catch up. First off, my great dane of 9 1/2 years passed away a few weeks ago. It's been tough for my wife and I since he was our first pet together, and my first pet EVER. Not to mention he was a big dang dog, and had a personality to match his size. Gosh I miss Spartacus, but he had lived long past his prime and died happy, at home, and in his sleep.

On to brewing...things are going strong at the RCBC. Last weekend I successfully brewed 30 gallons (3 batches) of homebrew: cream ale, acorn amber (o-fest), and a toasted acorn, which I modified the original recipe, adding 2lbs of "toasted" pale malt. We will see how it tastes relative to the original that I love so much.

This Friday is the RCBC-sponsored Spartacus Tumblin Memorial Hold'em Invitational. I have an Engish pub ale (boddy-style) served on the nitro tap and what's left of a Barely Drinkable Brown Ale for those that are feeling frisky.

Lastly, I entered a few beers in a contest and got some good results. I didn't place, but my average score was 30 out of 50. I was happy, especially considering I knew they were not my best brews!

Bottled Belgian

Bottled up 1/2 of my belgian dubble. Not sure what to do with the rest. I filled about 14 1liter bottles. Now I have a 5gal keg of 8.5% beer. Now that spells certain disaster should it fall into the wrong hands! I was thinking about serving it at my poker game in a few weeks, that ought to ensure that a few folks will not have their "A" game ready!

Beer Brewing Blues

Right now I have only one good beer on tap, vienna. Otherwise I have a couple kegs of "different" brew. Today I'm going to bottle up a few beers for contest. I have some Scottish, Strawberry ale, and Vienna that will make it's way to the Shamrock Open in RDU. Otherwise I was sincerely dissapointed with my new attempt at brown ale...

So back to the basics. Tomorrow I am assisting a friend brew up a batch of Vienna for his wedding. From there we will start the great Maerzen brewfest. I'm going to attempt to brew 3 o-fest's starting with my standard one. These batches will lager until September, where I will probably crack a keg on my birthday (9/5). Talk about taking the style seriously!

I also plan on another brown ale (back to the original recipe), an american amber, CAP, and a german pilsner.