Back by Popular Demand...

OK, OK, OK...I know I've been delinquent in posting. The stash of O-Fest is almost finished off, as well it should. turned out well, although the "toasted" variety seemed to hold it's bite a tad more than the regular. Still a fine brew!

So I'm now in the process of dreaming up a new version of the brewery that's a little more traditional. It probably won't happen anytime soon, but you never know. I also brewed the full run of the x-mas stout, as the first one came out pretty nice. It's finishing up primary, and I haven't decided if I'm going to bottle condition or force carbonate...

Hopefully I'll get back into a grove of posting on a regular basis!

It's been how long?

Nearly a month, not that anyone is counting. Starting a new business has taken it's toll on my free time!

The Christmas Stout got good reviews at my club meeting last night, although it is obviously not a drinking beer, and therefore not much was missing when I got home. No biggie, it's a rich full beer that wasn't meant to be drank in bulk...

Another biggie is the CAP I have lagering. It's mellowing nicely, although I figure it really needs a few months more. I'll have to put it on tap before then since that's about all I have right now. Brewing gold ale this weekend that should be ready to serve in a few weeks, so I can make up the difference.

When good brewing goes bad...Xmas beer test run.

Well brew day is in the books...what a cluster bomb...

Planned a great recipe for my christmas beer, a ginger-molasses imperial stout.

Planning is but a small part of a project. For some reason I chose to forgo adding Munich malt, why I don't know. Then my mash temp was low by 3 degrees (not too big a deal). Then my gravity was off by 10 points, as seems the standard for any high gravity beer even though I continue to lower the projected efficieny. And finally I can no longer get the wort below 78-80 now that the water is getting to that temp. I even had a pre-chiller going with ice and salt...still no dice after over 30mins of chilling, stirring, swirling, etc.I guess I'll have to start freezing some water bottles or move to Alaska in the summer! Days like this make me feel like a rookie!

The right way to do an American Pilsner...

A true beer this Pilsner is,
Not weak, tastless, Clydesdale horse piss.
It's big and it's bold,
On your palate it will hold,
A flavor your taste buds will miss!

American Pilsners have a particularly bad rap for beer snobs out there thanks to the efforts of Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing. Don't get me wrong, these companies garner tremendous respect for me as a hombrewer because they produce a consistent, quality product. Their product, however, is a far cry from the original CAP that was full-bodied and full of flavor...

So I took it upon myself to try and recreate the CAP the way it was meant to be. Only thing is I am cleaning out the winter grain stock and had pilsner malt (CAPs usually use 6-row malts) and 2 pounds of corn. Either way I went big, with a strong starting gravity that sould put us in the 6-6.5% ABV range. Balanced that with a heartier hop bill than normal and a bit of Munich to give it a tad more flavor. I have high hopes for this brew!

Back from Vacation

Spent a week at the beach with the wife drinking homebrew and hooch...Good Times...

Back home and brewed a Dunkel yesterday, trying to get rid of some pilsner malt. I still have a good bit of it, thinking of doing a big classic American Pilsner later this week as well.

Vindication?

Had the Belgian sampled at the brewing meeting last night and the consensus is that it did have plenty of Belgian flavors. Perhaps it was entered in the wrong category, but hey, at least it tastes like it should.

Contest Blues

Well I went to contest to see with my own eyes how they work, especially since I am working logistics for our club contest. It was an interesting process, but I don't think I'll be wasting my time with entering beers in the future...Frankly I don't brew the kind of beer that wins contests, but I like to enter them to gain feedback from certified judges. Well this time I entered "The Belgian" to see how it stacked up, and here's the feedback I got:

"No Belgian flavors, not to style"

Well thanks for nothing! How about explaining to me how a beer brewed with belgian yeast has no belgian flavors? Usually I get so critical feedback that suggests possible solutions to the problem. Not this time, in fact all I got was the critical part.

I forgot to mention that the contest included a 45min ribbon ceremony that ended with 5 brewers taking 75-80% of the ribbons. Really was discouraging to see the slanted distribution. Well, I will participate in my club's contest, maybe even send a beer to contest again, but the desire to get more involved with the "contest brewing" community was sapped from my soul. And that's all I got to say about that.

Belgian Follow Up...

You might remember this post where I wasn't sure what to do with the heavy-hitting Belgian Dubble...

I named it post-humulously "Joel's Daddy" because my friend came over for the poker tourney and met a guy named Steve, and neither one of them have been able to find their pants. All this thanks to "The Belgian" being drank like kool-aid at a Branch Davidian compound. Thank goodess for my basement stairs, otherwise we would have had to listen to the same story, for the 3rd time, from the floor.

Sent some of it to the contest, we'll see if the Judges can find their pants after sampling.

Where the hell have I been?

All over...really. No, not really. Actually I've been at home mostly, getting a new business of it's feet. Don't worry, I still make time for brewing, just not so much in the way of this blog!

Updates:

- Switch died on the brewery pump, had to hotwire it, but I should have a new switch soon. I've brewed 3 times w/o it, so it's not impeding my progress, just rigged for the time being.

- Brewed cream ale, original recipe brown, and just today a Bass Ale clone which is in between an English Mild and English Pale. Also brewed a Belgian wit (Blue Moon Clone), or I should say Irish Jim did with me as his assistant. I personally don't care for the Blue Moon, or the style, but that's what makes the sis-in-law happy. And, it'l getcha drunk!

- Entered the Belgian Dubble and Bock in the US Open Brewing competition in Charlotte, NC this weekend, and will be travelling there to steward (read "sample great beers all day"). We'll see if I can break the 40pt barrier!

- Jalapeno beer was a hit at the Cino de Mayo party last weekend. It has the aroma of a fresh pepper, but the smooth, clean flavor of a golden ale. This was my idea, but Drank Tank's pet project. He used Tequila instead of vodka for the peppers, but it still turned out great.

- Started my own business, Tumblin Construction. If you know anyone in the greater Triad NC area that needs a deck, fence, shed, or whatever else, contact me here.

I'll try to keep in touch more often, and maybe I'll win a ribbon this weekend!

Fly Sparging 101

One of the members of my brewing club was wondering about videos to show how to perform certain duties during brewing...here is the first one I happened to make showing the "field expedient" method for fly-sparing a 5-gallon all-grain batch:

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.

Shout Out

Occasionally we rookie homebrewers hit one out of the park. Last night I had a pint of Drank Tank's American Pale Ale. Now, I am known in our brewing circle as the "anti-hop", so any pale ale is a sketchy proposition...but not this one.

I dare you to have one pint. It's impossible. Usually IPAs and APAs are unbalanced (too much hops, not enough ABV and maltiness), but this one was spot on. Perfectly, and I mean PERFECTLY balanced. I think he would agree that the balance was luck, being that it was his first attempt at the recipe, but damn what a fine beer. I haven't been brewing much good beer thanks to experimentation and brewery changes, so it was nice to have a delicious brew from a fellow homebrewer's hand.

Thank you, Drank Tank. Let me bestow the highest honor I have, a haiku:

Thoughts on an APA

First apprehensive
Malt, hops balance perfectly
One is not enough

Copyright Infringement?

I am travelling to Washington DC on Thursday and will be indulging in a few brews at the Sweetwater Tavern. Browsing the beer list I found that they have taken one from my book!

Sweetwater Tavern's Rusty Roadrunner Lager

They don't have it on tap, but I am hoping to score some from the brewmaster if there is any available (and he is willing to part with it). Perhaps he will be happy to entertain a poor homebrewer's request? Either way, I will blog about the experience next week!

Brewing Updates

Irish Jim brewed on his "own" Sunday. I am so proud...he's all grows up! Well, sort-of. We brewed the Cockhammer Ale for his St. Patty's day romp in Pittsburg. Too bad they won't care what it tastes like 30mins after they start drinking...

As for my current brews, the Belgian finished fermenting and tasting revealed one hell of a "belgian" flavor. Still a lot of phenols (thanks to 8.5% ABV) and a warming alcohol finish. This one will need some bottle conditioning to smooth out. I might try a bottle around memorial day!

Some new links...

As I've searched the interweb I found a few sites worthy of recognition, (and by "found" I mean Drank Tank sent me one). And then I got published:

http://www.beerhaikudaily.com/2007/02/19/winter-warming/

And from there I stumbled upon this, which looks fun:

http://appellationbeer.com/blog/time-for-a-beer-blogging-day/

So there you have it. Not related to brewing, perse', but a good trip into the beer blogging world...

Bock update...

Actually, Drank Tank and I dubbed this brew "Bock Twenty-Five" since it isn't quite a double, but is more than just a bock...

Transferred to secondary last night. Already tasting smooth with a hint of bitterness. Very malty and just a hint of phenols (alcohol taste). Gravity at 1.014, and that's where it will certainly stay. The yeast I've used for the vienna and this bock is outstanding. It's a "special" strain that White Labs release in the winter. Platinum Series Bavarian Lager yeast. It ferments great at 52 and is healthy with vigorous fermentation. I collected at least 1/2 a pint of it from the fermentor for use on my O'fest in March!

Old School

On the coldest day we've had in a while I am thinking back to the summer heat, and version 1.0 of the RCBC...

Flurry of Activity

With the RCBC first ever Winter Brewfest coming up next weekend I've been a busy brewmeister! Also had my friend visit from California and he wanted to see the brewery in action, so I brewed up a belgian dubble (Ommegang-ish). I also kegged up my El Camino Vienna, Forty-Weight Brown, and bottled the vanilla variety of Danielle's Birthday Strawberry Ale.

Shew! The TBC Bock is in diacetyl rest, and I will keg the rest of the Strawberry later this week, just in time for the BrewFest...