Monday, May 30, 2011

Still bubbling away

The two new worts from this weekend are still bubbling like made into my blowoff bucket making quite the racket in the process. I now have 4 count 'em 4 setups with blowoff hoses in case things get a little wacky. Sooo much beer making equipment and so little time!

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Long day of brewing, but well worth it

I knew going into it that it was going to be a long brew day, but I undershot exactly how long the day would be, lol. Kurt and I got everything setup and running by about 3P.M. and it was pretty much non-stop action until 11:30P.M. Granted we could have done a few things quicker like not boiling the water to get the chlorine out but I figure just relax and whatever it takes it takes.

My idea of doing two different blonde ales didn't get off the ground since the LBS didn't have enough rye to make the second batch so I chose an amber ale to make instead. It seemed to have a lot of character in the kettle. Both are busy bubbling away as we speak in my new 5 gallon better bottle plastic carboys. I'll be using the better bottles for my quicker beers with short turn around times and leave the glass ones for the big project beers.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Loading up the car

That Toyota of mine is gonna get some use today as I pack him full of beer making goodness. I also need to make a run out to get some ice for the wort chilling process. Guys at work told me to go right to the source for local ice and see how that goes. It will be a lil bit different doing it someplace other than home sweet home, but I'm sure we'll make it work just fine. Stay tuned for all the details

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

On tap for the weekend

I will be trying my first double batch this weekend at an offsite location for the very first time. I'll be doing a double of the Haystack Blonde ale with one getting blueberry added at bottling time. The blueberry was a request from my brother Kyle so I will try not to disappoint. He will be home visiting in July so if I don't make it by this weekend it won't be ready and he will punch me in the jejunum.

Sooo many ideas

So I spent a good part of tonight talking with a buddy about my brewing operation. He agrees wholeheartedly that I should aspire to be more and actually turn it into a job that I enjoy. The details don't matter and will get hashed out later on, but I'm jumping into it with more vigor starting today. I'm soo pumped about our little brain cramming session that I won't be able to get to sleep in a timely fashion tonight. I even went so far as to secure the domain(s) that were deemed relevant to my success. Stay tuned for the latest info on Schweers' Beers.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

A bunch of books

I picked up a couple more brewing books this week and have not been disappointed. I ordered three of of Amazon and they were delivered 2 day express. I wanted to get a bunch but settled on three that were not "recipe" books but more about brewing itself.

I ended up with:

Brew Like a Monk- Hieronymus
Yeast- White & Zainasheff
Beer School- Hindy & Porter

I've read through most of Beer School and Yeast and just started on "monk" yesterday. All three are terrific reads so far. I wasn't paying attention but I seem to have acquired a stack of brewing books and beer books. Yay for me!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

The carboy runneth over

So I woke up late today and wandered downstairs to take a peek at my two news brews. The pumpkin ale in the living room was just starting to bubble a bit in the airlock but when I went downstairs and looked in the beer closet my mouth dropped to the floor. There was yeast and foam and kreuzen everywhere. The top/airlock on the carboy had been shot to the other side of the closet. So I hurriedly cleaned and sanitized what I could and then stuck some hose on the airlock and buried the other end in a bucket of starsan water. What a mess! Put the cap on a brewing weekend gone awry that's for sure.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

I got the itch

Brewing again tonight if you are in the area and want to stop by and see the magic happen, lol. I guess I was really inspired by my trip to the CBC on Thursday. It felt great to talk beer and then talk more beer with Jesse. I'm hoping to get down there and watch him brew from scratch so I can see for myself what all grain brewing is about and learn more than a thing or two. On tonight's agenda is a pumpkin ale for the fall since that will be one of the styles BWO will be making for an in house competition. It was either that or an Octoberfest beer and since I can't make lagers yet I'm stuck with the ale. More to follow......

Friday, May 13, 2011

A weekend of brewing

I will be brewing tonight and probably tomorrow night as well after really getting inspired yesterday. I stopped by the new Carton Brewing building in the next town over after work and talked to their brewmaster Jesse. They unfortunately will not have their first beer ready for the start of the summer but it won't be long after that. Best of luck to those guys!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Hoping to brew

I'm going to try my damndest to brew again this weekend. I'd love to try the Decimation IPA again or maybe another batch of the blonde ale or Devil's. I don't think I can make the blonde ale fast enough as it seems to be the fave of the brews I have handed out.

I'm also giving serious thought to starting a kegging operation. It just seems like it would be so much simpler than cleaning 80 bottles at a clip, lol. I just need to figure out where to put it.... where indeed.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Good ole time at the Ale and Tap house

Today's inaugural BWO brew club meeting went off swimmingly. A nice turn out for the first club event that was visited by one of the guys from Beach Haus Pils. I had 7 different beers before I had to excuse myself from the festivities ranging from a light ESB to a AIPA and a cappucino stout.
Wonderful stuff. Can't wait for get together number two!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Racking and more racking

This weekend I will be racking the Devil's and the Decimation into secondary and tertiaries respectfully. I gave the Devil's an extra week in the primary just to see how it goes from there and the Decimation has been in secondary for God knows how long now. Jr has a tattoo appointment in the PM and I will be at the BWO get together so it will have to be done later in the day.

A delicious blonde

So I batted .500 with the two new brews. The blonde ale is stunningly good while the Scotch ale....
not so much. I mean it tastes good and smells like heaven but is not carbonated one iota. Dunno if I left it in the primary too long on the trub or what could have happened. I wonder if I can fix it?

Onto the Blonde. It turned out waaay smoother than the first batch I attempted. Much less of the rye flavor up front and in your face but just enough to know it's there. Much better job on my and Jr's part. It will be accompanying me to the BWO meeting this weekend. Hope it makes me proud.

edit 7/12/11
The Scotch ale is now a wonder itself. It is a spitting image of the SA Imperial Series Wee Heavy almost so similar it's uncanny. I guess age can do wonders to a beer. Unfortunately for me I only have about six bottles or so left. I guess there's always next years batch.