Dave got his batch bottled on Friday. He took a break from the holiday festivities and filled 36 twelve ouncers. That's 3.375 gallons of beer, a gallon shy of our goal. There was heavy sediment in the bucket. He was able to capture most of the yeast for future use.
I dropped off the empty five gallon keg last night. He and Mike will do the transfer from the fermenting bucket and then bring it back to my house to store in the cooler for lagering. They will also bottle up Mike's batch. I'll be taking care of some family business and won't be able to join in the beer fun.
We tasted Dave's beer. Yes, it's beer. It, of course, needs time in the bottle for carbonation but it will be a refreshing summer wheat style when finished. It's almost like we knew what we were doing. By Christmas we should be able to be drinking two out of three of the brews from the initial batch. It's time to start thinking NEXT recipe.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Reading the hops leaves
Our Geologist has got some pretty lofty prognostications regarding the future drinkability of the our batches.
From Dave, the beerby sitter:
Density measurements for Monday 24 November
Kolsch...Bob
Sg 1.003
% 1
ball 1.5
golden yellow color, smells like a barmaid's feet, taste like a pilsner
brown ale...Mike
sg 1.013
% 7.5
ball 10
deep brown color, sweet rich flavor,
Oberon wheat...Dave
Sg 1.010
% 1
ball 2.5
rich smell, sweet-not hoppy (no IPA), fairly smooth
we need a better measurement cylinder, I think the hydrometer hits the
side too much.
We have gooood beer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Especially mike's brown.
For those of you who want to know what those measurements mean here's a link:
http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixA.html
The only one that matters here is the SG or specific gravity reading. We will compare this reading to the Original Gravity (OG) reading which we took before sealing the fermenters. The last reading before bottling or kegging is called the Final Gravity or (FG).
By the look of the numbers and the description of the taste sample, Dave is hopefully correct that we have good beer. We'll see if it lives up to the Geologist's Wife standards, but not so fast. First its on to secondary fermentation, bottling, and more waiting ....
From Dave, the beerby sitter:
Density measurements for Monday 24 November
Kolsch...Bob
Sg 1.003
% 1
ball 1.5
golden yellow color, smells like a barmaid's feet, taste like a pilsner
brown ale...Mike
sg 1.013
% 7.5
ball 10
deep brown color, sweet rich flavor,
Oberon wheat...Dave
Sg 1.010
% 1
ball 2.5
rich smell, sweet-not hoppy (no IPA), fairly smooth
we need a better measurement cylinder, I think the hydrometer hits the
side too much.
We have gooood beer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Especially mike's brown.
For those of you who want to know what those measurements mean here's a link:
http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixA.html
The only one that matters here is the SG or specific gravity reading. We will compare this reading to the Original Gravity (OG) reading which we took before sealing the fermenters. The last reading before bottling or kegging is called the Final Gravity or (FG).
By the look of the numbers and the description of the taste sample, Dave is hopefully correct that we have good beer. We'll see if it lives up to the Geologist's Wife standards, but not so fast. First its on to secondary fermentation, bottling, and more waiting ....
Monday, November 24, 2008
Check out the logo!
Yes good folks, we now have an official logo. Full credit goes to Bob Flanagan at the Red Flannel Design Group. Many thanks! Send him many clients. Give him a reason to come to Louisville and drink fresh brewed beer.
http://www.redflannelgroup.com/
The Beer Farmers are very excited. (Beer Farmers are the workers at the Werkes) We owe that man some beer. Add extra hops, I know he likes it that way.
http://www.redflannelgroup.com/
The Beer Farmers are very excited. (Beer Farmers are the workers at the Werkes) We owe that man some beer. Add extra hops, I know he likes it that way.
bubble, bubble, toil and trouble
Fermenting update - Dave sent an update email on Thursday morning.
Well, to add to the Kolsch ferment overflow last night, there was another one this morning. The brewers are definitely right, the three piece gas valve is definitely better than the S-valve. There is a lot of funk in the S-valve. I washed it clean but it is much easier for the gas to force all of
the water out of the S-valve. Not so with the three piece. I think the S-valves are better for wine. I am not to concerned about contamination though. Each time I have removed the valve, there is a hiss of gas pressure. Therefore no outside gas is getting in of any quantity to be concerned about. I think I will just have to check each day before and after work to make sure the valve stays clean, clear, and full. One thing is for sure, the Kolsch is fermenting and has an excellent head. In the future we need to think about our primary fermenting bucket. We probably need at least a gallon free space at the top of the bucket. Probably we are going to have to use the six-gallon buckets. If not we need to have the big tube going into a water bucket that can handle foam overflow. There is some beer on top of the
fermentor and some drops on the floor. Not too much of a concern in the winter, summertime may lead to bugs.
A second email on Thursday night - 9:00. Kolsch alive and gas bubbling. Brown ale doing fair with little gas. Wheat beer dead, no gas
We exchanged a few emails about checking seals on fermenters and the possibility of inadvertently brewing a light beer and all seemed OK.
I spoke to the geologist's wife on Saturday. She said Dave was a little panicked about the wheat (Yea, Dave she gave you up), but it didn't stop him from skipping town for the weekend to be a manly man in the woods. AARGE! SPAARGE! May have been the nerd comment she dropped that chased him back to nature.
Today we talked of secondary fermentation and bottling. We're trying to match schedules for a bottling session. Depending on where Dave comes down on his secondary fermentation cycle and kegging vs. bottling we may have 10 gallons of beer to bottle very, very soon.
Still, at least three weeks to first taste. The brewers are getting restless.
Well, to add to the Kolsch ferment overflow last night, there was another one this morning. The brewers are definitely right, the three piece gas valve is definitely better than the S-valve. There is a lot of funk in the S-valve. I washed it clean but it is much easier for the gas to force all of
the water out of the S-valve. Not so with the three piece. I think the S-valves are better for wine. I am not to concerned about contamination though. Each time I have removed the valve, there is a hiss of gas pressure. Therefore no outside gas is getting in of any quantity to be concerned about. I think I will just have to check each day before and after work to make sure the valve stays clean, clear, and full. One thing is for sure, the Kolsch is fermenting and has an excellent head. In the future we need to think about our primary fermenting bucket. We probably need at least a gallon free space at the top of the bucket. Probably we are going to have to use the six-gallon buckets. If not we need to have the big tube going into a water bucket that can handle foam overflow. There is some beer on top of the
fermentor and some drops on the floor. Not too much of a concern in the winter, summertime may lead to bugs.
A second email on Thursday night - 9:00. Kolsch alive and gas bubbling. Brown ale doing fair with little gas. Wheat beer dead, no gas
We exchanged a few emails about checking seals on fermenters and the possibility of inadvertently brewing a light beer and all seemed OK.
I spoke to the geologist's wife on Saturday. She said Dave was a little panicked about the wheat (Yea, Dave she gave you up), but it didn't stop him from skipping town for the weekend to be a manly man in the woods. AARGE! SPAARGE! May have been the nerd comment she dropped that chased him back to nature.
Today we talked of secondary fermentation and bottling. We're trying to match schedules for a bottling session. Depending on where Dave comes down on his secondary fermentation cycle and kegging vs. bottling we may have 10 gallons of beer to bottle very, very soon.
Still, at least three weeks to first taste. The brewers are getting restless.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Third time's a charm
Monday evening we were back at it. I got to Dave's and started to get ready to heat water for the mash. I was rinsing pots and filling buckets and then checked the mash tun. There was hot water all ready and waiting. Sweet. I summoned Dave to c'mon back down and we added the grain to the water and then added some more hot water to bring the mash up to the desired temperature.
We all had done some extra research after Saturday's session and had a better idea of how to make this work a little more smoothly. This time we added the grain to the water rather than pouring the water over the grain. It's supposed to be less lumpy that way and therefore you get better saturation. Better saturation? It's either saturated or it ain't, so who knows which is better?
We had time to kill so I went home to grab some grub. Mike and Dave were already back at it when I got back. They were doing hydrometer readings on the two batches completed on Saturday. They used a tube and extracted a few ounces of "beer" through the air vent hole. Dave's readings were pretty low so our poor sparging plus the boil over hit hard. We'll see where we're at post fermentation. We're not giving up hope.
when it was time to extract the wort from the tun we moved much slower and this time recirculated some of the liquid before draining to the pail. We were finding that some big grains were still coming through so we used a screen over the bucket to catch stray chunks. We regulated the flow also and after the mash settled some the grain particles decreased to almost nil. After the initial drain off we sparged with heated water through a strainer.
I transferred the wort to the stock pot and applied heat. I added the hops after it hit boiling and then we paid attention to the pot to ensure there would not be a boil over. We may be old, at least I may, but we can still learn from our mistakes.
We boiled for the proscribed time and now time for the chilling.
Dang, I forgot to add the Irish Moss with fifteen minutes left on the boil. Oh well, we'll see how that effects the beer. I'm not too worried. I've got the four key ingredients - water, malt, hops and yeast - called for in the German brewing purity law book so I think the brew will survive without it.
Tonight we added a cooler full of cool water to dunk the wort kettle into in addition to using the chiller coil. This cut the cool down time considerably. Mike and Dave were shooting for ten minutes and we got it down to under 80 degrees from boiling in around fifteen. the transfer to the cold fermentation bucket dropped it a few more degrees and we added the yeast. The lid was applied and the airlock attached. The airlock allows CO2 to release without letting any bacteria enter the bucket.
Mike and Dave got most of the clean-up done while I had to run home and walk the dog so we were pretty much done after the lid was closed.
Now we wait. Beer takes time. In a few long weeks the yeast will have done it's job, assuming we have three lively strains of yeast, and we'll be sampling our own concoctions. Superb or lousy, it doesn't much matter. Although I'm hoping for something at least right in the middle.
But we're not done yet, there are bottles and kegs to clean. I've got to make room in the cooler for lagering the Kolsch. we need to pick out recipes for the next batch. Do more research, get more supplies, scrounge more equipment. Over the next few weeks we'll be almost as busy as the yeast. It's infectious.
We all had done some extra research after Saturday's session and had a better idea of how to make this work a little more smoothly. This time we added the grain to the water rather than pouring the water over the grain. It's supposed to be less lumpy that way and therefore you get better saturation. Better saturation? It's either saturated or it ain't, so who knows which is better?
We had time to kill so I went home to grab some grub. Mike and Dave were already back at it when I got back. They were doing hydrometer readings on the two batches completed on Saturday. They used a tube and extracted a few ounces of "beer" through the air vent hole. Dave's readings were pretty low so our poor sparging plus the boil over hit hard. We'll see where we're at post fermentation. We're not giving up hope.
when it was time to extract the wort from the tun we moved much slower and this time recirculated some of the liquid before draining to the pail. We were finding that some big grains were still coming through so we used a screen over the bucket to catch stray chunks. We regulated the flow also and after the mash settled some the grain particles decreased to almost nil. After the initial drain off we sparged with heated water through a strainer.
I transferred the wort to the stock pot and applied heat. I added the hops after it hit boiling and then we paid attention to the pot to ensure there would not be a boil over. We may be old, at least I may, but we can still learn from our mistakes.
We boiled for the proscribed time and now time for the chilling.
Dang, I forgot to add the Irish Moss with fifteen minutes left on the boil. Oh well, we'll see how that effects the beer. I'm not too worried. I've got the four key ingredients - water, malt, hops and yeast - called for in the German brewing purity law book so I think the brew will survive without it.
Tonight we added a cooler full of cool water to dunk the wort kettle into in addition to using the chiller coil. This cut the cool down time considerably. Mike and Dave were shooting for ten minutes and we got it down to under 80 degrees from boiling in around fifteen. the transfer to the cold fermentation bucket dropped it a few more degrees and we added the yeast. The lid was applied and the airlock attached. The airlock allows CO2 to release without letting any bacteria enter the bucket.
Mike and Dave got most of the clean-up done while I had to run home and walk the dog so we were pretty much done after the lid was closed.
Now we wait. Beer takes time. In a few long weeks the yeast will have done it's job, assuming we have three lively strains of yeast, and we'll be sampling our own concoctions. Superb or lousy, it doesn't much matter. Although I'm hoping for something at least right in the middle.
But we're not done yet, there are bottles and kegs to clean. I've got to make room in the cooler for lagering the Kolsch. we need to pick out recipes for the next batch. Do more research, get more supplies, scrounge more equipment. Over the next few weeks we'll be almost as busy as the yeast. It's infectious.
More Brew Haps pix
Rain and 44 degrees, perfect brewing weather.
Mike with his partial mash
Mike extracting his extract
Dave and Mike getting every last drop into the pot
Such concentration!
Breakfast of champion brewers
Sweet tea
Almost done
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Brew Haps
The last few days we have been consumed like yeast consumes sugar. We have been busy putting together the necessary items to transform our small troop from tasters into makers. We have scrounged and purchased equipment. Dave built a mash tun from an old cooler and put together a cooling coil from copper and plastic tubing.
We've got buckets and pans and empty water bottles and stirrers and scrubbers and cleaners and thermometers and old mess kits.
We've searched websites and watched more youtube how to videos than we can count. I learned how to open up a sankey keg for cleaning and filling. Despite the warning that this is not the type of keg you want for homebrewing because of the difficulty in dealing with the tap connection hardware, I gave it a shot. It was simple, took about three minutes on my first try.
Thursday, Dave and I kept the local Beermakers Supply shop owner from closing her store on time in order to crack grain and pick out hops. She was very helpful and even made copies of recipes from some books she had on the for sale shelf. Another less helpful individual may have made us truck back home to retrieve the recipes we forgot or made us buy a book. She did neither.
We had to adjust our recipes to account for the inability to secure the recommended ingredients. She also helped us out with this by recommending hops and yeast that will match our grains and selected beer styles. This shop is also the only place we know of with an electric grain cracker and it worked like a charm. We even got to go in the backroom to help the owner pull out a new bag of Pilsen Malt.
Friday after work I loaded up a wagon full of implements and dry goods and delivered the cache to Dave's.
Saturday morning, not too long past day break, we gathered in Dave's workshop and reviewed recipes and procedures and began brewing beer. Despite all the research the fact that we are novices was clearly apparent. As I said in a previous post, we are trying to brew three beers initially. Well time constraints prevented us from attempting three today, probably a good thing, but two batches are now sitting in fermenting buckets. So, the day was a success.
Using the word success may be premature as we did not properly account for how long it takes to bring liquid to a boil. It also takes a lot longer when you don't properly set up your burner and it continues to blow itself out. A call to Robert to discuss the mechanics finally got us going. We also thought we could get Mike's extract nut brown boiled and bucketed before Dave's oberon mash was ready for sparging. Yes, sparging. I'll say it again, sparging. We like the word and I will try to use it as often as possible - sparging.
Sparging - Extracing liquid from the mash tun and then rinsing the grain with the liquid to get all the good juices from your mash into a boiling pot. This liquid is called the wort. The mash tun is where we put the dry grain and then added hot water to let the grain soak at a specific temperature.
Dave's mash was supposed to soak for 90 minutes but boiling problems with Mike's wort lengthened that a bit. We only had one burner so we had to finish Mike's boil before we could get Dave's started. Cooling down Mike's wort also took longer than we anticipated although Dave's cooling rig worked pretty well.
When we finally got Dave's wort into the boiling pot we were so excited that we turned our backs on the pot and retreated to Dave's workshop. It was 44 degrees and raining and we were trying to do as much outside as possible for obvious smell, fire and spillage reasons. We were outside getting wet for a while cooling Mike's wort and transferring to the fermenting bucket. We retreated to shelter.
On checking the boil we saw that the hop sock in Dave's wort opened up. I tied it, my fault. We again retreated to shelter. We noticed Mike's fermenting bucket was leaking at the spout and began a transfer so that we could tighten the connection. No great problem but while distracted by this the water temp on Dave's wort rose and so did the boil. Wort and hops foamed and ran all down the sides of the pot. We got that under control but it was a mess. Dave commented that its a good thing we didn't attempt this in the kitchen.
It took an extremely long time to return the wort to a boil. We must of knocked the plate on the burner out of position during the boil over. Mike had to cut out to handle parenting duties so Dave and I were left to finish up the wort cool down and transfer to the fermenting bucket. We had to strain out the hops while pouring but there were no more mishaps to report. Except that Dave forgot to take a hydrometer reading before sealing the bucket so it will be a guess on when fermentation time is complete.
Also neither of the fermentation buckets have spouts, we decided not to transfer Mike's back to the original bucket, so taking further readings means taking the top off . I don't think this is recommended but we'll do whatever needs to be done. I say leave it for the recommended fermentation time and see what happens.
There are many details that I'm leaving out but I hope you get the gist, both good (mash tun, cooling coil, screening) and bad (overboil, hop sack break, bad timing of batch overlaps) happened. We plan on brewing the last batch on Monday evening. We'll see if we learned anything from our previous two.
We've got buckets and pans and empty water bottles and stirrers and scrubbers and cleaners and thermometers and old mess kits.
We've searched websites and watched more youtube how to videos than we can count. I learned how to open up a sankey keg for cleaning and filling. Despite the warning that this is not the type of keg you want for homebrewing because of the difficulty in dealing with the tap connection hardware, I gave it a shot. It was simple, took about three minutes on my first try.
Thursday, Dave and I kept the local Beermakers Supply shop owner from closing her store on time in order to crack grain and pick out hops. She was very helpful and even made copies of recipes from some books she had on the for sale shelf. Another less helpful individual may have made us truck back home to retrieve the recipes we forgot or made us buy a book. She did neither.
We had to adjust our recipes to account for the inability to secure the recommended ingredients. She also helped us out with this by recommending hops and yeast that will match our grains and selected beer styles. This shop is also the only place we know of with an electric grain cracker and it worked like a charm. We even got to go in the backroom to help the owner pull out a new bag of Pilsen Malt.
Friday after work I loaded up a wagon full of implements and dry goods and delivered the cache to Dave's.
Saturday morning, not too long past day break, we gathered in Dave's workshop and reviewed recipes and procedures and began brewing beer. Despite all the research the fact that we are novices was clearly apparent. As I said in a previous post, we are trying to brew three beers initially. Well time constraints prevented us from attempting three today, probably a good thing, but two batches are now sitting in fermenting buckets. So, the day was a success.
Using the word success may be premature as we did not properly account for how long it takes to bring liquid to a boil. It also takes a lot longer when you don't properly set up your burner and it continues to blow itself out. A call to Robert to discuss the mechanics finally got us going. We also thought we could get Mike's extract nut brown boiled and bucketed before Dave's oberon mash was ready for sparging. Yes, sparging. I'll say it again, sparging. We like the word and I will try to use it as often as possible - sparging.
Sparging - Extracing liquid from the mash tun and then rinsing the grain with the liquid to get all the good juices from your mash into a boiling pot. This liquid is called the wort. The mash tun is where we put the dry grain and then added hot water to let the grain soak at a specific temperature.
Dave's mash was supposed to soak for 90 minutes but boiling problems with Mike's wort lengthened that a bit. We only had one burner so we had to finish Mike's boil before we could get Dave's started. Cooling down Mike's wort also took longer than we anticipated although Dave's cooling rig worked pretty well.
When we finally got Dave's wort into the boiling pot we were so excited that we turned our backs on the pot and retreated to Dave's workshop. It was 44 degrees and raining and we were trying to do as much outside as possible for obvious smell, fire and spillage reasons. We were outside getting wet for a while cooling Mike's wort and transferring to the fermenting bucket. We retreated to shelter.
On checking the boil we saw that the hop sock in Dave's wort opened up. I tied it, my fault. We again retreated to shelter. We noticed Mike's fermenting bucket was leaking at the spout and began a transfer so that we could tighten the connection. No great problem but while distracted by this the water temp on Dave's wort rose and so did the boil. Wort and hops foamed and ran all down the sides of the pot. We got that under control but it was a mess. Dave commented that its a good thing we didn't attempt this in the kitchen.
It took an extremely long time to return the wort to a boil. We must of knocked the plate on the burner out of position during the boil over. Mike had to cut out to handle parenting duties so Dave and I were left to finish up the wort cool down and transfer to the fermenting bucket. We had to strain out the hops while pouring but there were no more mishaps to report. Except that Dave forgot to take a hydrometer reading before sealing the bucket so it will be a guess on when fermentation time is complete.
Also neither of the fermentation buckets have spouts, we decided not to transfer Mike's back to the original bucket, so taking further readings means taking the top off . I don't think this is recommended but we'll do whatever needs to be done. I say leave it for the recommended fermentation time and see what happens.
There are many details that I'm leaving out but I hope you get the gist, both good (mash tun, cooling coil, screening) and bad (overboil, hop sack break, bad timing of batch overlaps) happened. We plan on brewing the last batch on Monday evening. We'll see if we learned anything from our previous two.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Initializing
Thursday 11/06/2008 - Dave, Mike and I gathered at Mike's to view Mike's equipment (easy now, I mean his brew kit). Mike got one of those everything you need in one box breweries as a gift a few years back. It's the perfect starter for those of limited experience. Thankfully its a couple of steps above the entry level discount store kits you'll see on the bottom shelf next to the tins of caramel popcorn and nets of smelly soaps.
We checked off what was there and discussed other items that may be needed. Mike even pilfered a brand new large stock pot from Jennifer's kitchen inventory. He said she's good with that. We''ll see.
This was a meeting about brewing beer so I brought along a six pack and turned the boys on to some Turkish beer - Skol. You never know where you might find a new favorite brew. This one's not bad but It won't make my everyday list. My emergency brews are now depleted so I need to refresh my supply. I'll check out the brewing supplies at the mega mart while I'm shopping for replacements. It's all for the team.
The decision was made to go for three initial batches of approximately five gallons. Yes, this is very ambitious but what else do you have going on on lazy weeknights in the suburbs. Set your goals high. Mark each step of forward progress as an accomplishment. There are no losses, even one beer is a win but ... The brewing triumvirate has decided to try for the hat trick.
We each chose a recipe, these are easily available on the internet. Mike chose a Nut Brown Ale, Dave wants to go with a Lager and I picked a Kolsch, which is a German ale with lager characteristics, kind of a hybrid.
Dave began an ingredient list. One bag of crystal malt was in the kit and was also on Mike's list. The rest we'll need to purchase at the local brew supply store which just happens to be up the street. There were a couple of bags of pelletized hops in the kit also and they'll fit in with at least one of the recipes. Many of the malts and hops appeared on at least two lists so hopefully this means availability is good and price points will be a little more favorable. I'll get the list from Dave at some point, scan and post it.
Dave offered to do some shopping over the weekend. I need to track down an outdoor burner - Note: I need to talk to Robert about his turkey fryer. I've got an empty five gallon keg and I'll even pull one of my 3.75 gallon baby kegs out of my current rotation for the project. For those who may not know, I've got a kegerator in my basement and I keep draught beer flowing routinely. I've also got a case of twelve of the Grolsch style flip top bottles on loan from another brewing buddy to offer to the mix - Jim, I hope you don't mind me co-opting your bottles. I promise to repay in kind. And no letting them sit idle in your fridge. Drink the damn things, no matter what your wife says! - The rest of the bottles will come from current consumption of over the counter beers, we've got six empties from tonight. Everything needs to be sanitized.
We've also began to formulate names for these distinctive brews. These are still in the draft stages so they may evolve.
Dave - here's his quote "I would like to claim "doghouse beer" as that is what I usually end up in when I have irrational exuberance toward beer."
Mike - "As you know, I have my band, The Pope Lick Swills www.popelickswills.com ergo...I will brew Pope Lick Swill."
Bob - in keeping with the German styling of the beer works, I've chosen Das Schlagholz Gebrau which loosely translates to That Bat Beer.
We know there'll be bumps and bruises and false starts and other unknowns but we're well on our way.
We checked off what was there and discussed other items that may be needed. Mike even pilfered a brand new large stock pot from Jennifer's kitchen inventory. He said she's good with that. We''ll see.
This was a meeting about brewing beer so I brought along a six pack and turned the boys on to some Turkish beer - Skol. You never know where you might find a new favorite brew. This one's not bad but It won't make my everyday list. My emergency brews are now depleted so I need to refresh my supply. I'll check out the brewing supplies at the mega mart while I'm shopping for replacements. It's all for the team.
The decision was made to go for three initial batches of approximately five gallons. Yes, this is very ambitious but what else do you have going on on lazy weeknights in the suburbs. Set your goals high. Mark each step of forward progress as an accomplishment. There are no losses, even one beer is a win but ... The brewing triumvirate has decided to try for the hat trick.
We each chose a recipe, these are easily available on the internet. Mike chose a Nut Brown Ale, Dave wants to go with a Lager and I picked a Kolsch, which is a German ale with lager characteristics, kind of a hybrid.
Dave began an ingredient list. One bag of crystal malt was in the kit and was also on Mike's list. The rest we'll need to purchase at the local brew supply store which just happens to be up the street. There were a couple of bags of pelletized hops in the kit also and they'll fit in with at least one of the recipes. Many of the malts and hops appeared on at least two lists so hopefully this means availability is good and price points will be a little more favorable. I'll get the list from Dave at some point, scan and post it.
Dave offered to do some shopping over the weekend. I need to track down an outdoor burner - Note: I need to talk to Robert about his turkey fryer. I've got an empty five gallon keg and I'll even pull one of my 3.75 gallon baby kegs out of my current rotation for the project. For those who may not know, I've got a kegerator in my basement and I keep draught beer flowing routinely. I've also got a case of twelve of the Grolsch style flip top bottles on loan from another brewing buddy to offer to the mix - Jim, I hope you don't mind me co-opting your bottles. I promise to repay in kind. And no letting them sit idle in your fridge. Drink the damn things, no matter what your wife says! - The rest of the bottles will come from current consumption of over the counter beers, we've got six empties from tonight. Everything needs to be sanitized.
We've also began to formulate names for these distinctive brews. These are still in the draft stages so they may evolve.
Dave - here's his quote "I would like to claim "doghouse beer" as that is what I usually end up in when I have irrational exuberance toward beer."
Mike - "As you know, I have my band, The Pope Lick Swills www.popelickswills.com ergo...I will brew Pope Lick Swill."
Bob - in keeping with the German styling of the beer works, I've chosen Das Schlagholz Gebrau which loosely translates to That Bat Beer.
We know there'll be bumps and bruises and false starts and other unknowns but we're well on our way.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
In the Werkes
Hey all Farmers,
This is a new blog set up to follow the trials and tribulations of one Community brewing project.
The brewers now are three hearty souls of varying backgrounds - a geologist, an energy wholesaler and your bloghost a, shall we say, forensic accountant with firepower. More may join the fray. But this is not about us. This is about the beer.
Scheduled this weekend is a meeting to take inventory of items currently at our disposal and those needed to start the task at hand. We've got books, websites, pieces of old brew kits and some mild experience. What we've got most of is gumption and the desire to create. The idea was hashed at one of our many community parties. Drinking beer leads to talking beer, leads to making beer, that simple. Our geologist suggested we take it a little further. No malt extracts, take a shot at all grain brewing. It should be fun. No, it will be fun!
So now we embark on the journey to follow in the footsteps of true trailblazers, footsteps that led to the establishment of civilization as we know it. Yes, it was beer that brought us together thousands of years ago. I'll bet they didn't teach you that in history class.
The name for those German challenged - BraunBoro Bauernhof Bier Werkes - translates to Brownsboro Farm Beer Works. Our little gem of a community is tucked into the eastern suburbs of Louisville, Kentucky. We have great neighbors, great friends, great parties and now hopefully great beer. So grab a beer and watch for updates ....
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