Batch #11

It's been a while! between my last post and now, a lot of home brew has been consumed. 9us and Lucy's Great Pumpkin Ale was, well GREAT! I also brewed a light wheat beer in the mold of Blue Moon for Fusion's Christmas party. With that came the purchase of mini kegs and a tap. It was a hit! The beer was stellar and two of the kegs were tapped at the Fusion's Christmas party. Many said it was just as good or better than Blue Moon! The mini kegs are the bomb! They save a lot of time when bottling, 4 kegs vs 48 bottles.

Tonight I brewed batch number 11. It's a Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA clone. This brew was cooked with 8 additions of hops, added continually throughout the boil. It is called....Continua11y! Continua11y is going to be good, guaranteed. Cannot wait to put it into the bottle/mini kegs!

Cheers to batch 11...Continua11y!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!!

Cheers!

9us & Lucy's Great Pumpkin Ale

OK, I struggled with a name for this. I'm thinking I might need to give that piece of brewing up, it is taxing the creative side of me! Nicole encourages it, that means I'll keep reaching for names. Anyway, even if it's a stretch, the name is appropriate. With Fall two days away and pumpkin ales filling the shelves, I wanted to try one of my own. I had planned on brewing this past weekend but didn't get to it until last night. Bad mistake! I started at 8:00 and finished after midnight. I knew preparing the pumpkin would take a little work but damn, I could have carved jack o'lanterns for the neighborhood in the time it took me to brew this! The beer smells amazing and was already bubbling this morning. I'm thinking the late night will be well worth it. I'm gonna try to have this ready to taste on Halloween. If I'm buzzed when you knock on my door for candy, you'll know why!

Cheers!

Celebr8 Ale Brewed

This is the most planning/scheduling I have put into a beer I have brewed. My eighth batch, Celebr8 Ale, won't be ready for two months after brewing 8/21/11. The ready date for Celebr8 will coincide with the release of my number one most favorite beer, Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale, which goes out to stores around 10/15 each year. Hopefully my version is enjoyable and can be used to help celebrate the holiday season! Writing this I am realizing that if Celebr8 is any good, it will likely be gone long before the holidays get here. Crap! Well, if it's good enough to polish off in 4-6 weeks, I won't be disappointed! No plans yet for batch 9, maybe a second batch of Celebr8! Thinking way too far ahead. I think I need to relax, don't worry and have a homebrew!

Cheers!

Seven Dwarfs Dunkel

I brewed batch seven last night, a dunklweizen, which is a dark, German wheat beer. It should be similar to 2wheat but carry a little more body. This is another of Nicole's favs so hopefully she will enjoy it, allowing me to continue brewing without her getting fed up with it!
Hop Head Porter is in the secondary fermenter and should get bottled in a week or so. Batches 1-4 are gone and have been enjoyed by many!
Stone Clone 5 is the only homebrew I have available and it is going fast. It is very good and has actually been favored by a few over Arrogant Bastard in side by side tastings.
Looking forward to getting Hop Head Porter and 7 Dwarfs Dunkel in the bottle!
Cheers!

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Stone Clone bottled, Hop Head Porter brewed

Batch #5, Stone Clone, was put in the bottle tonight. Either my patience has grown or I just don't have time but this was actually ready to bottle over a week ago. Probably a combination of better patience and no time but, either way, I am glad it waited. The extra aging time will only benefit this beer, especially given it is the biggest beer brewed so far. This 7.6% ABV beer needs the extra time to make it right. Judging from the smell and taste of it, it will be worth the wait! Arrogant Bastard is a fav, so hopefully this will taste a little like it's inspiration. Can't wait to try it!

I brewed batch #6, Hop Head Porter, 10 days ago. It is amazing how noticeable the color of dark ale is, even early on. The beer is BLACK in the fermenter! It will move to the secondary sometime before a highly anticipated trip to the beach next week. Being out of town for a week will give it a chance to properly age just as batch #5 did. This is the first batch brewed with a "homebrew buzz", hopefully I wasn't too lose and forget something!

TRI.P.A and 4Summer Ale have been tapped into frequently over the last few weeks and the results are magnificent! I am beginning to get a feel for the ingredients being added and the impact they have on the final product. Not quite ready to formulate my own recipe but I will be there soon. Hope those that have tasted the first four batches have enjoyed the results. Unless folks are afraid of hurting my feelings with critical reviews, it's been good because most everyone has given good feed back! The greatest joy of this hobby is not when savoring my work myself but when others enjoy the end product.

Excited to taste Stone Clone and make better batches so that you can taste a better homebrew!!

Cheers!!

Dada Day!

Happy Fathers Day! I love my Dad, I love being a Dad and I love brew!

Both TRI.P.A and 4Summer were sampled today and I have two good beers (and a buzz!). Moved Stone Clone 5 to the secondary and added dry hops. I really like the smell of this brew! It will be going to the bottle in a couple of weeks.

Haven't decided what to brew next but I have an empty fermenter so I will have to decide real soon! Welcoming suggestions!

Again, happy Fathers Day...cheers!

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Stone Clone 5

Batch #5 was brewed Sunday. It is a clone recipe for Stone's Arrogant Bastard Ale, one of my favs. Fermentation started yesterday and is much more vigorous than any of my previous batches. Reminds me of a song we used to sing at church....bububububblin!
This brew will take some time before its ready, around 8 weeks, requiring practice of what I have lacked thus far...patience. I have had to talk myself out of opening up a bottle of batch three since Sunday. Mos def not going to be able to wait until Fathers Day but hopefully I can hold off until the weekend. We'll see!

Cheers and happy brewing!

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99 Bottles of Beer!!

99 beers were bottled tonight! The equivalent of 99 beers anyway. TRI.P.A and 4Summer Ale were both ready to hit the bottle so I spent 4 hours getting it done (Nicole, please don't leave me). Two lessons learned: First, gotta invite some friends over to help whenever bottling two batches. Second, and more importantly, gotta start saving for a kegging system! This hobby has grabbed hold of me (Nicole, please don't leave me)!

The plastic bottles used for 4Summer Ale concern me. Just seems weird putting beer in plastic. It is spot on as far as color and light body. If it's no good, I'll blame it on the plastic. Hope it turns out alright so I can pass them around at the pool!

TRI.P.A is going to be good, no doubt. Can't wait for Father's Day not only because I love being a father, but also because I will be savoring a properly aged TRI.P.A. My patience will undoubtedly wear thin before then but it's another reason to look forward to a special day. I've got one with your name on it Pa!

Now enjoying an Arrogant Bastard from Stone and looking forward to brewing batch five tomorrow night. Batch five is an Arrogant Bastard clone. Don't have any clever names for this one yet...less time to think of names now that I have home brew to drink!!

Take one down and pass it around y'all!!

Cheers!

TRI.P.A smelling good! 4Summer brewed

TRI.P.A was moved to the secondary and the 4th! addition of hops added. This brew smells freaking good! Four additions of hops, all Centennial, should make for a hop heads dream (that's me)!

Also brewed 4Summer Ale, a light american wheat. I wanted to brew a light session beer to be consumed at the pool and beach. It will be bottled in plastic bottles to get around most pool and beach rules of no glass.

Looking forward to tasting both of these but especially eager to try the TRI.P.A.

Cheers!

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Success!

1st born has been sampled by a few others with decent reviews. I just had my first in about a week and after allowing ample time for aging, the result is a satisfactory first batch.
2Wheat is a different story. Not even 10 days in the bottle and this beer is AMAZING! Between lessons learned from the first batch and a more involved recipe, an exceptional beer has been created! It even has Nicole's approval which is exactly what I was going for!
It is extremely gratifying to create a great tasting beer on my second attempt.
Looking forward to getting batch 3, TRI.P.A, brewed and in the fermenter tonight!
Cheers!

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2Wheat Bottled!

Bottled batch #2 which seems to be a BIG bavarian hefe at 6%+! I added a bit of table sugar to the wort to up the abv but wasn't expecting this! High hopes for this one based on the smell and taste of the unconditioned brew. Now sitting back with a Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale. If only I could brew something half as good as this! Cheers!

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Toast to Cam!

My patience ran out way early and I used the Panthers #1 pick as an excuse to uncap my first beer. Expectations were very low as this beer was in the brew pot less than two weeks ago. The verdict: IT'S BEER!! Real beer!! Maybe not the best tasting beer ever but, it's beer!! The best part was the surprise on faces when they realized, it's beer!! REAL BEER!!

Cheers to First Born Amber Ale and mo better drinks to come!

TRI.P.A

Current plans for my third batch and first time with my favorite style, IPA. Brewing 5/14, bottling 5/26, serving Father's Day, 6/19.

2Wheat

Brewed 4/26, bottle eta 5/4. Batch #2, a bavarian hefeweizen to mimic Nicole's fav, Fransizkaner. Will be served for the first time Memorial Day weekend at the beach.

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First Born Amber Ale

My first batch!! Simple recipe to get me started with a batch of drinkable brew (hopefully!). Brewed 4/16, bottled 4/25, tasting on Mother's Day and if it's good, serving 5/13.