Cranberry Lager.

Yummy.

Ready on Friday… woot.

Sorghum

Well, I finally brewed again.

My last batch was a Gluten free brew that is at this moment fermenting.

Cascade hops, 4 gallons of water, Centennial hops and Safale s4 ale yeast.  Woot.

My first Pilsner.

Today I will be tasting my first batch of Pilsner (Czech Pilsner kit). While I did not lager it as long as recommended, I went ahead and kegged it one month early. A sample of the beer prior to carbonation was wonderful. Despite going over the recommended boil time and being darker than intended the beer really tasted as is should. I got the kit from one of my favorite homebrew shops. Northernbrewer.com Check out the site. I will get some pictures up and post also about kegging soon.

Post carbonation the beer tastes great.  The color is actually lighter than I thought, now that it is poured in a glass it looks more pale than it did as five gallons.  The Saaz hops are significantly more pronounced than if I had used them in an ale.  It tastes like a Pilsner.  I think I might start moving more into Lagers after tasting this thirst quenching beer.  Maybe its the water I used maybe it was the process but to my tastebuds it really reminded me of Carlsberg Lager.

Hops shortage: A little less hoppiness.

As a homebrewer I am finding some frustration on what is happening with hops and hop prices this year. I think the biggest increases will be in IPA style beers.

Read the following:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/11/20/hopsshortage/

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,305638,00.html

http://www.makebeerathome.info/homebrew-articles/41-articles/164-hop-shotage

Nice… mugs.

Wow… World of Warcraft is having a brewfest!

From the wow website. “Celebrated by both the Horde and the Alliance, the Brewfest is a time to enjoy the fermented fruits of the harvest: pretzels, cheese, and booze! The competing breweries Thunderbrew, Barleybrew, and the Ogres, all come together outside of all the major cities in a bid to outdo each other with their special ales, meads, and beers. Brave adventurers are invited to sit back, take a pull, and sample the finest wares these brewers have to offer!

Type: Brewfest
Date: 2-16 October
Location: Main Event: Orgrimmar and Ironforge. Beer gardens will also be set up outside of Silvermoon City, Darnassus, Undercity, Stormwind, Thunder Bluff, the Exodar, and Shattrath.

Complimentary mugs filled with fresh, foamy beer sit atop tables outside of all the major cities. If you drink one down while standing near one of the brewers’ stands outside of Ironforge or Orgrimmar, one of their assistants will toss you a new mug. You can also fill up your empties at any of the kegs sitting near the brewers’ stands. At Brewfest, you’ll never have to worry about how you’ll quench your thrist! “

.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com

Another fine example why I play wow.

Kegerator or just a fridge?

Questing to make good beer I think is clearly a life long journey. One item to pick up for that quest-path is a cooling device. This is for many reasons, some obvious some not so obvious. Right now I am all about crashing out yeast that doesn’t want to flocculate.

What did I do? I ended up buying this fridge.

The price was right and it does its job, quietly. The seals are good and someday it may become this.

Buying the fridge was quite easy. Transporting it however was something else. Initially, I thought it would fit in my wife’s Toyota Corolla. Hmmm… but gnawing in the dark corner of my primitive beer mind I heard the words, “bring rope.”

After paying for the fridge and hauling it out to my car, (thanks to a fed ex guy lending me his dolly) I realized the back seat and trunk were not options. They were not even close options.

I spent the next 30 minutes tying the fridge to the roof and drove 20 miles back into Chicago with the thing attached to the Toyota like an over sized Mohawk. Thankfully, the police seemed uninterested and my knots held.

Raspberry Beer.

One of the batches I made before going to Vegas was a Raspberry Ale.

Kick ass.

After carbonating for 4 days it is turning out very nice.

4 gallon batch.

5 lbs. DME.

2 lbs Red Rasp frozen. One at boil one at primary.

2 lbs Black Rasp frozen. One at boil one at primary.
2 oz Styrian Goldings. 1 oz at 60, .5 at 10 min .5 at 5 min.

Coopers dry ale yeast.

Final gravity 1.014… original… oops forgot.

It is turning out fantastic, I will be making variations of this again after raspberries go down in price.

Sin City Brewing, Las Vegas.

I just got back from Las Vegas.  I was there for Union training at the 2007 NJC.  All in all it was a good experience and I got to try a new beer on tap.

http://www.sincitybeer.com/lasvegasmicrobrewery.html

I like Sin City and I also like Sin City beer.  While I would not call them top notch I could drink any of them over common commercial beer.  The two of the four I favored were the Weisse (wheat beer) and the stout (which was a bit flat).

Bad Liquid Malt or Clever Salvage? Mold and LME.

My wife who so lovingly bought me my brewing kit in Decemberish of ‘06 also bought a “Best Bitter” extract kit in February. Unfortunately, for whatever reason it was not brewed and sat outside the fridge then was moved into the fridge. It did not get brewed, maybe because it was just a bitter and nothing fancy. Sadly due to neglect, the malt molded slightly in spots on the top of the very thick LME (liquid malt extract) as the bottle is 60% malt and apparently 40% air with a screw on lid. Bad shipping in my opinion as it is exposed to about 1/4 of a liter of air but maybe it is cheaper than a sealed and pasteurized can.

Searching the web I found that many people will just go ahead and boil the malt and pay no concern to the mold. Some even claimed that it can improve flavor. However, one beer expert stated that a specific mold can create poisons and it merely intensifies as it is heated. Concerned, I came up with a solution.

I froze the liquid malt partially, and rinsed the inside with cold and then boiling water repeatedly. After all the residue of the mold was gone, I melted several layers of the malt off of the top just to be sure the mold was rinsed free. I think I got 99% of the mold off.

While it was only a $20 kit I feel it will turn out to be a good beer. This batch however, I will be my own guinea pig. My thought it is just a plain old harmless mold and I salvaged a really decent beer… Kent Goldings hops… nice.

41. Another batch brewed for the Northland.

41 the name of my new brew, which I plan to be ready by memorial day weekend.  I have found that brewing makes me think and plan a whole month in advance… something I rarely do.  The 8db (eight day beer) I really enjoyed at 8 days.  The last bottle I had two weeks after brewing was much better.  Aging beer is important, strong flavors mellow and balance unfolds.  The yeast may also be less active over time and may mean less gas.

So here is my experimental recipe, I was shooting for a citrus flavored session beer with slightly spicy overtones.  I was shooting for a final gravity of 40 as my brother turned 40 recently, and I figured he might enjoy a six pack.  However, the original gravity was 41… so here it is.  Open sourced 41.

Muntons dry yeast.

Styrian goldings 1 oz 60 minutes.

Cascade .25 oz 30 minutes.

Cascade .75 oz 15 minutes.

Cascade 1 oz 10 minutes.

2 tbs honey 30 minutes.

5 lbs DME light.

1 lb. unprocessed cane sugar.

.10 oz coriander seed.