Category: beer

Jun 23

bringing back the brew

It’s been something like a year and a half or more since I’ve brewed beer. I’ve been thinking about brewing a lot. I’ve talked about brewing a lot, but just haven’t pulled the trigger. Saturday I pulled the trigger.

Lots of beery goodness going on in there.

Wanting to get back to basics, I brewed a recipe that was originally a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone that I found from Brew Your Own magazine, but since I was buying my ingredients online and in set volumes, I decided to alter from the recipe a bit. Here’s the recipe I ended up using:

  • 1 lb Malt – Crystal 40L
  • 1 lb Malt – Carapils
  • 8 lbs Light Malt Extract
  • 2 oz Perle Hops @ 10min
  • Cascade Hops  (5 ounces so far)
    3 oz @ 45min,
    1 oz @ 55min,
    1 oz for dry hopping (with more to come)
  • American Ale Yeast

Thanks to Mario, all of our plants are properly hydrated.

Seeing as brewing has historically been a social activity (women mostly, but in the last century or two men have taken over), I decided to invite some of the guys over. There was beer to brew and beer to drink and I needed help with both. Mario was the first to arrive just as I was cranking up the burner and was a big help. Earl, Ryan and Dilby showed up a little later in the brew day. Even my dad, fresh from the US Open at Pebble Beach, made an appearance.

I got to break out the wort chiller that my brother made for me for Christmas and it worked like a champ. I just wish there was a way to not use up so much water during the cooling down process. Suffice it to say, every single tree, bush and shrub in the front yard was adequately hydrated on brew-day.

All in all, it was a good day. I’m glad I finally got around to brewing. I was able to take a sip of the brew last night as I was dry-hopping with more Cascade hops and moly-moly are we in for a treat. It still needs some time to age, but I think I’m on to something.

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Apr 10

Oh Heineken..Must you tease?

This is the coolest invention ever.. EVER!

Let me start by saying that the 5-Liter DraughtKeg is freaking sweet. Heineken seems to be “thinking outside the box” when it comes to packaging their wares and I applaud that. The Heini-Can, DraughtKeg and now this are completely innovative and, unfortunately, I don’t see any breweries doing that. I tip my cap to you Heineken.

Unfortunately, Heineken blows. Which may be why they continue to come out with these things. Their beer sucks and they need a way to stay “hip” and/or “cool” with “the kids”. The last time I drank Heineken was after Ryan & Lori’s wedding in a hotel room and I was completely plastered, and even then I remember thinking, “Man, this tastes like butt.” Every other brewery spends their time perfecting their beer (sounds crazy huh?) to which re-inventing the wheel, or the bottle in this case, seems rather pointless.

For those of you keeping score at home, here’s the breakdown:

Heineken Innovation? Good
Heineken Beer? Bad

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Apr 08

Oh Noes.. Muh Beer!

Sam Adams Beerz

I know some of you like to drink The Sam Adams. Well, there’s been an incident and you might want to read this before you open your next bottle of “the good stuff”. Don’t say I didn’t warnz ya.

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Feb 19

How much do I suck? (and various other topics of discussion)

Lost Rules

Seriously folks, I must apologize for my lack of posts. I’d like to say that I’ve been totally busy with work and all that, but I really haven’t. I’ve just been in an odd mood and haven’t felt like posting. It’s nothing you said or did, it’s all me. Don’t be mad. Look! I’m posting now! Rejoice! Okay on to the nitty-gritty. I’ve got lots of stuff to get through so get to it.
( Read more )

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Jan 15

Double Big Gulp and Jager Night: A strategic guide to enjoying your Friday night

Transfer is music to my ears.. literallyAlrighty peeps, hold on to your chones. There is a huge show coming up this Friday. Are you ready for it? Okay here goes:
( Read more )

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Dec 31

Decisions, decisions – Beer Edition

Earl, Josh and I brewed a Mocha Brown Ale a couple weeks ago. Well now its ready to bottle and unless I’m completely worthless tomorrow, Josh and I are going to bottle it. Once that’s done, it should be ready to drink in 2 to 3 weeks (Super Bowl anyone?). This leads me to a very important question:
( Read more )

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Oct 12

Bachelorette Party

Well, Jackie is off to her bachelorette party for the weekend and you know what that means? No adult supervision for THREE DAYS! Oh man, this is going to be awesome. I’m totally going to eat Red Baron pizzas and drink nothing but KoolAid and beer all weekend. It’s gonna be so awesome. You know you’re all jealous. If you want to, you’re more than welcome to join me.. Just give me a heads up.

Actually, tonight I’m going to play some poker with the “Klingerman’s” and tomorrow I have some chores around the house to take care of and then Sunday is football and emergency clean-up duty before Jackie gets home. So if you see the house this weekend, please don’t say anything to Jackie..

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Sep 10

Word of the Day: Recuperate

Went to bed at 9:30pm last night… Sooo tired.

Hey fools, what was your favorite part of this weekend?  Mine was just the fact that some of y’all came from across the country to kick it. That, and the beer. And more beer. And did I mention the beer? Oh yeah, and the beer.

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Aug 24

There is a god!

We finally found a house! We’re moving in this weekend, come join in on the fun! Friday night we’ll be here. Sunday morning we’ll be here. In between, I’ll be here. Who’s coming with me?

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Aug 18

OJB’s

I have looked far and wide on this series of tubes for anybody that mention the ever-classy OJB. And to no avail. I’ve found Special Sprites, though not the one we all know and love, but no OJB. Seriously folks, where’s the chatter? It’s only the best start to a day destined to be filled with hours and hours of football. How can their not be any chatter about the poor man’s mimosa? ( Read more )

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