My oh my, how time flies...

Another winter is upon us - this year I did very little in the way of blogging, even less in the way of brewing and even less still in the way of random crazy purchases that lead to new hobbies to get into (which is uncommon).

I did, however, do a lot around the house.  No, not our old house - but our new one.  You know, the one that we purchased in the middle of the year and I didn't post about?  Yep, that's the one.

I am glad we bought it - because I can blame my lack of activity on it - and I can actually, sort of, mean it.  I've had to learn a lot of handy craftsman type stuff since we've had it, including (but not limited to):

• Plumbing: I put in a water-powered backup sump pump - so I had to learn how to solder copper, run water lines and cut into existing lines - fun stuff!
• Roofing/HVAC: I put in not one, but two vents through our roof for exhaust fans from the bathrooms.
• Landscaping: I put in a french drain and am in the process of putting in landscaping bricks around the house.
• Organizing: This is actually very important - otherwise you'll never find your tools, and you will run out. 

Unrelated to the handyman side of things I also learned:

• iOS Programming (I developed an app for the place I work at, it saves tons of hours every month!)
• Cooking (I can cook, but I learned a lot more on 'how to cook properly' and also how to make beef jerky!)

Now with that said, I have finally managed to find some peace amidst all the changes - I've got a 2 car garage that fits both of our cars, all of our junk (read as: my junk) and both (yes, both) of my motorcycles.  I also have a whole basement to call my own as well - which has led to something I've long desired.  I have all my guitars hung on the wall (of which there are 5) with my amps nearby, my keyboard nearby and everything close enough to my computer that I have them all hooked up and ready to record.  Yes, I am very pleased to be able to record my creative outlet at a moments notice.  I've started doing that and in doing so - I've reached out to my long-time partner in musical crime, Amanda - who has also been feeling the 'musical itch' as of late and we're preparing to create another round of sound.

For those of you who do not know - Amanda, Robbie Cozad and myself recorded a cd's worth of songs (12 in total if I remember correctly) years ago.  We had a lot of fun doing it - and the songs I still find very good to this day.  If only I knew then what I know now - they would have been recorded a bit better - but we all live and learn.

So, what is on the agenda for the winter months?  Will you be more active?

Overall, there are a number of different things I would like to do, thus increasing my activity - so perhaps if I list them here I can go back and remind myself of my goals:

• Start blogging (so I can document it all!)
• Finish my book (yes, I enjoy writing)
• Setup my basement bar (have I mentioned how much I love having a basement?)
• Build a brewing station in the garage
• Brew a batch of spotted cow clone for my father (who has never requested beer, ever!)
• Build a 'recording booth'
• Record a second cd with Amanda
• Program a game for Android (and iOS potentially)

It's so very cold right now, 10 degrees as I type this in mid November, not including the windchill - brewing will be challenging; but I've got a garage heater so with a little luck I should be able both brew and stay warm for a portion of the winter months.

I need to get back into brewing though - now that I'm settled and all of my stuff is eagerly awaiting use in the basement - it's time to get back to it.

The holidays are crazy - but I'm hoping that with a little organization, a little time management and some mental preparation - I can manage to start cracking down on those goals.

Who is with me?  Anyone care to help with any of those?  The more the merrier!

Bottling Blastoff!

So,

We bottled this past weekend, on halloween!! (ooooh, spooky! Haunted Beer!). Perhaps I shall try and incorporate that idea into the names of the beer.

Regardless, the bottling went well. As always, I was running around trying to do a million things at once, and although the bottling of the first batch was slightly chaotic, it was fun to get it done. With the help of my beautiful, charming, and endlessly witty assistant Deyana, bottling went along swimmingly.

Of course, I took small samples of each beer, and they tasted really good. The Ginger Pale Ale had a bit of 'bite' to it, the hops came out real nice, but the slight Ginger taste mellowed it a bit, and I think it will turn out really tasty after time to carb/condition in the bottles (only 2.5 more weeks!!). We used normal priming sugar with this batch and things seemed to go really smoothly. I'm really excited to try this one when it's all done because I am a bit of a hop-head, and like those beers with a lot of bite.

The Dunkelweisen I was also rather impressed with. After our debacle with the Maltodextrin I was curious as to how it would affect it. As Ean (from Blue Tape Black Marker) mentioned, it didn't have the familiar mouthfeel of a darker beer, but the flavor seemed there. It definitely had a lot of roasty notes on the end, and with a good burst of malty goodness to get things started. All it seemed to be lacking was a little 'fullness' in mouthfeel. We did a little something different with the priming sugar used for this however. We went with brown sugar. After some reading online (because, I had forgot to pickup more priming sugar) I had read that brown sugar worked as an alternative, and actually was preferred in some darker beers. Enjoying the flavor of the dunkel already, I decided to give it a go and see what it gave us. I will probably give this one a good 4 weeks plus in bottles to fully condition/carb, as I read sometimes brown sugar takes a little longer to reach it's peak conditioning (same with dark beers I guess). Regardless, I think it will turn out to be a nice early December beer to sip on when the chill really starts to hit home.

All in all, it was a successfull day! Couldn't ask for much more! My lovely assistant was charming and witty the whole time, which made the process that much better.

I am considering getting a 'homebrewing club' together for the local area. A good friend of mine (and long time brewer) who lives out of state started one in his area, and they have a really good time. He said it's not too hard to do, but you can get a lot out of it, especially once you get really interested people joining up. So if you know anyone who'd be interested, or you are interested, let me know!

ALSO (final note, I promise) - This saturday is "Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day", so all of you homebrewers - grab one of your non-brewing friends, grab a few bottles of some of your existing delicious homebrew, and show 'em how it's done! I will probably be brewing with a friend of mine on Sunday (he's an all-grain purist!) so I'm really excited to take some notes/hints from him and give some of that information a try in my next batch (but not all grain, yet). I had hoped to brew Saturday, but unfortunately have a wedding that takes precedence (doh!).

Thanks all, and remember - keep brewing !
(Pictures will be added later!)

Bottling Day Prep!

Yup,
It's about that time. It's been 3 weeks in Primary for the Ginger Pale Ale, and the Dunkel. Tomorrow, we begin the every joyous task of bottling! We're planning on bottling (or at least I am) early in the AM.

Get up, get it DONE, and wait a little while longer for that delicious, refreshing stuff we like to call "beer".

For the next brew, I'm thinking that we may try to do some sort of 'holiday ale', and am thinking it should be a lot of fun. Something totally different and out of the box - and maybe something I can have ready to give out as some oddly wrapped presents come christmas time! Want to get on the list of prospective gift getters? Comment, follow me, and we shall see what happens!

Anyhow, back to cleaning the bottles, then in the AM comes the sanitization process prior to bottling. W00t!

Brew Day Endurance!

While the challengers at the 2009 Ironman Championships pounded away - swimming 2.4 miles, cycling over 112 miles, and running 26 miles, in Kona Hawaii, I decided that I would not only have the Ironman playing over the stereo and on the screen all day but would also make it a marathon brew day!

2 Brews - 1 day! When we went to the store to pickup fresh hops and yeast, we noticed they had some box brews on sale so we decided to pick one up. $30 didn't seem too bad, and I have been looking to immerse myself in some darker beers to learn to appreciate them a little more lately. So I picked up a Brewers Best Dunkelweisen. I like Hefeweisen, so the darker maltier cousin should taste relatively good. The brewer at Brew & Grow in Roselle let us sample some of the brews they had on tap there, so I tried the Pumpkin Ale (I'm a longtime fan of pumpkin ales). It was good - but I would've enjoyed just a touch more pumpkin/spice flavors, otherwise it was really delicious. Then off to home, it's brew time!

First was the Ginger Pale Ale - I think it turned out relatively well, and the homemade immersion cooler I had made earlier this week worked to turn the temp down in the wort very quickly! Had a little issue with the siphon to the carboy, but otherwise was a decent time. I tried some different things with the sanitation this time, and used Starsan for the first time. It seemed to work moderately well, and I'm hoping everything I've read on it proves to be true. The GPA is fermenting away in the closet as I type this, and I absolutely can't wait to get things rocking.

A short break to watch some more Ironman, and clean the pot and tools, and we were ready to get going for round 2! I debated on putting off the next batch until today (Sunday) but decided to go ahead with it on Saturday evening. Got the water boiling up, poppped open the kit and prepared everything. The house smelled of a dark wort, and it smelled delicious! I think I could still smell it this morning! The second batch went much smoother - although as the evening wore on, I realized I forgot to add the maltodextrose during the boil. Ouch. I decided to continue on despite, and talked to Ean from Blue Tape Black Marker, and he said the only thing it would really affect would be alcohol content for the most part. Some quick googling also seemed to confirm that, and the rest of the process went along flawlessly.

At the end of it all, got things cleaned up and made a few notes:
1. Need to pickup a propane burner that I can use in the garage - the stovetop is very hard to brew on.
2. Brewing multiple batches in one day is tough, and tiring! Thank goodness I had a little help from my last batch of homebrew to keep me motivated ;)
3. I think it would be useful to try and come up with some sort of 'system' to my homebrewing to help eliminate the possibility of forgetting any ingredients in the future ;)

All in all, it was a great brew day - and 2 wonderful beers are fermenting away in the closet wrapped in their respective blankets. In a couple weeks time it will be bottling time!
*Pictures to come later!

I also wanted to give a HUGE shoutout to David Bailey - a former SX/MX champion who was paralyzed years ago in an MX related accident. He is a former Ironman Champion himself in the wheelchair division, and was competing yesterday. He pushed himself hard, and finished strong mounting for a 2nd place. If his past Ironmans are any indication - he's already thinking about next year, and getting that top spot on the podium. And if his previous championships prove anything, they prove he's completely capable. My hats off to him, and all of the contestants who finished (and those who didn't finish but made the cut) the 2009 Kona Ironman. Congratulations!

Next Brew - 7 Days Away

As some of you may know, my first brew (an IPA) turned out fairly well! That IPA was given out to many people for tasting, and it was fairly well received. The longer it aged, the better it seemed to become. When it was young it had a good flavor but had quite a bitter end on it. As it aged a bit more that end bite seemed to mellow into a nice hoppy finish, with a decent aroma to it. I've only got a few bottles of that left and it's been quite some time so I'm curious to see how they taste now much further down the road as I have been letting them sit.

But alas, it's time for brew #2! A good friend of mine has worked up a wonderful recipe for a Ginger Pale Ale. What we're hoping for with this brew is some good ole fashioned deliciousness. The ginger should add a little bit of 'bite', without looking to hops to provide that. But seeing as I'm a bit of a hop-lover, the flavor of hops will be present both in aroma and flavor. I don't want to get too into the recipe, but I am really excited to brew this one up. It's my 2nd brew, so I'm hoping it will be slightly better than the last! While the last brew tasted good, I plan on taking a bit more precautions this time, and being a little more stringent with how things are done this time in order to ensure a little better quality this time around.

This should be ready in about 2 months, I want to make sure it has plenty of time to age/carbonate in the bottles before drinking - and eliminate any off flavor it might have because of a young age.

We'll be brewing on October 10th for anyone who would be interested in stopping by - we'll even go so far as providing some beer for those who might be interested in drinking while brewing! What better way to 'get in the spirit' eh?

In closing, I'd like to remind everyone that in the great spirit of Oktoberfest and my birthday - Goodwinfest will be happening on October 16th (a Friday night)! Bring homebrew if you've got it, bring wild beers you've never heard of, or bring good ole staples of your beer drinking diet. There will be food, friends, and fun. Anyone and everyone is welcome! What a better way to put a close on the week?