IPA #34

Brew date 5/8/15

I figure it's time for a IPA so I dropped by the shop and picked up some supplies. 

As usual I start with 10 lbs of two row, but I did switch it up a bit. Instead of grabbing the garden variety, I picked up this one:

I'm told it has a tad bit of body to it. Next I grabbed 4 oz of biscuit for the rest of the body. Just a hint. 

And then for some color, 2 oz of chocolate wheat:

Two oz of hops:

And the std us#5 yeast. 

Should be ready in 4 weeks. 

Here's a pic of Uncle Jim's mash tun:

6 glorious gallons. The mash tun is big enough and the boiling pot is big enough and a 6 gallon Carboy just makes it easier to end up with more than five gallons. 

Block Prints and Beer Flights

My daughter received a block printing kit for Christmas and so she went straight to work.

This is test print number 1. I insisted in having print number 1.

Can you see the description at the bottom? It says Terrestrial Gastropod Mollusk. 

It just happens that she is seeing this French guy. His sway on her must be pretty strong for her to start drawing and block printing snails. When she starts eating them, I'm having no part in that.

Anyway, he's an alright guy. When he came to meet the family he came bearing gifts, to me. Here is a pic of the empties. All IPA's from craft brewers in Quebec.

I elected to share this with everybody so we had two tastings, one Friday evening and the next Saturday afternoon. The Saturday tasting included cigars on the smoking porch. The craft beers were all very good and we, the beer tasters, thought they were all quite tasty.

We did throw my last brew in the flights, just to mix things up. While the black ale was a completely different style from the pale ales, it did compete.

Well that's all for now. Till next time.

The Continuing Saga

Water problems part 2.

The other day I saw a puddle on the basement floor, like the pooch couldn't wait to go out, so he ran down to the basement to do it there.   

The odd thing about it was the floor was wet behind the tank too. The well tank, to a dog must look like a hydrant, so let 'er rip. How could he resist the temptation.

I mopped up the mess and kept the pooch upstairs, but sure enough, the puddle formed again. 

So today I stopped at the hardware store to get some 3 piece couplings so I can get the well fitting off, in order to inspect the bottom tank connections.  My hunch was the plumber used insufficient pipe dope on the threaded fittings. 

In preparation, we fill two water jugs and four 5 gal buckets with water. Some for coffee and the rest for flushing. I figured there is a good chance the tank rotted through. 

Getting to 1-1/4 pipe nipple off was a real chore. The joint was so tight that I bent the bottom he tank by torquing the nipple so hard.

I cleaned up all the threads to the tank, elbow and pressure switch fitting and started reassembly when I saw this little blister on the side if the tank. I popped it like a water blister you get from raking leaves in the fall. I dried off the spot with a rag and sure enough, it wetted again. 

Son of a B! Now I have to round up a 50 gal tank at the tune of $300. 

On the other hand, Wifey is out of town so now I have an excuse to skip doing dishes. 

Black IPA #33

Brew Date 11/05/14

Once again I found myself at the brew store so I couldn't let an oportunity go to waste. On the spot I figured something dark and hoppy. 

Because I didn't have my grain bucket Chris gave me a 2 row bag. 

I started with 12 pounds. 

Then added two pounds of:

Followed up with a quarter pound of:

For body. 

Then addeded the usual suspects:

What better way to spend a blustery Saturday afternoon than brewing?

 Hops addition:
:00- 1/3 G
:20- 1/3 G, 1/3 UK
:40- 1/3 G, 1/3 UK, 1/2 C
:55 -1/3 UK, 1/2 C
 
 Wifey was needing the kitchen at 5PM, which coincided with the end of the one hour boil, so I put the pot out on the porch to cool. This gave me the idea to try something different, for me. Strain the hops out while transferring the wort to the primary fermenter. Ordinarily I leave the hops in the primary.
 
Another change to procedure was made in sparging. I started with ~4gallons of water at 170 deg which is a little hot for 14.25 lbs of grain. So I started mashing anyway and added ~1/2 gal at 80 deg to bring the temp down to the 140 deg range. Then I heated another ~4 gallons to ~150 deg and added it to the mash before running off the first pass. I ended up with ~7 gal of wort before boiling and ended with 6 gal.

Had the guys over for pool night and stogies. No one didn't finish theirs. 

Brew #32 Rye Not So Pale Ale

Brew Date: 10/5/2013

Went to the brew store on a whim. When I arrived I could smell the sweet scent of whole Amarillo hops. I said give 'me two oz', before I even knew what I was gonna get.

So today it's Rye Not So Pale Ale.

Notes

Today I screwed up royally. I started mashing without the false bottom and so I had to transfer the mash tun contents to the boiling pot. What I discovered is that I'm not using nearly enough water to mash with and will have to adjust my ratios accordingly.

I am also mashing this one at 140deg F because batch #31 had a tanginess that I believe to be from mashing too hot. I read somewhere the tannins from the husks will become prevalent. Well that's the story, and I'm sticking to it. 

Yeast is doing well. 

Regarding the whole hops. I ran into a snag while siphoning. Three quarters of they way into transferring the wort into the primary, the flow stopped because the hop buds plugged up the hose. So I resorted to scooping the remainder of wort with a sauce pan an poured it through a strainer that rested in a large funnel. Then I had to press the oily residue out of the hop buds with my stirring spoon. 

Most of the pellitized hops made it through so I hop this batch has a nice bite to it. 

Typical for ales, I let the hops go along for the ride in the primary. 

Ginger Beer

Brew date: Sept 13th

Recipe 

1 gallon water

12 oz ginger root chopped in food processor

1.5 cups sugar

1 lemon juiced and zested

1 lime juiced and zested. 

Add ginger and sugar to water. 

Boil for 30 minutes. 

Remove from heat, add lemon and lime zest, grated rind. 

After on hour, add lemon and lime juice 

Continue to cool unit below 120 deg F. 

Strain into fermentor. 

Pitch yeast later when room temp. 

Ferment till yeast fizzles out in about a week. 

Boil 1/8 cup sugar water for bottling fizz. 

Bottle condition for one week. 

Refrigerate. 

Enjoy. 

This is our first effort in making ginger beer. Next run will include several pounds of two row barley and some rye instead of the sugar. 

Will let you know how it turns out.

Update: The lemon is too heavy and the ginger is too faint. Probably boiled too long, and fermented too long. Adding simple sugar helps but the verdict is that wifey will purchase her Crabby's when she whats a bottle.

Update 2: The other day I poured equal parts simple syrup and ginger beer over a couple of ice cubes, added a lemon wedge and had a taste. It really is kind of refreshing.  I think I'll try it again.

Which Criminal Approved This?

I'm in Raleigh NC helping my SIL reside his garage. 

I want to know the criminals in Georgia Pacific who foisted cardboard sheathing and siding on the American public. 

I would ask them how much money did they need to bribe the ASTM in order to get this siding approved. 

Here is a load of siding that is headed to the dump. How can banks give 30 year notes on homes that are only designed to last 20 years?

This is a disgrace to all things decent and proper. The architects who specified this and the contractors who installed this garbage aught be publicly humiliated.

End rant.