And Then There Was A Keg
Thanks to a little extra summer work, I now have the means to keg beer. Which means I'll save super-ridiculous amounts of time that I would have spent bottling beer, and also I'll have my own kegged beer. Here's what it alls gets down to. Hardware: 5 gallon Cornelius keg (soda keg) 5 lb. CO2 tank dual gauge regulator Software: beer (obviously) So here's how I understand the process to work. (I who haven't actually kegged anything yet but have read about it.) 1. I'll clean and sanitize the keg. It used to hold soda, and it still smell like it when I open it up. This will not...
Brewed Slowly: #7 American Pale Ale
So when I bought the stuff for the last beer I made (80 Shilling), I went ahead and got what I'd need to make a Pale Ale. I haven't made one in about six months, so I figured I was due for it. This time I wanted to try to make the beer more on the balanced side with regard to the malt/hops ratio than I would for, say, my attempts at an IPA. That said, I did buy the same hops that Sierra Nevada dry-hops their Torpedo IPA with with the intention of dry-hopping this pale ale similarly. The...
Brewed Slowly: #6 Scottish 80 Shilling
I've been watching a lot of golf this week (since The Players Championship is on tv), and I haven't yet posted about the last beer I've made. Now that I look at the date I brewed it on, I can't blame my tardiness solely on golf. In any case, here's the last beer I made. It's a Scottish 80 Shilling--a British session beer that's heavier on the malt than the hops. I got no pictures of the brewing process, but here's what I do got: an Ommegang Hennepin Belgian Saison to drink and Hollywood Town Hall on the stereo (Mostly, Jayhawks...
Brewed Slowly: #5 Kolsch
This is the first beer I've made in a little while. Actually it's been over a month since the last beer I made. So that's longer than I'd like it to be. I don't think I got too rusty in the meantime, but we'll see. I waited to post about this beer until I bottled it, and right now, the beer's just gotten into the bottles. We'll see it again in a couple of weeks or less depending on how impatient I am. I decided to make a Kolsch this time. It's not a beer I'm very familiar with, but...
Shit’s On Now
Filed under: Brewed Slowly, DIY, beer, brewing, drinking it all
There is now an official beer refrigerator on the property. Here's a picture of the fridge (sp?) that's in the basement: Marvel at its ability to extract internal heat from items (i.e., beers) and leave them cold to the touch. Magic! See how it stands free of cumbersome generators and complicated machinery. Self-contained! Super! Is that a handle allowing easy access inside the machine? Goddamn right it is! In there's where the beer goes! Now that we're done with all the shouting, here's what the refrigerator (correct spelling--looked it up) is going to do: 1. House any prospective beers that need to be...
Brewed Slowly: #4 American Cherry Wheat
I've been MIA for a while as far as posting new material goes, but I've got some beer to write about. This bitch don't write itself, yo. About two weeks ago, I cooked up a batch of American Wheat, which was/is to become a Cherry Wheat beer--and hopefully not as overwhelmingly cherry as a certain cherry beer I've publicly berated. This beer has already been bottled and should be primed sufficiently about a week from now. If you want to find out what kinds of frog legs and tennis shoes I tossed in the pot, you know what to do. The software: 6 lbs Northern...
Brewed Slowly: #3 Red Ale
On to the next beer. Last Sunday, I brewed a Red Ale kit that was given to me as a Christmas present this year. I've put off posting about it most of this week. And for no good reason, really. But now I've found myself in front of the computer with my notes in hand, so here it is. The software: 12 oz. specialty grains (I have no idea what grains were included--this kit is secretive) 7 lbs Briess golden light extract (liquid) 1 oz. Amarillo hops 1 oz. Ahtanum hops Nottingham Dry yeast I brewed this beer by myself, but I followed the same process as we...
Brewed Slowly Update: #2 Cherry Stout
The cherry stout that we made for the holidays has been ready to drink for some time now. It's been busy around here, and most of the beers have gone out as presents, but I'm finally making time to talk about it here. Our cherry stout, also known as our Red-nose Stout, is pretty self explanatory. It's black as any stout, and it smells that way as well (like a stout, not black). You can smell the cherries somewhat, and you can taste them up front. Then you taste the stout. It's a pretty heavy beer. We added extra malt to...
Brewed Slowly: #2 Cherry Stout
I'm not a fan of fruity beers (or negative construction introductions), but today Steve and I made a Cherry Stout. We have our reasons. It's a holiday beer of sorts. Steve brought some Sam Adams Cherry Wheat for the occasion. (I got no pictures because our digital camera (my other camera's an old-school film kind) killed the batteries as soon as I turned it on to take some pictures of the process. Imagine pots and brown/black liquid. Smiling faces on two medium handsome men.) This might be the darkest beer yet. Like dark as in black hole with chocolate milk froth as...
Here Comes the Beer
I'm going to be shifting gears and focusing, almost exclusively, on homebrewing and beer. In an effort to more narrowly define my site and hopefully find a focused niche, I won't be posting about all of my interests anymore. Nobody's a pro at it all, except maybe Tom Waits, and I ain't Tom Waits. I'm currently trying to find a new home (read: blog) for The Box of Vinyl Project (only one rejection so far) because I think the idea is too much fun, and hopefully, to you guys, interesting, to quit altogether. If you know of a blog that it...
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