Long, Long, Way Too Long

OK, is has been a while since we have posted. Also it has been over 2 years since we made beer. And believe it or not, it has been 9 months since we have been climbing. Damn Sinners we are. Life has a tendency to hit you hard and fast. We all need to remember to stop and have a good time. If we are always hell bent chasing the “Golden Ring”, the finer things in life will pass you by. I have been chasing work, dicking with damn PC’s, building and hacking servers, futzing with mobile dohickies, developing crap, braking software systems, fixing software systems, and developing my professional Bull Shit. I had lost myself if the quagmires of chasing success. I forgot what is like to be free. I will not be one of those mind numb drones kissing every pastey ass in the name of a dollar. I AM DONE. To Hell with the “Golden Ring”! It is time to brew!

Long story short, our brew house and pub has totally changed since 2008. I have a few now additions that I will be adding to the brewery. I have a new keg to convert into a mash tun, a nice SS false bottom, a weld-on therm, and March pump. My buddy Carl will be doing all the welding of the SS. Also we will be redoing all the plumbing for the gas on the stand and building a new water filtration system. Charles provided us a great fermentation frig, THANKS! As soon as Carl and I can come together, we will melt steal. The pub has been totally redesigned and redone. We are totally set for fun. There is a lot more planned for tomorrow.

The plan is to rebuild the brew house, calibrate the system to the brewing software, and brew a few pilot batches. I will make 5 small 6 gallon batches and 3 larger 12 gallon batches with the same recipe. The goal is to fine tune the system, retrain myself, and hopefully reproduce the same batch after it is all said and done. I will post new pics and keep updating.

Party Brew Labels

Brewed for our 15th year party.

Summer Brew Plans

 

OK.  It is starting to get really hot!  Houston's summer really suck especially when it is 95% with 99% humidity and you are standing over a boiling pot of sugar water.  The last time I brewed, the temperature was right at 92.  Damn hot for the month of May.  So I will brew one more batch of beer for the summer.  I am toying with the idea of brewing a Lambic...  Now that should be fun!.  Either that or a high gravity lager.  For some reason I am leaning towards the lager.  I guess the fear of cross contamination  to my entire brew house is pushing this.  I read an article in BYO called Reiterated Mashing: Multiple Mashes for Massive Brews (Dec, 2007) by Chris Colby.  You can find references on Basic Brewing and various forums on the net.  The idea sounded like it would be fun.  So who knows...  If this technique works for making high gravid lagers I could possibly use the same technique with other styles of beer.   I do, however, plan to make a lot of cider this summer.  Man is it easy to do and I do not have to deal with the heat.  After making 2 batches of the P-Squared, I think I am hooked.

So long since the last update

I have been brewing like a madman.

I finished another Irish Red, Jitters round 2, Lite Golden Ale (a nice Kolsch using my Hellis recipe), Blueberry and Apricot ale, and just last weekend a Amarillo Pale Ale.

 

The Irish finished out at 7.7%ABV and was very nice.  The Jitters is truely a great thing.  I am not so happy with the fruit beers, but the neighbors love them.  and the Amarillo is in the fermenter.

Round 2 P squared Cider

 

My first cider turned out nicely.  But since it was my first, I can do better.  Also it was intended for someone with a gluten problem.  Well, that person did not have a chance to try the cider.  Our neighborhood ladies made sure of that.  So off to the store to gather ingredients and started a new.

 

This time I planned to not let the cider get warmer than 68 degrees.  I made a starter for the 2 packets champagne  yeast using 400 mls of apple juice and 400 mls of water.  As soon as the yeast started I added the juice and concentrate to the fermenter to give us 1.075 OG and pitched.  Today we pulled off a little for testing.  DAMN 400% better than the first batch!  It is amazing how controlling temperature improves fermentable's.  The  first batch chugged away at 74-75 degrees to produce a nice cider.  This batch has never seen anything over 66 degrees.  WOW, I would buy this stuff as is at the store.  We are setting at 1.032. not too much longer...

BUBBLE!, BUBBLE!

 

Heavy Fermentation, NICE

 

This carboy sounds like it is alive.  You can hear the burping from across the room!

The temp on the frig is set to 64, the actual temp inside is 63.  the beer on top read right at 69 and the beer on the bottom reads 70.  The yeasties are having fun!!!

Nice bubbly batch

Ok, the brewday is over and we are tired.  I would have to say, this has been the best brew session, ever.  Dale and Mike REALLY helped out.  I did not have to ask them for anything.  It felt like they know what I was thinking and did it. 

Lets talk about the beer.  You already read about the recipe.   The mash:  my target OG into the boil was 1.060, we hit 1.068.  This gave us 87.16% efficiency going into the boil...  Very, Very good...  Our est. OG post boil target was 1.068, actual OG was 1.070.  The Recipe was plan using a brewhouse efficiency of 75%, today we hit 76.9%.  Outstanding, Thank You Dale and Mike.  We aerated and pitch in cool wort right at 4pm, it is now almost 10 pm and we have fully active fermentation!  Not bad at all...

Brewing on Saturday!!!

It has been too long since the last time we had a change to fire up the kettles.  Dale C. and Mike C., from our climbing gym, will be joining us.  Mike has brewed with us several times in the past, we are very exited to have him here with us again.  Dale is interest in becoming a brewer and this will be his first romp around the brew kettle.  We will post pictures of our brew day soon.  Here is a link to the jitters recipe.

Beer For Everyone

We do not discriminate at our Brewhaus. My Number 1 brewing assistant is an accomplished Root Beer brewer.

My favorite Root Beer label:

George brewed root beer a few years back to give as Christmas presents. He also designed this lovely label. Unfortunately, after much debate, the label did not make it on the bottles. We did not want to scare all the little neighborhood kiddies...

A Little Glass of Heaven

My dad has a saying, "A blind hog can pick up an acorn every now and then". Well I was able to do this with beer.

The Munich Helles truly is a thin slice of heaven. Most beer lovers compare most all beers to something brewed in Europe. Most likely a pilsner from Germany or Czech Republic or maybe a stout or a common bitters from British Isle. And everyone has had that yellow fizzy stuff in the little cans. Hellis is a lesser known beer that everyone should try, at least once in their life time. Truly, my favorite German Beer! I tried to recreate this beer from memory. So, the first run was not quite what I wanted. Then I did a little research... and with the help from Jamil from The Brewing Network, I brewed the hands down, Best Beer Ever!.

The grain bill is very important, yet simple: 92% German Pilsner, 6% Munich light, 2% Melanoiden will do the trick. Be sure to do a 90 minute boil to drive off the DMS. Jamil uses Magnum hops to bitter, but I used Saaz for bittering and aroma. I made a 4000 ml starter and pitched the yeast cake. I pitch at 40F and ramped to 50F for 35 days. I do not do a diacetyl rest, I let the yeast clean up. Then, I age the beer for another 2 to 4 weeks. WOW!!! This is a medium golden clear beer with a thick creamy head. The aroma is clean and malty. And the taste is over the top. I can not wait to brew this again!

Freedom Red Ale

Freedom turned out to be one of Kelly's favorites. She wanted a fun session beer with loads of flavor. I used 91.25% Maris Otter pale malt, 7.25% Caramel 60, and 1.5 % Roasted Barley for the grain bill and East Kent Golding for bittering and Fuggles for flavor. I used WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast, but you could use any good liquid yeast. The beer finished with 4.8% ABV, 26 IBU, and the color is at 17.3 SRM. The Fuggles really came through to give the beer a wonderful aroma. The Maris Otter, Caramel, and the Irish Ale yeast give the beer a nice malty backbone. This beer is nice!!!

Jitters Portuccino

Coffee Beer? Yepper, damn good stuff at that! We added .5 pounds of fine espresso to the boil to give the beer a nice caffeine kicker. We finished off the fermentation with an additional .5 pounds of super brewed espresso to give the beer a nice nose, a bourbon vanilla bean for a interesting finish, and lactose sugar for creaminess. The beer finished at 7% ABV before the bourbon vanilla bean was added.

Notes and Comments

Jitters Taster Notes and Comments

 

From Rick:

I was pretty sure I was going to like this beer before I sampled because I'm a big dark beer fan and also really like coffee.
The beer did not disappoint. One of the first things I noticed, is that you can get a nice aroma of the coffee in the beer.
The coffee came out in the beginning and as part of the aftertaste. Very good, plus who can't use a little caffeine.
I'm not sure if I tasted the vanilla bourbon. Having said that, it may also be my palate and the fact that I'm a novice taster.
I drink a variety of beers such as:
IPA's
Stouts
Fruit beers - Cherry wheat in particular
Hefeweizens (sp?)
Ales
Overall, I enjoyed the beer and would gladly sample any of the brews.

From Garrick:

Beer.

I don't drink. Actually, I don't drink often. More accurately, I don't drink often so when I do I don't drink well.

I never remember anything after the third beer and if I manage to wake up and not be surprised by my location I find it a relief -- Until I move my head at all.

Steve, the IT guy at my current job, brews beer. I don't know much about the actual process involved in brewing. I know that there is a shortage of hops due to some environmental issues somewhere and Steve is stockpiling the stuff to maintain his ability to make more beer. I know there is quite a bit of math involved in the process. He has to calculate the strain of yeast and the exact sugar content of the solution. The beer he gave me has a couple of additional steps.

First, the initial boil contains coffee. Steve said this part isn't for flavor -- it just adds caffeine.

More coffee, better coffee, is added near the end for more caffeine and flavor.

Also, he re-hydrates a vanilla bean in bourbon and adds that in.

Totaled out, the beer finishes at 9% alcohol. And when I opened the bottle I could smell the coffee and the vanilla.

Shana and I shared a bottle last night. The bourbon is only noticeable on the exhale, which in my case was marked with a sound not unlike "Wu-fa-fa-fa-huh", though it was a pleasant feeling "Wu-fa-fa-fa-huh". Since I usually get sleepy when I drink beer and caffeine has no stimulant effect on me other than just keeping my organs working, I was surprised to glance at the clock later and see that it was 1:30am.

For the first time ever, I was actually saddened to hear the high-pitched clink of an empty bottle hitting the table. Sure, I've been annoyed by the sound before, displeased at the thought of having to fetch another, angry enough to smash the bottle and brandish the jagged neck at the people making fun of my inability to play pool, but never genuinely sad. 

This morning he said he is brewing another batch soon, so I should get back to work now.

Stuff I brewed Recently

Panty Remover Ale

This is without a doubt the Brewhaus's favorite. Most non beer lovers or likers enjoy this beer. With the exception of a young lady at a StoneMoves's Climbing party.  She thought it tasted like Robitussin.  So, she will always be known as Robo... In her defense, not everyone likes beer.

Fire Starter Pale Ale

This is a classic American Pale Ale. Lots of hops! I brew this the same way most big guys do. I use Magnum and Pearle to bitter and Cascades for flavor and aroma. One of my favorites...

A Few I Brewed

Limpy Irish Stout

Not quite a Stout enough to be a stout. It was good, but not one of my finest brews. This beer was suppose to be called Death Eater. A friend was helping out with this brew, but it just was not his day.  David was working on setting the Hot Water Tun to Sparge, when the hose came off!  DAMNIT!!!,  I have never seen a person move so fast in all my life. He was burn pretty good. The beer was doomed.

Plumbers Crack IPA

This beer is modeled after my favorite Brewery's IPA, Avery. Damn Good!

Whale Tail Blonde

I do not think I need to give the inspiration for the name... This is a nice light full flavored beer. Brewed with Saaz hops and a lovely German Kolsch yeast. Makes for a fun session beer.

Nutty Wanker

I don't really know where the name came from, most likely from one of my drunken beer groupies... The is a really nice American styled Brown Ale. It was brewed with Northern Brewer and Williamette Hops (couple of my favorite varieties of hops). The beer has a spicy nutty flavor with a hint on Williamette nose.