Monthly Archives: February 2018

My Bucket List is Growing Exponentially

Maybe I should just quit clicking on beer related goodies from blogs and other beer related ads and email subscriptions sending me hoppy stuff! This morning in my mai was an email from CraftBeer.com sent by jay@brewersassociation.com. Thanks Jay, you highjacked my morning reading. The lead in was “Announcing 2018’s Great American Beer Bars”. How could I resist? 51 offerings, 50 states and the den of liars of Washington DC. I got carried away, there is a tab in the menu for “Travel”….. more for my bucket List! Damn!

https://www.craftbeer.com/breweries/great-american-beer-bars-2018

This website is just overloaded with food, beer, travel, beer, brewery info, beer, FESTIVAL info(now my head is spinning and not from the Bells Hopslam!) and more beer stuff! Let’s do the math, 51 Great American Beer Bars, I am weeks away from 67 – If I knock off 10 per year that puts me at age 72, BUT – something tells me the list will be updated every year! Hmmmmm, throw in a few beer festivals, local breweries and damn, I do love to eat…..I think I am short on the requisite years required! So, what should an old, no – let’s say a mature, beer drinker do?

My wife actually makes lists and scratches off the completed item. I have resisted the activity, yes, when I do I am more productive and accomplish more……well, not really more! I kind of like the spontaneous way I roll……..it does create a need for me to stock up on “round-to-its” – they are in short supply according to my wife…..LOL! OK, I’ll make a list.

Or……..

Maybe I can visit vicariously……if you are reading this blog and have hit one of the “Great American Beer Bars” on the list….Please send me the juicy details in the comments section…..it may help! I will accept your nominations too……

Drink Local and Drink Responsibly

Bishop

 

 

I think I Will Call it an “Imperial Stout”

From the Beer Advocate website; https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/157/

“American Double / Imperial Stout

Description:
The American Double Stout gets some of it inspiration from the Russian Imperial Stout. Many of these are barrel aged, mostly in bourbon / whiskey barrels, while some are infused with coffee or chocolate. Alcohol ranges vary, but tend to be quite big, and bigger than traditional Russian Imperial Stouts. Most tend to have cleaner alcohol flavors, higher hop levels, and more residual sweetness. Very full-bodied with rich roasted flavors far surpassing normal stouts.

Average alcohol by volume (abv) range: 7.0-12.0%”   [ ? ]

My desire was for a beer at the 11-12% ABV range and mine comes in at a respectable 8.66% ABV. I used charred oak spirals that had been soaked in cheap bourbon. They sat in the secondary for almost 4 weeks. I bottled it today(Feb 21) and I am pleasantly surprised. The bourbon flavor is not overwhelming, my previous attempts took nearly 6 months before the heat of the bourbon flavor mellowed. A little bit of a coffee flavor is present as well in the sample I pulled for the gravity measurement.
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Transferring the dark and yummy mixture into the priming tank.
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Priming tank slowly filling. Sorry about the focus….the color is what is important…..yes very nice!
I bottled up 23 “Bombers” (22 ounce bottles) and 5 in 12 ounce bottles. The 12 ounce bottles will be sampled periodically to see how the beer is mellowing and aging. I will wait………maybe wait……..kinda sorta for 30 days to see how it goes! If I break down and pop a top early, I will admit my weakness and report out on the taste test!
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B for Bombers of B for beer or B for Bishop or……… Can you spot my mistake?
I have reviewed my brewing process and definitely messed up the sparging. I made notes on the brewing worksheet and will see if I can do better next time…..
This all grain batch sure made the chickens at one of my apiary locations happy. I bagged up all the spent grain into individual 1 gallon zip lock bags. Every few days I pull one of the bags out and let it defrost. When i spread it out in the chicken coop they attack the pile of grains as if they were starving! Not sure the grains influence the flavor of the eggs, but “free” feed is a good thing……not really free but nothing goes to waste!
A lot of grain in this batch; 12 lbs. of pale 2 row malt, 12.2 ounces Caramel/Crystal malt 120L, 8.9 ounces Black patent malt, 8.9 ounces Chocolate malt, 8.9 ounces of Roasted barley, 8.9 ounces of Flaked rye and 8.9 ounce of flaked wheat.
Hops; 1.35 ounces Chinook @ 60, .81 ounces Chinook @ 30. .54 ounces Cascade @ 15 and another .54 ounces @ 5. Added 1/2 Irish Moss and 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient @ 10.
Used Safale US-05 and the fermentation took off in a hurry.
OG 1.078 FG 1.012  = ABV of ~ 8.66%
Now the wait…….28 more days……..first taste test………If I can wait that long????????
Drink Responsibly and Drink Local
Bishop

The SMaSH IPA is Bottled

Yesterday, February 18th was bottling day for the SMaSH IPA. I wanted to bottle it at the end of day 4 of the dry hopping….2 ounce of whole Mosaic hops…..didn’t happen until day 5th day. I did pull a small sample while bottling and saved it until the task was done.

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Priming Bucket set and ready for bottling.IMG_4464

Sanitized and cleaned bottles ready for the elixir of the Gods!!!!!

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Painfully slow but such a rewarding process. Clean, fill, cap, rinse and store until properly conditioned.IMG_4465

A bunch of mutt sized 12 ounce bottles and one 22 ounce bomber.

12 lbs. Maris Otter Pale Malt

1 ounce Mosaic hops 60 minutes

1.5 ounce Mosaic hops10 minutes

1.5 ounce Mosaic hops at flame out

2.0 ounces of Mosaic hops – dry hopped 5 days

1/2 tsp Irish Moss at 10 minutes

1 pkg. White Labs #WLP-051 California Ale V

OG 1.050

Final 1.008

Single Infusion, Medium body, batch sparge.

4 Gallons into the fermenter….

Dry hopped in the secondary fermenter.

First impressions – daughter Lisa who is my IPA drinking buddy gave the sample a thumbs up, great aroma and a nice pleasant citrus like flavor. I agreed. Now to condition for 10 days or so and it should be more than ready for my birth day on or around the 12th of March.

Drink Local and drink Resonsibly

Bishop

Brewing a SMaSH IPA

I’m in the backyard on a very pleasant day! Wearing short pants, T-shirt and the usual Crocs on my feet. The freezing weather is hopefully far behind us. Fingers crossed, I just planted sugar snap peas again – grrrr, freeze took care of my early planting, Blue Lake green beans and more beets. Yes, those comments belong in my garden blog but I couldn’t resist!

Started with 12 pounds of Marris Otter malt. It is a single infusion, batch sparged recipe with whole Mosaic hops and also dry hopped with 2 full ounces of the Mosaic hops! Fermented with White Labs WLP # WLP051 California Ale yeast. Yum! Tasters in about 30 days, just in time for my 67th Birthday.

Mash tun sitting full of grain waiting on the water to heat up. Looking to start with 15 qts of 164.8 degree F water. Now, sit back and wait!!!!! Just looked at the clock and Yee Haw, it is 12:10 PM. Beer time, a session IPA should go well with the wait!

One of my favorite session beers. The “Great Carnac” sees a clone of this beer on the horizon! Now an update on my Russian Imperial Stout.

It won’t be quite so Imperial nor stout, 7% or a little more ABV. The error is in my brewing technique! I won’t embarrass myself and give the details but it was something about my sparging that caused the problem. Taste is very good…..more like a Porter. I have added medium dark toasted oak spirals that had been soaked in bourbon for a bit of a more exotic flavor( intended for a Russian Imperial Stout). I will give it a few weeks and then bottle and age it for a few months.

My neighbors, Doug and Cindy, will be my taster’s panel. They love the Southern Star Brewery’s Buried Hatchet Stout! I also suspect they will be honest in their feedback.

Brewing process is on track. I will soon be boiling the wort and dropping in the hops and Irish Moss. Now, while the wort chills and before I pitch the yeast, I’ll make a bee run, feed and inspect my hives. A minor gardening chore along the way, at one of the apiary locations I help maintain a vegetable garden and I have some sugar snap peas and green beans that have been soaked and ready to plant! No, not in bourbon!

Drink Local and Drink Responsibly

Bishop