Category Archives: Homebrewing

Pumpkin Ale is In the Bottle

Two days ago I managed to get a window of time and bottle the Pumpkin Ale. The process went smooth…sanitized the kitchen and equipment, kept my hands away from those unsanitary places, no nose picking or scratching the nether lands! One of the simple lessons learned from the local store, Backyard Homebrewers and Education Center, was the use of a misting spray bottle filled with the sanitizer used for the equipment. It comes in very handy.

After struggling with the house being warmer than I want for the fermentation period I now struggle with the house being a bit too cool for the conditioning period for the bottled Pumpkin Ale! I may need to get the heating pad out for a few days to get the Ale off to a good start. The sample pulled to check the final gravity was sampled by my son Ben and his good friend Chuck Ciliske. Chuck is a West Point grad in town in order to get married on the 30th! Both young men gave the sample good marks with the comment that the pumpkin flavor was not overwhelming. I agreed as I tossed back the remaining few sips. The final gravity came in at a very nice 1.010….. the calculated ABV should be somewhere around 5%. A nice beer to drink without getting too toasty.

I can’t remember if I mentioned sampling the Imperial Stout on Christmas Day? Just a bit of CRS cropping up…..It had been nearly a month since my last taster and the beer is mellowing nicely. I still think the 6 month mark is the target date for sharing with friends. I may set a few bottles back and let them mature for more than a year or so, available for Christmas and New Year’s Eve in 2013. I have one bottle that escaped consumption from my December 2010 batch…..being held for Ben’s graduation from LSU in May of 2013.

Pefect philosophy -

Perfect philosophy –

The only bad beer is no beer!

Drink local and drink responsibly!

TTFN

Bishop

Quick Beer Update

I just returned from California and peeked at the secondary holding my pumpkin ale. If I can convince my wife I will bottle it tomorrow and clean up the corner of the bedroom set up as my fermenting location. I think she may agree if I make an additional promise or two!

Bakersfield, as you know from my previous posts, has a local brewery that I really enjoy, unfortunately I did not find the time to swing by. At least I avoided Coors and Budweiser products and sampled a few good beers, Firestone, Widmer Brothers, Sam Adams of several varieties and a Pyramid Wheat Beer.

My wife picked me up at the airport and let me have lunch at the Brickhouse….I had a cask beer. Served cool from the cask, hand drawn and flavored by the live yeast. It was a very smooth beer. Need to go back and check out the rest of the offerings!!!!

If I don’t post before Christmas…I want all y’all to have a Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2002 in Midland Texas....

Christmas 2002 in Midland Texas….

TTFN

Local local and drink responsibly!

Bishop

Homebrew and Venison Burgers – life is just too damn good!

Last night I made a variation of my famous hamburger recipe using some ground venison from a deer my son shot a few weeks ago. To aid in the process and because I didn’t have to drive, I had 2 pints of my IPA, just an OK IPA but still drinkable, and two pints of my Dirty Honey Blonde Ale, it gets better the longer it sits. It has just a hint of a banana flavor from fermenting too warmly at 75-76 degrees F. I need to solve that problem for future batches(CFO must approve the expenditure though). The current batch of pumpkin ale has benefitted from cooler temperatures and I chose yeast that works well at that temperature.

The burgers – the last grilling effort resulted in burgers that tasted great but did not hang together as well as they should have. This time around I used 2 lbs. of venison, two eggs, A1, Worcestershire, Lawry’s Seasoning salt and Garlic salt. I put the eggs and sauces in a blender for a bit to mix them well and added to the meat. Seasoned, mixed well and formed into 6 – 1/3 lbs. Bambi burgers. They were just simply awesome and made better by the pleasure of my homebrew.

Burgers almost ready!

Burgers almost ready!

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Dirty Honey Blonde Ale needing my attention.

Sizzling away. They smell so good!

Sizzling away. They smell so good!

In the kitchen now - Burgers were great!

In the kitchen now – Burgers were great!

Drink local or make your own!

Drink Responsibly!

TTFN

Bishop

Pumpkin Ale

I wrote about frost on the pumpkin this morning for my gardening blog…..a little more philosophical than usual this morning but came on the heals of racking my Pumpkin Ale into the secondary yesterday evening. I should really call it “Cinderella Pumpkin Ale” as it was brewed with fresh pumpkin puree that I prepared from one of my wife’s fall decorative pumpkins. They are usually discarded once the season ends but I chose to make use of at least one of them. Two more are still firm and available for rescue.

Back to the ale, it started at about 1.056 original gravity and checked in at 1.015 when I racked it into the carboy(uncorrected gravities). It should be an easy beer to drink at around 5.6% ABV plus or minus a little. I had my oldest son and wife sample the ale from the graduated cylinder and both agree that it is pretty tasty. I want it to clean up pretty well before bottling. There was a good two inches of yeast and puree debris at the bottom of the primary and still a bit cloudy. May let it clean-up until after Christmas before bottling.

Last night I was treated to a great evening by my wife…….no, not like that! She bought some tickets for the US Women’s soccer match vs. China here in Houston last night. My daughter and three good friends joined us for some pre-match beers at the Flying Saucer downtown. It always a bit crowded and noisy and we almost could not find a place for the 6 of of us to sit together. The evening chill wasn’t too bad so we grabbed a table out side. Quieter, except when the Metro Train whizzed by on Main St. I added three new beers to my list, tossed the keys to my wife, the DD and off we went to the match.

USA, USA, USA was the common chant and we weren’t disappointed. We missed the first 15 or so minutes circling to find a parking spot but arrived just in time to see Abby Wambach put a signature header into the back of the net. She had another unassisted goal in the second half as the US side ran away with a 4-0 win. It was cold enough that the 24 oz. can of Tecate lasted almost the entire match and stayed cold!

The Cinderella Pumpkin was huge so I wound up with puree to spare….so , rather than brew 20 gallons of Pumpkin Ale I put some in the freezer and used some to make the Pumpkin bread shown below. Pretty danged good….especially on day two and beyond! It seems that the flavors mature as it site….hmmmmm, kinda like good beer, eh?

Yum, very nice. Made two loaves and have plenty to make more!

Yum, very nice. Made two loaves and have plenty to make more!

Drink local and responsibly!

TTFN

Bishop

Beer Travels

My beer blogging efforts have been pretty slim over the past month or so but that does not mean I haven’t thought about, dreamed about, consumed or made any beer. I have been traveling, primarily to Bakersfield California, home of Lengthwise Brewing. I am a big fan of their Centennial IPA. It is not crazy hoppy, just a great balance of the bitter and the aromas. I have visited the pub out in the Rosedale area three times during this past month. Besides their offerings they always have a few guest beers from the western US. One of the guest beers was the Hop Notch form Uinita Brewing in Salt Lake City, Utah. Good but not as good as the home town offering!

This past week I was in Paso Robles for two nights. My occasional workmate, Alan would have been right in his element. Paso is becoming one of the best red wine districts in the country. For Alan, the Paso area would be reminiscent of our experience in the Margret River area in Western Australia….great wines, no crowds and a great tasting room experience – The Paso winery for fun, great wine and great service is Tobin James. Isn’t this supposed to be about beer? Oh yes, Paso, home to Firestone Walker and that is the real story.

I have enjoyed the Firestone offerings for many years now but have never made the stop. This trip my partner was Murray and he does love his beer. We went to the Taproom Restaurant adjacent to the brewery. It was a great casual place, brewery themed and staffed by some great people. Tiffani was assigned to us and she was delightful, knowledgeable and provided outstanding service. I started off with the Taproom IPA. How would my kids text it?….OMG!!!! ….. That sums it up. The first thing that I noticed was the heavenly hop aroma before it even touched my lips, I paused, savored the aroma and then let my tongue enjoy the beverage. I then tried the Velvet Merlin, an Oatmeal Stout, recommended by Erica at the Courtyard Marriott hotel. It was pretty darned good.

Tiffani recommended the seared Ahi Tuna which Murray ordered and I chose the salmon. Both were excellent. The only question that went unanswered for the evening was which hops were used in the Taproom IPA. Tiffani didn’t know, the brewmaster had headed home 30 minutes before our arrival, Rob the manager also didn’t know and last but not least, Milt (capacity unknown) swung by and although very chatty, he didn’t know either! Tiffani brought by two small brandy snifters of a barrel aged DBA – oh my – it was superb. Now our interest was piqued and I asked about the Walker Reserve, Parabola, a barrel aged Imperial Stout – the 2011 was $ 55.00 for a 22 oz bottle and the 2012 was $ 35.00. We decide to go big! Before I could ask where I could buy it on the outside I was informed that I couldn’t…it has to be sold and consumed on site.

Parabola - Barrel aged Imperial Stout from Firestone Walker in Paso Robles, CA

Parabola – Barrel aged Imperial Stout from Firestone Walker in Paso Robles, CA – iPhone photo

It was absolutely outstanding. Murray noted that was akin to indulging in a very good Port after dinner. It felt so good in the mouth and the complexity of flavors was heavenly. All we needed was some good dark chocolate and it would have been complete. Note: Alan, the only non-beer drinking Australian I know, you would enjoy this “beer” – it really goes well beyond beer, We shared a glass with Tiffani, I hope the management won’t frown on her sharing a bit of this fantastic bottle!

A quick google search for the best barrel aged Imperial Stouts showed the Firestone Walker’s Parabola in first place amongst the voters and Goose Island from Chicago holding down the second place spot. I need to contact my nephew in Chicago to see if he can score a bottle or two for me!

I am drinking a test bottle of the Imperial Stout I brewed about 4 months ago. It is pretty tasty but will benefit from a few more months in the bottle. I will rack my Cinderella Pumpkin Ale to the secondary tomorrow. I have high expectations of this brew. Reading beer mags during the past week I discovered a brewing technique that I want to explore….. SmaSh brewing……single malt, single hop with a variation of maybe a single specialty grain…..could be an interesting experiment!

My young Imperial Stout - yum but has some time to go!

My young Imperial Stout – yum but has some time to go!

TTFN

Drink Local and Drink Responsibly!

Bishop

Just One Beer at a Time

Thursday night October 25th I was in Long Beach at the 555 East Steakhouse. As advertised – very good steaks but I had been wanting a local beer to compliment the meal. It seems like there are lots of San Diego beers, Northern California beers but LA is barren when it comes to local beers. I quizzed the waiter….he had to check, seems like wine is their thing at the restaurant. I was in luck, they had a new offering from a small brewery just up the road in Torrance, CA., called the Strand Brewing Company. I had a pint of the 24th Street Pale Ale. I was pleased with the aroma and it had a pleasant drinkable taste. So I had another! I did a little research….for some reason LA is way behind the craft brewery craze in my home state. Strand Brewing is a good representative of what LA needs more of.

I flew home to Houston, arrived a little after noon, repacked my bags and headed off to Baton Rouge. 283 miles later I pulled into the Fairfield Inn on Essen! My son Ben met me and suggested we dine at Twin Peaks. I was expecting a Rocky Mountains theme and it was more like Le Gran Tetons – if y’all know what I mean( that is really a lie, I knew exactly what Twin Peaks was all about). Anything to make the young lad feel good. I barely noticed the scenery! I tried the house brew – Naughty Brunette. It was Ok.

Saturday night found us at the Kona Grill for a meal before catching the movie Argo….decent movie, suspenseful but you knew they were going to get out…. The poor young gal couldn’t pour a beer. I tried to coach her but she didn’t get it….oh well. No sushi for Ben nor me either. Just one beer – she forgot my second beer so she only had one chance. We did eat fish…Ben is growing up, no bacon cheeseburger this night…. sea bass, couscous and some interesting vegetables.

Sunday Brunch at Chimes just off the LSU campus. A noon start….Ben needed some beauty sleep. An amazing selection of beers on tap and in bottles. I had an IPA from NOLA Brewing, the Hopitoulas IPA – best beer of the weekend. They serve Imperial Pints so one was enough before the long drive back to Houston. The breakfast/brunch at Chimes is just simply outstanding! I am looking forward to an excuse to go back so I can do a proper critique of the offerings! I just need a driver and a bed!

This week at home, I had to sip on my homebrew IPA….so good!

My IPA in a St Arnold’s 12 ounce glass…..trying to stretch it out a little longer. I have 6 L remaining of the original 18 L batch.

Grilled some chicken the other night along with a Karbach Hopidillo in hand – this local brewery is so good! Last night I chilled one of my Imperial Stouts…..it has been bottled maybe 6 weeks. it was a little early but I just had to know. I bottled about 6 – 12 ounce bottles as the sacrificial offerings. It was good but I know that it will just get better with age. December 1st is the next scheduled sampling.

Just finished that little 12 ouncer of my IPA as I sit here tapping the keys and listening/watching the CMA Awards…..life is just so damn good!

Drink Local

TTFN

Bishop

Oh My – The Choices are Overwhelming!

I was needing a new blog that I just started following and I pulled some category winners from his posting…

84 categories of beer styles, 85 if you count the ProAm category, at this year’s Great American Beer Festival. I need to block some time in my schedule next year to fit this festival in in. What would it cost to sample all of the gold through bronze winners in each category???? That is 255 beers…a little more than enough to get my platter hung on the wall at the Flying Saucer. At say $ 4.00 per beer, that may be a little high, that works out to about $ 1,020 not counting shipping, travel hotels, meals and aspirin! I wonder if I can contact “beerjobber.com” ( http://www.beerjobber.com/ )and set up a weekly delivery to work my way through the 85 categories…that would save on the travel costs…. Hey Hun – what do you think? http://www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com/

I have highlighted a few categories that caught my eye. I am in the research phase of some new homebrew attempts. The “Session Beer” category has caught my eye for my next homebrew. A little lighter and around 4% ABV vs a lot of my brews that are 5+% to nearly 10% for my Imperial Stout. One of my favorite California breweries seems to have done well – Firestone Walker in Paso Robles…Next visit home I may need to get a room at the Courtyard Marriott there and sample, sample, sample!

Category 1: American-Style Wheat Beer, 29 Entries
Gold: Wagon Box Wheat, Black Tooth Brewing Co., Sheridan, WY
Silver: Shredders Wheat, Barley Brown’s Brew Pub, Baker City, OR
Bronze: American Wheat, Gella’s Diner and Lb. Brewing Co., Hays, KS

Category 12: Session Beer, 67 Entries
Gold: Twerp, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA
Silver: Dock Street/Thiriez Table Saison, Dock Street Brewery, Philadelphia, PA
Bronze: Bitter American, 21st Amendment Brewery, San Francisco, CA

Category 15: Fresh Hop Ale, 34 Entries
Gold: Estate Homegrown Ale, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA
Silver: HopTime Harvest Ale, Russian River Brewing Co., Santa Rosa, CA
Bronze: Colorado IPA Nouveau, Tommyknocker Brewery, Idaho Springs, CO

Category 21: Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer, , 51 Entries
Gold: Jerry Maker, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery – Chandler, Chandler, AZ
Silver: Bourbon Barrel Aged Night Sail, Island Brewing Co., Carpinteria, CA
Bronze: Local Species, Blue Mountain Barrel House, Arrington, VA

Category 25: Aged Beer, 24 Entries
Gold: 2010 Old Trainwreck Barleywine, Silver Moon Brewing, Bend, OR
Silver: 2004 Triple Exultation, Eel River Brewing Co., Fortuna, CA
Bronze: Lovely Cherry Baltic Porter, Bend Brewing Co., Bend, OR

Category 44: Golden or Blonde Ale, 67 Entries
Gold: Steelhead Extra Pale Ale, Mad River Brewing Co., Blue Lake, CA
Silver: Firemans #4, Real Ale Brewing Co., Blanco, TX -one of my wife’s favorites
Bronze: TAPS Cream Ale, TAPS Fish House & Brewery, Brea, CA

Category 52: American-Style India Pale Ale, 203 Entries
Gold: IPA, Tap It Brewing Co., San Luis Obispo, CA
Silver: Pallet Jack IPA, Barley Brown’s Brew Pub, Baker City, OR
Bronze: Duet, Alpine Beer Co., Alpine, CA

Category 53: Imperial India Pale Ale, 128 Entries
Gold: 2 X 4, Thai Me Up Brewery, Jackson, WY
Silver: Café Racer 15, Bear Republic Brewing Co. – Healdsburg, Healdsburg, CA
Bronze: Double Jack, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA – one of my favorites!

Category 81: Imperial Stout, 58 Entries
Gold: Anastasia Russian Imperial Stout, Weasel Boy Brewing Co., Zanesville, OH
Silver: Imperial Stout, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA
Bronze: Russian Imperial Stout, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant – Media, Media, PA

2012 Great American Beer Festival Pro-Am Competition
Gold: More Fun Blonde, New Belgium Brewing Co., Fort Collins, CO
Brewmaster: New Belgium Brewing Company, AHA Member: Jay Shambo
Silver: Pointon’s Proper – An English Mild RAM Restaurant and Brewery – Wheeling, Wheeling, IL
Brewmaster: Lanny Fetzer, AHA Member: Scott Pointon
Bronze: Classic American Pilsner, Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery, Minneapolis, MN
Brewmaster: Mike Hoops, AHA Member: Kyle Sisco

The new blog that I am following, check it out at……..

http://bavarianairforce.wordpress.com/2012/10/18/gabf-bling/

TTFN

Drink local and if unavailable drink craft beers!

Bishop

Beer Drought and Other Thoughts

I am up in drought stricken Midland, Texas….and that includes craft beers that are pretty much absent from the landscape!  I have elected to swear off drinking any mass-produced beers this week…..that means pretty much no beer at all this week in Midland. Two hours north in Lubbock Texas there are craft brewers…at least one brewery and a brew pub. Midland needs a pipeline….

I am not ignoring good beer this week! I am reading and learning so I can try something new when brewing my next batch of homebrew. I have been reading a little about hop-bursting techniques. This technique really intrigues me as a way to really showcase your hop choices. I like the scent of the aromatic floral varieties of hops like; Williamette, Kent Golding, Cascade, Fuggle,  Mt. Hood and other low acid hops. These are used toward the end of the boil for aroma purposes as well as a little bittering. The high alpha acid hops usually go in at the front end of the boil and at the end of the boil what’s left behind are the bittering qualities of the hops and a bit of the original aromas. The higher alpha acid hops that have been added early in the boil for bitterness have wonderful aromas….why not keep more of the scent/aroma in the beer…this is where the hop bursting technique comes to bear.  (the list of hops varieties is huge…everyone has their own favorites)

With “hop bursting”, the bittering hops are added with 20 minutes left in the boil rather than at the 60 minute or 90 minute mark, adding some bitterness while retaining more of their aromas – then  the hopping schedule is built from there – the low acid aromatic hops are added at the 10 or 5 minute remaining mark and/or at flame out. Now, I want to be honest I haven’t tried it yet but Saturday the 13th of October I will adjust my recipe for a Honey Blonde and try this technique… I will update all y’all in about 5 weeks or so and let you know how it turns out!

For further reading follow the link.

http://barleypopmaker.info/2010/01/01/hopbursting-3-homebrew-recipes-using-this-method/

The other technique that has entered brewing portion of my pea brain is the Australian No Chill method. It is the result of not wanting to waste all that water used in cooling the beer quickly, as most gurus suggest, and it also make less of a mess – depending on your brewing location. Being in dry West Texas this week I see how this technique makes sense….they are 180 days or less from running out of municipal water supply. Another benefit….the hot wort can add another layer of sanitation protection for the home brewer. Make sure your fermenter can handle the temperature.  My food grade 6 gallon bucket style fermenter can be hot filled up to 180 degrees F. If you have stainless steel fermenters you are not limited to the 180 degree figure. Hun, I need to make another investment!!!!

What else can I learn in my spare time this week? I will share anything that I add to my hard drive!

Hop Flowers and Some Grain

Drink Local

TTFN

Bishop

Beer and Domestic Harmony

I bottled my Imperial Stout yesterday. The sample I took for the gravity reading was very nice. Just a hint of bourbon from the oak and a taste of both coffee and dark chocolate. Can’t wait to see how it matures. While prepping for the bottling exercise I cleaned up the counters and floors to eliminate potential cat hairs from invading the beer and infecting it. I had all of the chairs moved out and mopping when my wife showed up. She was so pleased that I was mopping the floors for her! Her admiration for my efforts was not long-lasting. She quickly spotted the bottle tree, the priming bucket and other paraphernalia. Then she let know exactly what she thought….

“You’re not mopping the floors for me! You are doing it for your beer!” she said and then walked away.

My beer bottle tree = clean and sanitized bottles!

Guys, can we ever win? On Tuesday of this week we were down at the St Arnold’s Brewery and she put me in a tough stop then. We were sitting at a table near the bar. There was a woman near the same age as my wife standing with her back to us. She was wearing fairly snug jeans. Kathy asked me the no win question.

“Hun, does my butt look as big as hers?” – I looked and honestly didn’t think the woman’s butt looked that big and Kathy’s not as wide as the woman’s butt. I replied, “Hun, your butt is shaped much nicer than hers!” Not quite the answer she wanted to hear.

Then she said, “let me go up and stand next her. You use your phone and take a picture for me.” Oh boy, I really can’t win this one…..fortunately she decided against having me take the picture.

I did remop the floor because I did make a bit of a mess……still did not make too many points because as she points out….I will probably just track in more muck. She normally waits for me to go out of town when she mops so the floors stay nicer – longer!

Had a nice lesson in brewing today down at the Backyard Homebrewers Education center in Humble TX – the H is silent!. I learned a few more tips and techniques to improve the brewing of my next batch!

My homemade toasted oak dowels – hand turned in my shop. They were soaked in bourbon for two weeks before being added to the secondary fermenter.

TTFN

Drink Local

Bishop

Imperial Stout- bottling day

Prepared on on iPhone so it is a bit of a challenge. I spent some time yesterday cleaning bottles in order to bottle my stout today. I have a bone to pick with some of the craft brewers out there. Labels and the glue used are the issues.

I give very high marks to two brewers, Back Forty Brewing – Naked Pig, good beer and the label slips off with minimal effort. Pappadecker Brewing, that’s me. My labels purchased from the Defalco supply store in Houston are close to perfect.

Sam Adams – you are a close second. Thank you! You are also a home brewers friend. Abita, y’all are close behind. Keep up the great work crafting gear beers and never, never go to twist off caps!

Now I have a problem with Real Ale bottles. Your labels are a real bitch to remove. Your beers are good and made in Texas but help us cheap guys out. I am trying to save money and recycle your bottles but your glue makes it a challenge!

Craft brewers, please help out your homebrewers as we tend to purchase your products over the mass produced yellow fizzy waters in the stores. We compliment you as well, as we try to emulate your styles so – help us out! Use glue and labels that will release in 20 minutes immersed in water! PS – I hope your ink is nontoxic – the labels go into my compost pile!!!!

One of my labels just sliding cleanly off the bottle! Enjoy and drink local! TTFN – Bishop

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