Category Archives: Homebrewing

A Birthday and a Lot of Love Prevent a Butt Whipping

Growing older is not such a bad thing….I like waking up on this side of the grass. Today is the 13th of March, the day after my 61st birthday and the celebration that went along with it. I had a nice series of calls from friends and family, a handful of meaningful email notes and the Facebook posts that made me feel pretty darned good. Had a great BBQ lunch at the  Goode Co –  My wife scored some really nice tickets for the Houston Rodeo and the Zac Brown Band concert –  We shared the evening with our best friends Beverly and John….it was an almost perfect night. It could have all been spoiled by my “inattention to detail” the evening of the 11th!

On the 11th of March I took one of the two 6L mini-kegs that had been conditioning and “tapped” it. I had chilled it and then installed the spout and CO2 cartridge. I decided to sample a little taste……. 5 or 6 ounces or so just to ensure that it was good…..and yes it WAS! I pulled the short glass of beer and closed the valve on the spout…..or so I thought. When fulled closed you feel it bump a little as it goes fully closed a detente type of valve . When fully closed you also have the option of engaging a toggle lock  to avoid any accidental discharge of beer. The valve will stayed closed without the lock if it is indeed fully closed…….that is where I must have erred. I sampled at 6ish and I went down for the count at about 9:40 PM. Sometime after 11 PM our son Joe came home and went to the back fridge for water or a soda….not a beer and found a very wet floor in front of the fridge and the smell of beer heavy in the air. He called out to my wife who opened the fridge only to have  a cascade of Dirty Honey Blonde ale run out onto the already soaked floor.

Apparently the valve was not fully closed and had emptied an entire 6L mini-keg of good beer as a fine spray inside of the refrigerator. Fortunately my birthday was less than an hour away and she  chose the high road….and let me sleep rather than rousting my sorry butt and putting me to work on the mess. So, love and respect for an aging and feeble minded husband prevented what could have been a serious butt whippin’!

Thanks hun….. I still owe you big time and I sure appreciate the fact that you love me!

One of My Favorite Birthday Cards

Das Dirty Honey Blonde – Es Schmeckt Gut

First Taste

I hope the German I learned back in 1972 translates ok!

I bottled the Dirty Honey Blonde about 10 days ago and I just had to sample it. First impressions….mighty good. I have two 6 Liter bottles and 10-16 oz. bottles sitting in a nice dark place. I think it will benefit from a few more weeks but it is very drinkable now. I have about 4 or 5 more glasses of Belgian Wit in one of the other 6 L bottles and once finished I will tap the “Blonde” and have her ready to dispense from the fridge.

The folks down at Backyard Home Brewers Education Center in Humble, TX gave me a winning recipe for this Ale. It is a partial grain recipe and turned out very nice… Local readers need to check them out.

http://www.backyardhomebrewers.com/       Listed below are some upcoming events for the local readers.

Advanced Homebrew Water Class: March 10th beginning at 4 pm.

Birthday Bash Beer Night! March 16th beginning at 6 pm

Join us for Adam, Jon, Preston and Chad’s birthday as we celebrate being born in March with lots of homebrew and craftbrew! – Since my birthday is on the 12th of March I think taht I should qualify!

Rogue Brewers Homebrew Club Meeting: March 29th at 6:30 pm

All Grain Brewing Class: March 31st beginning at 1 pm

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I were off to Tennessee again. We enjoyed craft brews in both Nashville and in Knoxville.

Downtown Grill & Brewery in Knoxville

Nice beers, great people….even wearing our LSU colors locals would come over and welcome us. An Assistant DA for the City went out of his way and really made us feel welcome..Great place to visit and sample very nice craft beers. The brew kettle will be idle for a while – or at least until my inventory gets worked down a little.

TTFN

Bishop

Do Dirty Blondes Have More Fun?

A Nice Amber Color From The Start

I  am back to the brewing pot….I went down to the new brewing supply store in Humble, TX and had them help me design a blonde ale for an easy drinking session beer. What we came up with has the name – “Dirty Honey Blonde”. I was going to go real simple but I was easily talked into doing a partial grain recipe. It takes a little more time on brew day but it should be worth the effort. The grain bill included Vienna Malt, Honey Malt, Biscuit Malt and Cara-Pils Malt for body. The extract is an Amber Malt…. One hitch in the recipe was with the recommended hops, Hallertauer….they were out so we subbed Cascade hops…..when I cut open the package for the hops my nose was hit with an aroma that immediately took me back to my days of drinking Olympia Beer in California…. it was one of those beers that was just a little outside of the taste range for most of the new-rookie beer drinkers. What I realize now is how much the good use of hops influences beer taste. As a young man it was more about cost…..a case of Coors in the bottles was $5.25 – still a hefty sum in 1969 but I couldn’t tolerate Brew 102…the cheapest beer we could get. Yes, the Cascade hops….very nice, the clone recipe for Oly also includes Willamette hops but then again Oly is a lager and I am making an Ale!

I I did my darnedest to keep the cat hair at bay and soaked anything that came near the beer in Star-San!!!!! Mike, I am not going to lose another batch – It is into the fermenter now and it looks like it is off and bubbling. The  OG is 1.047 – about what it should be and will wind up in the neighborhood of 4.8% ABV. A nice session beer. Color is a nice amber  and a calculated IBU of 23.2 won’t make it real hoppy – that will make the bride happy.

My Amarillo Ale is done and seems to have mellowed out. The Amarillo hops……not from Amarillo, TX, give the beer a  definite  citrus floral  flavor. It has a bit of a grapefruit taste to me and Kathy says her buds pick up a hint of lemon. It slides down very easy. ABV of about 4.9% so it won’t whack you right away and the IBU comes out to about 58. The recipe claims – “somewhat dry ale with a strong floral-citrus accent” – and yes it fits the description.

Thanks goes out to the folks at Backyard Home Brewers and Education Center in Humble  TX.  A couple of the beer blogs that I follow are written by women brewers…..and guess what, while I was in the store a young woman – I would say most are younger than me now!- she was in to grab some supplies to brew on the weekend. The owners are helpful and easy to work with… if you are thinking about brewing and live in the area check them out. They hold classes on a regular basis and usually have something to sample and rate when you visit.

http://backyardhomebrewers.com/

Until Later

Bishop

 

 

If You Can’t Brew’em Then You Have to Sample’em

I am more than a thousand miles from my home brewed beer but I can’t stop thinking about the pleasures of lovingly hand crafted beers. I did a little search of Grand Junction, CO and asked the locals for some recommendations for good beer and a good meal.

Our second night in Grand Junction, Colorado found us in the Kannah Creek Brewing Company. Good food, nice pizzas and hand crafted beers. I had the Lands End Amber Ale. Here is a description from there webiste. A 2010 Gold Award winner.
“Kannah Creek Brewing Company was awarded a Gold Award in the German-Style Brown Ale/Dusseldorf category for our Lands End Amber Ale. This beer is light amber in color, with a medium malt sweetness and a light hoppy flavor.”
My work partner on this trip is Pat McAdoo, he is a wee bit Scottish so he sampled the Scottish Ale charged with nitrogen for a very nice creamy head. He gave it it a strong thumbs up. If you like Whiskey….. they offer up a nice list of choices but saddly I/we did not partake…..next trip fer sure!!! American Bourbons, Irish Whiskey and ouf course Scotch Whiskey. Locals can walk away with growlers full of craft beer as well. If you are in Grand Junction it would be worth a visit.
http://www.kannahcreekbrewingco.com/
Tonight we are off to Naggy McGee’s Irish Pub….. or The Ale House or The Rockslide Restaurant and Brewery! So many choices and so little time. I may sample more than one or two….we fly home early tomorrow so I “should” behave! I will report back soon.
TTFN
Bishop

Dicks Danger Ale – May It Rest In Peace

After the transfer to the carboy

I had very high hopes for this beer, a clone partial grain recipe. It looked, smelled and tasted great racking from the primary to the secondary carboy. No hint of problems when bottling the batch. I was patient and let it sit for nearly 5 weeks. Ahhh, the reward, or so I thought. Somewhere along the process my ale became infected, infected so severely that I had to pronounce the batch as terminal. I have blamed the cats in the past but I think I may have to admit that I might not have taken the sanitation  to the nth degree. I have been very successful in the past……

For the future, my preparation will include scrubbing down the entire work area, strong cleaning measures for the equipment & bottles and keeping the air still – no cat dander or whatever it may be. I like my beer far too much to let myself become subject to beer-brewing malpractice! I received significant coaching from my better half two weeks ago as I bottled the Double Belgian Wit. She made valid comments and I was reduced to the simple and only right answer a man can give at that point – “Yes Dear”!!!! She likes her Belgian Wit and does not want it to not die a tragic death due to my controllable actions!

In the near future I may consider a conical fermenter and eliminate the racking to the secondary all together. Maybe I should size up to the next size, this would allow me to make 10 gallons at a time and brew a little less frequently. Hmmmmmm – Not a big cost difference in equipment –  I should also add a bigger boil pot too! I will write-up the AFE and see if I have adequate justification with the CFO to proceed with the capital investment.

Better news in the next post…….. I hope!

Bishop

Beer Advice – Patience, Just Patience!

Serrano Pepper Jelly is Ready--- My Beer Isn't

On the 25th of November the kitchen saw double duty – I bottled my Dick’s Danger Ale clone and made a batch of Serrano Pepper jelly….. all of the peppers from my backyard “farm”. The jelly is so good right now……. but unfortunately I have to wait and wait.  It has been a long two weeks and I know I should have waited but…… I just had to check on it.

I had a batch of a Double Belgian Wit in my primary fermenter and it was time to transfer it over to my secondary. It is a well-known fact that to ensure a good beer, each step in the process requires a good beer in hand. I popped the top on my – what I should have known, immature beer. No, don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad bit I now know that I need to be a little more patient and let this beer age a little more.

I did sample the Double Belgian and I am excited about it too! Be patient Bishop – another 15 days in the secondary and at least three weeks aging after bottling…. Let me look at the calendar -hmmmmm –  can I wait until next year before I can sample it? I will have to ……. I may even wait until Super Bowl Sunday and then bust it out……well maybe a taste test to ensure its quality is up to my standards.  I have been known to have a broad range of acceptable standards when it comes to beers. basic requirements are; 1. It must be cold and that is somewhat negotiable, 2. It must taste good and I like a lot of different flavors so again it is broad range, and 3. It must make you smile….. non-negotiable!

What’s next – I saw a good-looking for a Cream Ale – an easy drinking beer that should make my bride happy. I have a few weeks off so I will look into to it soon…. Now I need to check in with my nephew to see how his batch is coming along. And remember Sean…… be patient, use your uncle as an example…sometimes a not so goood one!

TTFN

Bishop

 

Nephew Sean’s American IPA

Sean with my daughters Ashleigh and Lisa

My nephew Sean, see above, has complimented me (really flattered me and it is working) on my blog and he has recently asked for an IPA recipe …. India Pale Ale….a much hoppier beer than a run of the mill ale. I poked around on the internet and found a recipe for him to brew on “Brew Monkey” http://www.brew-monkey.com/….. good place to go if you want to step away from the ordinary. Now Sean is real new to brewing and his dad has done a few extract only beers.  So, Sean……taaaaaaaaaake your time on this one as it is a partial grain recipe and partner up with Dad. You will be using 1 lb. of a specialty grain steeped for 30 minutes in a gallon of water – keep the temperature above 150 deg. F and below 170 deg. F.

So, Sean, here are the basics. “Bums IPA” – close to Dogfish IPA in taste and color.

1 lb. – Briess Caramel 10L crushed crystal maltsteeped in one gallon of water (use a nylon bag or muslin bag for grains.) after steeping add the water to 1 gallon of water and boil for 1 hour. This is a two gallon boil recipe but will be brought up to 5 gallons.

4 lbs Extra Light Dry Malt Extract (DME)

4 lbs Light liquid malt extract/syrup

1 0z. German Northern Brewer pellets added 15 minutes into the boil

0.5 oz. Cascade hops added 30 minutes into boil

0.5 oz. Cascade hops added 45 minutes into boil

1 oz. of leaf Cascade hops added dry into the secondary when transferring from primary to secondary – hold in secondary for 14 days (ok to use pellets if you have to but need to be careful when bottling.)

1/2 tsp. Irish Moss at 50 minutes into boil. Helps clarify the beer.

Chill , pour into primary fermenter leaving as much trub behind as possible then bring volume up to 5 gallons by adding preboiled water. – 3+ gallons

Pitch 1 package of American Ale yeast – Wyeast #1056 when wort has been cooled to 70 deg. F

Ferment 7 days at 70 deg F and transfer to glass carboy for an additional 14 days

Add to 3/4 cup corn sugar to beer and bottle condition at 70 deg – age 28 days…be patient Seany boy…. it will be worth the wait.

Store at 55 deg F if you can.

Last and certainly not least…. Uncle Bishop needs to taste and provide feedback on your brewing skills….. it may take 3 or 4 bottles to give you a fair assessment…… ;- )

Uncle Bishop

Resources;

Northern Brewer – http://www.northernbrewer.com/

Midwest Supplies – http://www.northernbrewer.com/

Williams Brewing – http://www.williamsbrewing.com/

Australian Brewing Corporation – http://australianbrewingcorporation.com/

Defalcos – Houston

Dick’s Danger Ale Has Now Been Captured – In Bottles

Bottle and Sample

I finally made time to rescue Dick’s Danger ale from what seemed like an eternity in the secondary fermenter. The recipe suggested a week and I went well over two weeks before the liberation forces arrived. Now I have to wait two more weeks while it conditions and carbonates in the bottles. I used one BIG bottle and 26 individual sized bottles. My big bottle is the 6 L size ….. the Tap-a-Draft mini-keg size. Patience my dear!!!! I checked the 6 L bottle today and it is getting very firm….an indication of carbonation! Just 13 more days!

The sample I grabbed during the bottling process was excellent! I was drinking it out of the cylinder used to check the gravity but it was just too good to treat it like a mere sample. I broke out one of the chalice style beer glasses to better savor the beer. Wow…. so smooth on the tongue and a bit af a malty taste with a hint of coffee. Not very hoppy, and I didn’t expect it to be but overall  very pleasant.

An update on the Amarillo Ale . Slow to mature and the citrus flavor from the Amarillo hops is dominant. I am hoping that it will mellow as it continues to mature. Kinda like me – huh….. mellowing as I mature. It is drinkable now but not what I expected. The Belgian Wit in the minikeg is ok but I think the bitter orange rind is over the top…. it is one you like or don’t, not much middle ground.

Maybe I should pour a cold one and contemplate my navel!

Take an Ale to lunch today – it will make you feel so much better!

Bishop

Tennessee Beer Travels

Not much brewing on  the home front. I will bottle the Dick’s Danger Ale tonight, if can find enough empty bottles.

We just returned from a trip to Nashville and Knoxville Tennessee. I am impressed with the scenery, the music and the some of the local beers. We arrived in Nashville on Tuesday the 8th of November. We checked into he hotel about 2:30 PM and Kathy said lets head downtown….  I thought it was a bit early but decided to humor her. It turned out to be a good choice. Our first stop down on Broadway St. was the Big River Grille and Brewing Works. http://www.bigrivergrille.com/ The food was Ok but the beers were pretty tasty. Kathy liked the Nashville Steamer Golden Ale. I had to try two and chose the House IPA – it was pretty good, not overly hopped but still tasty and the Sweet Magnolia Brown Ale.

We then wandered off to sample some more and to find some music. We found both! Yazoo is a local beer, both on tap and as we found out later, in bottles. The Hop Project is a very cool beer. Every batch is different, Batch 61 is out today and I sampled batch 60 – it was outstanding. check it out. http://yazoobrew.blogspot.com/ I also sampled the Dos Perros ale and enjoyed it as well. Kathy went with her old standard – Blue Moon Belgian Wit….. she is not quite as adventurous but is broadening her palate.  I have heard her reply to someone, usually a woman (will that get me in trouble?) – when they say all beer is the same and she then proceeds to educate them.. I love it. I did drink a few PBR’s as it wanted to lighten the ABV load for the evening. My lovely wife surprised me with a nice room at the Marriott and lo and behold – it came equipped with a jacuzzi tub….. hmmmmm. It was a nice surprise. Nuff said! The musis…. For a Tuesday night it was superb. I am ready to go back and maybe even dance a little.

We then wandered off to Knoxville to see our son Ben swim at the UT invite. He swam well and Kathy and I got to explore a bit more. The beer exploration included two trips to the Downtown Grill and Brewery on Gay St. Some nice beers on tap. Over the two visits I manged to sample 5 beers from the list, The White Mule Ale, the Woodruff IPA…I like!, the New World Porter…. Ok but not as good as the State Street Stout – tasted a bit like my stout, and the Downtown Nut Brown Ale. Kathy stuck with the very pleasant and easy to drink Downtown Blonde Ale.  http://downtownbrewery.com/The_Beer.html

We went to a place called Cafe4 for lunch one day and they had a local beer on tap made by Marble City. The waiter said it was a stout and I decided to try it. Well, when he brought the beer out is was a nice amber color and definitely not a stout. He checked with the the bar and they insisted it was the stout…..I think the delivery guy didn’t swap out the handle. The beer was a bit sweet and had a bit of spice flavor.  I looked up  the brewery offerings on my iPhone and it appears I was drinking the seasonal beer. It was definitely the Spiced Pumpkin Ale. A day later we went down the Old City Knoxville and found a little market that had beer on draught as well as growlers to go. They had a couple of  the Marble City offerings. http://mcb2.syncslate.com/our-beer/ No stout…… but I tried Dad’s Dime Ale and the Nectar Rubus….a rasberry wheat ale. Nice beers. I also had a South Carolina beer by RJ Rockers called Buckwheat After Dark Ale a Dunkelweizen… I really liked this one. http://www.rjrockers.com/page.asp?p_key=62A5E5C200184ECDB2D69B6C1AEF1E58&ie_key=587AF451F7AF42E497B18737E009A050

We tool a drive up into the Great Smoky Mountains – wow= really nice and an afternoon drive is severl days too few! We should be back in February again.

Kathy and Bishop - Big River Grille and Brewery

Brisket and Stout – Better Than a Sleeping Pill

Stout and Brisket - Should Be Goo

Woke up around 2:30 AM this morning, tossed around for a while and finally decided I would get up and try to get some things accomplished. I looked online and saw that my local Starbucks wasn’t open until 5:30…..I could have gone up to the front of Kingwood – that store opens 30 minutes earlier….. Chose to wait and ride the bicycle down to my local Starbucks hang out.

My restless night was partially due to the procedure done on my right ear yesterday… they poke a needle hole in the tympanic membrane and inject a warm steroid solution into the ear. After three daily treatments the hearing issues (lack of) and vertigo may subside or go away. The vertigo increased overnight and the hearing is so bad I can’t tell if it is getting better. The tinnitus ringing in the ear was over the top last night… so it was a sleepless night…not “Sleepless in Seattle” – I think that was a chick flick, it was sleepless in Kingwood.

So, what does this have to do with a beer blog – well let me fill you in. I decided that some good Texas comfort food – Brisket!, a bottle of my oh so good Imperial Stout……. it just seems to get better and better as it sits, some nice fresh gazpacho – fresh from the garden and local CSA pick-up and dinner with my wife and daughters would be a nice precursor to a full belly and the sedation from an 11% stout! – it just may help me sleep.

I think I will sleep very well tonight. The stout is so smooth…almost silky on the tongue and a mix of “chocolaty” and a hint of licorice flavors is very nice….the beer  adds to my vertigo – I am almost ready to go sideways as I type. My third inner ear injection is tomorrow and hopefully I will see some improvement!

More Beer stuff. Need to pass along some pats on the back to some beer supply folks. A couple of weeks ago I ordered some imprinted bottle caps. Well, they have not arrived so I sent a note off to the contact email address asking for an expected delivery date. I received a great reply, after hours and not from some overseas call center….. Mr. J Cameron Cooper, Manager of BottleMark LLC, http://www.bottlemark.com/ , sent a great note back explaining  their production issues/problems….. I told him no problem that I could wait –  but he fired off a note back to me saying they will try to get my order out for my next bottling….. this is real customer service…. if you need printed caps – give BottleMark LLC your business. I am impressed!

Oh yeah, back to the brisket,…. 10 hours in the smoker – the brisket turned out awesome…. And yes…..I am fading …. I think I will have to pass on watching “Dancing with the Stars” tonight. Sorry hun!Mmmmmmm good brisket – goes well with the Stout.

Mmmmmmm good brisket - goes well with the Stout

An update… I was fading for sure – the post to the blog also went sideways so I am trying to salvage my thoughts – so few and so fart ( as I proofread I saw the word fart…not intended between them! – I am trying again. I did sleep very well – until about 5;20, then rode the bicycle down to my Starbucks office to finish things up.

Dear Melissa, the vertigo just makes riding the bicycle a small challenge in the bigger scheme of things. I love the challenge. When it gets bad enough that I have to lay down to put my underwear on I will forego the morning rides…..

TTFN

Bishop