Thankful for family, great friends and enough abundance to share with others.

Then there is beer. Thankful that Jimmy Carter legalized home brewing. Unfortunately, his time in office was rather unremarkable in his response to world events, i.e., Iran hostage situation and the 1979 Energy Crisis. I voted for him on his promise of truth and transparency and I will give him high marks on that front.

Back to beer, I am thankful for the amazing explosion of craft brewing and so “friggin” many choices! I bottled my Golden Wheat Red III IPA this morning. It tasted pretty darned good. I think version II may still be the best of the three. Once conditioned in 7-10 days I will update y’all. Bottling results, 6 liters in my Tap-a-Draft keg and the remainder in 27 – 12 ounce bottles.

Drink Local and Drink Responsibly
Bishop

Surprise, surprise! Great beers tucked away down Stewart Road in west Galveston about 2.5 miles west of 61st St! The Single Hop IPA is “out friggin” standing! The Excelsior is very good and the Porter is just plain chewy good! The Hefen-A is a real nice wheat with just the right amount of Coriander!

Ok Hun, you will like both the Smokin Blonde and the Sundowner Blonde. Bring the kids on the weekend, swings and corn hole – And…. Live music, who would have known! Growlers too! We brought the Single Hop home to Tiki Island!

Make the trip! It will be worth it!

Ahhhhh yeah!
Drink Local and Drink Responsibly

Bishop

My wife and I worked the Austin Beerworks booth for the Friday night session. What a hoot. Beer lovers are the very best kind of people to hang out with. Far less pretentious than some other kinds of events! Nuff said!

I was proud of how well my wife picked up the lingo and actually became a great salesperson for the brewery. She loved the Pearlsnap, a German style Pils and their Peace Maker, a light easy to drink session ale. The Peacemaker is also available in their famous “99” pack on rare occasions! Their Black Thunder is a nice malty German Schwarz beer! The brewery has a small distribution area but has a fan base that craves their beer. Count me amongst them! Their Fire Eagle, a strong American Pale Ale, took 2nd place at this year’s GABF! I understand why!

http://spirits.blog.austin360.com/2014/10/05/texas-breweries-earn-a-whopping-16-gabf-medals/

Their seasonal IPA, Heavy Machinery, was probably the best beer I sampled all night! Yes, we were able to cruise around and sample some great Texas beers.

The craft beer world is amazing! We had visits from other Brewers at the show and the respect they have for competitors is truly amazing. They all show respect and admiration for other practitioners of the craft!

Drink Local & Drink Responsibly
Bishop

#austinbeerworks

http://austinbeerworks.com/brewery/

Finally!

I am making my first all-grain version of my Golden Wheat Red IPA. The first two batches were partial grain recipes. The first one was good, the second one was awesome! As I am typically prone to do, I will tweak the recipe, take pretty good notes, and plan the next round to be even better.

Brewing aids for the day;
One small 12 ounce glass, a couple of pours from the last of my session ale, at least one pour from my mellowing Belgium Wit….it was a little overwhelming with the bitter orange peel! So I then added a few too many drops of orange oil to the last 6L tap-a-draft keg…- 6 weeks later I do like it a lot! It has mellooooooooowed!

Brew notes;
It is looking good. It has a nice aroma and the dry hopping that will happen in a week or so should make it awesome!

5 lbs of pale two row US malt
4 lbs Belgium Wheat malt
1 lbs 12 ounces Carared
1 lbs 120L crystal malt
3.2 ounces Black Patent Malt 500L
1 ounce Amarillo pellets 45 minutes
1 ounce Amarillo pellets 15 minutes
1 ounce Centennial pellets 15 minutes
1 ounce Centennial pellets at Flame out
1/2 tsp Irish Moss at 30 minutes
1/2 tsp gypsum
Wyeast 1056 yeast
1 tsp yeast nutrient
2 ounces Centennial pellets in secondary for 5 days then crash to 34 degrees F

Mash in 14.94 quarts at 168.2 45 minutes
Sparge 1.53 gallons 168 F
Sparge 3.84 gallons 168 F, until it runs clear.
Total boil 60 minutes.

Now the Paul Harvey portion- “The Rest of The Story”.

Everything ws looking good, the aromas and color of the wort was dead on! I cooled it to 78 deg F and grabbed a sample to check the original gravity. Oh s**t, the hydrometer floated so high that the fat portion of the bulb was above the top of the cylinder. What the Hell! It can’t be that dense! Grabbed another sample, I hate to waste anything and crap, same situation. I added about a gallon of water and bring the batch up to about 5 3/4 gallons. No perceptible change! Now what?

I dumped the sample and then and only then do I notice that the bottom tip end of the hydrometer is busted off. Now I know the problem. The hydrometer is missing weight and damaged. What’s a brewer to do?

I pitched the yeast, scrubbed pots, cleaned the mash tun and crossed my fingers. The batch is now sitting at a controlled 65 deg F in my chest freezer. The fermentation is underway. When I checked this afternoon the aroma is heavenly, bubbling nicely and maybe, Just maybe I will have something close to the planned outcome.

I drank a partial bottle of my Russian Imperial Stout today after witnessing a normal appearing kickoff to the fermentation. Warmed my belly nicely and right now as I peck away at my iPhone keyboard I am drinking the very last glass of my session Ale.

Session Ale and the start of the brew before I knew what the future portends.

At coffee this morning @ #Javaman I took this photo with my iPhone, I should be carrying one my good cameras all the time!!!!!!!!! “Dang me, dang me, they oughta take a rope and hang me” Roger Miller inspiration. The sky color matches my intentions with this brew. Hopefully a good omen!

Drink Local and Drink Responsibly
Bishop

PS: my bride and I will be pouring at “Big Brew Houston” Friday night the 24th of October. Come see us at the George R Brown Convention Center.

It was Tres Amigos until I poured this beer. Now it is down to Los Dos Amigos. My “Golden Wheat Red Ale” is nearly gone and I have been selectively sharing the remaining few! The hopping of this beer was near perfect, great aroma and not overly bitter. Kind of baby bear perfect – no I am not Goldilocks, but it is nice when it comes out just right! Good head retention and nice lace.

The big question is- can I recreate this beer as an all grain batch? Will need to start soon, like a month ago! I need to bottle my Russian Imperial Stout. It has been sitting for more than 3 months in the secondary fermenter on toasted oak that was soaked in Bourbon. Yumm!

Just returned from Calgary and sampled a few local beers but need to get a longer period of time to explore the downtown beer scene.

Drink Local and Drink Responsibly!
Bishop