NHC Scores for Welton's Wild Cow Dunkelweiss

Since Satan entered the dunkelweiss, he got the score sheets last week. Since we didn't place, we were wondering how did.

33, 34 and 29. Oxidation knocked us in the ass all of them said it was too dry. We would have been at the end of it’s lifespan, so we were probably right on. Need to brew this one two to three weeks before round 1.

I responded, "And rebrew 2-3 weeks before round 2?"

I can't believe the Russian judge gave us a 29!

Hubert Wolters' West Texas Wheat 4 - Brew day

I got up early to brew. I mashed it, and missed my mash temperature by 7°, hitting 161°. I mashed with about three and a half gallons of water, and sparged with five gallons at 175°. I collected about 6.5 gallons, and boiled for an hour.

Last time, I used an ounce of Sorachi Ace, but the beer was a little too bitter. This time, I used one ounce of Cascade hops as my bittering hop, and added an ounce of Sorachi Ace at flameout, hoping to get more of the lemony aroma of the hop in the beer.

I hooked up my counterflow chiller backwards, so I didn't get as much cooling as I normally do. I took my gravity reading, and I got 1.032 instead of 1.050. I'm hoping that the lower reading is the result of the wort not being mixed well. We'll see in a week.

Crap!

On Saturday, I sampled the Water Valley Smoked APA. It was slightly smoky but okay. It had some character. I was pleased.

After dinner (pork chop, eggplant casserole and noodle salad) i got another beer and all I could taste was band aid.

If you recall, I said earlier that I tasted plastic. I wondered if it was the mesquite smoke. Now, I am not so sure.

When I bottled this, it tasted okay. Now I am afraid to find out what will happen at the Alamo City Cerveza Fest.

One last chance. I am brewing another Wolters West Texas Wheat tomorrow. If that has funky flavors, then I may have to rethink this whole brewing thing.

I Suck

The other day, I bottled the Donn's Famous Horse Cram It Brown Ale for competition. I thought it tasted okay. A bit sweeter than I expected, but okay. It did have a fruity smell.

I put the remainder of the keg, about 2 gallons back into the fridge. I tapped the keg last week, and looked forward to enjoying the beer. It was a short wait.

The beer pours up a gorgeous brown color with a tan head. It smells sweet, with a definite banana finish. The flavor starts off with banana. It transforms into a chocolate flavor and finishes roasty. I like the recipe because it is more chocolatey than roasty, making is slightly sweeter.

While the sweetness is good, the banana is not. Looks like I fermented too hot. I really need to build a fermentation box to control the temperature.

Pints for Prostates

I got a an email from Rick Lyke at the Lyke 2 Drink blog. Here's am excerpt:

As some of you know, three months ago I had surgery for prostate cancer. I was diagnosed with the disease after a routine physical. Thankfully, the illness was caught early and the surgery was successful. You can catch the early part of the story by visiting a blog post I made two weeks after the surgery at http://lyke2drink.blogspot.com/2008/04/back-from-where-ive-been.html. Since then I had a follow up PSA test that came back with a 0.0 reading, which is fantastic news.

After the surgery I contacted a group called Us TOO international, which works help support, educate and advocate for men and their families dealing with the illness. This resulted in the launch of a campaign called "Pints for Prostates." You can read a press release about the campaign at: http://lyke2drink.blogspot.com/2008/07/pints-for-prostates-campaign-launched.html.

I have added a donation link on the right. Please chip in. If you are a man over 40, get a prostate exam.

Aud's No Scufflin' Ale

Aud's No Scufflin' Ale

When Satan and I were growing up, we would often spend weeks at a time at our Aunt Audrey's house in Coleman, Texas. As many of you know, when you get four boys together there will be some scuffling. Aunt Aud would tell us "No wrestling in the house!" So we would head outside, and she would say "Stop that scufflin'!" There will be no scufflin' after a pint of this ale!

ProMash Brewing Session - Recipe Details Printout
-------------------------------------------------

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
-------------------------------
12-B Barleywine & Imperial Stout, American-style Barleywine
Min OG: 1.080 Max OG: 1.120
Min IBU: 50 Max IBU: 100
Min Clr: 10 Max Clr: 22 Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (GAL): 5.00 Wort Size (GAL): 6.00
Total Extract (LBS): 18.25
Anticipated OG: 1.137
Anticipated SRM: 21.8
Anticipated IBU: 100.8
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Actual OG: 1.122

Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Gravity SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
27.4 5.00 lbs. Light Dry Malt Extract 1.046 7
54.8 10.00 lbs. Light Liquid Malt Extract 1.035 7
5.5 1.00 lbs. Corn Sugar 1.047 0
5.5 1.00 lbs. Crystal 10L America 1.035 10
5.5 1.00 lbs. Crystal 90L America 1.033 90
1.4 0.25 lbs. Pale Chocolate 1.030 200

Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.00 oz. Yakima Magnum Pellet 13.50 100.8 60 min.
1.50 oz. Cascade Pellet 5.90 0.0 0 min.
1.00 oz. Chinook Pellet 13.00 0.0 0 min.
1.50 oz. Amarillo Gold Pellet 8.90 0.0 0 min.
1.00 oz. Challenger Pellet 6.50 0.0 0 min.

Extras

Amount Name Type Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.50 Tsp Irish Moss Fining 15 Min.(boil)


Yeast
-----
White Labs WLP001 California Ale

I steeped the specialty grains while heating the water, and removed it at 160f

Beer Distributor Day?

Over at Realbeer.com, they posted an article about Illinos Governor Rd Blagojevich signing a proclamation declaring July 10, 2008 to be “Beer Distributor Day,” “commemorating the efforts of beer distributors small and large who have worked in cooperation with the state to regulate the sale and distribution of alcohol for more than 75 years.”

I guess that if he were in Texas, he would include preventing a brewery from selling a commemorative six-pack after a tour and preventing a brewery from informing customers where their product is sold.

Kiwit Tasting notes

Before leaving for NHC, I bottled 24 Kiwits for competition. I had a pint the day before I left, and I left the cobra tap connected to the keg. I sampled it again the other day.

It turned Belgian on me! I poured a pint and sniffed. ???? So I took a drink. It has soured. Not a bad flavor, necessarily, just takes some getting used to. It's tart and dry, like a dry white wine.

Could it be the Belgian yeast? The Cobra tap left on? Or has it just gotten old? I kegged it 5/23, so it's 6 weeks old. Or, am I just a slob?

I need to sample a bottle and see how it tastes. I have already sent three bottles to the Lunar Rendezbrew, which is in a couple of weeks. I have also sent three bottles to the Alamo City Cerveza Fest and planned to send some to the Limbo Challenge. Now I'm not so sure. . .

Aw, macht's nicht! I'll send it anyway!

Why I love my Utilikilt!

I want another Utilikilt!

Smoked APA - Tasting Notes

On July 4, I sampled a bit of the Smoked Pale Ale, or Water Valley APA. If you recall, I used 1 pound of mesquite smoked malt in and APA recipe. It smelled really smoky when we pitched the yeast. When I kegged it, it tasted kind of bacony.

It is a dark yellow color, with good carbonation. It smells like homebrew--kind of yeasty and . . . odd. Maybe fermented too hot? It doesn't taste like bacon anymore. The smoke has faded into the background. It starts off with some malt sweetness, accented by a bit of hops, and leaves a smoke taste in the finish. I thought it tasted good.

But, there is an odd flavor in the finish, probably from the smoke. It tastes kind of like plastic. Not like band-aids, but plastic. It is, and please forgive the descriptors, bright and shiny and clean tasting. It's like the smell of a new ice chest or primary fermenter or tubing.

I think I'm losing my mind.

(512) Brewing Company -Austin now Open

With three brews in the fermenters, (512) Brewing is waiting for ATF and TABC approval before they can begin selling their beers: (512) IPA, (512) Pale Ale, and (512) Wit. According to Texas Beer, there are no plans to bottle the beer anytime soon. It will be sold in kegs only.

Sounds like a road trip is in order.

Dancing Bear Pub - Waco

Dancing Bear Pub, 1117 Speight Avenue down the street from Baylor, is waiting on ATF and TABC approval to begin brewing. Their proposed beer list looks interesting. I'm looking forward to having a reason to get off I-35 when I am on the way to Dallas.

To show how slow I am, I didn't make the connection between Dancing Bear and Baylor Bears. I was thinking about how cool the name is when it clicked. Smart SOBs at this place. Always thinkin'. . .

Port Aransas Brewing Company

Port Aransas Brewing Company should be open by now. They were shooting for a June opening date. Their website (I should mention that their domain name is awesome.) is still under construction, so hopefully it will be updated soon.

Brewing Delay

I was supposed to brew this weekend.

I got my ingredients for the barley wine. Unfortunately, I didn't order 16 pounds of extract. I ordered 10. The Austin Homebrew site only lets you order LME up to 10 lbs. Then you have to add another order for more LME. I know I added the 6.5 lbs of additional LME. I can only assume that their order software canceled the second order or I didn't add it to the cart.

I called Austin Homebrew with my credit card in hand and said I wanted order some LME and pick it up on Saturday. The guy said, "Have you ever done it on the website?"

I said, "No. I'm on the phone."

He said, "Oh it's easy. Just choose pick up as your payment option."

I sat here for a few seconds and said, "So you want me to go to the website?"

He said, "Oh yeah. It's real easy."

So I said "Okay." I hung up and went to Northern Brewer and ordered the LME I need. Of course, that means I'm not brewing this weekend. . .

For Next Year - American Barley Wine

I used to think I was not a barley wine man. They were too syrupy and sweet.

I have discovered American Barley Wines. (BJCP guidelines) I have discovered that not all barley wines are bad.

I want to brew a barley wine and maybe enter it into next year's National Homebrew Competition. The beer should age for at least six months, so that means I have to bottle by October 1. Now it's time to research and find a good recipe. I have a dozen or so recipe books, and there are over a hundred barleywine recipes. I need to study and learn what makes the best beer, or, more importantly, learn what makes an award winning beer. Those are often not the same things.

I recently heard Jamil Zainasheff mention that he brewed a Scottish 80 Schilling and entered it into the Scottish Ale category because judges want more of the 80 Schilling flavors in the red ales. Of course, he didn't place in that category, only in the mead category.

Anyway, any ideas for a barley wine recipe?