1930 German brewing film

Here is a film showing you how to brew the 1930 German way...

Tis' the season...

Yesterday, I planted 2 hop rhizomes and 3 different types of chili's. If you look closely you will see shoots (white roots) starting to already appear. These rhizomes seem to be healthy, we shall see if I can manage to destroy them. I was told that these do not grow well in San Diego, but these are perfect for cal commons and kolsch style beers.

Hop rhizomes, Perle (L) Sterling (R)

Perle rhizome

Sterling rhizome

Also, I planted a variety of green chili's (mostlyNew Mexico variety). They are similar to Big Jim's, but are much tastier.

Hatch Green Chili's (NM #6) are the most famous

There about 60 of these

Update: finally...

There has been a lot happening this month with work and of'course beer! Let's just move on to beer. In the next few days I will be talking about:

• The guest brew @ Turtle Mt. Brewing Co.
• Homebrew & commercial brew @ my friends wedding
• Stone brewing & a homebrewing collaboration
• Stone brewing @ our homebrew club meeting
• Planting hop rhizomes & chilies

Tonight will be the first posting as I hope to catch up on all my news.

Fermentation Friday-March

“How will you grow or change as a homebrewer this Spring? How will you embrace your Spring fever and channel it toward your homebrewing endeavors?”

Planting hop rhizomes, kegging and brewing with the season. I jsut planted some hop rhizomes, which I hope translates to a couple fresh hop beers. I can now keg my beers, which I look forwarde to, I so HATE bottling! I will try and brew with the season Example: A true marzen brewed now and lagered until october, lighter beers in the summer, heavy high alcohol beers in the winter.

Also, with the nicer weather & longer days I hope to have a few outside brews this spring/summer that are conjoined with bar-b-q's with friends.

Traveling and guest brewing

This weekend I will be traveling back home to visit the family, which always means stopping in my favorite brewery back home, Turtle Mt. brewing. On monday I will be helping them brew two brews, an Irish stout and a black IPA! Helping meaning doing the grunt work (milling 50lb grain sacks, graining out, but I do get free beer!!! Sweet...

Pics and brew day will come soon after.

Old Fashioned Donnybrook Recipe

Awhile ago I made an oatmeal stout that tasted great, but not so well during bottling. After some thought I will try that recipe one again with some minor changes. I'm looking for the grains to showcase this beer and have the hops support it. The yeast (WLP-002) should leave some sweetness to the beer, as it has a 70% attenuation in ideal conditions. And, of'course there may be a 1 gallon experiment, now I just need to secure the "special" ingredient.

Old Fashioned Donnybrook
(aka. Oatmeal Stout II)
Mash:154 IBU's:36 OG:1.055 FG:1.014

Grains:
9.5# Pale ale malt
1 Flaked (old fashioned) Oats (toasted)
3/4 Chocolate malt
3/4 Victory
1/2 Crystal 80L
1/2 Roasted barley

Hops:
Galena 60'

Yeast:
WLP-002 English Ale

Steam Beer update:

The Great Steam beer experiment is still going strong. After almost 3 full weeks in the bottle the beers now have sufficient carbonation, BUT (a BIG BUT) is that during the bottle conditioning period there may have some diacetyl accumulation. With lagers this is somewhat normal, but with mine it seems to be on the excessive side. To minimize this character the beers must now be cold lagered for 3-4 weeks. I'm beginning to learn that I might not have the patience to make lagers. The wheatwine update coming soon.

For the next brew; It will be an ode to my motherland so I will be making an Irish Oatmeal Stout
I am researching and formulating an appropriate recipe and interestingly have found that above 10% oatmeal would lead to gooyness. I'll keep that in mind...

I'll post the recipe in the next few days.

Home brewers heaven!

You must spend some time at Brewhalla (aka. homebrewers heaven) whether you are looking to design your own brewery or not. There are homemade to store bought and simple to elaborate designs. So grab a beer and view 180+ pics.

Cheers!