Hump Day Brew Day Pictorial:

Brewing "Exodus" a Robust Porter
(named after the Great - Bob Marley)
My 5 gallon (graivty fed) brewing set-upCollecting wort from mash/lauter-tun

Sparging

My 2 pot kettle system
(lets me do interesting experiments)

4-gallons of porter deliciousness
(15 hours later w/a nice krausen)

Next Post:
Brewday thoughts and video(s)

Hump Day Brew Day!

I have the today and I will celebrate by going on a 2 hr bike ride followed by a 30' run, followed by a Brew session. Which will most likely end with a nice long nap.

I will be brewing a robust porter (I love Porters). Here is the recipe:
4 gallons - OG:1.054 IBU:46 ABV:5.2

GRAINS:
6.2# 2-row
1.6# munich 10L
6oz crystal 40L
4oz crystal 60L
5oz chocolate malt
4oz black patent
2oz roast barley 500L

HOPS:
12 IBU's Nugget (60)
1/2oz East Kent Golding (15)
1/2oz East Kent Golding (0)

YEAST:
White Labs - Premium Bitter

Mash 154 for 50', mash out 168. Boil 90'. Ferment 68F

Pliny's Bellow

Humulus Lupulus
(from Hopunion)

CZECH SAAZ

Aroma: Mild with pleasant hoppy notes

Flavor: Very mild with pleasant hoppy notes, earthy, spicy and herbal

Alpha Acids: 3-4.5%

Storageability: 45-55% aau's remain after 6 months at 20C
Trade Perception: The classical noble aroma hop with long and strong traditions. Associated with the renowned Pilsner lager.

Possible Substitutions: US Saas, Polish Lubulin, US Sterling

Typical Beer Styles: Pilsner, Lagers, Belgian style-ales, Lambic, sometimes Bitter

Roggenbier

Today, I helped a friend brew a roggenbier. This is a new style for me so I was not sure what to expect from rye, as this was the first time I had worked with it. Everything went well, except at run-off. There was a small problem as "my makeshift" false bottom ended up not being very secure which allowed some grain to get underneath and eventually into the run-off valve. That caused some problems and really slowed down the run-off process. Eventually, enough was collected and we turned to the boil and the first hop additions (Liberty). I had to leave mid-boil as I had already made other plans, so I will update you later on how the rest of the brew day went. The beer had the correct color and aroma, and now it is up to the fermentation gods!

Recipe will be up soon.

UPDATE:
Sounds like we collected about 5 1/2 gallons of collected wort and at end boil we had 5g. O.G. was 1.040 we were shooting for 1.044. Now fermentation is going well and will update once we get to taste.

Funny brewday story, DO NOT try to use a trashbag to empty your grains into. We did and the bag "popped"! We had grains all over the ground, HAHAHA! Yeah, it looked like...

Support Your (my old) Homebrew Club

You should always support your homebrew club so support my old club (Dukes of Ale) and enter in their contest:

Enchanted Brewing contest: entries due 5/10

Annual State Fair Pro-Am: entries due 8/7

Find out more at: www.dukesofale.com

Competition is Healthy

Today, I will skip the usual "Fever for the Flavor Friday" and talk briefly about a few things.

First, the weather is starting to have a warming trend here in San Diego, which means, more riding/commuting on my bike and less time spent in my car. (Hopefully, not less brewing)

Second, pictures will soon come of my sweet lager box. I can get the temp. down to 40-45 during the end of last summer. (After I make a few small improvements, it may get lower)

Third, there are a couple homebrew contests upcoming, so enter your beers! Here are a few in my neck of the woods:

2008 Mayfaire (in L.A.) $7/entry
www.maltosefalcons.com/comps/2008mayfaire/

4/25-4/26 (last day to enter 4/11) - $9/entry
NHC 1st Round - Southwest Region (San Diego)
www.beertown.org/events/nhc/entry.html

6/22 - $7/entry
San Diego County State Fair Comp.
www.sdfair.com

Results of AFC are at: www.quaff.org

Addendum:
Sam Adams Longshot - FREE
www.samueladams.com/promotions/longshot/default.aspx

Entries Due: 5/2 - $7/entry
Extract Beers (50% extract or more)
www.beertown.org/homebrewing/schedule.html

Imperial Anything - entries due sept. - $7/entry
held by C.R.A.F.T. in MI

Celebration of the Hop - due in Nov. - $7/entry
held by Scioto Olentangy and Darby Zymurgists

A stewards view

Recently,
I helped steward the AFC homebrew contest this past weekend. In volunteering for this event I had hoped to learn more about beer and beer judging. I did not learn much about beer but rather the judges. The event was being held in the church hall, which I found very interesting. When I walked in the everyone was already seated and eagerly awaiting to get started. **There were no Organic Beers entered**

I was assigned to Cat. 9 which is Scottish and Irish Ales. There were 4 judges and after talking to them a bit I found that 2 were experienced (~6yrs) and 2 were not (<2yrs). I found the judging portion to be the most interesting. As brewers we are very proud of what we make, similar to a chef and his plate. Although feedback from one of these events can be very helpful and important, this event may have changed my mind.

Let me explain:
During the event the experienced (exp.) judges techniques and descriptions (words chosen to describe the beers flavor, aroma, mouth feel etc.) were well more refined than the inexperienced (inexp.) judges (no surprise). The judges interaction is what I found the most interesting. For example, after they wrote down remarks and scores for that beer each judge spoke about what they found. After each beer they asked each other what they scored that beer, and if the scores were far apart the inexp. judge usually changed his score a little higher. Now, after witnessing this I firmly believe that the judges should never ask what they score was given, but rather what they found in the beer. In fact, the score should never even be known except by the steward who must average the scores before turning them in.

MY POINT:
1) Don't take the judges remarks to heart, unless you win! HAHA. (basically a crap shoot who you will get and if they like that style to begin with.

2) I had fun and will steward again.

3) I will enter my beers (and take #1 into account).

4) It's all about having FUN!

Cheers!

Rhizomes

Bada Bing! I have scored a "certified" organic plot of land and I have rhizomes on order. I have chosen 4 different rhizomes (Tettnanger, Sterling, Golding, Cascade) based on what I have brewed in the past and what I plan to in the future, and what grows well in this region.

Living in metro San Diego it can be difficult to find any unoccupied piece of land. It seems, like most heavily populated areas, land is a premium, and most of the time they are building on it. So I feel lucky to have found a small plot where I can grow organic hops! I am paying rent by giving homebrew, awesome.

Well, that was easy now the hard part begins: farming...?