Newark Rocks!

OK, I’ll be honest – I’m not talking about the city in which I live. It’s cool and all, but I wouldn’t exactly say that it “Rocks”.

No, I am referring to Newark InOne… They are an electronics supplier that has just about everything under the sun, and for a pretty fair price too. This morning I ordered the following, and they have already shipped:

2 MCP3202 2-channel 12 bit A/D converters
2 MCP3204 4-channel 12 bit A/D converters
2 MPX5010GSX Motorola pressure sensors
2 AD620ANZ Instrumentation Amplifiers
2 LM331AN Voltage / Frequency converters

These are obviously purchases for the electronics components that will make up my homebrew sculpture – most notably the level sensor circuits. I am a little nervous as I am not convinced that it will work at all, but I’m not plowing new ground here… both Wicked Stone and Emile have done this with success before using these components (well… almost these components).

I also ordered some new PICAXE components this week… 2 of the new 28X1 chips and 2 of the 40X1 chips. I am very excited about the I2C slave functionality and built-in SPI support, as well as the internal resonators that eliminate the need for extra circuitry. Should give me plenty to play with down in the basement while the sun scortches thru summer.

On a non-nerd note, I have both the Amarillo Pale and Black Raspberry Ales on tap now – they are great individually, and magnificent when blended. Cutting the grass will be less of a chore for the next few weeks.

22 jars of wort on the wall…

… 22 jars of wort… For starters!

Today was a very, VERY long brew day in that I had made another batch of starter wort. I brewed up a 5 gallon batch of 1.040 wort and managed to get it all canned in a single evening – The wort itself only took 4 hours, from about 1pm to 5pm, but the canning took another 5 hours. That’s fortunately alot shorter than the first time I did it – learned the hard way that my stove just doesn’t have the required UMPF to pressure can at 15 PSI… but the propane burner sure does.

Now I’ve got another 5 or 6 month supply…

My next batches won’t happen until end of May though. Got too much going on for the next 3 weekends, so it’ll have to be the weekend after our May meeting – and I’ll be brewing a starter batch of SOMETHING using Saison yeast, followed by a large 15 or 20 gallon batch of Saison du Sevier once that starter batch is ready for racking. My wife is also petitioning for a big batch of Witbier, so the Saison may get usurped until a little later in the season – I don’t know. I’ve also got a crazy amount of American hops just BEGGING to be used, like Columbus and Simcoe, so I’m thinking a 15 gallon batch of IPA might have to be brewed soon.

So much to brew, so little time.

Spark Magazine write-up

Check out this great article in Spark Magazine!

Iron Hill Beer Dinner

Brewmaster’s

SPRING

BEER DINNER

Saturday, May 12^th 6PM

Hosted by:

Head Brewer

Brian Finn

Head Chef

Bill Robbins

1^st Course – Hand cut pomme frits with roullie butter and Prince Edward Island mussels simmered with leeks, garlic, fresh herbs and Belgian tripel w/Belgian Tripel

2^nd Course – Grilled Venison, Blueberry and Merlot Sausage with micro greens with sage vinaigrette and boursin crostini w/Belgian Quad

3^rd Course – Sautéed Lamb Lollipops with toasted almond-medjool date compote and pomegranate emulsion w/Abby Dubbel

4^th Course – Chocolate Lava Cake with chocolate ice cream, raspberry ganache and vanilla caramel sauce w/Russian Imperial Stout

$49.95 per person (gratuity not included)

Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant

710 S. Madison Street

Wilmington, Delaware 19801

www.ironhillbrewery.com

Limited space available.

Make your reservation now with our host staff.

Call (302)-472-2739.

Mash Temps and Mixing

Its a little after 5am and I’m already frustrated. After this morning’s mash-in, I may become a Marty Drinan disciple….

Promash calculated a strike water temp of 176 for me to hit my desired 151-152 range. I heated the water, and it hit 178 before I could catch it…. so I turned the burner off, let the kettle sit for about 5 min in the 50 degree air, and it cooled… to 174. So I turned the burner back on, and a minute later the thermometer said 176, so I killed the burner. I gave the water a quick mix with my spoon – 178!!! D@mnit!!!! So I said screw it and into the mash tun it went.

And I mashed in my grains, using my trusty mash paddle. I check the temperature – 162. SAY WHAT?!?!? OK… time to stir like hell…. so I grab my stainless spoon and stir-stir-stir for 2 minutes. 156. Eh… not too bad, but not great. More stirring ensues…. 156. OK… time to adjust down a hair.

So I add about a half quart of cold water… stir stir stir stir – 155. Ugh… this is gonna take forever. Add another half quart. Stir stir stir stir…. 3 minutes later… 154. GOOD LORD, this is insane!!! OK… dump another half quart in, declaring that’s all I’m doing. If its a little high, then so well… it’ll be fuller-bodied than I intended. Mix, mix… stir stir stir… 155. WHAT?!?!?? The temperature went UP!??!!?!! Stir-like-the-mash-did-me-wrong hopping-mad for 3 minutes… 149!!!

(Flurry of four letter words and not-so-nice 5 letter words ensue)

I have been all-grain brewing for 2 years now!!! I SHOULD @!#@ING KNOW BETTER!!!!

So, after calming down and proclaiming that “it is a belgian-style abbey dubbel, and if it ferments way low then so be it”… and going to go grab some coffee, I think back to Friday night’s meeting where Marty showed us his latest tool for mixing his mash – a drill-powered paint stirrer with every other fin taken out…. And I wondered how much of this heartache could have been avoided if I just had a more efficient means to stir my mash.

I am going to Home Depot. I am buying a paint stirrer. And I am going to use that b!tch on my next mash.

As for the dubbel – I may just have to leave a pound of corn sugar out of the recipe and deal with a lower initial gravity to compensate for the lack of dextrins in my wort. Or maybe I’ll add it in and see what the hell happens. I guess I’ll wait until 9:30 or so and see how I feel when that addition comes up.