First State Brewers Blog

‘Sea of Beer’ shuts down Canadian Highway.

It pours. I’ve got beer b-day gifts coming out my ears, and I’m loving it. My parents have ordered me some Vent-matic faucets for my kegerator, I’ve got my 14 gallon kettle ordered, my sisters have given me $75 in gift certificates to Beer, Beer & More Beer, and my in-laws got me that rockin’ refractometer.

I’ve got over 3lbs of hops and 200lbs of grain - and after I brew 2 more batches, I will be completely out of keg space!!!! DO’H! You guys GOTTA come to the next meeting on May 20 and help me drain the ones in my kegerator.

On tap currently I have:

• Scotch Ale (7%ABV, 2.5 gal)
• Limey Vale Nut Brown Ale (5.5%ABV, 5 gal)
• Rainy Day APA (6%ABV, 5 gal)

Batches that have been kegged and will be brewed/kegged soon:

• Oak Aged Vanilla Imperial Porter (7.7%ABV, 2.5 gal)
• Abbey Tripel (8.5ABV%, 5 gal)
• Alucard Strong Ale (Belgian Strong Dark - about 9%ABV )(5 gal)
• Living Dead Girl (7.5%ABV, 5 gal)
• Scottish 80/- Export Ale (5.5%ABV, 5 gal)
• Pig Iron Porter clone (6.5%ABV, 5 gal)
• Scotch Ale (5 gal) * to be brewed 5/13
• Native Rage IPA (5 gal) * to be brewed soon

That will completely exhaust my kegs. I loaned another 5 gallon keg to Marty Drinan, but I don’t expect to get that back for a few months. I may also get some more kegs from a friend who’s brother-in-law works for Pepsi, but that’s not for sure either. And of course, hopefully some of these will be drank before the long-conditioning ones like the Scotch Ale ever leave the secondary fermenters, so that should free up some.

Its good to be in so much brew gear, brew supplies, and … well… brew. Time to get busy and start drinkin’ it! Or… ***shudder*** start bottling again.

Or maybe I just don’t brew for the first few months of summer and do something else… Wow. Maybe there is something else to do other than brewing… I hadn’t even thought of that.

Hi, everyone, I am in Puerto Rico for the next couple days. Here is an article on the Catholic view of homebrewing (or at least National Homebrewer Day, which was yesterday) :

http://www.catholicexchange.com/vm/index.asp?vm_id=1&art_id=28398

Jane Hautanen (Jane Doe)

Its been a long week, both at work and otherwise. I am so glad its the weekend. And its also been a really long day - Aside from the 8 hour workday, I had an 8 hour brew day today. Don’t ask why… let’s just say that I’ve got to make sure I never do another 90 minute mash and almost 2 hour boil. But I’ve got some porter in the carboy, yeast is pitched, and hopefully I will be fermenting when I wake up tomorrow.

I was shooting for a gravity of 1.062, but I ended up with 1.074 - apparently I’m more efficient than the anticipated 75% (nearly 82%). Speaking of gravities - I got a really cool new toy for my b-day from Donna’s folks - a refractometer w/ ATC. I did some spot checks against the hydrometer I’ve been using for a year now, and its in agreement - but with more accuracy. Its also not as big a pain to use (only takes a couple drops). Very very cool.

I guess for this meeting at our place on May 20 I’ll have plenty of new toys to show off to folks since the last - My 3 faucet tower, my counter-pressure bottle filler, the refractometer, my AG system - Now if only people would come. The past 2 meetings at my house, only about 4 people showed up. I can only hope this one will be better attended… consider it a b-day wish.

8.37%ABV - That’s what ProMash says my Strong Dark Belgian is at. Even though it is young, I snuck a sip of what was left over in my racking tube tonight and… I can’t wait. In 3 or 4 months this should be just amazing. I kegged it tonight and it is now sitting comfortably next to my Abbey Tripel that’s been aging since January. I mentioned some days back that our club should have a Battle of the Belgians sometime late this summer or fall since Scott and Marty also have Belgian-style beers in the works (Marty’s is probably in a keg by now, Scott’s may also be…)

I’m sick. I’m dying for a beer, but my sinuses can’t take it. I’ve been sipping on water all day, hitting the head every 1-2 hours because of it, and I still feel like someone shoved wool and barb wire up my nostrils. All the Claritin, Sudafed, and vitimins apparently can’t save me from pollen… At least I haven’t gotten a sinus infection YET :-\ So since I can’t drink beer, I’ve been doing activities I can enjoy - Like formulating recipes.

As much as I’m not a hophead, I can’t wait to brew the “Native Rage IPA” and assault our club members with it. With 2oz of Warrior hops (14.6%AA), 2oz of Tomahawk hops (14.4%AA) and 1.5oz of Chinook hops (12.1%AA), the 100+ IBUs should do a sufficient job of scalping some taste buds. The synaptic attack of 7.5%ABV and (hopefully) blood red color should fit the motif quite well too. Truth be told, most of the IBUs come from a 75 minute boil of Warrior hops which have a (reportedly) smooth bitterness, so my intent isn’t for this to be a “stunt beer”… But I don’t intend on it taking prisoners, either.