A Beer and a Dog

"Why should I blog about brewing?", I asked. "Nothing like a beer and a dog...", So Sayeth Virtual Wayne.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Tasting notes on Cream Ale 2.1.1

Trish said that the cream ale is too bitter... maybe next time I will either modify the hop schedule or reduce the secondary fermenter time (Probably that) to improve the balance. And I have 4 cases of the stuff to drink. On a different note, it does have a spicy taste, as I would like to see my Biere de Garde taste when I make that style. I like it! Trish will have to suffer thru this, I raccoon.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Cream Ale 06.B v3.0 Batch 2 is bottled

I left this batch in the secondary fermenter for 21 days as well, and I believe that next time I make cream ale I'll secondary for 14 days instead. Trish tasted the first bottle that was chilled and said that it was too bitter (she said hoppy...) and since I make this style for her I had better make sure that it pleases her palate.'

I did get (53) 12 oz. bottles, and the ABV calculates out to be 6.72%, which pleases me, but is outside style guidelines. I doubt that I'll enter this into a contest anywhere so I'll not worry about staying within style guidelines... the point of making your own beer is to make it to please your own palate, or to some parameter that is the goal du jour.

Have to brew more Americam Amber Ale... and soon: I only have 10 bottles left... I think that I gave away more than I usually do. I was really pleased with it and wanted to share.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

First batch of 6A. v3.0 ready to test

Got home from a friend's house tonite (after stopping there on the way home from work) and poured a bourbon, and came down to the 'Cave to do computer stuff. The first batch of 06A v.3.0 is ready to taste this weekend. Altho' I DID put a bottle of it into the packets of smoked brisket as braising liquid over the past weekend, I am ready to actually chill & drink a bottle this weekend. Huzzah. The next batch is going to be bottled in about 3 weeks. I'm going to run out of AAA (10B) before then; I'll send a couple sixers of 06A to TAFTHB day when that arrives. I really need to brew more beer, and soon.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Bramwell Oktöberfest 2009

And as it turns out, I will be attending this year after all! My home brew Homeboy Bryan's wife canceled at the last possible moment and Bryan put the call out into the ether: does anyone wish to go with him? Sure, I said! And I'll take my 10B. v2.1.1 with me for entering into the homebrew contest. The OG is about 15 points higher than style indicates, but what the heck, I like it. And I'm sure that the judges will too! Bwa-haha! Maybe Bryan and I will clean up for the club this year, as we are the only two going. The rest of the brew crew will be attending Blacksburg's Brew Doo on the same day.(Did I just step in some Brew doo?) Maybe they will clean up at that festival.

I have my labels made & 'banded onto my bottles and I'll be ready to roll at the appointed hour. More on this after the fact.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Bottled Cream Ale v3.0 Batch 1 this AM...

This came out around 7.5% ABV, which is higher than I expected, even after adding water at secondary to lower the 'starting gravity'. Oh, well. I'll drink it.

Brewed the Batch 2 of Cream Ale, same recipe version on Sunday. Great day to brew. Added an additional gallon & change at mid boil and wound up with 5.5 g. in the primary. Adjusted my calcs accordingly.

And now, I have an issue: Looks like I'm running out of bottles! I have some with labels still on them, and I'll have to clean the labels off of them before I bottle the next batch of beer.

I'm also out of: Corn sugar; cap labels; and I broke the thingy that I use to clean the inside of the bottles before sanitizing. Got to get a new one of them. I'm also out of Pale Ale malt. 50 lbs sure doesn't seem to go that far.

Not one of these.. these... FAUX CyberDaves... but the TRUE CyberDave!


About CyberDave

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Contract engineering, working in the field in which I truly love: Mechanical Design.

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"Bonus Nachos!" as we say on my planet. "And CHEERS!"