High Summer

Where is the time going!? It's already the middle of July; I gotta start brewing more again. However, I can't think of a better way to spend this stormy morning than catching you all up on my brewing related endeavors. This one will be lengthy so grab a pint and enjoy!

I've got a lot to talk about because I haven't said anything for a while so I'll try to keep everything in sequential order.

The Lemongrass Saisons were put into their final resting places on June 28th. The partial mash went into ten 12-ouncers and one bomber with the rest kegged for home enjoyment. It ended up having a smooth, almost wheat-like body, with the subtlety of the lemongrass, edazote, and Saaz hops masked by the DME. Not bad at all though, just not quite as delicate of a beer as I was hoping for. the all grain version, on the other hand ... haha ... well, I bottled the entire batch and brought some up north to share with my Aunt, Uncle, and Grandma, as well as with my boys at the Lake Superior Open disc golf tournament. The one bottled shared with family was fantastic! Very light and delicate with the earthy notes I was after abounding. I was happily surprised and very pleased. Then, at the tournament, the bottles shared with buddies all foamed over when opened, the aroma was that of a band-aid factory, and the flavor was skunk. My worst fear was realized and my goal as a home brewer will now never be attained (it could never actually be attained anyway...): I had a contaminated batch. I had steam sanitized a batch of bottles in the dishwasher months ago and let them sit in the basement covered with foil. Must have gotten through the micro-porous foil giving the residual yeast something else to do besides eat up the priming sugar and carbonate my beer. Oh well. Now I know. SANITIZE immediately before bottling. Great lesson learned. And, there's still some hope that the entire batch isn't lost because of that one prophetic bottle drank with family in Grand Rapids, MN.


A week prior to bottling and kegging the Lemongrasses, I made a purchase: a ten-gallon cooler all-grain system. It includes two ten-gallon beverage coolers fitted with bulkhead spigots, one with a false-bottom for mashing and lautering; and a fly sparge arm for rinsing the grains after lautering the first runnings of wort. I was so excited I had to try it out so I did a small, 3-gallon "test" batch that very day. It is John Palmer's "Oak Butt Brown" grain bill hopped with Chinook and Fuggle and seasoned with some nutmeg. It needs to be kegged!!

Natalie Champa Jennings came over and did what she does best: take amazing pictures! Many thanks to her again for her support and help. She assembled her own post which can be found here. It was a really fun afternoon in the Red House Brewery, compete with a bucket stacked on a chair stacked on the dining room table (gravity always wins); the riddle of the mysterious note left by the mailman was answered; I got to use my immersion wort chiller for the first time; we saw a double rainbow; and, of course, QueHaz was there, as he is right now, rubbing my arms, face, and computer, walking on my keyboard, and trying to bite my nose while I type. Love that cat. Now for some pictures.

Remember, for your professional photography needs, look no further than Natalie Champa Jennings Photography.

Mikey mashes in while I make sure the lid has an underside.

Grain soup.

QueHaz wonders how long mashing will take. Only an hour buddy.

Paddle-Guitar...

Getting sparge water ready.

Weigh.

Vorlaufing.

Go sparge arm, go!

Gravity.

What a photo-worthy moment: throwing something away. The guy who lives across the alley caught us in the act here and we ironically ran into him at the bar later that night. He thought it was very strange to be taking pictures of throwing stuff away.

I found this in my mailbox that morning and was utterly dumbfounded...

... but then it all made sense ...

... it was the gear cassette and rear derailleur I was anxiously awaiting! Now they're on my bike and I'm a happy peddler.

You have to stay in QueHaz ...

... "That pisses me off!"

Happy brewer, happy peddler, happy guy.

Updating The Book.

Redwood tree commemorating my years in Humboldt County, CA where my appreciation for craft beer grew exponentially. I was spoiled rotten with all the great beers out there, many of which we can get here in MN now too!

It works!

It was so intense.

So that was the inaugural batch in the cooler system. It went so well and I can't wait to use it again, now that I have this:

A 15-gallon kettle fitted with a bulkhead spigot. This will allow me to do 8- and 10-gallon batches; split 4- or 5-gallon batches to experiment with different yeasts, dry-hopping, or other second-stage additions; or to do big and small beers from the same grain: make 5 gallons of a high-gravity wort then sparge another 5 gallons to make a low-gravity session beer. It's gonna be great!!

I nearly forgot the other toy I acquired a little while ago from my friend Doug Taylor: 

A kick-ass set of propane burners. The legs come off so I can put it on the floor to complete the gravity system. The flames rip real high so I should be able to achieve a rigorous boil and they also simmer real low so I should also be able to keep strike water at a lower temp before mashing or for making infusions to adjust mash temperature.

Last but certainly not least of the new brewery toys is my home-made stir plate for growing yeast starters:

 

I found the instructions through Home Brew Talk, a great forum I often use.

I only have it going at about 1/4 speed in the video above because the magnet loses its attraction to the one inside the box when it goes much faster because of, I think, the convex bottom of the jug. I'll get an Erlenmeyer flask soon and hopefully I can let 'er rip then. 

So, with all these new toys at my disposal, all I need now is a propane tank and a little garage-space-management and I'm ready to brew! I'm thinking it's time to cook a Russian Imperial Stout. As chewy as possible, hoppy, as dark as a black steer's tuckus on a moonless prairie night, and probably with some coffee added. That should be great if this coming winter is anything like the last. Sorry to mention winter but with a beer like this, it's now time to think about it.

I originally sat down to write this blog last Friday; now it's the following Thursday. I've lost about 10 pounds sweating at the stadium this past week in the oppressive heat we've been having. Only four more days of trading people alcoholic beverages for their hard-earned dollars then I'll start brewing again. A friend of mine wants me to brew him a batch so he has something to serve his friends who will be helping him move. ON BIKE. A bike move. I'll write about that when appropriate.

That's all I have for you now. I truly hope you enjoyed reading. 

Don't be shy to drop me a line if you would like to try some beer!!

I'm Proud of My Beer and Humbled You're Here