If life is what you make of it, then I’ve been a ship adrift.

More updates to come in a way to make it more obvious I give a damn about this whole thing. I’ve made the claim I care for not much save for my writing and brewing. Two days ago, my brew sheet was wayward – missing many new items and feeling empty, I haven’t written a lick save for the paragraph in the clumsy sci-fi piece I’ve now started, and I haven’t been keeping up with blogs at work, and here we are. Time’s up. Put it back together again and move on, head down.

On to the interesting parts anyone cares about: I crafted a few recipes and have been tilling the field of my mind for future ideas. Here they are in order.

Grapefruit Saison

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My dear uncle shipped a box full of massive white grapefruits from his tree placed in the shadow of the San Jacinto Mountains to our house whereupon I ate a couple and peeled, juiced and froze the rest. There it sat, moving from cold box to cold box and finally jumped its way into a brew I was cobbling together. What started as a grapefruit wheat met my dear love for OLY-500 and I kept the train rolling. OLY-500 vs Roeselare (Gen 3) this go; the former received ~1oz of fresh thyme from the garden at Southport, it’s simply wonderful, mellow grapefruit flavor met with peppery/lemon saison – easily a favorite – rest was ‘gifted’ via Keg. Roeselare version is untouched and needs packaging.

Summer Stout

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Simple point: I don’t enjoy many (nearly all) stouts. Very few. I want to love them, truly. My brewer-in-crime has love for them, so in my soul search and his admiration we came to an agreement on trying to bridge summer and stout. Before comments are mashed in the little box below, I’m well aware stouts are beloved all times of year. But the sheer truth is most beer drinkers are not reaching for a pint of the black in the throes of dog days. A fellow homebrewer mentioned a short steep of dark malt to nix the harsh acidity and his Black IPA was a testament to that. This mash got a dose of chocolate malt added at sparge only. The kettle was a murky river brown but was likely due to the heavy amount of wheat. Clarity will make it right. US05 vs S04.

Brett Mower

2014-07-01 11.35.57This idea started with knowing a cool summer only last so long and my itch to brew a “normal” pale was bubbling up. Homebrew Club was put to test a pitch of Omega Yeast Lab’s ‘beta’ brett mixtures – supposedly a Fantome and Trio mix. I threw some turbinado to round it out, a pinch of 120 and chocolate (for very light color) in the mash, and likely way too much fresh Thyme leaves in at boil’s end at. The Thyme went into the hot liquid and filled the small back room with an almost liquorice-lemon smell which make my heart plummet to sad places. We’ll see how those Brett fellows get on with the oils. This split is 2nd floor (70-80 f) vs basement (solid low 60s f) – an attempt to gauge the profile better.

Brewhouse Update

2014-06-17 09.24.37

Things slated for installation: fan, NG tie in. In process: Weldless 3-tier strut stand, tile back-splash, fermentation fridge. Components to each set, but progress. And I spilled about 2# of unmalted wheat that has sprouted and started to really grow over a handful of weeks.

Ever onward.

 

2 Comments
  1. Your photo quality has really improved. Sounds like you need to ship ME some beer.

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June/July Brew Rundown

Posted on

July 19th, 2014

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Beer

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