Moving towards AG brewing

Just registered for an All-Grain brewing class. I'm really excited about it. It made sense to check out what great minds are already out there doing instead of trying to muddle through it myself. I
had gone to the meeting for the Oregon Brew Crew on January 14th. I was astonished by the turn out. There had to have been at least 50 people there, maybe even more. It was a potluck, with the theme of comfort food and not prepared to do anything but shyly sit in a corner some place, I was too nervous to eat or drink the homebrew going around.

I know I must have looked like a deer in headlights and I appreciated the gesture made by this really nice guy named Craig who was the first person to come up and speak to me. If that was an indication of the level of friendliness I could expect I was off to a better start than anything I had witnessed in Minneapolis. People were cacrrying around cupware and bottles and everyone was urged to try a little of this, while the brewer would proudly regale you stories of its origins, the mishaps and triumphs as well as the ingredients. That is what I love most about this culture of homebrewing, every beer has a story and even if some sound similar you can always see the ways that their differences make them unique to the creator...kind of like kids...only waaaay better than children.

I met another first-timer, a chiropractor by the name of Ryan, who was wanting to get back into brewing. Not knowing anyone there we kin of glommed onto each other. I believe we shared more than just our experiences with beer, we ended up talking about his teaching and mine and why he moved out here and I moved back. I probably shared more with a stranger that night than I had with any other at any time. If I thought that among 50+ people I could disappear I was wrong.

They had a portion of the meeting where they take the sign-in sheet and asked that new members come on up to the front and introduce themselves. Yeah, not fun because I stand out enough, I don't need to be pointed out in a crowd. At the end of the meeting I was stopped by another man, whose son lived in Minneapolis.

Highlights: The first person to greet me was Julie, who it turns out handles volunteering for the spring beer and wine fest. She also does AG and likes to do as much of the work herself as she can even though she has problem with her hands. I was not the only person of color there, which was awesome. I was certainly not one of a handful of women either. Though of course men outnumbered the women, the number of women I did see was significant, out of 50 I'd say that there were at least 15 to 20 women. These are good signs for me.

Announcement

I know it's a long way off but I figured if I didn't put it on my blog now and then delete it from my inbox it might get lost in the next few months.


April 2 & 3, 2010
Friday & Saturday from 12:00 noon till 11:00pm
$5.00 admission
Volunteers wanted

Oregon Convention Center
777 NE MLK Jr. Blvd.
Portland, Oregon

• Hop aboard the Tour de Cheese
• Mingle with artisan brewers, vintners, distillers & cheese makers
• Nibble on tasty gourmet delights
• Get schooled at the Chefs Stage - and eat your homework
• Groove to tunes from hot NW bands

While you're sipping on fine craft beer, wine, spirits and cocktails, do a little shopping! Our arts and craft vendors and exhibitors offer unique treasures and interesting items. Or chill out in the attached heated outdoor smoker's tent, a comfortable lounge area offering additional beer selections and a cigar vendor purveying fine tobacco items. And don't forget: Admission is free the first two hours each day.

The Spring Beer & Wine Fest may be about education, but school has never been this much fun!
http://www.springbeerfest.com

I moved!

I hadn't realized the lull between posts had been months. Months of not brewing or wine making and I though I noticed it, I don't think it registered how much I miss the process of preparing a recipe, gathering my ingredients and actually doing the work.

I just moved back to Portland, Oregon in order to finish my dissertation and have the space to really brew more seriously. I'm going to be a little space challenged so I'm looking into using the basement space of a friend. Both he and his wife are big beer drinkers and he's pretty handy with the building of things so I figure between the three of us we have a good team of drinkers and makers.

The new computer

The awesomeness of my new computer cannot be put into mere words. Yes, it's tiny, and I have a hard time relearning where all my fingers should go, but the space-saving properties and the mobility this baby will offer me just can't be denied. It's well worth the ten pages of writing I had to do just to earn it. A reward to myself.

A few updates on the beer and wine front. I didn't submit the braggot to the state fair, for the reason of consistency. OUt of 3 drank bottles, 2 were good the 3rd was a little iffy. They tasted fine and a lot like the Curmudgeon, except way darker in color and astringent in texture. It looks more like coke. I think I might just submit it to the Renaissance Faire instead. I have to bottle 1 batch of beer this week and another next week and start that partial mash sometime this week as well. I'm not sure how long the grains are going to hold up, but the scale arrived even if the 5 gallon pot didn't.

I had to start a dispute with paypal for non-delivery from brewsterbrown.com and I'm not pleased because not only am i out money I also don't have a pot to brew in. I'm hoping the notice from paypal will push this guy to contact me and let me know one way or another what is going on. I most likely will not buy from him again but I won't bad mouth him publicly either.

Monday! Beer day!

I woke up this morning knowing that I was going to have to get up and head to Northern Brewer and pick up a new fermenter and some odds and ends. I kind of have to make the beer today because I left the yeast out Sunday morning and so had to smack it because it had already begun to swell. By this morning it was a huge tight ball of yeasty goodness and it needed to be put into something yummy.

I've got the AC cranked to avoid the really high humid temperatures we've been having. I have 2 beers going. One is the honey bee ale from midwest, which I'm keeping my fingers crossed will be ready in time for the wedding. At least if it isn't completely ready I have enough boxes to mail the beer to folks in the wedding party.

I put aside the spent grains from the steep in order to try my hand at making those dog biscuits that folks on the homebrew forum have posted. I don't have a dog but my neighbors do and it's not like I haven't already eaten some of the grains. I don't want to make something and feed it to a living creature without making sure that it is perfectly safe.

I forgot to post the MW Honey Bee Ale Recipe
here it is:

8oz Carapils
1oz Glacier @ 6% (60min)
1oz Argentinian Cascade (5min)
3.3# Gold Malt
3# Clover Honey
Wyeast #1056 American Ale

Gettng a jump on my day.

I can't decide if I need to go to get a new fermenter bucket or just wait for the one I ordered to come in the mail. I'm running a little behind on the making of the Honey Bee Ale I planned for a friend's wedding on September 4. I planned on making this as gifts to give to her and her new husband and the wedding party. I don't want to hurry it but if I don't then no one will have anything to take home.

I have a lunch date this afternoon with my friend Brian, who really got me started on wine. Roundtrip to Northern Brewer in St. Paul by bus should take me about 1.5-2 hours which won't get me home in time to start any beer today before I have to do lunch then work my shifts at the fringe festival and then see a couple of shows tonight.

But if I go today and prepare to make the beer on friday morning then I'll still have a few hours until before I work again. Three weeks in primary and then bottle, no secondary should make it just in time to get it to the folks. Of course, they couldn't drink it for another 2 weeks, and considering everyone I don't think the beer will last.

Talk about fast service

I ordered grains from NOrthern Brewer Thursday and boom I opened my door this afternoon as I was leaving and found a box sitting at the door. I hurriedly grabbed it and put the yeast in the fridge and checked the grains. I was on www.brewtools.com and was playing around with the recipe creator. I made one for a belgian ale that looked relatively easy and was partial mash recipe. I found an easy to follow tutorial for partial mash on a stovetop on the brew forum, called www.homebrewtalk.com and I'm looking forward to trying it out.

I am hoping to get to it some time this week, like Wednesday or Thursday. I've got to volunteer at the Fringe Festival in the afternoons, and I'm writing but that's all. I am hoping that the new brew kettle I ordered will be here by then, and then I think I'm done with buying equipment for a few months. What I have should see me through making two batches at a time for the next few months.

I definitely want to try as many easy recipes in as many styles as possible.

Belgian Ale

2.5# Belgian Pale
1# german 2-row Pils
1# Belgian Caramunich
3# Light LME
1.85 Alexanders wheat malt
1oz Styrian Goldings @ 60 (4.5% AA)
.5 oz East Kent Goldings @ 15
Wyeast 3944 Belgian Witbier