Double Chin Ale Kegged

Kegged the double chin yesterday. Really different, very earthy, dark and warm in taste, with a solid malt profile Nice break from the cascade rat race of late. 1.008fg

Put into serving fridge on 20psi 7/23 20:00.

Beer Tasting

Out of here tomorrow for a visit with the little brother to drop off baby stuff and hang out, then down to Lake Cayuga for a couple of days R&R for the mind with the college crowd. I self nominated for the beer tasting selection at my new favorite place, Abe's Cold Beer. Should be interesting. Weather doesn't look great, but nothing does in comparison to the last 10 days. Who cares, insobriety is an all weather affair.

12oz x3
Flying Dog Snake Dog IPA
Lagunitas IPA
Southern Tier Hop Sun Wheat
Bells Porter
Bells 2 Hearted Ale
Shastafarian Porter
Stone IPA
Lagunitas Little Sumpin Sumpin
Breckenridge Summer Ale
Ballast Point Yellowtail Pale Ale (kolsch)
Thirsty Dog Siberian Night Imperial Stout



Bombers x1
Pennichuck Fireman's Pale Ale
Port Brewing Hop 15 Imperial IPA
Hoppy Brewing Stony Face Red
Fort Collins Double Chocolate Stout
Hoppin Frog Silk Porter
Rogue Seahorse Pale Ale

Singletrack Zen

My my my, how I forgot how nice it is to pump some pedals over the river and through the woods. For the first time in a long time mounted the trusty steed and hit Jacobsburg. Did much better than I thought I would, but way short of the pre-hammy paces and endurance of old. I need to get this back into the rotation now that the leg is 100%. No more excuses. Not much other than this allows me to focus strictly on the now, out side of the bike.

Chinook/Amarillo Pale Ale

"Hmm. That's different", he says with a cock of the head and dives back in for more. Racked the Chinook/Amarillo Pale Ale to secondary. OG 1.016. Still had a nice frothy Krausen, but not too high. Bubbles were 4-5 seconds all week, slowed to 10 friday and was about 18ish today. I thought about keeping it in primary longer, but I like the idea of some fermentation going on in secondary to push out the O2 with CO2. Still very turbid in appearance as I expected. The finish is late and long which I like, earthy and what do you know, spicy as advertised. Thinking less old bay, and more cumin-y? Can't really place it. It almost seemed hot pepper spicy when it went into primary, but it has lost that edge now, which I think I am glad about. It definately needs to be dry hopped, but with what? Initial immediate reaction was cascade would work well with it and brighten it up a bit on the front end. I may do some sniffing around that new Japanese hop. Not sure whether to stay in the earthy end since it is well placed in that category, or th change it up a bit. I don't want more Amarillo I don't think and the Chinook doesn't really smell hoppy to me.

I think I may really like this northwest yeast.

This beer needs a name. Something like 38th unparalleled maybe since I saw Dean and Mouse as it was in primary. I think I am settled on the Patton Porter for a name, lemon wheat will be a standard brew this time of year, so that needs a name as well. Hell, the brewery still needs a name, Imbecile brewing is funny, but I'm not going to proudly write it on a bottle.

Disasters, check

Well, I hit the gravity. I also shorted out 3 digital thermometers via various assininities, and managed to be more worried about the gravity than the wort flowing into the primary and the hose blocked up on the hop bag i was running it through and spewed 1.5 gals onto the garage floor. Dang. 4.5 gals in the fermenter at 1.057.

Note to self: Put 5 gals of darn near boiling water into the cooler the night before.
"": Buy a waterproof thermometer.

Better yet, figure out how much heat loss occurs overnight and preheat the strike water the day before so brew day starts with the dumping of the grain, right after the de-spackling of the teeth.

Supplies, check

It's brewing weekend. I have to say that makes me happy. The idea of keg #2 in the kegerator just makes me plain ol giddy. There is certainly question as to whether keg #1 of WKE Wheat will pull a Michael Jackson on me in the next 3 weeks, but hey, it would delay me dropping another $75 on a faucet, shank and gas splitter. It should be ready to tote along to the finger lakes as well. I win.

Shopping list complete for Pale Ale #3

Box of chalk for cool new blackboard painted freezer door to identify the liquidy goodness within.
11 lbs American 2 row Pale malt
.75lb Malted Wheat
.5lb Munich
.5lb Crystal 20

New Yeast: Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale
I don't know squat about this yeast and don't read much about it, so it should be interesting.

Hops bill has been all over the place for this one. Had some Nugget left over from Uber PA so that was the bittering. I wanted Amarillo again, but needed to mix it with other varieties so it was not so one dimensional. Originally it was Cascade, Glib suggested Centennial which is how I went to Keystone. I got there and Judy says, stick you head in there and smell some bags. That was the start of a good night in college, but a perfect suggestion in my current state. Oh what glorious scent is this? Chinook? I thought old bay for some reason, which seems ridiculous, but anyone who knows me in summer, knows I have a weakness for the sodium laden yellow can. That's a nut tickle from Madam Karma, so into the basket with you.

New MLT will make the maiden voyage tomorrow. I picked up a 70qt Coleman Extreme for $38 or something and converted it over using the 5gal igloo parts.

Getting stoked already.

Oh, I built the latest iteration of the brewing spreadsheet which now includes a standard brewday variable log to make it easier to find things, and hopefully remind me to take all the measurements.

Also put together a strike water calculator and liquor:grist ratio calculator which should both come in quite handy.

Keg legs

I am swooning, weak in the knees, and laughing at memories of nicknames from college girls past all at the same time. There could be no other title for this post.

Last Wednesday Jun 17, 2009 was a banner day in the annals of Imbecile Brewing Co, it's memory shall be celebrated every day, in perpetuity. My lemon WKE wheat had been in primary long enough. My bottle supply was a tad low. My unused refrigerator in the garage was on my nerves and my thrift (aka vacation account paid a week of expenses instead of the general fund) had left a budget surplus in May. My uber pale ale is having some carbonation issues in random bottles. What a bummer to reach for a cold one after a long hard day of interweb surfing and find a slightly syrupy, flat as a pancake, pale ale greeting me. Hmm, how do these things merge into a single vortex of pleasure say you? Read on.

"Mmmm, Draft Beer" says Homer.

Yup, after some research on the topic and yet another visit to Keystone to see Josh, I walked through downtown Bethlehem on my ergo break with a Cornie under one arm, a #5 co2 tank in the other and a box chock full o regulator, hoses, clamps, seals etc squeezed between. A gigantic shit eating grin plastered upon my melon left no question as to how the mood ring would glow.

"Late lunch" he quips to boss man as the door hits him in the ass. Co-workers nod their knowing approval. 7 miles later, refrigerator fires right up after 2 years, got cold and stayed that way. Turn and burn back to Paycheckville, USA.

Oh the joy, oh the pleasure, oh the ease of pumping primary directly into keg, sealing said device, snapping on an air hose and walking away to paint! Ok, you got me, I checked it and rolled the keg around every 15 minutes to hear the regulator say "splurrsh" as it pumped it's 30lbs of goodness into the whoreish and greedy wheat. 24 hrs later, lots of pressure and head, still somewhat flat underneath. Next morning, woohoo! (It was only a small glass boss man). Backed pressure back to #12 and have been enjoying the goodness ever since.

Now for the beer review of WKE Wheat.
Outstanding shaving creamesque head, beer is very very turbid, almost with a touch of grey, but to be expected with 60% wheat. Lemony nose comes through, head has a slightly bitter and familiar flavor with it, and to a lesser extent the finish. It reminds me of the lemon pith, which I will not do again and stick with just the zesting. It is drinkable though with very low alcohol, as was expected with the wke OG. In the words of Hanna Montana who I listened to 50 times this weekend, next time i need to pump up the party a little.

Verdict? Another $34 to the coffers of Keystone along with my grain bill so my Amarillo Pale Ale this weekend can be keg #2 on tap.

Projects:
Rip out crisper drawers and replace with wooden bottom so it will support second keg.
Pick up #20 co2 bottle from Jimbo that had a previous life as a nitrous tank in the parking lot of the Electric Factory. Ah the irony there.
Get a shank and faucet so the door doesn't have to be opened 50 times a week, err I mean occasionally. Me thinketh this one. Shall I buy 1 or 2?

The mantra RDWHAHB just evolved.