Tangled up in Brew – A homebrew update

I begin by thanking my friend Bill in New Mexico for the title of this and all subsequent updates. Readers know I am a big Bob Dylan fan (see CollegeBoy’s name…) and Bill ran across this song reference on a beer bottle cap. He just retired a few months ago and makes frequent posts in Facebook of on his blog and often mentions having a grip on a nice bottle of something. This is an inspiration to me both in terms of my retirement and having a beer or two when I do. Thanks Bill.

Now to the update. If you read this post you know we were raising questions on where to go with the brewing process were involved in. Well, we made some decisions and up to this point have been very happy with the results. Bottling is a long, tedious process, the worst in the whole home brewing situation for us. It takes hours to clean, sanitize, fill, cap and store bottles of home brew, so we were looking for an alternative,. Someday when I am retired and have a bit more time and energy, I dream of doing “corny” kegs and a kegerator (beer keg fridge) but needed something to do now. I wrote on the sub Reddit-Homebrewing and got a great idea from someone – to reuse a Miller Home Draft Kit. I purchased 1.5 gallon bottles from a brew store, bought a draft kit from a local package store, drank the Coors Light and removed the tap. Two weeks ago, CollegeBoy and I brewed our 4th edition of Blue Canary Cream Ale and put it into the fermentor and last Saturday evening, we put it into 3 mini-kegs, where it sits today. It took all of 15 minutes to keg the beer out of the fermentor and I wondered where this process had been all our brewing lives, It was fast, easy and went without a hitch. In a few more days, we will have tap beer, my own tap beer and you could see the smile from where ever you are.

Next up is to begin a second batch of beer on my own as CollegeBoy is finishing up this semester and then is headed to Manhattan for an internship. So the time has come to do one on my own and I am up for the challenge. The first order of business is to decide on what kind of beer to brew. I have my eye on two different types - “honey” ale or a Sierra Nevada pale ale clone. I am also working on a mini-keg label for the Blue Canary and when I am done, I will also post it here. Watch for the next edition of “Tangled up in Brew” (I just love that name…), a taste of the last batch of BCCA FROM A TAP!

The Blue Canary Cream Ale Report

As has been reported here and on the CSA Podcast , CollegeBoy and I have endeavored to make our own home-brewed beer. It has been an unmitigated success across the board.

A quick summary – we purchased a basic brewing kit from Midwest Supply which came with everything we needed to begin. We also purchased 24 16 oz bottles and 3, 1 liter bottles for putting the beer into. We chose cream ale as the first beer to do, mainly because it is said to be an easy, straight forward recipe that gives you the time to figure out the rhythm of brewing. We have made 3 successful batches of this beer, christening it Blue canary Cream Ale, a tip of the hat to They Might Be Giants and their song “Birdhouse in my soul” which has been the inspiration for our podcast title, and now our beer. This brings us to the next step of our brewing experience.

Of all the hassles of brewing your own beer, the one that takes the most time and energy is cleaning and sterilizing the bottles and caps. The solution is to go directly to a tap system but these can get to be expensive. The question is do we move up to brewing in a draft container so that we have a tap beer – currently we brew in 5 gallon pails and then bottle from that but it takes almost 4 hours to clean, prep, fill and cap the supply. There is an inexpensive kit that allows for the beer to be brewed in 1.5 gallon batches and have a tap adaptor so that you can put it directly into the fridge – like a mini keg. This is the direction I believe we will head toward.

One issue with the homebrew is the fact that it is a bit cloudy. That doesn’t harm the flavor at all but esthetically it is not the best. I understand that there is a seaweed extract that is used to clear the beer. I have research this and it is a cheap, easy to use step in the overall process. Inexpensive too, so this will be included in our next order. This brings us to the next issue.

We have now used a kit three times to make the same beer. The kit is for what is called Liberty Cream Ale. We are feeling experienced enough to try another kit beer that gives a different taste. However we don’t want to make too many changes at once such that if there is a problem in a future brew we can pinpoint the issue. Thus we are going to make the same beer a fourth time, using a different process, directly into a keg from the initial wort. If all goes well with this procedure and process, we will branch out to a second beer. One being considered is honey ale. It would be similar to the cream ale but gets its priming sugar for carbonation from some honey. We will use the kits honey the first time but there is some room for experimentation in using say, a local honey – clover or other type. I expect New Mexico has some good local honeys too so I am looking forward to this variation.

Finally, we have found a great Reddit source of information, the homebrew sub topic. I am planning to write there soon to ask about the mini-keg system and other easy beginner recipes to help keep us moving forward. Until then, we are happy to drink our current homemade beer and enjoy the satisfaction of our accomplishment.

The Blue Canary Cream Ale Report

As regular readers of this blog or frequent listeners to the Podcast of Record Countless Screaming Argonauts (available for free on iTunes or listen from the website http://csapodcast.blogspot.com/) know, CollegeBoy and I have been brewing our own beer on occasion. We had done two previous batches of a Cream Ale and gave it the moniker Blue Canary Cream Ale (BCCA) after the They Might Be Giants song, “Birdhouse in Your Soul.” Well, we completed brewing batch #3 a week before Christmas, bottled it on Christmas Day, waited 14 days for it to naturally carbonate and popped open our first bottle on Saturday at about 2 PM.

I am here to report that it was a complete success. It is a creamy, flavorful ale, double hopped (once during the boil and second, 10 minutes before yeast is added), with a golden color and fresh taste second to none. We will be celebrating with a steak dinner tonight with twice baked potatoes, broccoli with cheese and MillieJupiter's first homemade beer bread (no we did not use the BCCA, we save that for drinking).

CB and I have now generated a list of questions which we will endeavor to answer over the next few weeks including

1. Do we move up to brewing in a draft container so that we have a tap beer. Currently we brew in 5 gallon pails and then bottle from that but it takes almost 2 hours to clean, prep, fill and cap the batch. There is an inexpensive kit that allows for the beer to be brewed in 1.5 gallon batches and have a tap adaptor so that you can put it directly into the fridge – like a mini keg.

2. One issue with the homebrew is the fact that it is a bit cloudy. That doesn’t harm the flavor at all but esthetically it is not the best. I understand that there is a seaweed extract that is used to clear the beer. We have to research this.

3. We have now used a kit three times to make the same beer. We are feeling experienced enough to try another kit beer that gives a different taste. However we don’t want to make too many changes at once such that if there is a problem in a future brew we can pinpoint the issue.

We are heading to the Reddit homebrew sub topic to ask these questions as we plan our next move. Until then, we are happy to drink our homemade beer and enjoy the satisfaction of our accomplishment. If you are in the neighborhood, stop by and enjoy a taste of a craft beer. But come quickly, we only have about 35 bottles left...

Killer Penguin

No, this is not me but something outstanding, none the less.

CollegeBoy came home last weekend from college to go to a wedding with his girlfriend. He never comes home for a visit empty handed, usually dragging a large bag of laundry to do while he is home. But this time was different. CollegeBoy was different, having turned 21 just a few weeks ago. As such, his list of frequent stops, in the town where he goes to school, now includes occasional bars and liquor stores. Well, we must have done a good job raising him, as this weekend, he came home with several new beers to sample. Ah yes, he is his father’s son!

Amongst the trio of beers he brought for us to sample was an outstanding ale with a catchy name “Killer Penguin.” It is referred to as barleywine ale, brewed by the Boulder Beer Company of Boulder, Colorado. It is very mindful of the beer that we ourselves brewed and liked so much, Blue Canary Cream Ale. It was full of hops, great color, smooth, very fresh tasting. “Killer Penguin” is brewed in a limited fashion, a seasonal beer, made in a 50 barrel batch, and sold in a 22 ounce bottle. It contains 10% alcohol, which is almost triple the standard US beer 3.2 – 3.5% alcohol, so it does provide a nice kick too. One other unique point is the fact that the bottle has a red wax seal over the cap, which includes a wooden button with the year of brew on it. Just another example of their fine attention to detail.

The brewer, Boulder Beer, has a website which details a lot about the company and their beer goal. When you get in it, there is a bit about this beer on the “Magical Mystery Tap” under the “Beers” link. With only 50 barrels of this special beer, it might be difficult to find but it would be worth a try. I would also have a positive feeling about any beer this company makes and look forward to trying some of the others in their fine line.

Now, if they only make a “Killer Penguin” baseball cap! Special thanks to CollegeBoy for the tip and treat!