End of 2018

January 2, 2019 stoutmakerLeave a comment

This past year was a bit slower in the brewing dept than normal. A quite a bit slower. From the notes it looks like I only brewed 15 times this year.

-4 ambers
-5 porter/stouts
-2 blondes
-1 IPA
-1 International Lager
-barleywine
-Scottish 60 spiced
Quite a bit less than my usual quota. But managed to grab a few awards this year. Which was surprising as almost everything that I brewed was experimental somehow.

The Mash and boil was the big focus this year. Sure it works just fine right out of the box. But I didn’t quite trust it early in the year. But after figuring some of the numbers and times, I began to trust it more, and have since mostly put the rest of my brew equipment away in favor of the all in one unit.

The brewery seen it share of other ferments this year. Wine, cider and a mead all seen some action this year. I had quite a bit of fun and good results with them, so I already have plans to work on a few more ciders in the near future.

And probably one of my favorite things in the brewery this year was the pickling and fermenting of the Farmers Market buys. Had several Krauts and pickles bubbling away down here all year!

In fact, everything went over so well with the food canning and fermenting, that I am pretty sure a spin off Blogsite of some kind will be needed.

So what is in store for 2019? I think I feel myself switching gears a bit. As mentioned up further, I had quite a lot of fun with the Ciders and wines, and would like to maybe look more into them. Still brew of course, but I think I need to get back to brewing for me and my styles, rather than mostly club needs.

And as alluded to, I think there will be some new content showing up. Both here, and hopefully a new site that would combine the brewing, bbq, and canning into one place.

Happy new Year

Beers, ciders, meads

December 4, 2018December 4, 2018 stoutmakerLeave a comment

Been busy brewing and stuff the last few weeks. Brewed twice at the local Homebrew shop for club demos and to replenish the sample stocks there. I even took the Mash and boil on a road trip brew.

Oh road trip brewing with this Mash and boil is soooo much less hassle. This is gonna make for some summer traveling. I will have to make a little checklist post for this.

Also I have really been exploring the cider and mead side of things. I just kegged up a lower gravity (7%) Saison mead. And bottled a higher gravity (9%) Blueberry cider! Oh,, almost forgot the Farmers Market cider. Each week at the local market I bought “something” and froze them for the end of season cider. This year it was apple/red currant/strawberry/sour cherry/raspberry/beet cider

As good as these new forays turned out, I may have to split time being a brewery and a cider mill. I think its fun for a lot of reasons. First being,, there is more involvement it feels like. With beer you do your 4 hour thing and you dont look at it for a month. With these quick ciders, I can piddle around with the whole fruit/veg prepping, staggered nutrients, degassing, bottling… things like that. Might be a turn off for some,, but its puts me back in touch with my products, like the old days!

Take a look at this Blueberry cider!

3 gallons apple juice, fresh pressed or cheap stuff. They both work
2- containers frozen concentrate blueberry/pomegranate mix
2 lbs sugar
3 tsp nutrient (split)
US-04 or any English strain yeast
Mix everything and 2 tsp of the nutrient. shake it up hard to oxygenate. A day after fermenting add the other 1 tsp of nutrient.
After 3 weeks bottle or keg @ 3 volumes

Pale! Ale!

September 12, 2018September 12, 2018 stoutmakerLeave a comment

Well finally back at brewing! Mostly because A keg is possibly needed for an event next month.

I’m not really sure when it’s needed so I’ll get it ready just in case.

Somewhat under the wire, so a pale ale is the answer. Plus I have a crap-load (just under a shit-ton) of hops that are just sitting there.

I added that dose of black pat by habit, Don’t need it, and wont do anything other than darken the color. And I just happened to have some Notty in the fridge.

Felt good to get back brewing. Would brew more if I could drink up some of this, or give it away,, but that’s a whole other post.. Not today though