A New Beer Thread

That whole things scares the crap out of me! LOL
I am so NOT a DIYer. One of the guys in my club is an engineer and he build his own damn system. Going to go watch it next Friday.

 

Marzen down 10 points in two days. Yeasties have been pretty busy, I guess.

 

Tripel and Nut Brown going to bottles tomorrow and my Cream Ale has been bubbling like a mad man.
I have a competition on Tuesday. Hoping they are at least sorta carb by then (I should have started all this brewing a week early), if not...at least they will still taste decent (I hope).

 

Bottled the Nut Brown. Beautiful and clear. Tasted great.
The Tripel was only at .030, so I repitched with Belle Saison, just to add a layer of flavor and to kickstart fermenting again and get it down to .010ish.
I counted, and I'm up to 12 batches this year. Somewhere in the high 20s/low 30s all time.

 

Don't feel bad, you're not the only one.

I sure like drinking *good* beer though. The state of Alabama finally got up off of their theocrat/big beer lobby inspired nonsense and changed the laws to allow microbreweries and brewpubs. Life as been good ever since.

If you beer snobs get a shot at Avondale's Spring Street Saison, it's very good indeed.

 

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Parents brought in troops for us here in Ohio from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Blackrocks opened in 2010 (I believe) as a nano-brewery and is now up to limited canning. The Coconut Brown is amazing and the 51K IPA blows your tongue away (in a good way).

 

Just ordered the stuff for an 11C. Using MO for the base, with some crystal 60, brown malt and chocolate 350. Going to mash it at 156 for more body, bitter and aroma with EKG and ferment with WLP005. And a barley crusher, finally.

 

This has so much homebrew geekery shorthand...and I understand it completely! haha
Very cool.
I bottled two batches last night, so every thing is bottled, now a week or so of bottle-conditioning and then heading to some competitions.
I was the head for the local county fair's competition tonight, we had 12 judges, 35 entries and 8 categories. Looking to double the entries next year. My goal is to eliminate the $20 entry fee (you get a week-long pass to the fair, but most people don't care about that to enter one beer) and get it sponsored along with some sort of prize other than a medal. Maybe a local brewery will make a batch of the winner for whatever season they choose or get the local homebrew store to donate a $50 gift card. Something more than a medal. But everyone had a good time. Awards tomorrow night.

 

We have a micro south of Nashville that does a pro-am and brews the winner on their system. Cool Springs Brewery. Maybe you could call them for ideas on how they do it. And $20 is a little steep. Are most of the entries local? I don't think I'd pay $20 to mail an entry.

We have a huge comp the first weekend in November. The Nashville club heads it up, but without the LHBS support, it absolutely wouldn't happen. They do so much. So many prizes and so much sponsorship, it's amazing.

 

It's the fair, so we only get locals.
The competition is on the same level as sheep, pigs and cows. So that's why they charge that fee. The good thing is there is unlimited entries allowed. I entered 3, one guy entered 6...another, just 1. We are going to sit down with the board and they are going to let us take over and we hope to make it much more streamlined. We want to keep it local though, but pull from all of Northwest Ohio, not just down the street.

 

Both Blackrocks and Ore Dock are great additions to the UP/Marquette scene. Haven't been to the source yet, but have tried several from both at MI Brewer's Guild Festivals. Throw in Vierling (great food and spectacular view of the harbor, beer is ok) and it's means I have to get back up there again soon. There's a new place in Munising as well (Shooter's Firehouse Pub) but haven't heard much about it.

Just avoid Jasper Ridge at all costs!!!

 

Word is Jasper Ridge got a new brewer in charge. So I am going to try it out in late August.