Not Trying to Brag But...

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

I almost forgot to mention the Earthquake that we had last Saturday… well, there’s a few reasons for that… mostly because it was in Napa over an hour’s drive away… but also because the experience was me being lightly jostled awake at 3 AM just in time to catch like the last two seconds of a six-second shimmer… and then nothing. No damage, no injuries, nothing like that… which is great. We’re fine. Napa got hit pretty good with some power outages and piss poor planning by vineyards will probably cause to an “unexpected” rise in wine prices… but beer’s better anyway. Aside from that, no deaths, only a few injuries from falling bookshelves and stuff like that… I think some mobile homes burned because of a small fire & close proximity… I feel like most here in the area are pretty prepared for the inevitability of earthquakes… and this kinda served as a pleasant reminder to check your preparedness kits. That’s all I really got to say about it. My first time feeling one really in almost four years here.

 

Saturday night before the quake, we watched “Lego Movie” starring the voice talents of Chris Pratt, Morgan Freeman, Alison Brie, Will Arnett and… let’s face it, half of Hollywood seemed to be in the movie. Basically, this was the mega-release Lego movie after the success of all the straight-to-DVD releases they had before with Lego Batman, etc. It’s about an everyday schmoe construction guy (Pratt) who “isn’t special” so he’s apparently lonely… and then an amazing adventure ensues involving a missing piece and… you know, lots of kids stuff… but as lame as my plot summation is… I’d definitely recommend that you go check this movie out because it’s pretty hilarious for both kids & adults… and seriously, why the hell not? GO CHECK IT OUT!!! It’s LEGOS!!! See what they’re doing with all CGI movies nowadays… it’ll tickle your funny bone…

  

Over the weekend, Izzy & I found a little gem on Netflix called “Rocket City Rednecks” which is a TV show about a few rocket scientist rednecks in Huntsville, Alabama who spend their weekends doing projects to make complicated scientific discoveries… using mostly junk parts & ingenuity. Basically their weekend projects are things like… make a submarine out of a pesticide tank… or make an Iron Man suit out of junkyard parts… or turn a pickup truck into a tank… or try to make Batman-like gadgets out of household appliances… stuff like that… and it’s HELLA interesting. The best part about the show… is that while you’re watching these episodes that are like Mythbusters with a  draaaw… you start to realize that these good ol’ boys with a pretty typical slack-jawed yokel accent really are f**king geniuses… and they’re incredibly entertaining too. It’s like the Duke boys & Uncle Jesse deciding to turn the General Lee into a Rocket Car! Pure entertainment! I suggest you go check it out!

 

Tuesday night, we went out to Daly City to play some softball… and long story short, I didn’t play (because there was like 20 of us suited up) and we lost after a very poor start. I think the final was like 15-7. We NEVER let anybody score more than 10 before I don’t think. Hopefully this helps us to focus… and let’s face it, I don’t help THAT much when I do play… but here’s the thing, I don’t believe we’ve lost a game that I’ve played in the four seasons I’ve been playing… and we’re only like 4-3 when I’m not in… just something to think about. Maybe that’s like the “Bengals & Patriots are 43-2 when Benjarvis Green-Ellis scores a touchdown” or something… you know, those pointless factoids in sports. Well yeah, having a player score a touchdown really would improve your chances of winning… that’s just logic. Anyway, looking forward to next week to wash this feeling off…

 

Wednesday morning, I awoke to an email from the main promoter for the Napa Valley Expo after I had reached out to him trying to find the results from our entries early last month. Well, with the wine harvest & the earthquake, needless to say I wasn’t at the top of his priorities… but ugh… we actually did really well. How well you ask? Well, the results are below… and the rating are out of 50 and basically anything above 36 is considered EXCELLENT!!!

 

•             PentaceraHops Ale (Torpedo Clone) – 1st place Pale Ale (39.7 rating)

•             Oktoberfest – 1st place Light Lager (36 rating)

•             Winter Warmer – 2nd place Strong Ale

•             Honey Amber – 2nd place Brown Ale

•             ChocoNut Stout – 3rd place Stout (Too much coconut for style)

•             Blood Orange Hefeweizen – 3rd place Wheat Ale

 

I haven’t heard back on a few details like… how many entries there were, how our label placed in the label competition, or even the overall Best of Show winners (since I assume the two 1^st places would’ve advanced?) but yeah, this is astounding to get SO MANY RIBBONS!!! I mean… everything placed?!? Congratulations Izzy! We’re now MULTI-AWARD-WINNING brewers!!!

 

Wednesday night was the SFHG Monthly Meeting and we announced the winners of the guild’s 3^rd competition of the year… and unfortunately we didn’t win there… or even really score well, but we only had old beer to submit at the time, so kind of expected. Our bock wasn’t ready yet. Our Blood Orange Hef & Honey Amber weren’t eligible styles. Our Torpedo Clone is a Pale Ale… but where that was not a eligible style for this comp, we had to list it as an IPA (India Pale Ale) which is pretty different from its flavor characteristics… so basically the same beer that scored almost a 40 in the Napa Valley Expo as a Pale Ale, was about 25 as an India Pale Ale, which makes sense. Basically the only other one that we could submit was our Bourbon Barrel Porter, which isn’t really made to the BJCP Porter style because of the addition of Maker’s Mark… and it’s also reaching six months old so towards the end of its freshness cycle. We still got some good feedback (mostly great beer but not to style, might be old, etc) but our Competitions Chair also gave a quick talk about the BJCP scorecard and how the competitions work, which was very helpful.

 

While there, we also caught up with each other about the upcoming Northern California Homebrewers Festival and planning everything out for that. Basically it sounds like it’s going to be a LOT of fun with great people, great beer, and hopefully great weather in mid-September. We also tested out the four different keg samples from the large batch that we made at Motobrewer, and apparently we’re all pretty good with our sanitization and upkeep because they were all very similar. The verdict: Not sure who’s keg we’re going to submit to the competition portion of NCHF… but they’re all going to share with everybody afterwards, so 18-20 gallons of great Cali Common for everybody!

 

Anyway, that should do it for me this time… still kinda pumped about winning so many ribbons in Napa… but luckily I have my day job to keep me at an even keel by constantly reminding me how exploited I am. Have a great weekend everybody!!!

E66, Sactown, Kegs & Bottling Blood

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Wednesday “morning” we woke up before the dawn & helped with another brew at Elevation 66 Brewery with Super Dave & Big Ben. It was a pretty standard brewday… we were making Ramble Tamble Red, one of my favorites… Super Dave even trusted us enough to leave just the three of us (to catch some sleep)… oh and ugh… WE GOT TO MASH!!! WE GOT TO MOOOOONSTER MASH!!!

 

We also entered our first homebrews for competition at the Oak Barrel. We’re still a few weeks away until the judging (which is great because we just bottled four day earlier so they need at least another week to carbonate) but we’ve officially entered the San Mateo County Fair & Napa Homebrewers Classic with our Honey Amber Ale & Oktoberfest brews. This is great because we’ll not only get a chance to win fabulous prizes… but we’ll at the very least get some great feedback from certified judges on how to improve our beermaking and/or recipes. We’re really excited… and will actually also be entering the Alameda County Fair later this week… the SF Homebrewers Guild’s Tribute to America competition within the next month… and even the great California State Fair in blistering Sacramento by month’s end. So yeah… lots of feedback… and hopefully our beer turns out pretty good so we have a chance.

 

In two of the competitions (San Mateo & State Fair), they also have Labeling competitions… which is where the lovely Miss Izzy can show off some of her talents. Here’s a working version of our Honey Amber Ale label right now… Wish us luck!!!

 

Saturday morning, we woke up, had a little breakfast, and then bottled our Blood Orange Hefeweizen, which looks beautiful…

 

Afterwards, we headed to Sacramento for adventures… first, a stop at Heretic Brewing to replenish our growler with CHP (Chocolate Hazelnut Porter) and then to meet up with one of Izzy’s best friends Flea for some dinner at Red Robin & to pickup a fish. Yup… drove over 100 miles each way to pick up a fish… why? Because he’s a badass mutha lovin’ fish…

 

That night we stopped by Final Gravity which was a nice taproom where we sampled some selections from Loomis Basin Brewery… and found one of my favorite new little beers. It’s Ballast Point Brewery’s Navigator and it’s a doppelbock aged in Brandy barrels… and the taste is just magnificent. It’s obviously not your typical beer with the bitterness at the backend, just very smooth & flavorful… not unlike a sifter of brandy… but yeah, it was pretty f**king delicious. I highly recommend it. Loomis Basin’s selection was pretty good too. We tried their Alohawk (their top selling golden ale), Avenger (Double IPA) & Red Robin (kind of an amber English ale).

 

Monday night, after receiving my last shipments over the weekend, it was time to set up the new kegerator (despite not really having kegs filled yet) and get everything somewhat as situated for Steve-toberfest in less than two weeks. No, I won’t have anything on tap… but it’ll still be good to show off for future parties… and it’s a good solid fridge for keeping some of the selections righteously chilled. BEHOLD!!!

 

Tuesday (tomorrow nights) is the SF Homebrewers Guild meeting & it’ll actually be annual elections… and despite only being in the Guild for a few months, because I’ve shown that I really want to help out… they’ve actually made up for a position for me, so hopefully I can win over my constituents & be elected to the leadership group… but we shall see. Geez… competitions… elections… Steve-toberfest… empty carboys to fill… so much going on right now… wish us luck!!! Have a great weekend everybody!!!

 

 

Blood Orange Hefeweizen & Beer Chicken

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

In this episode, we'll be cooking up our first batch of Blood Orange Hefeweizen... which is essentially a similar recipe to our first Hefeweizen when our least got a little excited after the first day, so we'll have to keep an eye on that... but it's basically the similar recipe with the additions of "fresh squeezed" blood orange juice & a few zest shavings. Here are some pictures...

Ooooh... a whirlwind in our hot water...

Defrosting our blood orange juice that

we had to juice last weekend...

Juice & zest...

Mmm... this would be where Smell-o-vision

would share the Saaz & Hallertau hops with you

Now, when working with fruit juices, you don't want to boil them as that'll really mess up the sugars & flavors and just produce some bad nasty stuff. However, to take care of all the bacteria, you want to get it up to about 170 degrees to kill off everything... and do it separately from the wort because that will be boiled. Here's our combination of the juice & zest in a pot...

 

Then we cool down the boiling wort... of which we had a LOT

Then siphon that liquid gold into the fermenter...

Add the blood orange ingredients to the Hef wort...

Vuola!!! You have a five gallons of

Blood Orange Hefeweizen wort...

We also did a first with a beer marinated chicken breast in the crock pot. Izzy found a recipe... so we put a few chicken breasts (luckily on sale for 70% off) and added some garlic, Cajun seasonings, and a bottle of our Irish Red Ale for it to marinate... and it turned out incredible. Here are some pictures of that process...

 

Pre-cooked... then 4-5 hours later...

Leftover juices in the crock pot...

 

The next morning, bubbling like crazy...

We'll hafta keep an eye on her...

Well, that'll do it for today. Next week, the family is visiting for the weekend but I'm sure we'll have some adventures to report. If not concerning beer, then on my other blog. Have a great weekend everybody!!!

Honey Amber Transfer & Steve-Toberfest!!!

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

It has been a little bit of a busy week… but you know that’s how G’s do it. During the week, I went apartment hunting with Jackie D to help her try to do the impossible… which is find a reasonably sized one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco for under $3,000 a month… preferably under $2,000 but let’s not get too crazy. This IS San Francisco that we’re talking about. The city were the average selling price of a home went up over 30% this year when the national average was 1.4%. F**king insane… For what I pay as my share with three roommates in a townhouse… The Wingman pays less than HALF for a six-bedroom on acreage in Utah.

 

Anyway, we checked out a few places… and they were mostly in the Tenderloin the first few days… and they were pretty ridiculous. About 400 square feet studios… for about $1,800+ a month… and not exactly the finest amenities… and crackheads abound on every single block in that area. We were still optimistic with the search… but yeah, she was definitely looking into the roommate thing for a moment... and then on Friday, she luckily found a place that was half-decent... and "only" $2,300 a month... so yeah, she jumped all over that a few hours before she flew back to Philly. YAY!!! I'm excited for her... and I think she is too... but she's also running numbers in her head... I can tell. So excited for her return!

 

As for my apartment, the bathroom is still being redone… in fact, now COMPLETELY redone like even under the floorboards and everything since they found a bigger leak problem… so I should have it back by the end of next week. Fingers crossed… and in the meantime, all of my stuff is now in about a third of the space since the workers need to be able to walk entirely through my bedroom to access the bathroom… but yeah, it should be even better when they’re done. Allegedly they’re going to jack up the shower head to suit my six-foot-eight frame… but we’ll see if they even raise it to accommodate your average six-footer. Before it was… I don’t know… Asian influence? So yeah, fingers crossed.

 

Saturday, Izzy & I had some homebrewing duties to tend to… starting with the transfer of our future aware-winning Honey Amber Ale to the secondary fermenter…

 

Fancy bubbles from cleaning secondary carboy...

Mmm... look at that gorgeousness...

and the beer color...

How does it get that color?

This is the sediment taken out during

primary fermentation

Cleaning activity...

Then, since we had an open primary carboy, why not fill it up with our next batch - Blood Orange Hefeweizen!!! Based on a recipe from Dogfish Head Brewery’s owner in a Popular Mechanics article, it sounded pretty interesting… and since we were able to pick up some blood oranges in Watsonville last weekend, and the rest of the ingredients at homebrew shops, so decided to give it a try. The recipe is obviously pretty similar to our first batch of Bavarian Hefeweizen that we made in November… but with the addition of blood oranges into the wort & fermentation for a different colors & taste components… as well as about double the hops of our Bavarian Hefeweizen.

 

However, due to a few factors, we were simply NOT feeling it... and it wasn't essential... so we decided to not make the new batch & then we spent the weekend dogsitting for Izzy's aunts because... well, they have a teenage daughter who could do it but... she was busy... by being there 90% of the time... except when she went to Target... allegedly... let's face it, she's a teenage daughter who just doesn't want to do anything. Good for her. Regardless, we had fun anyway. We did squeeze the blood oranges from last week & got some zest... so it'll be well preserved for next week's batch to be brewed.

 

Now we will soon have the Oktoberfest Lager, Honey Amber Ale AND Blood Orange Hefeweizen doing their thing… and they should all be ready in time for our next big party. What is the party you ask? Why… it’s $TEVE-TOBERFEST!!! What is that? Well, it’s going to be my 33^rd birthday celebration… complete with ample beverages (like the 15 gallons of previously mentioned beer that I currently have fermenting& about 20 more gallons in other kinds of booze ready for drinking), some oompah music, Falco, and Izzy & I are going to try to make some amazing German foods like pretzels, spaetzle, some legit brauts and all that kind of stuff too. There will also be the triumphant return of… DAS BOOOOOOOOT!!! Details will be coming soon… but prepare thy selves for Epicness!