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!!!

 

 

First Kegerator & Bottling Gold

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

Well, after some research & finding a few deals... we've officially ordered our first kegerator & kegging system... and we can't wait to use it... though it'll probably be a few months down the road... but more on that later. There was a kegerator with a tower faucet from Nostalgia Electronics (pictured below) that comes with a small CO2 tank and is basically just a nice little fridge with a tap that I can hook up kegs to. Boom! Also pictured below is an example of the (used & refurbished) five gallon ball lock kegs that we'll be utilizing. Basically for the kegerator, kegs & all the fixings and even some picnic taps for when we want to tap the keg but not have to go through the kegerator... it's worked to just under $600 total with shipping, etc. Not bad.

Saturday, Izzy's mom came to visit from SoCal and she observed us bottle two batches that were good & ready... our Oktoberfest... nay, $TEVE-TOBERFEST lager... and our future award-winning Honey Amber Ale. Here are some pictures...

Introducing her mom to Nostalgia Critic...

Mmm... look at that liquid gold...

That's our Honey Amber Ale

Izzy drowning kittens...

okay, it's sanitizing bottles

Oktoberfest lager in carboy...

Look good? Maerzen recipe... mmm...

Basically, we can't wait until they're ready to drink. They're extremely clear & beautifully colored, they taste great... so yeah, $teve-toberfest in less than three weeks will be quite EPIC!!! Have a great weekend everybody!!!

Kegerator & Cellarmaker

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Over the last few days, I’ve been going over some different options for utilizing kegs & bringing them into our homebrewing system. Bottles are cool & all… but they’re fairly bulky… bottle conditioning takes about two weeks… and for parties & gatherings, it’s just pretty cool to come walking in with a big keg of homebrew, set up the tap & let everybody try it at their leisure… and you don’t have to chase down bottles… or explain to them every time what they’re drinking. “This isn’t Bud Light?” You’re welcome. We’re in no rush obviously… but in about five months, we are planning on going to my mom’s big family reunion & we figure that’d be a great place to really let a bunch of avid beer enthusiasts try out some of our brews… and a keg may just be easier for transportation & just the driving around with a bunch of empty bottles on the way back. Some of the options are:

 

·     Keg with a tap – Simple enough, you have a keg or two filled with good stuff, a “cobra” faucet, tap it, CO2 tank hooked up pushes out the liquid gold

·     Picnic Cooler Kegerator – Essentially same setup but you run the liquid gold through a modified picnic cooler with coiled stainless steel tubing under ice to cool it down before drinking. Not a huge fan of this method as I’d just keep the keg in the cooler or something but… it’s an option.

·     True Kegerator – Basically you modify a fridge (or cooler that I’m trying to figure out) that will store the keg in inside, keep it cool, and then you have a tap hooked up on the door or top of the unit to easily dispense your chilled beverage of choice.

 

There are obviously pros & cons with each device ranging from cost of the setup… to whether you need to constantly ice or plug into an outlet to keep it cool… to ease of transportation… to overall esthetic… but like I said, we’re not in a major rush so we may just start with the kegs & a “cobra” faucet for now… and then advance our setup down the road… but yeah, if you have any suggestions, I’m all ears & quite adventurous with building my own units. I’ve looked at a bunch of websites & forums and have some ideas… but also have three roommates and a Jeep, not my own place with a Ford 350 out front to move it around. We’ll definitely keep you posted though.

 

Thursday night, I met up with Jackie D to get some drinks at Cellarmaker Brewing and try out their unique selections. They have a lot of the great west coast staples like various IPAs, session pale ales, etc… but one of their more unique offerings was their Coffee & Cigarettes Porter which… well, is exactly what it sounds like. Thanks to the combination of various roasted malts & brewing methods… it basically tastes like you spilled your cold coffee into an ashtray & then drank it. Now, it’s not quite as harsh & disagreeable as that would sound… like, there’s no filters stuck in your teeth or anything… but yeah, taste achieved. They had other porters to try as well that I preferred& frankly the even C&C wasn’t that bad, just not my particular taste when it comes to beer. I’d recommend their IPA & their regular porter. Great atmosphere, we watched a little basketball (Stanford lost) & then we headed over to Extreme Pizza to complete our “beer sandwich” in our stomachs of a good solid beer base, pizza & then beer on top (pitcher of Fat Tire).

 

Also, our hop rhizomes came in the mail...

So we're going to start growing some hops...

but it takes a few years... coming soon...

Well, Jackie D is officially here as a San Francisco resident… and my family is coming to visit on Friday for the weekend, so it’ll be a bundle of fun. We have plans to check out the Zoo & the Exploratorium… but you never know how things will turn out with weather, kids being kids & just deciding to do something else on a whim. We tend to do that from time to time too… but I’ll certainly keep you posted. Until then, have a great weekend everybody!!!