Brewhaus Blewz

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Wednesday morning, Izzy & I met up with Big Ben for some Big League Brewing at Elevation 66… and it was just the three of us doing the brew. Well, Super Dave was there observing but… yeah, it was pretty fantastic. Before when I’ve been able to spend the whole day there, six or seven people were helping out… but here’s the thing… two of those guys are now starting jobs at other breweries (where they actually get paid) and the others have kind of feathered out… so yeah, a lot more hands on learning & I love it when I get a chance to help out.

 

How did I get away from the job to help out? Well… it was because I had to take the day off (and Thursday) for a Quick Trip to Utah… for family estate stuff involving my recently deceased father. Yes, “recently” means just over six months ago… but yeah, not going to lie… it’s been a little rough. Most of the time I’m pretty good… and then I’ll wonder if I’m being absolutely heartless by not having it be a huge deal in my daily life. Then other times, I’ll start tearing up over stupid sh*t that I see in a movie that I’ve even seen before… and then it’s like, “Where the hell is this coming from?” So yeah… fun stuff… but I’m doing fine…

 

As for the trip, I’m not going to go into details or anything… but basically there were only a few hours that weren’t completely occupied by stuff I rather wouldn’t have been doing & could’ve been resolved via email… I didn’t sleep well because the AC kept kicking on VERY LOUDLY at the hotel… and the last few hours I was in town, I got to spend some time with my brother for his birthday, C-Rock & Isaiah. They’ve been doing… not so good… but it was good to hang out with them & catch up. I also go to have gelato with my mom, niece & nephew. So yeah, for a 26 hour stay in the Beehive State, a lot was done.

 

Saturday, Izzy & I spent the day pretty much relaxing and playing video games… which may sound lame… but it really wasn’t… it was pretty awesome.

 

Saturday night, I met up with coworkers for a dinner & drinks at Roam Burger and then going to The Fillmore to see Anjelah Johnson a.k.a. Bon Qui Qui from “Mad TV” for a comedic musical performance that was actually pretty amazing. The comedy was tight… and the music with her husband’s band was pretty damn catchy and hilarious as well… I highly recommend to check them out on the Bon Qui Qui Tour… possibly coming to a town near you. Now… there’s only one picture… and it’s of us… boom…

 

Sunday morning, Izzy & I started our newest brew… the belated batch of Strawberry Hefeweizen for Clarissa & Andrew as a wedding present (married last month). This is the 3^rd time that we’ve made this fairly easy recipe so it’s been explained a little more in past entries… but basically it’s only a few pounds of wheat dry malt extract, one ounce of hops, and then strawberry puree in the secondary fermentation.

 

 

The main difference with this time… was the yeast. With every single batch that we’ve made before, we’ve used a vial of yeast from a brewshop… but this time, thanks to our FastFerment conical fermenter, we had a good batch of already active yeast from last week’s Dunkelweizen that we just pulled from its… I don’t know, “reservoir tip” at the base. Why do I mention this? Because it’s pretty awesome… previously with the vials, the reaction in the wort would take about 12 hours or something… and so it would start really doing its thing in the middle of the night & then we’d wake up to a mess of activity upon the carboy… but this time around… it was already blowing off in about two hours… pretty impressive. I think I’m really going to like this FastFerment thing…

 

So currently in our Brewhaus, we have this new batch of Strawberry Hefeweizen, Dunkelweizen in the FastFerment, our Cyser that’s probably ready to bottle soon, and we have our Chocolate Porter in the Whiskey Barrel. Not bad if I say so myself…

 

Another fun tidbit… about a month ago, a brewshop was handing out hop rhizomes that they had… and they were basically either expired or possibly diseased in all honesty… but we took some Columbus hop rhizomes to try planting in my backyard, just to see if they would work (and I had an open bucket) and… well, it’s sprouting pretty good…

Anyway, so it was a pretty busy weekend for being “quiet” but tune in next time… as there are a few movie preview screenings this week… and a trip to Tahoe this weekend coming up… so yeah, until then, have a great day everybody!!!

Congratulations Clarissa & Andrew!!!

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Saturday, Izzy & I headed out to Sacramento for a wedding of our friends Clarissa & Andrew… and after a quick stop at Heretic Brewing for some beverages (including some CHP Chocolate Hazelnut Porter for Izzy’s birthday today) we made it to the wedding just in time for the big event…

 

 

 

There was also a fun-as-hell photo area… which we took full advantage of…

 

We also stopped by Winco Foods to stock up on dry goods & road trips foods for our trip to National Homebrewers Conference this next week… and I just have to say that I LOVE that place. Closest one to the Bay Area is in Vacaville… but that’s too far away for really even a monthly run… but we shall see.

 

Sunday, we kegged our Strawberry Hefeweizen for NHC…

 

 

Then we went to the Bay Area Book Festival in Berkeley… there were plenty of various books on display… but to be honest, not my scene. There were lots of people selling their books & offerings from their bookstores… a few people reciting their works… but for me, it was just a beautiful day & there were some beer wagons… and then we had some drinks at Jupiter. Good times. We finished off the day watching Game 2 of the NBA Finals at Izzy’s Aunts. Great game… controversial calls to say the least… but yeah, good day.

 

Tonight, we’re getting everything packed & ready for NHC as tomorrow’s going to be very busy… and we’ll have to get to bed early… because we’ll be leaving early on Wednesday. We’re VERY excited for the conference… and this just in… The Wingman and his new wife (of almost 18 months now) may be meeting up with us in San Diego as well!!! It’ll be AMAZING!!! Wish us a safe journey & we’ll hope to see you there!!! Have a great week everybody!!!

Congratulations Izzy!!!

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Jam packed week of fun coming up… starting with Thursday night when I met up with Izzy & her mom. We headed out for a fun evening of Extinction NightLife at the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. I’ve discussed the NightLife series before… but essentially it’s a great 21+ event where you get to see the Academy of Sciences without all the rat bastard kids running around AND enjoy alcoholic beverages (at a nominally escalated fee). An added bonus was that this was Izzy’s mom’s first time to the Academy… and she loved it. Here are pictures!!!

 

Friday was Izzy’s Graduation Ceremony at the Cow Palace… so her family & I watched her walk the stage like a CHAMP!!! Congratulations to my beautiful ladyfriend!!! I’m so infinitely proud of you!!!

 

Sunday was our San Francisco Homebrewers Guild Annual Picnic in Golden Gate Park… and it was a great event where we shared some of our fantastic homebrew & had a great barbecue. Pictures…

 

Monday, after brunch with Izzy’s family, we had a Memorial Brewday where we made a quick batch of Erdbeer Hefeweizen (it’s Strawberry Wheat Beer)…

 

… and we made a wonderful beet puree for transferring our Beet Pale Ale to secondary…

 

So that’ll do it for a quick catch-up on our week… and hopefully you enjoyed the pictures. If not, then join us next time… we’ll have movie reviews & random stories and pictures as well… have a great day everybody!!!