Motobrewer Big Brew Day

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Wednesday night, Jackie D & I headed out to AT&T Park (her first time) to watch the San Francisco Giants play a baseball match against the San Diego Fathers… er, Padres. This last day of April was surprisingly hot (like mid-80s?) but we made it… even stopping along the way at Garaje for some decent beers & Mexican food at a decent price. The place looks like an old tune-up shop that was turned into a select-service restaurant/bar kind of hybrid. It was pretty nice for what we wanted… good food, good beer, at a good price (by SF standards). Anyway, we also grabbed a beer at Public House at the stadium (standing room only), enjoyed a few more during the game (at over $1 an ounce, f**k me…) and yes… one more on the way home at some place I don’t recall but they had Mario Kart. As for the game, it was actually a pretty good one… not too long… Giants got out to a 3-0 lead, Padres pulled it back, final score was 3-2. Good times… and the view simply can’t be beat at this stadium…

 

Thursday night, I took Izzy to Cellarmaker Brewing for the first time and enjoyed their Crazy Eyes Kiwi selection. As probably mentioned before, Cellarmaker specializes in more… unique styles of beer to be distinct from other breweries in the area (since there are so many & they’re on the smaller nanobrewery side). Last time it was selections like their Coffee & Cigarettes Porter (I didn’t care for but they sold out) and the Crazy Eyes Kiwi was another unique entry where it’s essentially an IPA… but with kiwifruit & blood orange mixed into the wort complimented with Simcoe Hops. I thought it was actually pretty delicious. I’m also really excited for next week when they release their Taco Hands collaboration… which is an IPA with things like Cilantro, lime juice, cumin, pasilla chilis & citra hops so… it’s I’m guessing supposed to be more like a street taco beer hybrid? It sounded intriguing & is released on Cinco de Mayo… and coming soon, their barrel aged selections. Like I said, decent beer once you find something for you… I’d say give it a shot. We also headed over to Extreme Pizza afterwards for some delicious slices & watch a little of the NBA playoffs (end of great Nets-Raptors game).

 

Saturday morning, Izzy & I headed over to Motobrewer’s Big Brew Day celebration sponsored by Paul & his wife Miriam. Essentially Paul has a dream homebrewing system that he’s compiled over the years… essentially a 20 gallon version of what we see at Elevation 66 when we assist, fully enclosed in his normally two-car garage, which is in itself pretty remarkable here in the city. The morning started with a few eager learners there to help out & observe him doing a 20 gallon batch on his system… and of course, pick his brain & partake of some beverages. We even brought a few 22 oz bombers of our Honey Amber & Bourbon Barrel Porter to RAVE reviews. Here are some pictures of the morning…

 

Around noon, there was also a little presentation of how to do a quick 5 gallon batch by guild board member Chris out in his driveway on this gorgeous afternoon…

 

There was also a lot of meeting new Guild members, sharing some knowledge, networking, and after sticking around to help clean up… we went our separate ways on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon… a little buzzed… but that’s why I took the bus home (Izzy also spent most of the time at a family wedding in Burlingame). However, she will be able to attend the big SF Homebrewers Guild Barbecue on May 17^th in Golden Gate Park. That should be a real hootenanny and we’ll learn the results of our first competition as well. It should be a LOT of beer-related fun!!!

 

Sunday morning, Izzy & I transferred out ChocoNut Stout from the primary fermenter to the secondary fermenter… you’ve seen the process before… but this is just some gorgeous looking (and smelling) beer… we’ll be kegging this in about 4-5 weeks (probably after our cruise) and then drinking it shortly after chilled. Behold…

 

Sunday afternoon, Chick’n’Wing & her new boyfriend (that we met last Reno trip when we saw Alice Cooper) came to town so that he could get a new tattoo at Picture Machine Tattoo Parlor… but rather than stick by his side while he bled out… she wanted to run around the city… so I drove her out to the beach… then to Chinatown… then to Union Square to meet up briefly with Izzy for lunch, while just catching up on happenings& going-ons. Great to see her again… and she’s already trying to set up our next trip… but we’ll see how that all works out.

 

Just something funny I saw at Walgreen's...

Not every day that your bones jump you...

Anyway, that’ll do it for this entry… busy busy few weeks… and then the cruise… so yeah, still busy… but at least there’s plenty of fun stuff in between to report on. Have a great week 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!!!