Patience is a Virtue

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

Sorry… experiencing technical difficulties with my laptop & it’s on a mystical worldwide journey (as is my PS3) so loading my recent adventures will be delayed shortly. However, here’s a sneak preview at some of the things that’ve already happened since last entry & probably in the time it takes for my laptop to return in a week or so:


• Homebrew Tastings of our Honey Amber & Oktoberfest

• Baby Update – My car, not an actual baby

• New Homebrew – ChocoNut Stout

• Brew Day at Elevation 66

• SF Homebrewers Guild Leadership Meeting

• Reviews for AT LEAST three GUY Movies (and others)

• STEVE-TOBERFEST!!!

• Special tasting at Southern Pacific Brewing

• Special movie screening

• Giants game at AT&T Park

• Visit from Chick’n’Wing

• Special Brew Day & Growler Fill at Motobrewer

• Turning an Oak Barrel into Pots for Hops

• Special Brew Day with Izzy’s Aunts (their first time)



Hopefully by next weekend the laptop will be back… but yeah, obviously really busy. Have a wonderful week everybody!!!

Outreach Chair of SFHG

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

Last night was the SF Homebrewers Guild meeting at Anchor Brewing and we had our annual elections. I threw my hat into the ring despite my relative inexperience… but honestly, they’re just looking for a bit of an organized body to help spearhead the guild and help with its exponential growth… and I’m more than happy to lend my expertise & make some great connections in the meantime. I originally applied for Vice President because it was one of the few positions that wasn’t already earmarked for somebody else… but basically, I got an email a few days later saying “So… this guy is also running for VP & he’s been with the guild from the beginning… and is a semi-pro brewer so… how about we just make a position for you instead?” Yeah, they basically just made a position for me (Communications Chair) because even though I’m new to the world of brewing in general, I have that marketing degree & a can do attitude. My duties are I think primarily handling a lot of the email & social media communications for the guild… working with all the other leadership members & all the breweries that we work with (and there are a LOT & more on the way honestly) and whatever else I can do in support. I may even be taking lead on a few upcoming events… but we shall see with the details later. I’ll keep you posted.

So yeah, Izzy, Jackie D & I went, we had our “elections” last night, everybody was elected (as they ran unopposed) & now we start setting things up for the next year. Some highlights in the coming year:

• LOTS of Homebrew competitions

• Beer Judge Certification Program classes & training

• Collaborations with professional brewers

• Participation in some great festivals

• Brewery Tours

• Charity Events

• LOTS of sharing Homebrews

• Hosting an SF Beer Week 2015 event

• Anything else we come up with along the way

It should be pretty intense, but as I said, I’ll keep you posted. As for our next batch… and what would be our first to be kegged & placed in the kegerator… I think that we’ve decided on doing a ChocoNut Stout. What’s that? Chocolate & Coconut Stout… or maybe adjust it to a Porter. We’ve also got a few ideas involving everything from a jalapeno pale ale to a Scotch barrel aged Scotch ale… so you’ll just have to read to find out. Have a great day 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!!!

 

 

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!!!

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!!!

FDR, SFHG & E66 Part IV

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

First & foremost, I’d like to congratulate Kevin, VP of the SF Homebrewers Guild, and his wife Shae on getting the financial support needed for their dream project - a Nanobrewery through crowdfunding. They needed to raise the startup capital of $50,000 in the 30-40 day timeframe, and it was looking tight a week ago, but just before the deadline they were able to pull it out thanks to contributions by many guild members (including myself) and now for the tough part… starting the actual brewery & paying back all those rewards.

 

Ferment.Drink.Repeat (FDR) Nanobrewery is going to be a 3.5 barrel (about 110 gallons) nanobrewery, homebrew supply shop, and brewery incubator located here in San Francisco. The exact location is up in the air but it’s being hinted that it’ll be in the Portrero Hill area more than likely. Now, you may be asking yourself… what’s a brewery incubator? Basically, it means they’re going to be a place where up-and-coming professional brewers (like say… Terrible Lizard Brewing) and have access to some of their equipment & facilities… and help develop their brands without having to finance all of the equipment & facilities themselves. Kind of like… how a catering company may rent out a kitchen from a restaurant during their off-hours. Also, they will be displaying some of the award-winning brews from members of the SFHG for public consumption, again so that they can spread their brand awareness (if desired) or just provide some fantastic brews at this local spot. The whole thing is very centralized to the homebrewing community here in San Francisco… but the idea itself can probably be utilized anywhere. It’s basically what I would like to do one day wherever we decide to settle and once we have sufficient (minimal) experience & resources… so I’ve been intrigued by the process & picking Kevin’s brain a few times about it since he announced it a few months ago… and will definitely continue to do so.

 

As mentioned, we did invest in FDR back in the beginning… and one of the rewards was that you design your OWN recipe, Kevin would be there to guide you & make suggestions, you’ll have lunch on brew day, and then you get a little private reserve party on the day that your craft beer makes it to the public with up to 12 friends. So eventually a Terrible Lizard Brewing brew will make it to their draft… and if you’re in the Bay Area& want to reserve a spot at the release party, let me know. Reading the blog has its privileges indeed. In the meantime, once they get started we will also have a $500 gift certificate to use at the supply shop. That’s a good chunk of change & we’re looking into a keg system… but we’ll probably take care of that before this all gets up & going. Again, congratulations Kevin & Shae!!!

 

Tuesday night was the monthly meeting of the SF Homebrewers Guild at Anchor Brewing… and our special guest was Jay with Rare Barrel Brewing in Berkeley. He gave a great little talk about making sour beers & how their business came to be because they had a passion for them… and it’s kind of a niche market due to its lack of availability & die hard fans. Now… I’m not a HUGE fan of sour beers… but I’ve tried a few & they’re pretty nice in moderation. However, I can see how you can be in a market like the Bay Area where just about everybody who really wants to have a brewery is opening one up… or gypsy brewing… or whatever, so to stand out in the market without a huge advertising budget, you can specialize. Rare Barrel makes exclusively sours. Trumer makes just about the perfect pilsner. Anchor just makes f**king liquid gold & obsidian, but they’ve also been doing it for a long, long time. For upstarts, you almost have to try to find a good market that isn’t saturated… or specialize.

 

Another thing that Jay mentioned: He was asked how the transition from passionate homebrewer to professional brewer changes your view, he replied something along the lines of “When I’m a professional brewer, it’s doing about 10% of the stuff you love to do as a homebrewer.” Basically, as passionate as you might be about making beer… that’s only about an hour or so a day of your job. The rest is getting out there, handling paperwork, cleaning, running the business, hiring people, firing people, working out your marketing strategies, taxes, bills, customer complaints, partner complaints, mortgages, all that stuff that you didn’t really have to deal with when you were just cooking up brews in your basement. Now… where that may sway a lot of people… it kinda made me feel good that I had already thought that far ahead before even considering doing a brewery. It means I probably have a good head on my shoulders & am willing to work hard in many different facets of my life to make it work… so we’ll see.

 

We also brought some of our homebrews for a little Taste Testing by the Guild & though we only had about 5 or 6 subjects stop by, they all really liked our Bourbon Barrel Porter & Winter Warmers. We also got to meet a few more members that we hadn’t before… including one gentleman that lives a street away from me there in the Presidio. Small world here in San Francisco. After the meeting, I congratulated Kevin in person on his crowdfunding & let him know that we look forward to working with him… and then the President of the Guild (Chris) invited us to have a drink at Steep Brew a block away, where we shot the sh*t for a bit and… honestly, drank a little water for the drive over to Izzy’s place. Don’t drink & drive!!!

 

Wednesday morning, we woke up again dark & early to help out with another big batch at Elevation 66 Brewing with Super Dave & Big Ben. With our experience, we’re getting more & more duties to do… almost to a point where they are just kind of telling us where to attach the hoses, etc. while they watch. Obviously they’re still doing a lot of the hands-on stuff when it comes to the actual beer, but we’re doing some good cleaning… and a lot of heavy lifting when it comes up. Still, we’re learning so much… and I’m always excited to help out… even at 5 AM. Let’s see… one different thing this time was that I was a part of my first transfer from the fermentor to one of the storage tanks that they have for the time from the beer is ready, until they have a tap ready for it. Since business is kinda boomin’, they go through beer pretty quickly (especially their IPA & vanilla stout) but we got to see how the transferring & storage is done. It’s pretty much what you would expect… but here are a few pictures anyway…

 

Cleaning the fermenter...

Some spent grains for making bread

to share with Super Dave & Big Ben

Jack in the Box afterwards...

Not sure if it's art...

or just a very delicious new food item

Anyway, that was the groovy past… 30 hours or so in our little world. A fellow homebrewer’s dream came true, Terrible Lizard’s first official brew is coming soon, rave reviews from our homebrew by the Guild, drinks with the Presidents, helped with a legitimate batch of award-snubbed IPA, and all the time networking with some great brewers & overall great people! Oh… and I get to spend time with my ladyfriend & enjoy her company as well. I think she really likes me… and that’s good… because I kinda like her too. Have a great day everybody!!!