Beer Diary...

  Making an eisbock is a relatively simple procedure, and according to the German Beer Institute web site it goes a little something like this: "Because water freezes before alcohol, the chilled brew can be drained off the ice crystals that form in the tank. During this process, the beer loses about 7 to 10% of its water content. As a result, the alcohol concentration in the beer increases, usually to about 10% by volume, about twice as much as the 4.5 to 5.5% of a regular German lager."  I've thought about doing this for a long time now. The actual doing part didn't happen until recently because of an unfortunate blockage in my mind. Because I was focused on accomplishing the task with five gallons of beer, I just assumed that I would need to somehow get an entire corney keg in a freezer and somehow remove the ice from that container and then carbonate the remaining concentrate left in the keg for dispensing. I know it seems strange, but  it never occurred to...

For all those interested in the results of the Organic Brew Contest here are the winners . This event was sponsored by our own local homebrew store Seven Bridges . There were 121 entries, representing at least 600 gallons of beer that were all brewed with sustainably grown, pesticide free ingredients. Sadly, my pale ale didn't place. I haven't received the score sheet for it yet so I can't say what the judges comments were. I'm looking forward to hear what they have to say. On the bright side, a couple of my former brew school graduates Gresham Andrews and Dave Kramer-Urner took a second/third place award for their "Average White Brew" American Wheat and also a third place for their American Amber Ale. Congratulations guys! A couple of local breweries brought home some awards. Uncommon Brewers and Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing both doing well in the contest using only organic ingredients. Congratulations to all those that took the challenge to brew with org...

When I first started out brewing I bought the standard and least expensive beginners equipment set. This included a thirty quart brew pot, plastic bottling bucket and an assortment of miscellaneous bits and pieces to make and bottle a five gallon batch of extract beer. I think this is probably the way that the majority of beginners start, modest and cheap at first to make sure the hobby is going to take, before spending too much on what may turn out to be just more clutter for the garage.  Scrap metal yard   Here's the interesting discovery about myself as the hobby indeed did 'take' and my passion for brewing beer grew. The new upgrades that I purchased for my system were not the brand new off the shelf items from the local homebrew store but instead tended to be found items located in unusual places. I learned that I enjoyed the hunt for brew gear and began to consider it a big part the creativity of the brewing hobby. I also found that bein...

I messed up a little on this project. Or was it the yeast. I don't want to blame an innocent microbe for my problems so I won't name any names wlp500 I'll just take the full brunt of this failure like a man. When I racked the beer from my tiny fermentor I didn't take a gravity reading until I'd filled the bottles and capped them with a priming tablet and set aside. When I did check the gravity I found that the beer was way under-attenuated (50%) even though it showed no signs of activity. My excuse - this was a new project with unusual and unfamiliar procedures so I forgot the basics of checking the gravity to confirm that it was finished in my anxious attempt to document/film the next step in this project, my focus switched to preparing an interesting blog post rather than the need to pay attention to the basics of my fermentation procedures impatience is my inner demon, bent on destroying my brewing equanimity too many beers that day  - and finally- the sun ...

 Gageleer beer is an interesting take on a Belgian ale, oh, it is a Belgian ale but nothing like I've ever had before. This is an organic beer brewed with an addition of sweet gale which is also know as bog myrtle. I like the sound of bog myrtle, bog myrtle, it kind of rolls off the tongue and makes me think of an ingredient in a witches brew like eye of newt. This may not be far from the truth as the leaves of bog myrtle, with its sweet resinous scent, have been used over the ages as a traditional insect repellent. You can read about the ancient remedies of bog myrtle here at Wikipedia which covers some of the medicinal values of the herb. But what intrigued me most was the reference to the use of sweet gale as an ingredient in beer prior to the use of hops. The 7.5% abv. isn't evident during tasting but what does come through is a thin, watery version of sprite, a lemon/lime character but on a very subtle level. I have to say that the beer is unique in this way but not ...