Beer Diary...

I had the perfect plan to brew beer today when my van broke down again. Apparently there is something called an engine coolant temperature sensor and it decided to stop functioning as I was driving home from my storage unit with a fermentor containing a nice Whitelabs WLP840 lager yeast cake in the bottom. Rice Rice Baby! Now that the weather has turned cool here in Northern California, (high 40's to low 50's over night) I decided it would be a good time to get a series of lagers brewed and stashed away to condition for a few months, beers that would be ready for the spring. The idea was to brew three back to back batches, racking the fresh wort onto the yeast cake of the previously fermented batch. I decided to begin with a standard American lager to be followed by a Munich Dunkel and finally a Doppel Bock. Yesterday I kegged the completed American lager which attenuated to 75%. It was fermented with a yeast starter that I had stepped up a couple of times. I also mil...

Beer Diary... I sat down with a glass of Arend Tripel  with the intention of forcing myself to review the beer when it occurred to me that a thousand other people have already reviewed this beer (and every other beer for that matter) with similar thoughts as mine, and I just stopped and decided to give this revelation some serious consideration. At this moment, I don't really care what I have to say about Arend Tripel, I mean, it's a good beer that fits the description of a classic Belgian tripel but saying anything beyond that simple point is, well, pointless. Ratebeer and Beeradvocate have ton's of reviews with details and applied averages and all kinds of ratings to enlighten those interested. The logical step for me would to simply place a link to those sites from here and here  leading to a cluster flock of opinions about this beer. Then I could follow up those links by saying something like - " what they said ". A...

Personal friend and excellent candy maker Joanna always brings in a large batch of her chocolate covered almond toffee to the Thanksgiving gathering each year and I can't get enough of this delicious dessert. This naturally led to the idea of combining her toffee with a classic brown ale and so I proposed brewing a batch of beer and incorporating the toffee into the recipe. Joanna agreed to make a special batch of the candy, modifying her recipe slightly by eliminating the butter that she uses because I thought that the butter might negatively effect the head and head retention on the finished beer. We also agreed to leave off the chocolate coating for the same reasons and to make up for the loss I added cocoa powder to the boiling wort. The results: a wonderful brown with the complimentary flavor of toasted almond and toffee. This beer has a warm nutty character with subtle chocolate notes and a definite almond presence. This is a great beer for the season even though the alcohol ...

I'm sitting at the bar of a crowded brewpub facing off a spread of samplers of beer with an attitude of open mindedness. Halfway through the four ounce tasters laid out before me from light to dark with the specialties set aside, I'm taking in the environment and checking out the brewing equipment behind plate glass windows beside me, trying to see if any brewing action is taking place. It's at this moment that I notice in the reflection of that same plate glass the image of a full table of patrons seated over my right shoulder, one pointing in my direction. One has her hand over her mouth stifling a horsey laugh while another holds his pint glass up to the light in mock admiration. All were unaware that they were being observed and the mocking only lasted a few seconds but it lasted long enough to deflect my attention.  The Pinky Extend  It came as a snapshot of embarrassment for me, and a moment of recognition. Like a postcard held at arms le...