Beer Diary...

I've spent the last 4 days trying to brew beer with the most debilitating influenza I've experienced in a long, long time. I feel delirious as I write this post from my infirmary bed at home with a pile of ineffective remedies strewn across my bedside table. Getting sick in Mexico is the worst feeling for me because of the unfamiliarity of the environment while suffering the painful agony inflicted by viruses that seem to be super strains of the most lethal kind. I do not exaggerate. The distress of this illness reminds me of the scene in the movie 'The grifters" where Anjelica Huston is threatened with being beaten with a pillowcase full of oranges. But in my scenerio, it's no threat. I feel like I am being beaten with a pillowcase full of oranges relentlessly until I'm begging in the middle of the night for it to end, to be allowed to slip from the world of the living but it doesn't end an...

I'm making some brewing progress down here in San Miguel despite our limited budget and I have to tell you that it feels good to have some beer kegged and bottled with more in the fermentors as we speak. First I want to follow up on the Trappist Ale that I brewed using a kit that I got from Midwest Homebrewing Supply . Turns out that my impatience got the better of me regarding this beer. Even though I pitched 2 vials of the Whitelabs WLP500 Trappist yeast (one that was supplied with the kit and another that I brought down with me) in a 5 gallon batch, there was no sign of activity after 24 and still after 36 hours. Of course I jumped to the conclusion that the yeast was no good and so I pitched a packet of dry US-05 yeast. Soon after, I began to see signs of life from the Trappist yeast and then along with the help of the dry yeast there was plenty of fermentation happening within another 12 hours.  Trappist ale with honey Unable to leave things well enough alone I d...

The first brewing class scheduled since my return to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico is for January 6th. from 11am until 4 or 5 pm depending on how the brew session goes and how much homebrew we drink while learning. If you are in this area or want to fly down from the states for this specific class send me an email so I can get you registered. This will be a limited class size since we will be brewing at the new brewery which is tortuously small. Beer School Mexico The class format is designed around learning the basics of brewing will all-grain. The fundamentals of mashing, sparging, hop bittering and the related math. Future classes will delve deep into the science and include packaging and strategies for brewing in Mexico. Hope to see you in class. Cheers!

Today was test batch number 2 at the smallest brewery in the world. I'm still waiting on grain and hop deliveries but I had some pre-milled grain for a 10 gallon batch of hefeweizen. That along with enough bittering hops to get the job done. This hefeweizen is the first brew to go into the rotoplaz fermentor as a test to see if there will be any plastic flavors or smells carried over into the beer. For those interesed: German Hefeweizen (all-grain) Kit Batch size 10gal. Eff. 81% o.g. 1.052 Ibu's 22 Grain Bill: Mash at 152f. for 60 min. add candi sugar 15min. prior to end of boil 10 lbs. malted wheat 6 lbs. 2-row 1 lb. light Munich malt 1 lb. oats Boil for 60 mins. with: .75 oz. Warrior (pellet) for 60 min. 15.5% aa (The only hops I have at the moment) Chill to 68f. and pitch salvaged wlp500/ US-05 ale yeast blend.   In any case, I'm not married to the outcome from this recipe, again, we're mainly concerned with confirming...