Revelation #9

It is always interesting to me, one of my many revelations, how little of my own homebrew that I actually drink. This came to light just yesterday when a friend and I were discussing getting our families together for an impromptu picnic. I say impromptu because we husbands were the ones who did all of the planning. And the planning went something like this:

The players are myself, Phil, and my friend, Scott.

Scott: Phil the girls were talking about getting together on Sunday. Are you off?

Phil: Yep, and I have a new beer that I want you to try. Double Simcoe IPA from Weyerbacher brewing.

Scott: Cool. I picked up a variety pak from Appalacian Brewing that I will bring over.

Phil: Excellent. How did you like that Thunderhop from Church Brew Works I gave you a couple of weeks ago.

Scott: It was really good. A little toned down from what I like, but it still went down well.

Phil: I have to turn you on to Blithering Idiot sometime too, but I just drank my last 2 bottles last night.

Scott: I picked up a couple of cigars the other day too. You want me to bring them over?

Phil: Naw, I have a couple of Romeo y Julietta Maduros we can smoke, or you can just rummage through the humidor and see if there is something you like. I have a friend who has been getting some nice cigars for a guy at work, and he has been passing some of them on to me.

Scott: We better plan the food or else we are going to forget all about it. We have chicken we can bring.

Phil: Great, I am working tonight so I will get some corn, salad, and desert.

Scott: So how much beer do you think I should bring over?

Phil: Whatever you can drink

So you get the gist of the conversation. We spent a good 15 minutes talking about beer and cigars, and all of about 3 minutes talking about food.

It was after this conversation that I actually realized that I hadn't said anything about my beer. Sadness. I try to brew to a taste. And I end up giving most of the beer I make to friends. They try it, tell me that they like it, or not. We discuss that pro's and con's and I put that into the recipe for the next batch.

I need to start drinking more of my own beer. Especially since I am going all grain this coming fall. This is important.

And have I mentioned that I am going to a kegerator system? I don't think so. A friend called me up the other day saying his parents had a refrigerator that they want to get rid of, would I be interested. Hell yes I would be. I am picking that puppy up on Monday and converting it to a two draft system.

More as the story develops.

L8R

Just who are you calling a Blithering Idiot?

I am a little slow up and around today. You see last night I, after working a harried 10 hours at my day job, decided that I should sit down and drink a couple of Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot brews.

For the uninitiated, Blithering Idiot is a barley wine, weighing in at 11.0% ABV. It is a heavy ale, full of malty deliciousness. Just the kind of brew I enjoy. Though I wouldn't recommend it for a hot summer day. Blithering Idiot is perfect for a cool Fall evening, or a cold Winters night.

And, being the light weight I am, I could only drink 2 of them last night before sleepy time called.

Weyerbacher Brewing has some wonderful beers that you need to be checking out.

Growing your own hops

I planted my hops last week. I ordered two different styles, 2 rhyzomes each. 2 Centennial, and 2 Horizon hops. Both of these are high alpha acid, dual purpose hops. Meaning that I can use them for both bittering, and flavoring.

A week later, I have sprouts on one of my rhyzomes, and none on the other. I gave the Centennial 'zomes to a friend of mine who wanted in on this little experiment. He didn't put his in the ground until just this last weekend.

Pics coming later.

I will keep you informed as to who, what, where, and when.

L8R

Pennsylvania Beer Festivals

Time to start talking about the next group of beer festivals that will be going on in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Penn Brewing had one that was scheduled for June 6 that has now been cancelled. They will be re-scheduling and will announce the new date at a later point in time.

Stoudt's Brewing will be holding their microfest on June 13th. From their website: "Stoudt’s knows how to throw a party and has been doing so since 1991, the first year of the Great Eastern Invitational Microbrewery Festival. We will host various breweries from around the country. The event is held in our spacious courtyards and Brewery Hall. With taster glass in hand, attendees stroll from one table to the next sampling some of the best craft brews that the industry has to offer. Another well-known part of this festival is Ed’s “Best of the Wurst” German style buffet. Included in this are German sausages, pasta salad, German potato salad, red cabbage and six different varieties of Eddie’s homemade bread."

Troeg's will be holding their Harrisburg Brewers Fest '09 on Saturday June 20th. Benefits the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

The York County Heritage Trust will be holding their Microbrew Fest on June 26th. Tickets are on sale now, so you had best get them ordered.

Ok, that is a quick run down on what is going on in the world of beer in Pennsylvania in June. Hope to see you at some, or all of the festivals.

L8R

May 9th at Mt. Hope Winery

You lucky dogs who are going to Mt. Hope for their first beer festival tomorrow.

I am officially jealous. But I have to earn a living, so it will be off to work I go. I would like to hear about it if you have a chance, and it would be even better if you had some pics to share.

That way I won't feel so bad not being able to taste the brews from Swashbucklers Brewery.

Enjoy yourself, kids.

What Pennsylvania Brew have you been drinking?

Thought it was about time for a report card of sorts. Just a check in of what beers I am still in need of trying. Not to take away from the feat of having sampled the beers that I have. Heaven forbid that from happening.

So here we go:

The Church Brew Works, Pittsburgh, Pa. I drank Thunderhop IPA, which was an IPA that I really liked. I also had Celestial Gold, and Pipe Organ Pale Ale. Both very good beers. This was a good deal.

Erie Brewing Company, Erie, Pa. The first beers from Erie I had was Fallenbock Ale. A really good tasting Bock beer. Malty, with just the right amount of hops to even out the taste. Next I had Railbender Ale which is a Scotch Ale. Another malty beer with a really great taste. I also drank Mad Anthony Wayne APA which is a great American Pale Ale. Again with a really good malt to hop balance. Lastly I drank Presque Isle Pilsner which is a crisp, light tasting beer that would be excellent for days at the beach. This beer is what a national beer brewing company wishes its pale ale tasted like.

On to Lancaster Brewing Company. Started with Amish 4-grain Ale, another APA. I am not sure which one I prefer comparing Mad Anthony Wayne APA, and Amish 4-grain. I will have to do a drink off and get back to you. I also drank Milk Stout, a really nice sweet stout.

Penn Brewery left me ambivalent. It was ok, but it didn't stand out like some of the others I have drank.

Philadelphia Brewing checked in with Kenzinger Ale. Another nice, crisp, change of pace beer.


Troeg's Brewing checks in with Dead Reckoning Porter. I loved this beer. I also tasted Troeg's Pale Ale which is an American Pale, not an India Pale.

Victory Brewing has given me Prima Pils, Hopdevil, and Golden Monkey.

Yuengling Brewing. Who in Pennsylvania has not had a Yuengling? If, then you have to move out of the state.

That makes 8, and tonight I am drinking Weyerbacher Merry Monks beer. That makes 9 breweries out of the 70 that I need to drink.

I am feeling overwhelmed.

All grain brewing

A couple of weeks ago I spent a very pleasant afternoon is Hershey Pennsylvania drinking beer in the Hershey Gardens with some friends. We were attending a fund raiser for The Milton S. Hershey Foundation. In amongst the tents handing out free beer was a guy who was brewing beer in a kettle over an open fire.

Rich Wagner is a Pennsylvania Brewery Historian. We got to talking about all grain brewing, and as he walked me through the process, I got bitten by the bug. For the 3 years I have been making my own beer, I have used liquid extract, dried extract, and have always steeped my grains. No more. Rich explained the process of all grain brewing so well, that I am going all grain.

The first thing I will need is a mash tun so that I can make my own extract. I have a couple of coolers lying around that could fit the bill, so my investment will be fairly minima. I will need to buy a valve, and some stainless web to strain the liquid out of the cooler into another vessel, but again that will be minimal.

And I got so excited about becoming all grain that I decided that I would grow my own hops. Got on Ebay the other night and bought 4 rhizomes that should be getting here in the next couple of days. One of my friends, being a competitive type wants to take half of the rhizomes to his house to see who will end up with the most hops. Which is interesting as this friend doesn't drink beer. He just wants to see what he can do.

Some peoples kids. What can you do with them?

I will keep you informed as to the progress of these projects as we get into them.