Brew Batch #12 update

Junk and I racked the trub on #12 today, made a taste test and it was good. It was still actively fermenting when we racked it over into the secondary so I am hoping that it continues to ferment a bit more to give it a 4.5% or so. Looks like this is going to be a great session beer. I figure by next Tuesday we'll be bottling those and they'll be ready to at least try before we put RR in a bottle to hibernate;)

Stop The Presses...

This morning I woke up to clean out the fermenter that had #12 in it and low and behold it had a nice white foamy ring around the inside of it. It also still had those pesky small colonies in the middle. So at 10am I called the great guys over at Northern Brewer today to get some clarification on my brew problem. Apparently the smack pack had not been incubated long enough. According to Wyeast for every month over the culture date, you should give the pack an extra 24 hrs. So technically we shouldn't have brewed until about today in order to see how much the pack would swell. Brew Dude told me that a 72 hour lag is not uncommon for older yeasts to get started and that I could taste it after racking into the secondary and make sure to leave the last 12oz in it so that if it in fact is mold colonies that they would float on top and not settle. He also said if the yeast kicks up enough it could overwhelm the mold and still give a good beer, but if it tastes funky when racked especially since racking is done from the bottom up, "it's over". But for now we have gone from one bubble every minute or so to one every 6 or 7 secs. GAME ON!!!!

Brew Batch #12 UPDATE

Well we feared the worst, a yeast pack that was inactive and it was confirmed tonight. I prayed to the Wyeast god that the "puffy-ness" I felt after smacking this old pack (4 mos) was not in fact inflation due to it warming to room temp but just a slow pack to get started. Well there were no bubbles tonight and when I cracked the lid open there was no foamy ring either, I was hoping it had done some mad fermenting over the weekend. But to add insult to injury there were 3 or 4 small mold colonies on top. Yuck!! So at this point I can't even repitch another culture. I have officially screwed up a batch every way you can imagine short of not adding the yeast at all. I read in "Joy of Home Brewing" that a truly experienced homebrewer messes a batch up at least one time every way possible. So ends the list, I hope.

Brew Batch #12

Started a little California mistake tonight. Junk, Melonhead, and myself brewed a little Steam Style (see Anchor Steam Style Ale for a true rendition). Steam-style brew is one of the true beer inventions of America. The folks in San Francisco wanted a lager beer there but the temps were too high resulting in a weird ale type brew made with a lager yeast above 55F. The yeast pack was old yet "hopeful" with a little swell, but I still have confidence that out of the 100 billion cells possible that one will pull it out and go through a little process called binary fission. This batch will be water to mouth in 28 days, which works out great since my running regimine has increased. Thanks for all the help, it was a GREAT session for brainstorming, which is exactly why we brewed this beer, a session beer at about 4.5% give or take when all is said and done.
OG 1.036+0.002 @77F

Mug Club Field Trip

Tonight we took the first of hopefully many Mug Club field trips to another pub/bar/brewery. Loco’s Deli and Pub put an Oktoberfest ad in the Plainsman about $10 mugs and $5 German beers (4 offered on 3 rotating taps) so we opted to scoot away from mug club and venture into unknown waters (famous last words for Ahab). They offered Dinkelacker, Spaten, Franziskaner, and Warsteiner Dunkel on draft. Well like many new relationships this one started off with a lot of head, on my Dunkel! I don’t blame our waitress Britney but instead the hoarder of suds behind the counter. (So Brit you owe me half a pint of liquid beer). But shortly thereafter everything got on track. Merry had a Purple Haze. Junk started with a Spaten (his of course brimming so that suds runneth over) and Britney in her pink form fitting T kept them coming. Did I mention Brit is a redhead? Future TnDCer? Thank you Brit;) I digress. But discovering the draft goods included an unknown to me and my cohorts...Hoegaarden, brought smiles to everyone’s faces. We could try awesome Belgium wheat that runs $12/sixer in our newly acquired 23oz mug for only 5 bucks… so went the next mug filling. (Our Tastes posting to follow). The aroma of the yeast left a slight clover and bananas feel that was mouth-watering. I strive to do as well one day. So as I sit here tonight drinking a Red Brick Ale (thanks Junk) from ATL Brewing Company in my birthday mug (thanks Merry), I say go to Loco’s ask for Brit and push the magnesium out of your neurons to prevent memories from being written. Melonhead—just told me “cabbage juice was once used for hangovers- it contains chelators that offset acetylaldehydes….think I’ll stick to B12, ibuprofen and water before bed. Cheers, brewing tomorrow-----Steam Style, baby..Yeah baby. .

TnDC Update and Other Notes of Business

Of late, a true TnDC has been rare and elusive here at the AU chapter. However, recently (meaning since this semester started) the AU clan has embarked on a different mission. Every Wednesday night Olde Auburn Ale House has Mug Club Night for its Mug Club members where we get a free meal of decent portion and regular prices for 23oz mugs (Happy Hour 3-9 Mon-Thurs..there's your plug Mr. Cargile). Oddly enough some of the best things just evolve from meager beginnings. Oelfeekee, Junk and myself have made this a regular occurrence and hope that you would come out and join us as well as support our local brew pub. Also on the skinniest of skinny there will be more Catch Her In The Rye being brewed for some sort of celebration of Jamie winning the bronze. (pics to be posted some day).

Oktoberfest und biergartens

Well October is here and so is Oktoberfest, even in Alabama. I was shocked to see one in Cullman , and in Boaz.
But the one Junk and I have been brewing over is the one in Helegna, GA. The South's own little piece of Brat. This one starts in September and goes right into November, like a good Oktoberfest should.

Brew Batch #11-- REINKE'S REVENGE

At 1435hrs this afternoon the usual bunch got together and brewed #11, affectionately known as Reinke's Revenge from here on out. On the roster of apprenticeship included Garreju a.k.a "Junk" of the AU TnDC chapter, Whitehouse subchapter; and Oelfeekee also of the AU TnDC chapter, High Springs subchapter. I can already tell that many of you will be wondering, "What's with all of the subchapter business?". Well as we bring our HSOP years to a close the AU chapter will dissolve and hopefully we will all take what we have learned and shared back to our "current" subchapters to form our own network of pure TnDC chapters literally from tip to tip, from sea to shining sea. I digress.... RR's is a Russian Imperial Stout with 12 whopping lbs of fermentable sugars. We figure to push the 10% mark. The brewing went off without a hitch (with just a slight boil over shortly after sparging, which was my fault due to closes the lautertun), but other than that this baby is going to be big and a mouthful, just like the мерзкий школьный учитель (loosely villainous schoolmaster) we have come to respect at the least. OG came out to be 1.072 + 0.001@ 72F.

The End of an Era:(

Sadly Brew Batch Numero Uno crossed the great gullet of the unknown for the last time tonight. As Garreju a.k.a Junk and I had the last 2 pints after a marathon brewing session that was supposed to only go a few hours and ended up being almost 12! Alas EPA is most certainly destined to become another batch, just as the Phoenix rises from the ashes so shall EPA ferment from the strain......To Be Continued

Whoop There Iya!!! (or there it is)

Congrats to Jamie Ray!! At this year's GABF Jamie Ray, brewer at Montgomery Brew Pub and Olde Auburn Alehouse, pulled out a bronze in the rye catagory with his Catch Her In The Rye. Now I'm not bragging but if you were to look back at some previous posts, say---2/11/05, I think you'd see that I picked it as a winner along time ago. It is a definite quincher.