Brew Batch #193 WBI (Wheat Beer Incident)

It's become an annual summertime sipper for the neighbors and to be quite honest I need a ringer for an upcoming comp that I'm also judging in. No shame here. WLP300 pitch started without a hitch. OG 1.044+0.001 @74F. 

Brew Batch #192 Little Sausages in a Can

Got my first Vienna lager in the keg today, FG 1.006+0.000 @61F to give it a smooth (hopefully slightly nutty) 4.7%abv. The WLP830 worked it's magic and is safely stored for another batch. Trying to give RP@ now defuncted OTB a run for his previous money. 

2024 🏝️ Balls 5k

Whaddaya know? 2024 Beach Balls 5k (3.3 miles) route mirrored Shark Balls. The key difference was the 86F + 62% humidity for a cool heat Index of 92F. Mind you this isn't Hot balls weather, that comes much later, but nonetheless a sweat pore inducing, Vit D converting jaunt that also ended happily. Running at sea level is enjoyable and also lager crushing at the finish. 

2024 Shark Balls 5k

 

Unfortunately, when the beaches you're staying at suffers 3 shark attacks in 90 minutes, the beach is closed. Walton County takes it so seriously you're not allowed in even water up to your pinkie toe without a $500 fine. I was there when they medevacked the first woman out on Hwy 395. This also led to an impromptu 5k (3.3 miles) along Hwy 30-A this morning before it got too hot, but the humidity was still roughly 80%. The path East had few to no other competitors and the hairpin turn was shortly beyond Eastern Lake. But as you can see above, the finish libations were enjoyable but not crushable.

Brew Batch #192 Little Sausages in a Can

I have a brew buddy that has since moved and even sold all of his brewing equipment. He brought me out of my extract brewing shell and into all grain. Which has set me on a more accelerated path to my own brewery....one day. He's still a beta taster for me like several others in a very exclusive circle and all have their own code/nicknames, but he a Vienna lager that he brewed several times a summer that was hands down exquisite! To make it worse, he had it dialed in so well that it was simply a matter of finding brew time cause he was already pitching a sh'ton of angry yeast from the last batch in the next! This is my attempt, OG 1.042 +0.000 @73F and crashing for a good WL830 pitch. And if you don't get the name then you're not from around here 😏

Brew Batch #191 La Silla Enojada

Being the beta sometimes has its perks, like recreating an Angry Chair stout that was previously used for the filling of Le' Arthur for an upcoming fall event. Using only a fort wort hop bittering charge of Jarrylo and an 80 minute boil this one came out OG 1.120+0.001 @74F. Shooting for 1.130 with a BE of about 58%, I could've gone a little longer but these batches are gonna take long enough as it is when it comes to actually filling the barrel at CBB. There was quite a bit of backend fermentable addition, but the real fun starts with the full quart of 2^nd gen Chico Ale yeast that was pulled fresh to pitch today. Blow off hose is ready!

Brew Batch # 190 HOLD FAST!

FG 1.008 +0.001 @78F to give it a solid 5.5%. Color and nose seem about right, just gotta let it sit on gas for a bit and get the carbonation and head right plus a pinch of lagering. Need to get the Untappd graphic just right too since I think this will be a recipe in my war chest so to speak. May feel cocky enough to enter it this summer. Let the quaffing begin!

Brew Batch #190 HOLD FAST!

Never before brewed this style but I can't let Anchor go gentle into that good night! Loads of reading have my recipe hopefully dialed in. Anchor was always good about helping homebrewers get recipes right, so I feel relatively good on this one. Biggest things are Northern Brewer hops and California Common 2112 yeast. OG 1.050 +0.001@ 72F. 

Seventeenth Annual Virginia Beer Blitz (2024)

 

354 entries and two were represented by Beat-12 Brewing Co. No Taters and Wallaby Water (pronounced Wa-duh). A masterful and well-run comp where Bryan Flaherty kept all the entrants up to date and made sure entries arrived alive. Wallaby garnered a 34 and No Taters a 38 and 🥉! These scores are roughly 10 points higher than what they got in AL Brewer's Cup?! Wallaby was said to be a touch iron-like (this is from the Pride of Ringwood hops, I'm sure) and No Taters split a 35 and a 40 between a non-BJCP and certified judge. These entries were literally bottled, boxed and shipped the same day as the AL entries and even sampled 2 weeks later but received higher scores? After asking an old brew buddy his explanation as a former National is that the bigger more established events typically have more experienced judges and the scores seem to be more quantitative across the board. Regardless, the state for Lovers is checked off the list!

AL Brewer's Cup 2024

 

Scott Joines and the Carboy Junkies of Hoover, AL run one smooth well attentive to detail comp. I can see now why there's such a concerted effort for comps of this size and larger to get judges (that's an entry in and of itself). They had 3 tasting sessions over 2 days and results were posted that night. Unfortunately, Wallaby Water (pronounced Wa-duh) and No Taters didn't fair very well. A whopping 28 for both. There were 3 judges on the IRA flight, which was appreciated since there were 12 or so in it.  They wanted it to be sweeter and a little darker. For my 12B, the pear and apple esters were picked up but they wanted more effervescence. It's only the 2^nd year for this comp and it was already up to 200 (from 111 last year), I'll keep trying. 

Brew Batch #189 That Effing Hairpiece in your Bathroom

Into the keg today with a healthy FG 1.010+0.000 @65F to give it a smooth 7.35%. I like to try the swill and it seems to be fine, but some gas should let me know if I'm on the right track. My gut tells me there may be a need for a touch more body which means higher mash temps, or perhaps some oats. 

Brew Batch #188 No Taters

What's become an "iffy" release has become a personal vendetta! FG 1.002-0.001 @56F gives it a healthy 4.7%. So, we kept the overall grain bill then went Nottingham on the yeast, that pretty much finished the beer in 2 days. Should have good caramel notes and maybe a pinch of ester from the English yeast.

Brew Batch #189 That Effing Hairpiece in your Bathroom

I wanted to be able to compare the BA and regular version of this, so OG 1.066+0.000 @71F keeps it pretty close to the barrel batch. 

Brew Batch #187 Nekkatron

The lack on any colored malts gives it a tinge of Megatron pee if you will. It is as murky as any other haze we've brewed, but only has massive amounts of 2-row, malted white wheat and oats. FG 1.006-0.001 @60F makes for 7.4%abv that wafts the stone fruit to you with no problem. Autobots, "Roll Out!"

2023 Mountain/Snow Balls 5K

I usually run at about 285 ft above sea level. Needless to say, I was ill prepared for this kick in the calves! The course in and of itself doesn't look bad in 2 dimensions but the starting elevation and dramatic changes in elevation robbed my lungs of life in the first mile alone. 

It was a balmy 31F at the start and didn't warm appreciably at all. And the real kicker was the hairpin on the left coming back (on the map) is an undeveloped neighborhood and that "road" is really a trail for over a mile. Great snow packed terrain for my Bowl of Brooks Launch 6 running shoes. I put this as my number one "balls" of all time, eclipsing the original hot balls that had fantastic Oktoberfest beers at the end. The altitude and cold never let me loosen up so lactic acid build up was real after this one. 44:04 and the toughest actual 5k I've ever run but would do it again. 

 

Brew Batch #187 Nekkatron

Thanks to the Brewmaster at CBB, I landed 4 oz of Nectaron from the Craft Brewer's Conference. Since he can't use it on the big scale, it becomes fodder for a little R&D perhaps quaffable haze juice at Beat-12. So, that'll be possibly the sole 2nd dry hop on this DDH hazy with Galaxy, Comet and Mosaic. I'm also on a retro Transformers cartoon kick, so I figured with 7 seasons to watch plus the original movie and going through all of the current movies that the name was appropriate. Plus, it's the only one on Untappd;) OG 1.060+0.001 @75F. You may lick your lips now. 

Brew Batch #186 Reinke's Revenge 2023

First three batches barreled today! And when I say first three, I mean with trub losses I'll be brewing Reinke's Revenge "2023" one more time to recoup the missing 1.5-2 gallons in the new barrel. Batch #1 FG 1.030-0.001 @57 for 12%, Batch #2 1.028-0.001 @57F for 12.2% and Batch #3 1.042 +0.000 @68F for 10.8%. The outlier brought the abv down to 11.7% but I also will have hopefully more ~12% going in the barrel in a few weeks to bring it all up to a respectable 12% total. Batch #4 FG 1.046+0.000 @68F to give 12.5% and an average of 11.9% in the barrel. Overall, I'm impressed. Each batch had a different amount of resting days with batch #3 sipping quite hot but that's to be expected as we need it to scrub the air out of the barrel a little, but #1's smoothness already is apparent. (yeah, I know Dry January, but I'm not chancing having dark cat piss in a new barrel for 6 months).  I'll have some of the original left over to keg and satiate the masses while this one probably sits until July 4th minimum. And the new barrel's name... 

Little Lord Font Fauntleroy

Dry January 2024

At Beat-12 Brewing we value all aspects of the brewing process. But we also seek working hard along with playing hard, so in the last year I committed to 20 sit-ups and squats a day. I'm proud to say I managed 7300 of each along with 151 miles ran. Oddly, it's taken a couple of years to achieve this goal as it doesn't take long to fall behind in just one month. I've participated in Dry (or at least damp) January for the last 3 or 4 years and have committed to the same to start 2024. It's a good mental and physical reset that shows upwards of 40% liver fat reduction along with a great time to trim down and donate blood. We'll still be brewing and of course there must be end of fermentation sampling of 2oz or less to make sure there's no off flavors so that the taps are ready to flow with goodness on 2/1