Hot and Sweet

Señor Brew™ just recently brewed another split batch of what was supposed to be delicious frothy malty goodness, but he has to say, he is less than pleased with the results, at least most of the results.

The idea was to brew a Maibock, one of Señor Brew™'s favorite malty styles of beer, and one that he has brewed quite well in the past. Some of you may recall that Señor Brew™ also likes to split his batches, for greater variety in the finished results. Variety is the spice of life.

Señor Brew™ also used a new technique on this batch, called BIAB, short for Big Illiterate A**hole Brews. It can also be short for Brew In A Bag. Señor Brew™ plans another post about this technique in the future, at which time he will travel back in time to the time that he commissioned this post, to include a link to that future post. Confusing? See Back to the Future 2, and tell me why Marty McFly's girlfriend changed appearances from movie 1 to 2. And as long as we're time travelling here, also tell me why Marty's paternal great-great grandma Maggie looks so much like his mother? Again I digress.

So, if any of you BrewBuds are still reading, I'll try to simply explain the brew, and what the problems were. Señor Brew™ put together a recipe that will also be posted separately, that is a little vague. The reason for the vagueness is that the good ol' boys of Enegren brewing, Bo and Luke, err, Chris and Matt (and Joe) gave Señor Brew™ some grain that they kind of flaked up on. No, it wasn't flaked grain, somehow they mixed up some pilsner and munich malt in the same bag. Since they are very exacting in their standards, without knowing the percentage mix, they decided they could not use it in one of their brews. So they donated it to Señor Brew™, who has no standards. I mean, he doesn't brew professionally, so it doesn't matter so much.

Anyway, Señor Brew™ took the first runnings from the mash of this brew, which was the basis of the Maibock. He then split the boiled wort into two batches, one to be fermented on ale yeast, wyeast 1968, and the second on lager yeast White Labs Oktoberfest.  The second runnings were used to make a lower strength ale, we'll call it a Helles, but using the ale yeast.  Are you still with me?

The Helles turned out delicious. In fact it's gone. It only netted about 1.5 gallons of brew, which is basically 12 pints. After sharing it with his benefactors at Enegren, and sampling quite a bit himself, it is long gone. But there are plans to make more--in fact that could be NSB's new slogan--"drink all you want, we'll make more".

The ale version of the Maibock probably fermented a little warm. While the Helles was fermented in two 1 gallon jugs that were easily stuck in the fridge when Señor Brew™ feared they were getting too warm, the ale Maibock was not. Señor Brew™ is tasting a little fuesel alcohol on the batch, which is a consequence of a warm ferment. It's not overpowering, but still noticeable--too "hot". It probably didn't help that the ale Maibock was of a higher original gravity than the ale Helles, 1.072 vs. 1.060, which led to a more vigorous, and warmer ferment. Also, probably not coincidentally, a more attenuated one--the 1.072 beer finished at 1.016 and the 1.060 at 1.015.

The true Maibock, on the other hand, did not attenuate well. In fact, we are going to call it a stuck ferment. The 1.072 only dropped down to 1.034--too sweet! There are numerous possible reasons for this, but most of them are because Señor Brew™ flaked up. Shall we count the ways? Sure, OK:

1.     Possible underpitch of yeast--it was built up in two stages from an old sample Señor Brew™ had in the fridge for a long time. 

2.     Wrong yeast. Señor Brew™ was being thrifty cheap in using the Oktoberfest yeast, which is less attenuative to start with. The recipe he formulated on his brew software showed it would finish too sweet even fully attenuated. It also has a reputation of being a slow starter, and taking a long time to finish out. Señor Brew™'s best bocks have been brewed using Wyeast Bavarian. He had the Oktoberfest on hand, so he went with it.

3.     Temperature control. The beer was fermented in the kegerator, which was sitting outside on the patio. Ideal temperature for this yeast is mid 50s, but there were a number of nights right at the beginning of the fermentation when temperatures went into the mid 40s. Señor Brew™ ended up putting a light bulb in the kegerator at night and switching the temp controller to heat to keep the ferment in the mid 50s.

4.     Impatience. Señor Brew™ hoped to have this beer ready for the California State Fair competition, so he kegged it after a 14 day ferment with a 2 day diacetyl rest. This would allow for a 8 week lagering period before the judging date. 

5.     Incompetence. Señor Brew™ did not take a gravity reading before he kegged the beer, assuming with the diacetyl rest in the upper 60s that it had finished out. Bzzt...wrong. As mentioned above, it's now sitting at 1.034 gravity, off it's yeast cake. In his defense, there was a poor seal in the carboy cover, so no airlock activity ever occurred. If Señor Brew™ had seen it still bubbling away on day 12, he probably would have waited longer to keg.

There is a fix for this however, which Señor Brew™ is working on right now. I think this post is already too long, so I will save that for the next post. YAY! 

Finally, we need suggestions for Noble Square Brewery's slogan. Winning entry wins homebrew!

Let's take Kaley to the Bar for a Bock

Hello Brewbuds! In a recent post dated April 1, 2014, Señor Brew™ asked for help in naming his new kegs. Apparently, most of you thought it was an elaborate April Fool's Day prank because the post got only one response, from our new favorite Brewbud, Soppen.

Señor Brew™ was serious! We need to name these kegs--recap, Señor Brew™ names his kegs for models and actresses, because like homebrew kegs, they are high maintenance. Also, he gets to do research looking at photos of pretty kegs. While Señor Brew™ was sitting patiently at his laptop waiting for comments it occurred to him that he could just go with his two original Kate picks, using their last names to avoid any confusion with his other keg Kate. The problem with this is that Señor Brew™ also attaches the type of beer the keg holds along with the keg name to the top of the keg. One of the Kates is named Bock.  This could cause some confusion.  For those BrewBuds that just read this blog for the pretty keg pictures--I'll explain. There is a type of beer called Bock.

So we are going to go with Soppen's pick "Kaley" for one of the kegs (photo above). I always pictured Kaley as more of the girl-next-door type, and not at all high maintenance, maybe because she is on the small screen, but let's hope that holds true and these new kegs work out well. It also doesn't hurt that Kaley is a resident of Ventura county where Noble Square Brewing is located. Soppen wins the internets, and as many pints of Noble Square Brewing beer he can drink in a 24 hour period (must be present to collect). Since he lives in Norway, Señor Brew™ is not that concerned about this--although apparently Soppen wears medieval armor and weapons, so if he came to collect, he would definitely get his brew.

Soppen

Señor Brew™ is going to name the other keg "Bar" to go with his precedent for naming some kegs after internationally known supermodels. Plus her name worked out well for the play on words for the title of this post.

For those Brewbuds that actually read this blog for the articles, don't worry, we'll have some new posts about equipment, recipes, techniques, and competitions posted soon. In the meantime, read this other recent post about a new slogan for Noble Square Brewing--we want your suggestions! You too could win the internets, and free homebrew from Noble Square Brewing (must be present to collect).

Noble Square Brewing Needs a Slogan

Señor Brew™ was sampling a flight at Lengthwise Brewery when he noticed their growlers sitting behind the bar.  He also noticed that they had a slogan, a mantra, philosophy, whatever you want to call it printed on each growler.  You can't read it on the photo to the left, Señor Brew™ and the camera were a little blurry.

Then he thought of other breweries.  Enegren has, “For the glory and the power of beer”, or something like that.  MondayNight Brewing has, “Weekends are overrated.” Another homebrew blog, Holz Brewing, has “For the love of Craft”.  Señor Brew™ and Noble Square Brewing have got nada.  The closest we have gotten to a slogan has been, “It’s Wheaty!” which was printed on the labels of Beat the Heat Wheat.  (It was quite wheaty, which meant it probably didn’t need to have “It’s Wheaty!” printed right on the label, but I digress.)

So Brew Buds, (I think we’re up to 35 of you now), please feel free to leave suggestions for a slogan for Noble Square Brewing in the comments section of this post.  All serious suggestions will be considered, and probably rejected.  All non serious suggestions will get serious consideration, and all considered considerations will be considered serious.

 

Señor Brew™ will throw out his suggestions for your consideration to start us off:

“It’s fun having beer”.

“Your Ma goes to college”.

“We put the aft in craft”

“Because they’re both marsupials!”

“Gambling is illegal at Bushwood sir, and I never slice.”

“Slogans are for losers, beer is eternal”

“We name our kegs!"

Nice Jugs!

Señor Brew™ mentioned in the last post that he has acquired some new equipment for the brewery, including these two nice shiny new jugs, I mean kegs. These were purchased from Adventures in Homebrewing on a black Friday sale for the low, low price of $69.99 each. Señor Brew™ just checked their website and they're currently on sale for that same price.

Señor Brew™ has taken to brewing some smaller batches, and splitting bigger batches, so these jugs will come in handy for holding a smaller quantity of delicious malty hoppy frothy goodness. They are listed at 2.5 gallons, but Señor Brew™ noticed that they hold slightly more. So of course, being the curious sort, he measured them. They're actually 10 liter kegs, or 2.64 US gallons. This makes sense, since they are manufactured in China.

They stack if you don't have fittings on them, which is great if you're lagering beer in a separate fridge.  They would probably stack with fittings with a small spacer in between. The posts are smaller than a standard corny keg, as is the "nut" part of the post-so you'll need a smaller socket than the 7/8" for regular cornys. I'm guessing it's 3/4", although it might be metric. Unlike a regular corny, there is room to swing a box end wrench on the posts; I just used an adjustable wrench to tighten them, which is why I'm not sure of the size.

The reviews I have read of them were mainly positive, although there have been some complaints of leaking at the posts--something those reviewers easily fixed with a new o-ring. I have not encountered any problems, although I have not been using them that long. You do have to tip them to the beer out side when you get to the bottom of the keg to empty them completely. The existing Noble Square Brewing kegs have had leaks from time to time--which is why Señor Brew™ has named them, to differentiate them and to make sure they are properly maintained.

Because the kegs need proper maintenance and care, Señor Brew™ has named his kegs after actresses and supermodels. So now BrewBuds, we need names for these new kegs. Some names that come to mind are Kate:

and Kate:

The problem is that Señor Brew™ already has a keg named Kate:

Please leave any suggestions for names in the comments section. You can include links to photos if you think it will help, but please none to weird Asian "sites" like I used to get randomly in the comments section of this blog before I started moderating them. Existing keg names are in this post.

Also, Señor Brew™ has no affiliation with Adventures in Homebrewing or the manufacturers of these kegs, and he has received no compensation to review the kegs or link to the A in H site. Although now that he thinks about it, he's going to send them this blog post--maybe they'll send him a coupon or something, especially if they like the name Kate.

The Return of Señor Brew™

Hello Brewbuds!

Señor Brew™ is back. Yes I know it has been well over a year since Señor Brew™ has posted a blog entry, but that changes right now.  There are lots of new things going on at the Noble Square Brewery, including new equipment, new methods, new recipes, and a new Señor Brew™.  Just kidding, same old Señor Brew™.  Some of the new equipment includes new kegs, so long time readers of this blog (all three of them), know what that means--time to name some kegs!

Stay tuned for more details.

New favorite LHBS

Señor Brew™ has a new favorite local homebrew shop, or LBHS. It's not the closest one to Casa Brew™, but everyplace is on the way home, if you go the right way. And it turns out this LHBS has a microbrewery and tasting room attached to it!

It's Surf Brewery, in Ventura California.  They have a number of tasty beers on tap, including their delicious South Swell Double IPA, which features ingredients from the Southern Hemisphere.  Of course they have a full assortment of homebrew supplies and ingredients.  Señor Brew™ bought some grain for his next brew while he was there, as well as the nice flight pictured above.

New way to split a batch?

Señor Brew™ has been thinking; I know, this is dangerous.  But as those loyal readers of this blog (I think we're up to 30 now) know, Señor Brew™ likes to get the maximum amount of variety out of his short amount of brewing time.  Partigyle brewing, and splitting a batch among yeasts is one way to this.

But what if you were to boil a batch of beer, say for an hour, draw off a part of it, chill it and get it in the fermenters while you're still boiling the rest of it, maybe adding extra hops to finish it out. The second beer would be more bitter, with more concentrated flavor, and a higher alcohol content due to the longer boil. It would be fairly pronounced, because with the removal of a portion of the volume for the first beer, the remainder would have a lower volume to surface area, and evaporation rates would go up. Plus while the total amount of chilling time would be about the same, each portion would chill rather quickly, and the first part would be chillin' while the second part be boilin' (A reggae song just came while Señor Brew was finishing this sentence).


I'm thinking that this would work for a pale ale/IPA, bock/doppelbock, etc.


What do you think, Brewbuds? Has anybody tried this? Pros, cons, ex-cons?

There's a Party in my Gyle! (3 beers in 1)

On August 12th  Señor Brew™  finally had some time to get a brewday together.  To make efficient use of that time, he decided to make 3 beers out of one mash, one strong beer (you could call it a barleywine), and two medium ones, an Oktoberfest and what he likes to call PseudOfest.

He did this by using different runnings from the mash to brew the different beers.  This is known as parti-gyle brewing, as Randy Mosher, author of Radical Brewing and Tasting Beer, describes so well in the linked article.

The whole point of the brewday was to have an Oktoberfest ready by at least the second weekend of the official Oktoberfest festival, which happens to coincide with Senor Brew's birthday.  Since  Señor Brew™  is out of his award winning barleywine, he thought it would be a good idea to have a strong beer on hand as well.  Of  course an Oktoberfest, being a lager, needs extra time to ferment, and even a longer time to lager to give it that smooth lager finish.  And a barleywine should be aged for many months to really mature into it's flavor profile.   Señor Brew™  can be impatient, so he decided to split the later runnings, post-boil into two different carboys, one with the Oktoberfest yeast, for the Oktoberfest, and one with an ale yeast that would be ready much sooner, the PseudOfest, which is already kegged and delightfully quaffable.  The first runnings  of course were used for the barleywine.

The brewday actually went quite smoothly, unlike most where at least something seems to go wrong.   Señor Brew™  had his old propane turkey fryer burner going to boil 3 gallons of wort for the barleywine, while at the same time, the big natural gas burner was used to boil about another 9 gallons of wort for the O'fest and PseudOfest.

I've exported the recipes for the Oktoberfest and Barleywine from my brew app into separate posts, Barleywine and Oktoberfest.  (Hey I've got to hit my quota to average at least one post per week through the end of the year somehow.) The efficiency is set very low to reflect that only part of the sugars from the mash were used in each brew.  The total efficiency would have been in  Señor Brew™ 's normal range for his setup.  Purists will note a couple things--one, the barleywine's grain bill is not typical, but this is because it was an after thought to the Oktoberfest, which the grain bill is more appropriate for.  I'm going to call it German Barleywine, due to the Munich and Vienna malts.  Also, there was no decoction mash for the Oktoberfest, just a single infusion with some melanoiden malt thrown in to approximate one, even though those same purists will say it's a poor substitute.  Señor Brew™  doesn't care, it makes a fine tasty Oktoberfest.

Señor Brew™ also got a little kooky with an extra ingredient.  We had a package of wheat pasta in Casa del Brew™  lying around, which was not likely to be consumed-- Señora Brew™  is gluten intolerant, and  Señor Brew™  saves his daily carbohydrate allocation for homebrew.  So we grind it up, and into the mash it goes!  There's no entry for it in the brew app I use, so it got listed as wheat DME (dry malt extract).  Close enough for homebrew.

Finally the PseudOfest recipe is not included, because it would be redundant.  Just substitute your favorite fast fermenting ale yeast for the Oktoberfest, ferment warmer (upper 60s to low 70s), and let her rip!  No need to lager it either.

Enegren Brewery

Hello Brew Buds!

Some of you with OCD may have noticed that Señor Brew™ has updated the "What's on Tap" section of the Brew Blog in the sidebar (scroll down, it's on the right). At the top of the list is Enegren Alt, the first guest tap El Kegerator™ has been graced with. Actually that is not true, we've also had Enegren IPA on tap during the Brew Blog hiatus, but nonetheless, Enegren Brewery is the first non Noble Square brew on tap at Casa del Brew™.

"So what is this Enegren Brewery of which you write, Señor Brew™?" I can hear you Brew Buds thinking. (Yes, Señor Brew™ can hear your thoughts as you read this blog, it's part of the high level HTML* programming language incorporated in the site). It is now Señor Brew™'s official local microbrewery. Located in the adjacent town, Moorpark, CA, just 10 minutes away from Noble Square Brewing, they serve up some tasty microbewed deliciousness, including the aforementioned Alt and IPA.

Enegren was founded by a trio of homebrewing buddies who decided to go pro, the Enegren brothers and some other dude who didn't get naming rights because he was outvoted three-to-one. (We think one of the brothers voted twice). They've got a tasting room, which isn't open enough, although they just recently added Wednesday nights. It also doesn't have air conditioning, but if it is really hot in the tasting room, and you ask nicely, they may let you chill in the beer cooler for a while.

Pictured above in the tasting room are Matt Enegren, and his lovely girlfriend/employee Becki Kregoski. Becki actually works for two different local microbreweries, Enegren and Wolf Creek. She also has a great food and brew blog, Bites 'n Brews, which has way more followers than Noble Square Brewing, but Señor Brew™ is not jealous. At all. (Señor Brew™ is also very happy that the HTML* thing only works one way).



*acronym for Hear Thoughts (on) My bLog

Beer Drinking Socialists, Drinking at Work, and Eggs in Your Beer

Great article about beer and Labor Day on Slate from Troy Patterson. I get the impression he was drinking heavily while writing it, but there are way too many great links for him to finish it inebriated.

A highlight of the article includes the use of the word, "squiffy" for having a few too many.

Please note, Señor Brew is neither a communist nor a socialist, but he does appreciate the contribution of the working man to our great country, and there is a good chance he will be a quite squiffy this Labor Day weekend.

Noble Square Brewing is Back!

Hello Brew Buds!

Yes, It's true. Señor Brew is back after a long hiatus. And he plans to contribute to this blog regularly going forward. In fact, Señor Brew is going to commit to posting here at least once a week for the rest of the year.

So loyal readers (the four of you that are left), you can help out. Please comment with some ideas you would like to read about on this brew blog. Also, if any of you are using an iPad to blog, let me know what apps you are using. It will be easier if I can use the iPad while on the road to post here, but so far it has been difficult. This is being posted with Blogger+, and it isn't optimal.

Stay tuned for a real post within the week!

Noble Square Brewing is moving!

Yes, that is right Brewbuds, Señor Brew™ is packing up the brewery and moving it about an hour north of its current location, to beautiful, wonderful, beautiful Thousand Oaks.

One of the first things Señor Brew™ did was to check out the water in the new location.  As you can see from this water report, the water looks mighty fine for brewing.  He hasn't run it through a water spreadsheet yet, but it looks like for most styles he'll be able to use it right out of the tap, after treating it for chloramines, and adding some calcium for yeast health.

The new location has natural gas piped out to a built in grill in the back yard, so Señor Brew™ should be able to use his amazing wok burner.  I believe that there are electric outlets in the same spot, so he can use his electric HLT heater as well.  Señor Brew™ can't wait to get the first brew in the new place going--probably a session ale, something that can be fermented out quickly to be ready for the housewarming party.

Then, just for fun, Señor Brew™ decided to look up who some of his neighbors might be.  According to this wikipedia article, notable current and former residents include Megan Fox!  I doubt she still lives there, but if by some chance Señor Brew™ runs into her, he will be sure to invite her over to give her a tour of the brewery and show her the keg named after her.  Then he'll tap that (keg).

2012 Home Brew Competitions

Hello Brew Buds!  Señor Brew™ intended to post this calendar before any of the competitions listed actually occurred, but he didn't. Sorry!

It's not a comprehensive list of competitions by any means, just the events that Señor Brew™ intends to compete in this year.  As you can see, most are in Southern California, where Noble Square Brewing is now based, but a few are national, and of course the list includes the Chicago Beer Society competition, where  Señor Brew™ is a member in exile.

The dates are an approximation of when Señor Brew™ needs to send in his entries, not the actual date of the contest.  If you're entering any of these competitions yourself, first of all, good luck. You'll need it competing against  Señor Brew™--look at all of his shiny ribbons at the top of the page! Secondly, check the sites for the competitions for the actual dates--Señor Brew™  may have them wrong, they may not be available yet, or he may be sending them in the early part of the entry window due to other circumstances.

America's Finest City, San Diego  entries were due 2/22 (Sr. Brew™ entered but did not win).
National Homebrew Competition entries were due 3/5 (entered, first round begins in April)
Mayfaire, Los Angeles entries due 4/12
California State Fair, Sacramento entries due 4/27
Orange County Fair, Costa Mesa entries due 5/12
Sam Adams Longshot, Boston entries due 5/25
Los Angeles County Fair, Los Angeles entries due early July?
Pacific Brewers Cup, Los Angeles entries due 9/6
California State Homebrew Competition, San Francisco entries due mid October?
Spooky Brew Review, Chicago entries due mid October

Please note that some of the above links go to last year's competition site if the 2012 site is not up yet.

It's Good To Be The King

It is good to be the king, especially when you're Omega King.  I finally got around to dry hopping and bottling a portion of the Omega King IPA.  I even made labels this time for the bombers I bottled as you can see from the above photo.

The only difference I made in the recipe was to use all 2-row barley for the base malt instead of a mix of 2-row and pilsner malt.  With all the hops in the recipe, I don't know if I could even tell the difference.

This beer was originally designed to be a clone of 3 Floyds Alpha King.  I'm not sure how close it is, I know I probably tweaked the recipe along the way.  I should do a side-by-side taste test to see how it stacks up.  The problem is, I don't know if I can get Alpha King in a bottle out here in California.  I can't say I've looked for it.

My label uses the font from the Alpha King label; I created my own letters if they didn't appear on the original.  The photo was scanned from a Disney book--all the mermaids are singing to the king. Having half a dozen young ladies in bikini tops sing to you is not a bad thing, even if they're half fish. In hindsight I should have photo-shopped a beer in the king's hand--I'm sure he would have been enjoying a nice IPA during the mermaid serenade if it were not a Disney book.  Unfortunately the labels are already printed and affixed to bottles.  I'll have to make that change for the next run.

At least one of the bombers is going be to sent out to my buddy Pete, who got me to formulate the recipe the first time.  He's a big fan of Alpha King, and I wouldn't have brewed this beer if it hadn't been for him.  He's got three little girls, so they'll probably enjoy seeing Ariel on the label too.

I've got a case of regular sized bottles ready, so stay tuned to this blog to see how this batch fares in upcoming competitions.  The recipe can be found by clicking the "Omega King" link in the first paragraph.

iBrewmaster app for iPad

I've started inputting some of my brew recipes into iBrewmaster, an app for the iPad. I've had it for quite some time, but haven't used it extensively. It seems very well put together, and the developers are constantly coming out with improvements to it.

It allows you to input your recipes, and it will estimate your IBUs, original and final gravities, alcohol by volume, and all kinds of other cool info. It even let's you tweak your recipes for individual batches.

You can customize your inputs, such as your brewhouse efficiency and the alpha acid levels of your hops.

My only fear is that I'll damage my iPad during a brew session, so I keep it far away from the action. It's not like I've damaged electronic equipment while brewing before.

Señor Brew™ wins a ribbon!

Fall Down Go Boom barleywine took 2nd in the 2011 Pacific Brewers Cup held by the local brew club, Pacific Gravity.  It scored a 41, which is usually high enough to take first, so someone must have scored unbelievably high in this category.  Señor Brew™ also entered his Oktoberfest, Slippy Piggy's Oktoberfest, in this competition.  It didn't score as well, which is strange, because this beer went on to take first in the 2011 Spooky Brew Review, the Chicago Beer Society's annual competition.  More on this to follow.  The barleywine was brewed right around New Year's Day, using the first runnings from the Superbowl Stout brew, before the dark malts were added.  The recipe for both can be found here.  (Both Fall Down Go Boom Barleywine and Superbowl Stout have taken home ribbons this year). Look for the Oktoberfest recipe in my next post.

What Brew Blogs Do You Follow?

Hello Brewbuds!

Señor Brew™ has a quick question for loyal readers of this blog.  What other brew blogs do you follow?  No, Señor Brew™ is not going to get jealous and hack the other blogs with TOS attacks (something he read about on the intertubes).  The reason for asking is because he recently cut a number of blogs from his "follow" list, because they hadn't written a new post in over a year.  Damn lazy brew-bloggers!

Señor Brew™ would like to replenish his list with new and exciting brew blogs and thought the readers of this blog might have some mighty fine suggestions for other blogs to follow (since they obviously already have excellent taste in what to read on the worlb wibe web).

Here is Señor Brew™'s current follow list--please take a gander (or goose, "what's good for...yadda yadda"):

Bearded Brewing Blog (a guy with a beard brews in Minnesota)
Brew Dudes (two dudes who brew co-author this one)
Chibebräu (Russ Chibe, meteorologist/lawyer/homebrewer, esq.)
HolzBrew (I forget, but it's well-written)
Homebrewed Beer (Ithaca is gorges)
Matt & Meg's Beer Brewing Adventures (Married couple brews together and don't mention fighting)
Monday Night Brewing (3 guys in Atlanta who homebrew with a plan to go commercial, which they have!)
Ted's Homebrew Journal (Another Chicago Homebrewer as are Russ, Matt and Meg above)
 
P.S.  The photo at the top of this post was blatantly stolen from the Monday Night Brewery Site, but I'm giving them a plug here, so I think it's ok.

Ooh, it's so shiny!

I realize it has been a long while since I've posted here to Noble Square Brewing dot blogspot dot com, so I wanted to throw at least something up to avoid having the website go the way of the dodo or myspace. Now it's more like the coelacanth, you thought it was extinct, but no, it's back. 

The above is a photo of my HLT (a.k.a. Hot Liquor Tank, a.k.a. the keg in which I heat up my mash and sparge water).  I finally got a hold of some bubble insulation, cut it to size, and duct taped it together, forming a tight jacket around the HLT.  It looks so shiny!  I have used it to brew since (hopefully more posts about that to come), and I have to say, it was an easy way to get the water hotter faster.  (Water hotter faster--say that 3 times fast, wait I just did, it's not that difficult).  The HLT is pictured upside down for storage, I don't brew with it that way, you big dummy Lamont.

Anyway, if any of you other homebrewers out there heat your water electrically, I suggest you insulate.  You'll heat your water faster, using less electricity, saving time, money, and the unicorns.  I don't know if this will work for gas heated HLTs, the insulation could melt.  Time to look up if I spelled coelacanth correctly.



Superbowl Stout takes 2nd!

Señor Brew™ just saw the results from the Inland Empire Brewing Company and Superbowl Stout took second place in its category.  I think this was a smaller competition, and had hoped to take home a 1st with a shot at best of show--the stout was really that good, although it could have degraded a little during or after bottling.

The results of the Maltose Falcon's Mayfaire competition are also in, and according to their website, Superbowl Stout didn't even place.  However, Señor Brew™ still isn't entirely sure that the beer was entered in the competition.  The entry fee cheque has yet to be cashed, and there was a screw-up with how the entries were picked up.  More on this to follow, especially if it turns out that the brew was not entered.

Stout Specifics

I had to look up some of the details I missed in my original Super Bowl Stout recipe posting since the Inland Empire Pro Am competition required a full recipe.  I thought I would post them here in case I need them in the future.

The Alpha Acid percentage of the hops:

Magnum  10.4% AA
Northern Brewer 10.5% AA

Yeast used:
WLP 013 London Ale Yeast (1/2 gallon starter)

Fermentation:
14 days at ~68F

I know, it's a boring post for everyone else, but at least it's not about wine coolers.