Basement brewing, thoughts a stewing

Dylan on the night shift.  Cutting Drywall, thinking about his blog...

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Blogging.  Rhymes with jogging.  Both of which I am not great at.  But I did brew today!  And that my friends beats blogging and jogging.  Today (its really still going, my last brew is in the kettle right now) has gone well.  Great mash beds, lots of quality ingredients, everything sanitized and ready to go.... and I got to see Joline and Noll today since I was homebrewing in the basement.  Plus Joline made some wicked good meatballs.  I should check my lotto tickets tonight.  (and though you can't tell, an hour has passed, the wort is in fermenters, and the yeasty beasties are beginning to throw down).  So, back to those Meatballs!

The brews today were a lager and an ale.  Specifically, a Helles Bock which was hopped a bit too lightly for BJCP Style Guidelines (Beer Judge Certification Program) and a Kitchen-Sink Stout which was too awesome to be worried about guidelines anyhoo.  Mike was over earlier and helped out with the Bock.  He is now sporting a noodle-arm from having to hand-crank my malt mill (I left my drill at The Civil Life so that it could hang out with my hammer and my tape measure).  He got revenge by soundly thrashing me at darts.  Note to Mike- I nailed 2 bulls in a row after you left.  

The Helles Bock was made with primarily Pilsner malt, which is one of the lightest malts, and some Munich (a fair bit darker) as well.  The hops hailed from Tettnang Germany and smelled very Noble.  All said and done, drained from the kettle it hit 15 Plato which was EXACTOMUNDO what I was shooting for.  Go me. White Labs Bock Yeast and we is rollin'.   

The stout on the hand was flying blind.  Mike had to split since the roads were icing up and he beat me at darts.  So now my handy dandy lap top computer was splitzville- something about how Meg needed it for work?  What the heck!  We're making beer here!  Work can wait!  I need those spreadsheets!  Pre-loaded information cells!  Auto-calculations!  Technology!  Bah!  I can hand crank my mill!  I can figure this stuff out with a pencil!  So, I gathered my wit.  It was over by my laundry playing Tiddly Winks.  "Ok, Self" I said.  "Make a face-melting stout and have two more meatballs."  So for those tech-heads out there... Simpsons Maris Otter, Weyermann Rye, Franco-Belges Kiln Coffee, Caramel 20, De-Husked Chocolate Malt, Flaked Barley, 2 Onions, 1 pound of ground Deer (thanks Eric!), Parsley, 1 egg, 1/2 cup bread crumbs... wait a minute.  Pretty sure those meatballs ended up at 12 Plato.  

And now... for the terminology report:  Plato = the density of beer wort in terms of percentage of extract by weight.  HUH?  Its how much sugar is in the beer juice.  

And now... for the pineapple beer report:  nothing to report.  

Well, this blog post is spiraling out of control.  Before I sign off, BIG HUGE THANKS to Steve Crider, Owner/Brewer of Second Shift Brewing Co for inviting us out to his brewery in New Haven and THANKS to Izek for buying lunch.  Thanks to Noll for thoughtfully playing in his car seat and taking a 20 minute nap.  

And while I'm in the business of thanking people... Thanks to everyone who crossed the threshold at 33.  I learned a lot over my 4 years there and I hope I was able to bring you great things to drink.  Cheers! Prost! and To The Civil Life!

(more on my thoughts of 'The Civil Life' next time...)