F F F. My phone decided to stop working yesterday, and so I lost all of the pictures of the latter half of the malting process. I was going to do a step by step on how to malt... anyways, Im going to Best Buy to see if they can help me out. Hopefully they can get my pictures back, if not I might be SOL.

BALLS!

Tonight I sit here deleting all the Simcoe, Amarillo, Warrior and a few others out of all my recipes. Why? Because I'm tired of using proprietary hops in my brews. These hops, along with many others, can only be grown by the dudes that hold the patents or by people who pay royalties for the privilege of being able to do so. It may not sound like a huge deal, but I have a problem with it for 2 reasons:

1. HOPS ARE LIVING THINGS. These companies are mini-Monsantos in their own special way; running around "creating" freak versions of living organisms and claiming them as their own. And I don't think that businesses like that have much of a place in the brewing world.

2. They totally control the flow of these hops. I don't want to give someone that much control over whether or not I can brew a particular beer. Im not saying this has happened, but they *could* decide one year to scale back production to increase demand. Like, you know, the oil companies.

So worst case scenario, they are a hellish Frankestein made of rotten bits and pieces of the business practices of oil companies and Monsanto. But in reality, they are just annoying and apparently I think I'm too punk to use their product.

So there you have it. I'm adopting an attitude of "if I couldn't feasibly grow it, malt it or roast it without getting sued, I'm not going to use it." This is also going to put some grains out of bounds for me... Carapils and Honey malt basically. But frankly, I could do without them.

Grapfruit bombs are overrated anyways.

Have not been posting since I have been too busy for beer and blogging, since we have been getting settled into our new house. Queue hipster pictures!!!

Thats the front and back of the house. And you see that killer 15x15 shed in the back? Well...


THATS GOING TO BE MY BREWERY!!!!!!


So pumped about it. To celebrate, I did actually brew an imperial stout, which is sitting in my cellar as we speak. I now have an amazing to-do list, which I love. So many great projects in the near future, like:

• Start malting and roasting all my own grains
• Get the shed into working condition... concrete, finish walls, etc.
• Start a garden!!!
• Build shelves and awnings and stuff!

Im really pumped for the dudes at Thank Heaven For Beer. They are officially half way to meeting their Kickstarter goal of 40 grand. What are they going to do with FORTY THOUSAND dollars, you may ask? Start a kick ass brewery. Please go HERE and help them out if you can!

As I was doing my daily research of brewing, malting and beer in general, I found THIS AMAZING BOOK, by Anonymous (hackers like to brew too?... O wait, wrong Anonymous). It was published in the 1750's, and the first few paragraphs are what initially caught my eye. The author opens by comdemning commercial breweries for sacrificing good beer for good profit, and that this practice of brewing terrible beer just to make a buck is a detriment to beer drinkers and, more importantly, everyone's health!

I intend on finishing the whole thing, but if you have any interest in the history of beer at all, you should at least take a few minutes to read the preface. Kinda puts things into perspective. Its funny how we humans know that we should learn from our past mistakes, but when it comes to war, beer, and pretty much everything else...

We never do.

The last couple of weeks have been ridiculous. Between fixing my van with my own bare hands, working on getting ready for tour with my band A Billion Ernies, and buying a house, I have had little time for beer DRINKING, let alone beer creation. But yesterday was a different story.

Do you ever get that great feeling where, at the time when you feel like you cant take another ounce of stress, all of a sudden everything gets worked out? That is how I felt yesterday. The seller accepted mine and my wife's offer, my van is now running smooth with no problems, and ABE made $700 in donations to get us started on my tour. So yesterday I was driving home from work, feeling great, and I saw the exit for Stomp Them Grapes brew shop. I had gotten so used to thinking, "not today, I have to (insert time consuming task here) or my world will explode," and it was so nice to see the exit and finally realize that... hey... I DO have time to brew tonight! So I took the exit, and with no recipe in hand or even the slightest idea of what I wanted to brew, I walked merrily into the brew shop and straight back to the grain bins. Finally, all was right in my world.

I ended brewing an extremely simple beer. 100% Pilsen base, Citra hops to about 30 IBU, and S05 that I recently harvested and cleaned. I had no problems at all, and it is now bubbling happily away in my brew cabinet. I have to say, it felt damn good when I was siphoning into my carboy. The whole process of brewing is so therapeutic for me, I think I go a little bit crazy when I am unable to do it.

So in the future, when I am going through craziness, I am going to make sure to make time to brew. It doesn't matter how busy one gets in life, we have to make time to do the things we love to do. For me, thats brewing beer and writing songs, and I need to look at the former as less of a luxury during those rough times, and remember to think of it for what it really is...

THERAPY

Murdered a keg today. Farewell, Chinook Black Ale, you were great to me. Tomorrow night I shall brew up a steam beer of sorts... basically going to use a lager yeast and ferment and room temperature. Should be a nice fruity summer beer! I can already taste it... even though at this rate I might not get a pint 'til summer is over!

In other news, I have been gone from the blog lately because my wife and I will be buying a house this summer and I started a band out here in Denver. Both are super exciting and time consuming, but with the house will come awesome new blog posts about me BUILDING MY BREWERY. Yes. Ill be pumping out beer 31 gallons at a time, after I get my brewer's license of course, and all of the craziness will be up here for you guys to see.

Its been a while since my last brew, hopefully I still have what it takes and tomorrow isn't a full blown nightmare.

Just got home from tour yesterday. Had a good time on tour for work, and a GREAT time this past weekend in New Orleans at Block Party. Best friends were hugged, amazing bands played, and crawfish was eaten. Now I'm home, enjoying a homebrew and a smoke, and really just being thankful to be back in Denver with my family. Adventures are always great, but they are always a little bit better when you have someone to come home to.

The only thing that could make this a even more relaxing homecoming would be a brew session... but my pipeline is completely full! O well, I guess I have to just drink a little faster over the next couple weeks.

I cracked open the keg holding my tripel to see how much I had left (I bottled a sixer to see how this baby ages), and... it was empty! Totally weird.

Anyways, thats all. No idea what to brew next, so if you have any ideas...

Today I raised a half empty glass of Munich dunkel as I bid the beer farewell. It was a great brew, and I was sad to see it go. Malty, smooth, low ABV easy drinker... I was damn proud of that one. O well, out with the old, in with the new! My Chinook black ale is now occupying the very same keg, and judging from the swig I took when I started the siphon, this recipe is gonna be a keeper! Its an original, basically colored with loads of medium crystal and a tiny hint of chocolate malt. Its dark as night, and the subtle roastieness of the chocolate work VERY well with the loads of pine notes from the Chinook. Very pumped about this one.

Also, I have been researching more and more about malting and roasting my own malt in the last few days, and I am committed. As soon as I have a place big enough, I am going to be the total master of my entire brew, from malting to kilning to mashing to boiling to fermenting. I am super pumped about it, and at 30 cents a pound for unmalted grain, it will be a good choice as far as my bank account is concerned.

Last, I want to raise yet another mug to my friend Mitch Dubey. He was shot and killed two days ago. A senseless tragedy and a big loss for the whole world. He oozed positivity, and he will be sorely missed. We love you, Mitch. Hope you are having a good time, wherever you are.

So today I spent a good 3 hours fine tuning my itemization spread sheet for the cost for my brewery and the keg/tap system that I will be using in the actual tasting room. The grand total?

9360.50!


Not too bad, especially considering that I ditched my super punk rock brewery set up and decided to actually go with nice brewing equipment built by the dudes over at Stout Tanks and Kettles. Their prices are awesome, especially when you see all of the gadgets and gizmos built into all their pieces. I will still be fermenting in giant plastic barrels that I will stick into refrigerators so... PUNX POINTS FOR ME!

I'm pretty pumped about this. I know that there are still things I need to account for (decoration, furnishing, building an actual bar), and I still haven't considered the costs of licenses and such, but damn, it feels good to be able to slap a price on the vast majority of the stuff I need to buy.

And his terrible home brewing videos. He makes it look like rocket science, and it isn't. This guy is going to do more harm to home brewing than good in two ways:

1. He makes us all look like douche bags.
2. He is going to SCARE more people than he helps.

I hope he chokes on the next Cooper's kit he messes up.

Having a full pipeline all the time makes for scarce homebrewing adventures, but Im not really complaining. Its nice not to have to worry about brewing every couple o days, to be honest. And by the time I blow a keg and its time to brew again, I already know exactly what I want to brew! Good times.

In other news, I went to REVOLUTION BREWING! Some friends and rented a cabin and made the 5 hour trek out to Paonia. We spent the weekend eating, smoking, and drinking beers from Revolution. It was a great time.

One thing I really liked about their beer was that it honestly tasted like really good home brew. The beers were not crystal clear, with the exception of their pilsner. Sitting in the modest backyard area, drinking their good brew, eating free peanuts... gave me the best vibe. Such a great place. I wish it was down the street from my house, I would be there every night. O, and their pints are priced very nicely... 3.50 a pop. I can't even get a Pabst for that cheap in some bars.

Im hoping to make another visit this weekend, my buddy Andrew is there for work, and frick, any reason to go to Revolution is a good reason!

CHEERS

GO HERE AND LOOK AT THESE PIPES. Even if you don't smoke, you have to appreciate these as works of art. I just ordered one from him yesterday... hes making one custom for me. Amazing dude to work with, even sent me pictures of the block of briar that will eventually be my new awesome (huge, apparently) pipe. 

My buddy Kenny got a fridge and made his first lager! Im extremely jealous, but at least I have this pimpin video to drool over. Check out that nasty krausen on top, thats insane.

I love helping my friends. Every time they tell me a new story or crack open a new brew, its like Im there drinking it with them. Hurray for friends helping friends!

Today is the 3rd birthday of my band's label, COMMUNITY RECORDS! I know this seems like it has nothing to do with beer, but I have drank more beer with these guys in 2 summers than I have cumulatively in my life. I love them and everything they do, and if you have never heard of them (which judging from the people that read, you most likely have lolz), please go to their site and at least check them out and what they stand for.

Too cute.

Second, here is the beautiful grossness that makes beer the wonderful thing that it is. Back in the day, when no one knew how beer fermented and turned into a foamy, bubbling brew, it was called Godisgood. Nowadays, we just call it yeast, and here is my latest harvest of Nottingham.
Almost a full pint! I could have filled the thing up, but the other jar where the good yeast was separating form the trub still had some junk on the bottom that I didn't want, so I just dumped it out along with about an inches worth of yeast. No prob, this jar alone is probably enough for 3 batches, and each of those batches can be re-harvested more than 10 times before the yeast starts to mutate and I have to buy another packet!

I did this last night in a hurry and didn't have time to take pictures and blog about it, but Ill be kegging a tripel this week so Ill do a step by step then.

Happy Valentine's day!

I just kinda realized I have never done an extract brew. Everyone starts at extract, but from my first batch to now Ive always been all grain. Its like I skipped a step, and now I recommended all grain to everyone without even really knowing the pros and cons of extract brewing first hand!

I think I might do one sometime soon and post a how-to. Also, now that I can hit my target gravities and mash temps perfectly, I might even continue to brew with extracts for the simpler styles that don't have a lot of specialty grains and the big ass beers that take a million pounds of malt. If I like how it tastes, why should I continue to make it harder on myself by fussing with grains and sparging and all that jazz?

Yes, thats what Ill do. Sometime between today and Friday, I will make my first extract brew!