So in the two weeks since Ive last posted, my mom bought me a keg rig with 3 5 gallon corny kegs. My mom rules and I have been busy fine tuning and researching on how best to optimize my system (AKA not get beer all over the place and still have cold, carbonated beerz).

First, some pictures! This first one is the new rig.

Over the past couple weeks I have been doing MAJOR research into starting a brewpub. I have learned so much more about the brewing process, and taking a hard look at what I would really need to get started is actually proving that this is more feasible than I previously imagined. My friend and possible partner in crime Andrew showed me the website for Revolution Brewing in Paonia, CO and that in itself gave me a huge boost of confidence that this is something we could pull off.

I'm thinking that the key is keeping the overhead extremely low... which would include malting and roasting our own grains and coffee beans, having a SUPER ghetto (in looks, not in function) 1 BBL brewing rig, and finding a cheap place to start. This would mean a ton of extra work on our part, but I believe that keeping costs down will make startup much smoother and will give us the advantage of seeing what we can actually afford when it comes to upgrading.

Its also looking like my friend Will from Nashville is willing to join forces and handle the restaurant aspect! Love that man, great vegan cook.

This is shaping up to be great. Baby planning phase is fun, I can't wait to start building.

Yo. Its been a while since I last posted (OMG DA HOLIDAYS), so I thought I would log on here for a while and share what Ive been up to lately.

For Christmas, my ridiculously awesome wife bought me a 3 gallon Better Bottle so I can make bigger batches of beer! Also, the way it is shaped, it takes up no more room in the closet then my little one gallon dudes that have been so faithful to me in the past. I have done 2 3 gallon batches so far; a dark strong Belgian style ale, and an American style wheat beer that will have a little more of a hop kick than most wheats. The 2nd 3 gallon batch I had to split between 3 bottles, and I have officially run out of fermenters. Thats always sad... but I think I will always do 3 gallon batches from now on. I'm growing a little tired of making awesome batches that run out in just a few short days.

Last night I helped my buddy Andrew bottle his first batch of beer. Its a holiday ale I designed especially for him, and we brewed it exactly two weeks ago. I have to say, it tastes... interesting. It reminded me of Christmas ham, but not in a bad way. Kind of like how Guinness reminds me of bacon. I'm really pumped about the malty finish, and the fact that this definitely does not taste like someones (like mine) first batch of brew.

Which brings me to the point of this post, really. I love helping people brew beer! I have helped three of my homies put together their systems and get their first batch rollin'. I wish I had had someone around to walk me through the process that first day. I had no idea what I was doing, or why I was doing certain things. I love being able to not only help people learn HOW to brew, but WHY it works and the importance of each step. Also, it would have been great to have someone tell me those famous words...

RELAX, DONT WORRY, HAVE A HOMEBREW!

Back then I would lose sleep wondering about how this beer would turn out, running the night over and over in my mind, finding little things to beat myself up over! Ridiculous. But maybe it was a good thing in the end... it lead me to a good 2 month long obsession with learning as much as I possibly could about making beer. If I hadn't worried so much, maybe I wouldn't have fallen in love with the process at all.

I might put a post on Craigslist offering to come and help people brew their first batch. Or maybe not... theres creepy people on Craigslist. Either way, I hope that I can continue to help people along in their quest for awesome homebrew, and that these INGRATES SEND ME A PINT OF THEIR BEER ALREADY!!!

YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, EVEN IF YOU DON'T READ THIS BLAWG

RAWR

Greatest project ever. The other day I went to Walmart and picked up a 5 gallon drink cooler for 20 bucks. Im not usually one to shop at Walmart, but... the deal was too awesome, and damn am I sick of mashing in a boil pot that loses heat constantly and having to strain my grains into multiple other pots. Its a mess and it sucks, so in this case, I don't care that I supported one of the most evil corporations ever.

Yesterday I went to Home Depot (and by "yesterday" I mean two trips yesterday and one final one today because I kept needing more parts) and picked up all the stuff I needed... a 1/2 inch ball valve, some washers, a 3/4 inch to 1/2 inch converter thing, and some neoprene washers. I removed the old valve from the cooler, screwed in my new parts, and voilà!

 New mash tun!!! I even added a little copper elbow on the inside that points down about 1/4 inch from the bottom.
Now all I have to do is float the mash and drain the wort out of the ball valve, through a mesh strainer directly into the boil pot. No more dumping grains all over the place and getting hot wort all over the counter. I am ECSTATIC about this!

A note for anyone that wants to do this... I highly recommend replacing ALL plastic pieces with metal equivalents. The main reason I kept running to the store is the new metal parts were stripping the plastic pieces, and it kept leaking. The cost of the whole rig? 40 bucks. Brew shops sell this for 80 bucks and up, so ya, Im pumped.

DIY OR DIE

This weekend I went back to Hemet to hang with friends and family. Saturday I made plans with my buddy Kenny to help him with his first 5 gallon batch. We headed out to the brew store early, got all the ingredients for a Mack And Jacks clone. We were super pumped, ready to brew. We jumped back into the car and... o God... the battery was dead.

We ended up spending 4 hours in the parking lot sorting the whole thing out. It was a nightmare, but like most bad days, it ended great. We went back, drank lots of homebrew that I brought back on the plane, and brewed up Kenny's first batch of beer! Was a relatively smooth and painless process, and really made me want to get into doing bigger batches. One day...

I'm just really pumped that all my buddies enjoyed my homebrew and are getting into it themselves. Its one thing drink a great beer you bought, but a totally different thing to drink a great beer you made yourself.

The other day I was searching around for a good Blue Moon clone. What I found was this thread on HomeBrewTalk.com. Basically, someone posted there looking for a Blue Moon clone, and instead of getting a bunch of educated guesses from people that really didn't know, he got a response from a guy that actually helped brew it back in the day when they were originally creating it! Needless to say, I was PUMPED. I love Blue Moon, and I can only imagine how awesome it takes fresh from the brewery.

So anyways, I took all the info, plugged it into BrewSmith, and got this recipe:

1 lbs 3.8 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 50.00 %
15.8 oz Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 39.92 %
4.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 10.08 %
0.29 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [4.00 %] (90 min) Hops 17.4 IBU
0.05 oz Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
0.24 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
Yeast- S05


I made it two days ago before I left for California, and last I checked it was happily bubbling away in my brew closet. Ill take a picture next week and post it, it looks great! I definitely recommend this to anyone, I have a feeling its going to be great. Make sure you do a protein rest when mashing though, all that wheat needs the extra time to make more food for the yeasies. 


Next week Im bottling my blackberry red ale, so hopefully I can give a good update sometime soon.

The second beer I ever made was a brown ale/Newcastle clone recipe. The color came out awesome, but it tasted like piss. I forced myself to drink it as punishment and as a deterent from ever making crappy beer ever again.

For the most part, it has worked out... but yesterday I took the TRUE test by trying my hand yet again at a brown ale. I created the recipe myself, here it is:

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Beer1
Brewer: bryan
Asst Brewer:
Style: Southern English Brown Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 1.25 gal     
Boil Size: 1.43 gal
Estimated OG: 1.035 SG
Estimated Color: 21.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 13.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU     
1 lbs 1.6 oz  Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)          Grain        69.18 %      
4.0 oz        Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)     Grain        15.72 %      
1.6 oz        Honey Malt (25.0 SRM)                     Grain        6.29 %       
1.4 oz        Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM)                Grain        5.66 %       
0.8 oz        Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)              Grain        3.14 %       
0.10 oz       Brewer's Gold [8.00 %]  (60 min)          Hops         13.1 IBU     

At 1.035, its the lowest gravity beer I have made to date, and you know whats great about that? Less grains=LESS MONEY! This brew, including the Nottingham I bought, was only 5 bucks. Holler at your boy.

I have never used Honey Malt before, but I heard about it the other day and really wanted to try it out. Its supposed to be exceptionally sweet, and that's what I'm going for. Of all the brews I've made, I have never made one that is all sweet malty goodness, so here's to hoping it turns out that way.

Three cheers for beer!!!