Racking the Storm to Secondary

Well, I know it's been a while since I last posted, but there's not been too much to update on the brewery.

Drew racked the Quiet Storm stout and Apricot Wheat to secondary yesterday. I don't know if I mentioned, but I accidentally ended up with 2 different yeasts for the wheats. I got an American Wheat Yeast and a German Wheat Yeast. Don't know how the German will turn out, but hey, part of homebrewing is the experimentation.

I'm really looking forward to trying the Quiet Storm stout, waiting is the most difficult part of homebrewing.

Oh, I'm headed to Moab, UT next week with for the Easter Jeep Safari 2006, and we are going Via Aztec, NM to see my buddy and his family (Can't wait to see everyone!) While there we are hoping to visit the Ska Brewery up in Durango. I'll see if I can snap some pics.

Cheers and Hoppy Brewing!

A stormy day for Quiet Storm Stout

Wow!!! What a brew day. I think I am still recovering. 20 gallons are in carboys fermenting away in Drew's kitchen. We had a very successful brew day even considering the weather was quite nasty all day. Actually, we have been needing the rain so much I don't think anyone was too upset it was raining. I'm not sure if it was all the beer we were drinking, or the cigars and more beer we partook after the brewing, but whatever it was we had a good time and felt no pain...well at least until the next day...

Drew and I started the day by getting the equipment ready, thanks go out to Scot Kee for the usage of his equipment as well. Borrowing Scot's mash tun, hot liquor tank and big ass pot really helped us a bunch. Drew and I might still be at it if we hadn't had his equipment.

All in all, things went off without too much of a hitch...okay, well truthfully, we may have imbibed a bit much, as the word oops seemed to be quite prevalent for the day. We did have one mishap, we had to sacrifice a 6.5 gal glass carboy to the brewing gods...no, thank goodness we had not yet put our wort into it, but nearly seven gallons of sanitizer solution flowed into the McKinney sewers that day! Other than that, I forgot to have us check gravities...not a huge deal, but now we won't be able to know the alcohol content of our brews...oh well, no biggie.

As per our updated plan, we brewed 20 gallons of beer, 10 gallons of my new recipe Alfster's Apricot Wheat, which was a variation of my American wheat with some different grains to darken the color just a tad, as well, we will be adding apricot extract to the secondary for that extra little flavor. We also brewed 10 gallons of Quiet Storm Stout. I have to say I'm really looking forward to seeing how this brew is going to turn out. It was a recipe I found from the brew board over at Homebrew Adventures. I think it's gonna be "awesome like a hot dog."

Okay, now for pics and what not! I have my new web page updated with pics so check them out if you want: New Cool Brewing Pics

You might notice that I registered theblackdogbrewery.com, yes it is up and running. I will eventually move it to a pay to host site with GoDaddy so that the advertising won't be showing, but I hope it doesn't bother anyone too greatly right now, because I'm really cheap.

Cheers and Hoppy Brewing!

20 gallons of beer in the kegerator...20 gallons of beer..take one down...

Yes that's right, I drove down Saturday to Drew's and he and I rebuilt 8 cornelius kegs (soda kegs) and kegged the beer we brewed about 4 weeks ago, my how time flies...

So we have 4 kegs full, and in the kegerator. That brings us up to about 20 gallons in the kegerator and we are ready for next weekend, our brewday demo/excuse to brew and drink more beer day.

I think we may have a change in plans in the type of beer we brew. We were planning on brewing an identical batch as we brewed in February; however, after more thought Drew and I are thinking we need a stout and a fruit beer instead. So we are planning on brewing an Oatmeal Stout and an Apricot Wheat, of course 10 gallons of each. This of course isn't set in stone and we may yet change our minds again, but as of now that's our plan.

Alfster's Apricot Wheat

Quiet Storm Stout


Cheers and Hoppy Brewing!

Beer Thoughts by The Alfster

This post is dedicated to my friend Tara...(at least I hope she is still my friend as I have recently introduced her husband to homebrewing)

I understand that homebrewing can quickly become an obsession to most anyone who begins this hobby. However, the advantages of being able to sit back relax and have a homebrew that you made is one of the most rewarding experiences anyone can have. The sense of satisfaction seeing your friends and family gathered around for those oh so familiar family moments is so wonderful as they partake of the creation that you and some little yeasties made just from some grain and hops. There really is not much else to compare with the joy of homebrewing...well maybe the birth of your first child, or that big bonus at the beginning of the year, but hey you can't drink either one of those!

And when one begins to feel that time is not being spent with family, due to brewing, racking, bottling schedules remeber just this one important thing...every batch of beer brewed, every bottle of beer capped is made with that most important ingredient, love...and really who can put a price on that.

Cheers and Hoppy Brewing!