Homebrew - Bourbon Barrel Aged Porter

MASH INGREDIENTS
- 9.5 lbs. English Maris Otter
- 1 lbs. Weyermann Pale Wheat
- 1 lbs. English Chocolate Malt
- 0.5 lbs. English Black Malt
- 0.5 lbs. English Dark Crystal

1 oz. Chinook (60 min)
0.5 oz. US Goldings (15 min)
0.5 oz. US Goldings (5 min)


MASH SCHEDULE: SINGLE INFUSION
Sacch’ Rest: 152° F for 60 minutes
Mashout: 170° F for 10 minutes

Wyeast 1728 Scottish

Made 1L starter the day before.

Ice Fishing at Castle Lake

California really does have it all, including
an amazing place to go ice fishing in the Winter. Castle Lake located just 20 minutes from Mt. Shasta City is a beautiful alpine lake, frozen in the winter with ice almost two feet think. We brought a breaker bar thinking we could find someone else's hole and chip it out, but the holes we found were so fresh it wasn't even needed (someone else must have just drilled them recently and moved on). If you want to drill your own holes you can supposedly get hand-cranked augers for not too much money.


The fish are hungry in the winter time. After a few minor technical difficulties with the rigging we were on our way. We used two hooks on the same line, one with a mealworm and the other a nightcrawler. When we felt a tug we soon discovered the nightcrawler had been eaten, so the next line went down with two more of the same. This time the fish didn't get away. It didn't take us long to realize these fish were very hungry and Nightcrawlers were simply more than they could resist. Within about 30 minites we had caught another 3 fish, and we probably could have just kept going. Cold hands and a darkening sky though prevailed on us to pack up and head out. Still, a great trip and one I'd love to do again sometime.

Homebrew - Stone 2006 Vertical Epic Clone

I've got a few Stone Vertical Epic's in my collection. Actually I've got years 2007 - 2011 and I will be purchasing 2012 when it comes out. Then I'll do a tasting party to get at least half of  their suggested vertical tastes in my belt. But I wanted to do something a little different and try to brew up one of their recipes that I don't have. Here is the recipe they provide for 2006:


Here are the ingredients:
Pale 2-R Malt: 87.5%, 14 lbs, 14 oz
Dark Wheat: 7%, 1 lb, 3 oz
Carafa Special II: 5% 13.6 oz
White Wheat: 0.5% 1.36 oz

Warrior Hops:  .55oz @ 75
Mt Hood Hops: 4.2 % Alpha  ~.16oz/gallon = .65oz @ knockout

2x White Labs WLP500 Belgian Trappist Yeast

Homebrew - American Wheat Beer

Been doing a lot of wheat beers this summer. This time I'm going to try an American wheat which compared with a Hefeweizen has a slightly hoppier profile and a little less of the banana-clove contributions from the yeast. In theory anyway. This particular batch will actually be brewed for a family member's wedding coming up in a few weeks.

I'm also going to try a few new techniques including whirlpooling the wort when cool and waiting for 20 minutes for stuff to settle then draining out through a sanitized hop bag to prevent extra stuff from getting into the fermentation chamber.






American Wheat 9/29/2012

Homebrew - 1 Liter (plus) yeast starter recipe for stir plate

There are probably a lot of these out here, but this is usually what I do to make a starter with my home-made stirplate. Its fairly fast and easy.

**If you're using a white labs smack pack, make sure to follow the directions and smack it several hours ahead of time before  you dump it into your starter. Kind of like a primary stage.