Brewing, Twittering etc...

It's been awhile since either of updated the blog. Freak has been just plain busy with other things not beer related and I have been spending most of my time sending out random thoughts and unsolicited opinions via twitter (FBHomeBrew if your interested).

So let's see... since the last update I ("E") have brewed a 10 gallon batch of Scottish 60 in which I split in half and used 2 different yeasts. The one that turned out best in my opinion is the one that used wlp-001, it was very clean and allowed the malt and caramel flavors to come through very nicely. The other half was fermented with Danstar Windsor dry yeast,  it's a nice drinking beer but the esters from the yeast hide the malt flavors leaving it different but very drinkable.

Next up after that it was time to brew a big beer using the wlp-001 yeast cake. I decided that a nice big hoppy Imperial Stout was in order. After fermentation it ended up being around 9.5% abv and very hoppy over 100 IBUs. While kegging it up I managed do some sampling and wow! it had quiet a strong alcohol taste upfront followed by strong bitterness on the back end. I'm not even planning on trying this again for at least another month. I know that this will need time to mellow and I'm hoping that it will be mellow enough to enter in some competitions in April next year.

After that it was time to start brewing lagers for the same competitions next year. First up is a Munich Helles, it's a pretty straight forward recipe mostly Continental Pils and Minich malt with a touch of flavor malts. This is going to be yeast starter so to speak for a nice Maibock which should be brewed around Christmas or sooner if the Helles finishes up, but there's no need to hurry it along... good beer takes time.

Somewhere in between brewing the previous mentioned beers I made a 5 gallon batch of ordinary cider using just plain old apple juice from the grocery store. It really couldn't be any easier, first hydrate yeast (Lalvin EC 1118), then pour apple juice into fermenter, aerate then let sit. You got to love it

Starting next month we will be webcasting our brew sessions over a Freaks house. I'm not sure how exciting that will be but you never know. We'll have a chat enabled and answer any questions from the beer geeks if any that are watching online.

Until the next time, always get your freak on and peace out. "E"

Jimmy Carter Happy Hour was a hell of a good time...

What's up everyone? Last Thursday the Freak Brothers invaded el Bait Shop for Jimmy Carter Happy Hour. For those of you out there that aren't familiar with this weekly event it is a celebration of Jimmy Carter making home brewing beer legal once again after being outlawed during prohibition. So every week el Bait Shop invites home brewers to hand out FREE samples of home brew for a few hours which allows people to try home brew for the 1st time and chat with brewers and generate some IBU club memberships along with extra beer sales for the bar, a win win for everyone.

The beers that we brought down for consumption last week were as follows:
American Brown Ale, a very hoppy brown (75 IBUs) that seemed to be received well by all.
American Stout, this was a clone of Deschutes Obsidian Stout. Not as roasty as the Deschutes but close.
Robust Porter, this is our standard porter recipe that always does very well at every competition a BOS winner.
American Blonde Ale, this was a beer that was kegged the night before we brought it down. It was good but I know it will be even better in a couple weeks.
Dry Cider, this turned out really nice, Keith is turning into quite the cider maker. We had lot's of good comments on this one and at 8.5% alc you had to watch yourself.
Cola, that's right home made soda. It goes nicely with Jim Beam enough said.

We managed to empty almost every keg that we brought, that's 30 gallons of beer! And from talking to most people that were there that had our homebrew it was a good time for all. To some things up here's a quote from someone at the end of the night that sums things up "I think you guys got most of the bar pretty fucked up".

Cheers and keep getting your Freak on!

"E"

The Freak Bros.

A fan of the Porter.

Freak working hard.

Tim having a good time.

Freak still working hard.

Some friends of mine, George (middle) will be part of the Central IA brewing community, hopefully in 2010.