I’ve been thinking more and more about making the jump into all grain brewing. The biggest drawback to me right now is the time added on to a brew day to wait for the grains to steep, er, mash.

I’ve already decided on batch sparging to begin with. At first blush from reading it appears much less fussy as well as quicker. From what I’ve read it also consistently produces high conversion yields. So what is stopping me?

Besides the added hour or two, I need to find myself a decent cooler. I have a blue one … somewhere, maybe in the crawl space. I am pretty sure that cooler is still full of my “collection” of growlers that I fully intend on putting back on a shelf with the rest of my bar-ware, just as soon as I have some place to put that shelf. It would also help to have a working kegerator in the same room to justify taking up shelf space with glassware. I digress.

The other part is not having a 7 or 8 gallon brew kettle. Yes, I do have two (or three?) five gallon kettles, and sure, I could split the batch and boil on two burners, or try for a Texas two step type brew day… Ooh, I wonder, since batch sparging is done with two sets of rinsing, right? Take the heavier first run and boil that, and hop the second lighter gravity to get more usage from the hops?

Maybe it isn’t as far fetched as I thought. I do like hoppy beer.

I wonder if Midwest would like some of my stimulus money?

Yes, dear, I am kidding.

Cheers!

Its time to get those carboys humming with summer maybe finally perhaps arrived in Minnesota. Last time I thought summer was here it snowed the following week. This time it might stick though. I was out building 10 foot by 4 foot beds for the revamped garden we are planning for this year. Of course when my body is working manual labor my mind drifts off to lala, er, beer land.

Its Lawnmower Beer time! For those who are not familiar with the term, a lawnmower beer is one that is light in taste, light in ABV,  but still flavorful enough that someone who actually likes beer might drink it.

Delving into my brew log I found this one, a Cream Ale. The style is named not because of any milk content but the creamy head… (I think.) I brewed this one in 2002. Its time for me to fire this one up again!

Lawnmower Cream Ale
3.3 lbs Briess Gold Malt Extract
1 lb Coopers light dry malt extract
1 lb Corn Sugar (I know, I know, but it was good!)
1 oz Cascade 60min
0.5oz Cascade 5min
Wyeast American Ale

Protect this one from light, it skunked on me pretty quickly. My notes indicate nice carbonation, good head and little finish, crisp like you want in a lawnmower beer.

Cheers!

There are three different ways that I know for emptying  my carboys full of cleaning solution. I’ve never been happy with tipping it on its side to glug glug out splashing all over creation. I also wasn’t too fond of holding a full five gallon carboy on its side while it did that.

The easiest way I do it is to put it above the level of the sink and siphon out the cleaning solution. That way both my auto-siphon and my carboy gets sanitized.

Once it gets about half way drained I like to pick it up and tip it upside down, give it a swirl. The resulting eddy within the carboy lets air in through the center while the contents spin around and out. I’ve done that with full carboys as well but frankly, I’m not getting any younger and 5 heavy gallons of bleach water in a glass container starts to freak me out a bit when I’m holding it.  I’ve had a few slip in my hands a bit and that was enough to put the fear of God in me.

The last way is to tip it on its side and stick a racking cane in to let the air in so it doesn’t glug glug. I’ve only heard this way but never done it. I honestly don’t even know where my old racking cane is. I know I still have one somewhere just in case, but where?

I suppose this would be a good argument for a ported carboy or one of those better bottle things. I recall seeing a how to drill a carboy in Brew Your Own a few years ago but man, that would be an expensive learning curve. Besides once there is a hole in the bottom with a spigot, that adds one more thing to disassemble and sanitize. I’m all for economy of process.

Cheers!

My wife had a stroke of brilliance (as usual) with dinner last night. We had brats from the local meat market, and since they are uncooked, as any good Wisconsinite at heart I boiled them in beer before grilling them. Don’t worry, it wasn’t my good IPA, that would be sacrilege of the highest level.

After they were boiled she was looking at a pot of hot brat-y beery liquid and had an inspiration. In went the baby reds for potato salad! Wow, it really added some nice flavor to the potatoes. A year or two ago she picked up a cook book that has recipes containing beer, I’ll review it one of these days, but in there was one for “german” potato salad*. In a small pot went chives, beer, onion and a few other things to be cooked. After it was pureed it went on the spud cubes. It turned out really good, even the oldest kid ate some.

Obviously, the brats were good too. If there is one thing I can do well, its cook a brat.

Cheers!

*It resembled nothing like the German Potato Salad grandma used to make, and you couldn’t get more German than her.

Making headlines in Wisconsin, Point Brewery in Sevens Point has a wheat seasonal named Point Nude Beach. Apparently the beer has drawn some attention from national nudist buffs… er, in the buff?

Nude Beach’s recent launch quickly drew attention from the nation’s nudists, said Carolyn Hawkins, spokeswoman for the American Association for Nude Recreation, a group that claims 47,000 members who enjoy sunbathing, swimming and other activities au naturel.

I don’t know what else to say. I hope they have enough sunscreen.

Cheers!

Adam over at Beer Bits 2 is initiating a blogging day for homebrew bloggers. What a cool idea! This months theme will be “I remember when I started Homebrewing!” and is set for the 30th.

I realize how little I surf the beer and brewing blogs, I should really put more effort in reading other folks! Not only does it help promote camaraderie but it also  keeps me in touch with other like minded adults. When I spend 8-10 hours a day with little munchkins my brain starts to ooze out my ears! Intellectual stimulation is a hard sought commodity.

Cheers!

We did another grilled pizza last night, man are they GOOD!

I like to do one large for the grown ups and two smaller ones for the kids so they can pick their own toppings. Here’s how I make them.

Start with whatever pizza dough available. We like whole wheat pizza dough from the bread machine. I’ll share the recipe if there is interest. The dough is enough for me to split in half, then split one half again for the kids. After I roll it out dusting with flour as I go, I perforate it with a fork to limit the amount of air bubbles during cooking.

This is where that spray olive oil comes in really handy, because I like to hose the grill grate down right before slapping the dough on. I used to use a pastry brush and apply olive oil to both the crust and the grill, it worked fine too, but spray is easier. Of course, the can of spray can be a bit unsafe if it catches fire… be careful!

Turn the grill down to low low low and let it cook for a couple minutes until the bottom just starts to brown and get crispy. Flip it over and remove it from the grill. This way I have time to add the toppings to the cooked side. Yup, the cooked side, the side that was facing down initially is the one you put the toppings on. Starting with a layer of pizza sauce and a dusting of cheese is how I build it, then whatever else suits my fancy at the time topped with another layer of cheese. I like cheese.

Slide it back on the grill and cook it until the cheese gets all melty and bubbly, careful to not let the crust burn! I have a big pizza paddle and a little slice paddle that I like to use to manipulate the ‘za around the grill. With the new grill I can fit all of them on at once so we don’t have to eat in shifts.

The sky is the limit for toppings. We’ve done killer buffalo chicken, using buffalo sauce instead of pizza sauce, lots of mozzarella and bleu cheese, and those breaded chicken strips chopped and dipped in buffalo. Once its off put chunks of celery on, mmmmm my mouth is watering just thinking about that one. Lots of beer with it because its hot!

Taco meat and taco sauce with spicy cheese is also good, once its off the grill add lettuce strips, sour cream and salsa.

Onions and green peppers also work really well, but I microwave them for a minute to soften them up first. I’ve never been a fan of those raw on a pizza.

It goes without saying that there needs to be beer on hand during the making and eating of grilled pizza. I suppose some red wine would work in a pinch.

If anyone hasn’t tried it, please do and let me know if you like it!

Cheers!

Spring is finally perhaps maybe here. After last weeks snow I get to look at the sun a bit more. A couple days of rain really bring the green out in the grass, and evening fires even happen more than once a week. With all the fresh air blowing through and temperatures almost touching shorts weather I am having a hard time sitting in front of the computer thinking about beer.

Typically, and for the last year or so I’ve been writing when the kids are napping. The last nap times though have been taken up with working in the garage, or getting the dishes done quick enough to get outside for a while! I can’t help it, and I’m not apologizing for it either. Who would want to sit in front of the computer when there is work to be done outside? Especially in the garage! I’ve got deadbolt holes to drill, tools to organize, winter gravel to sweep out…

Oh, I suppose I should be honest about the whole thing.

My IPA is in the garage, too.

Cheers!

We stripped the beer related stuff off the kegerator yesterday and hauled it out. Thankfully (at least for the beer) it was just below freezing last night so my keg should be nice and cold this afternoon. First time the beer is chilled! Since the thing didn’t work anyway, we brought it over to my brother in laws house, whose city removes appliances for free.

It is fascinating watching a freezer be stripped of its copper. With a couple of snips and a twist or two the exposed copper is off and in a bag. We also found out why it wasn’t cooling, there was no more coolant in the thing. No big loss since it was a hand me down from a hand me down from some one that didn’t want it anymore.

My string of free kegerator bases, either fridge or freezer, is at an end. Now I have to look for something that will be decent enough to leave in my office. Clean and cold instead of just cold.

Cheers!

Since I have this great IPA kegged and ready to go without any way to cool the keg r.i.p. kegerator I am reduced to filing a growler and sticking it in the kitchen fridge. For those who are unfamiliar, a growler is a half gallon jug usually made from glass. As a quick aside, I have an awesome Nalgene one from Fitgers Brew House in Duluth, MN that is my second most favorite…

There are a couple different ways to efficiently and effectively fill a growler without getting a flat beer out of it when you want to pour. Here we go!

• Start with a COLD growler, make sure it is as least as cold as the beer, colder is better but not frozen. Carbon Dioxide (CO2)  likes cold, cold liquids hold more gas. Cold beer on warm glass means lots of foam. Not good for re-serving, it pours flat!
• Turn the gas pressure down on the keg so the beer comes out at a mere dribble, 3-4psi tops.
• Variant one: tilt the growler and slowly fill allowing the beer to run down the side with as little as possible drop from the faucet. The idea is to avoid agitation and letting the CO2 come out.
• Variant two: buy a hose with an inner diameter that equals the outer diameter of the faucet. Attach to the faucet and let the end down to the bottom of the growler, fill up right.
• Let the beer fill up as far as possible to the top, a little foam in the drip tray or bar rag is worth it to get the beer liquid as close to the top as you can.
• QUICKLY CAP IT!

The idea is to get the thing filled with as little CO2 loss as possible. Cap it tight and stick it in the fridge. Variant one is fine if you plan on drinking it within a day or two, oxidation won’t be a factor that quickly (at least I’ve never noticed) and it is as hassle free as you can get.

Variant two is great if you are planning on keeping it around for a while before drinking. Properly sealed it should hold its carbonation for a week or more and since it was filled from the bottom instead of allowing it to cascade down the side there was much less air introduced to the beer.

A final note about growlers. They are basically a sealed pitcher of beer. Once you open it and start drinking from it, don’t expect the beer to stay carbonated very long. A couple hours in the fridge sure, but not over night. Once you increase the headspace in the growler the CO2 comes out of the beer to equalize pressures. Its the exact reverse process carbonating a keg by cranking up the pressure. The more headspace, the more CO2 lost in the remaining beer.

Its not perfect, but it beats drinking warm IPA.

Cheers!