Yellow Pig Porter*

Mmmmm. So we turned our attention to a porter this weekend. The grains were a mix of chocolate and caramel which held our attention with dizzying ease. This one seemed to come along very smoothly; the process that is. I stuck, generally, to the called-upon recipe from Midwest Supplies. However, as is my wont, I did increase the addition of the Tettnang hops at 60 minutes from 1.5 ounces to 2. Threw in an ounce of Williamette at 2 minutes. I finally remembered to include a clarifying tablet at 20 minutes. I always forget those things. Not this time though. Maybe I was just on my game. Who knows. Anyway, I added a half-jar, about 8 oz I guess, of raw honey at 10 minutes.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell. The SG came in at 1.066. The recipe called for 1.062-1.067, so we're on fire there. I'm going to let this guy settle into its primary for probably 3 weeks, maybe 4, but probably 3. I'm not sure whether we'll go to a secondary for another couple weeks or not. No hurry on that decision though. I'll ruminate on it for a bit.

*Yellow Pig Porter may or may not be the name on the label. Any ideas?

UPDATE:
So, we transferred the porter to a secondary this past weekend. The FG measured 1.02; a bit higher than the 1.016 that we were anticipating. Our ABV is a portly 6%. A nice number for an easy drinking porter. A couple weeks in secondary, then we'll bottle the Yellow Pig Porter.

Dancing Lou Brewery (formerly Licking Retriever Brewery)

Wide-Eyed Cowboy Ale

UPDATE:
So, after sitting in bottles for 2 weeks, we opened up a bottle of the Wide-Eyed Cowboy. The anticipation is pretty daunting. I mean, you hope it's tasty, right? That's the idea anyway. The reaction was pretty positive. I think I am pleasantly surprised, and maybe even pleased, maybe. It has a nice bitterness on the palate up front. It settles out toward the end, but leaves a pretty okay finish. All in all, not too shabby.
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12.29.2010
We brewed a half-batch of Wide-Eyed Cowboy Ale. It was an extract from Midwest Supplies out of Minnesota. We made very few adjustments to the original recipe for the Superior Strong Ale. This one should come out as a nice sipping, bittery, hoppy treat. That's the idea anyway. Biggest change to the recipe was using the entirety of the Mt Hood hops (2 oz) at 60 minutes, adding a nice bitter deliciousness. At 3 minutes, we threw in an ounce of Tettnang hops for a bit of aromatic decadence. The recipe called for an SG of 1.063. Ours came in at a tidy 1.062. Not too shabby. My hope is that the extra bittering hops increases the IBU above the anticipated 52%, maybe closer to the 60 range. Our abv should come in around 6.4ish%. Ideally, if this one turns out as expected, I'd like to get the abv up about 1%, in the neighborhood of 7.5%. When steeping the grains, we allowed them to nestle at about 160 degrees for a half hour, a bit higher than the 155 we were aiming for. We didn't tea bag them as we have in the past however (hat tip).

When we get this one bottled, it's going to sit in the primary for about 3 weeks, we're going to pitch the 2nd half of the batch onto the yeast cake in the glass carboy. We'll also use a few, maybe 4, ounces of Chinook to make it especially hoppy and bitter. Yummy. Maybe we'll add a jar of honey to the boil to catapult the abv above the 7 range.

I had heard somewhere, I can't quite remember where or when, but I did hear that for whatever reason, dogs are prone to not especially enjoy the fermenting stage. I have no idea why that's the case, but my lab certainly didn't take too kindly to the explosive reaction once it took hold. Hmmm. Weird, don't you think? Anyway, let's hope this one turns out a winner.

Licking Retriever Brewery (subject to change).

A Granular Vision for Brewing - Part 1

Brewing is by definition holistic.  No part of the process can be understood, or function, without the entire system.  As brewers, we spend our time studying the interaction between grains, yeast, air, and alcohol.  We carefully craft a finished product, and carry it through to it's finished state.

But a system must be efficient to survive.  Beyond our holy grail of the perfect brew, what can we do to improve the system?  Create synergies or cycles that can reduce cost?  Utilize by-products for further endeavorers?  We're already heading in that direction.  Lets see where we are:

Spent and Waffling

Started our day with these today.  Based on this Waffles I recipe we just replaced 1/4 of the flour with spent grain flour.  Really nice flavor, I would say less like whole wheat than malty flavored.  The grains were today were the last of the Wide Eyed Cowboy, saving the porter grains for bread...

We didn't do a whole lot with the grains.  

1. Dried them in the oven for a couple days after we got them.  
• We have a gas oven, and the pilot keeps the oven at a steady 100 degrees.
2. Froze them till we needed them
3. Ground them in our blender
• We have a Vitamix, but a regular blender might do ok

Release the Yeast

Also anxiously awaiting the results of the Wild Eyed Cowboy.  Licking Retriever Brewery has cleverly pitched their second beer onto the yeast cake of the first.  Now that we have the yeast starter kit, I'm anxious to try some variations with trying to revive yeast from the cake in the flask as well.

- Holmestarr Brewing Coop

Attention! Attention!

I think something fundamental and beyond obvious needs to be said:

Blessed be the Mother that gave birth to a brewer.

Changing of the Season

Another season of wishing for a freak snow storm in Ocean Beach is almost past.  Not too late though.  Still a chance right? At least it's not too late for one more winter beer.  Went with a Northern Brewer kit this time, a Peace Coffee Stout Porter Extract Kit.  I feel like I'm cheating a little with everything all nicely measured out for me, but if this is a tasty Stout that looks like this:

I'll get over it.

The kit surprised me... it came with the coffee!  I'll see what it's like.  I am planning to increase the amount of coffee, and maybe add some chocolate too.

Got a head start on Spring as well.  A simple American Wheat kit.  First one in a while that has no specialty grains, so it kind of feels like a step back.  The ladies love a good wheat though, so who am I to question?

Also added a new toy to the mix: a yeast starter kit.  Basically a beaker for doing mad scientist yeast experiments.  The idea is activating the yeast before brewing is better.  Cuts down time till the yeast gets to eating the sugar, keeping bad guys from getting there first.  BWAHHAHAHHAAA!!! (evil mad scientist laugh)

- Holmestarr Brewing Coop