Ping to the Brewers and wine makers!
I didn’t know about this, can you add me to the ping list?
I just finished brewing an imperial chocolate milk stout. We brewed 15 gallons. 5 gallons was just an imperial stout. 10 gallons had lactose, cocoa, and vanilla bean. 5 gallons of that was put on bourbon soaked oak. All turned out fantastic, but I used my blichman bottling gun to bottle them from the keg and even though I used wheat in the recipe, I have absolutely no head retention. The beer tastes awesome, and carbonation is fine...just a small head that fades fast like coke foam. Any knowledge on why this might have happened? My next brew is a Christmas Oatmeal Raisin cookie ale. Marris Otter, Crystal, Special B and Oatmeal with some spices.
Wine tasting in Napa today. Does that count?
5 Gallons Sangiovese
12 Cab / Merlot
5 Savignon Blanc
First time making wine in 30 years.
Check back in six months to see how it all works out.
A listing of the top 10 pumpkin beers brewed in the United States(2012). Great for the Holiday season. (Yes, they have two #5’s)
1. Whole Hog Pumpkin Ale - Stevens Point Brewery
2. Punkin’ Ale - Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
3. Pumking - Southern Tier Brewing Company
4. La Parcela- #1 Pumpkin Ale - Jolly Pumpkin
5. Terrapin Pumpkinfest - Terrapin Beer Company
5. Ichabod Ale - New Holland Brewing Company
6. Post Road Pumpkin Ale - Brooklyn Brewery
7. Imperial Pumpkin - Weyerbacher Brewing Company
8. Pumpkin Lager Beer - Lakefront Brewery
9. Pumpkinhead Ale - Shipyard Brewing Co.
10. Saranac Pumpkin Ale - Matt Brewing Company
I have TWO batches going now. One in the keg now for final and CO2. The second is re-using the yeast from the first.
Of interest: Beer can survive a nuclear blast! It was proven empirically.
http://www.chem.info/Community/Blogs/CHEM-Blog/Safety-Beer-Bombs/
In the end of days, there will be beer.
Back in 1956, three executives from the Can Manufacturers Institute and the Glass Container Manufacturers Institute wrote a report titled “The Effect of Nuclear Explosions on Commercially Packaged Beverages.” Their motivation was simple: In the event of a nuclear explosion, what, if anything, could be consumed after the fallout?
According to the abstract for “Operation Teapot,” commercially packaged beverages (soda and beer) in both glass bottles and metal cans were exposed to a detonation in various layouts — different shelving, storage, and distances away from Ground Zero. Many of the bottles and cans survived the blast, even those as close as 1,270 feet away. Most of the casualties were either crushed by surrounding buildings, hit by shrapnel, or merely fell off of the shelf.
The contents of the surviving swill, even those in closer proximity to the blast, could still be safely consumed as an emergency supply of potable water. The only negative data to come out of the study — other than the whole hypothetical nuclear holocaust business — was that the beer suffered greater flavor changes than the soft drinks.
What about the radiation? Wouldn’t said beverages become radioactive waste? The study found that while some of the “containers showed some induced radioactivity, none of this activity was transferred to the contents.” While I’ve never seen a person fight through radioactive waste to score a beer, I’ve seen other daring feats that would rival such in acts of brand loyalty and stupidity.
While the study at the Nevada Proving Grounds took place nearly five years before President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, it epitomized asking not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. This study, if released, could’ve taken some of the edge off of the Cold War fear.
Though a bit dismayed that they didn’t include other spirits in the experiment, I was impressed by the results. The results also made me wonder whether or not contemporary containers could stand both 20 and 30 kiloton blasts. As a child, my Uncle Tom collected his father’s beer cans and amassed an extensive collection that had been displayed in my grandfather’s basement for years. Always the curious kid, I’d examine the old labels, the seemingly impossible to open can tabs (if they even had one), and the structure of the can.
Compared to the thin aluminum used today, they had a much more robust structure. Back in my grandfather’s day, if a man crushed a can on his forehead, he meant business. Today, kid’s do it. Not the bright ones, but some can still pull it off.
The study made me wonder, could cans of today stand up to such a blast as did their predecessors? Of course, this is likely to devolve into a whole “they just don’t make anything like they used to” type of conversation, but given the number of beer drinkers in America, I can see some cause for concern.
I am getting my recipes for tomorrow’s double brew session now.
I’m brewing for thanksgiving weekend and am making a classic pale ale and a blondish sort of thing for a daily drinker.
Batch 1- 11.5 gallons
18 lbs 2 row pale
Mash at 148
1 oz Magnum @60
1 oz Columbus @ 20
1 oz Colombus @flameout
Yeast - SA 05 @ 68 degrees
Batch 2 - 11.5 gallons
17 lbs of 2 Row
1 lb wheat
Mash at 152
1 oz Magnum @60
1 oz homegrown Cascades @ 20
1 oz homegrown Cascades @ 5
WLP 001 at 68 degrees
I have 12 gallons of Mocha Stout ready to transfer this weekend.
18 lbs 2 row pale
1 lb chocolate malt
1 lb pale chocolate malt
1/4 lb carafa 550 for color
2 pots STRONG French Roast coffee 5 minutes before flameout.
It has been fermenting at 70 for 2 weeks and tastes a lot like a chocolate stout with a nice coffee back bitter. I am letting it age until Thanksgiving weekend when we will tap one for our annual fishing trip.
Additionally, I have 12 gallons of cider that is finally ready to bottle for this summer. I still need to blow off the sulphur with Co2 before I’m done but at least that brew is almost out of my hair.
I am extremely frustrated as I have my new two pump system ready to go and all I need the the high temp tubing to get it all up and running but just do not have the coin right now.
Soon, real soon.
Cheers,
knewshound
I'm just about to leave the house to go to the monthly meeting of The Maltose Falcons.
It’s only 7 weeks old but I tasted my Ed Wort’s Apfelwine tonight and I’ll be drinking it during the vote.
Tastes like a Liebfraumilch. But potent, haven’t even finished the glass yet and my ears are warm...