Archive for the 'Discussion' Category

GABF

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Who’s going?

Michelle’s (my wife) sister is interested in learning all about beer so I am taking her to three sessions…Thurs, Fri, and Saturday afternoon!  We also have tickets to the Farm to Table pavilion for Friday night!

Anyone that is coming I’ll buy a beer…lol!

Saturday night we will be hitting a local favorite sports bar(can’t remember the name) for college football.

Hope to see a bunch of you!

Cheers, Rob

Chi Company for WLP yeast – best buy

Sunday, August 8th, 2010

The Chi Company has just started carrying White Labs Yeast.

http://www.chicompany.net/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=261_270_289

This is the best all around deal I have found for price, and more important – freshness.

Standard WLP vials are $5.90 each.

They are shipped once a week directly from White Labs!

That means they are very, very fresh.

I just received six vials – four were expiration dated 11/30.

That means they were packaged on 7/30!

(Four months is yeast standard for WLP, six months for bacteria and brett.)

The other two were expiration dated 12/5!

I have never bought yeast this fresh before. 

No more yeast close to, or even over the expiration date ever again.

Two thumbs up for the Chi Company from me.

- Kickstand Jac

Brew In A Bag

Monday, June 21st, 2010

This past weekend I  brewed my first batch using the Brew In A Bag (BIAB) method.  Typically, from setup to clean up, my brew days take 7 to 8 hours to complete using my normal fly sparge setup.  With the BIAB method I used this past weekend it took about 4 hours from start to finish.

I made a simple American Pale Ale and had no problems with my mash pH or hitting my desired starting gravity.  I mashed just under 13 pounds of grains in 8 gallons of water at 152 degrees for 70 minutes, removed the bag and let drain over the kettle while heating the extract to boiling.

After the boil I had just over 5 gallons in my carboy and 1 gallon remaining in the kettle with an OG of 1.060.  The carboy is in my temperature controlled chest freezer for fermentation.

I will update this posting as things progress and let everyone know how it is looking.  If I can get my act together I think I should be able to get it kegged so that I can bring a growler to the July meeting for people to taste (it will only be 2 and a half weeks old).

I see two main advantages to using this method.  First, it makes for a much shorter and simpler brew day.  Second, it is potentially much easier for someone to switch from extract brewing to all grain brewing.  The only equipment you need is a kettle large enough to handle the extra water and  grains and the bag of course.

There are some disadvantages but that is for another dicussion.

Patrick

Anyone need a fridge?

Friday, June 18th, 2010

I have a refrigerator that is about 8 years old that has recently stopped staying as cool as it should. i decided to replace it rather than repair and i was going to keep it as an extra fermentation chamber (it stays at about 50 degrees) but have decided i need to make more room in the garage.

its free to any of you who might want it.

you can email me at strutnakid74@yahoo.com

John

Enchanted Brewing Challenge

Monday, April 26th, 2010

Any updates on the Enchanted Brewing Challenge…

BJCP Exam

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

I know I have said on more than one occasion that I had no desire to take the BJCP judging exam but I think I am changing my mind.  Is there any chance that there will be an exam given again this year?  I know it has typically been around the State Fair judging, which gives me some time to beef up on my beer knowledge.

Thanks, Rob

Big Brew/National Homebrew Day

Monday, April 12th, 2010

Is the club organizing anything this year?  I cannot host but was looking for somewhere to hang out and bring some beer!  I see Santa Fe is the only site in NM registered on the AHA website.

Cheers, Rob

Ben Too Big for the Club?

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

LOL!

I see Ben has an appearance scheduled at Jubilation for the release of SA’s Longshot that features his winning beer.  The event is scheduled 4/17 from 2pm-4pm, the same time as the Identic-Ale tasting at De Smet Farms.  :-(

Guess, I will miss out on having a bottle of Mile High Barleywine signed by BEN….

Cheers, Rob

Why the approval?

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

Why do our posts have to be approved? I posted yesterday and can’t find it on the site. I would like a conversational forum, but if I have to wait a couple days to get posted, well I won’t bother. Just my 2 cents.

-Tom

Homegrown Hops

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

I was wondering how many of you have experimented with growing  your own hops?  I have five different varieties that will start the 2nd growing season this summer.  I am already getting lots of shoots and really big ones!  I am growing Fuggles, Newport, Northern Brewer, Centenial and Cascade.  Last year which was the first year, they easily grew 15 feet up a rope trellis.