Uff! Foam!

No action this morning.

Stressing out already…

It has been a while but life has been a bit crazy. Well, tonight I had nothing better to do (not true, I actually had loads of better things to do but wanted to do something that would allow me to watch the soccer match, therefore…) so I decided to brew a batch.

I used a kit that I received some weeks ago for a west coast style red ale. Not sure what they are supposed to be exactly, but based on the recipe and the smell and taste, they seem like super hoppy red ales. We’ll see.

This time I brewed alone and the process went pretty smoothly. But we won’t know for sure until we taste the product.

   

Brewed: West Coast Radical Red

Final Gravity: 1050 (aiming for… don’t know)

Brewmasters: Jaco… alone… not even Bernardo helped…

Taste notes: Wow! Way hoppier than I thought it would be for an ale, but then again I kept adding the hops…

On TV: Caps-Rangers game 7, Wizards-Hawks game 5, Pachuca-America juego de ida (awesome tv night).

Drank: Espresso.

Lessons learned:

• I hope I left the mash cool down enough before adding the yeast…

Oh man! So much promise…

The taste was fine. Maybe a bit too sweet. But like I expected it, the carbonation was REALLY screwed up. The first two bottles were pretty flat… but the third was pretty good and the few that tasted that one (at work) really liked it.

There are 3 more bottles waiting to be opened… we’ll see…

 

Did it in a bit of a rush, right before running out to an Epic Bad Ass RV Road Trip Planning Committee meeting. And against all odds, Joana helped me manning the syphon tubing (she refused to be photographed).

The beer tasted like a really flat porter, but on the sweeter side. Hope I didn’t add too much honey.

Brewed: White House Honey Porter

Final Gravity: 1010 (aiming for 1.010… ka-ching!)

Brewmasters: Joa and Jaco

Taste notes: Ridiculously good malty smell, a bit too sweet to the palate.

On TV: Off.

Drank: Nothin’.

Lessons learned:

• The stupid fizz drops that come with the Northern Brewer kits DO NOT fit through the bottle openings! I had to crush them inside a (previously sanitized) ziplock bag and then drop them in the bottles. I hope that the amount each bottle got is correct.

Wow! Went to check it this morning to make sure it was bubbling properly and…. was it bubbling!!! It exploded and sent the air-lock flying!!! I cleaned it up and re-sealed with a new rubber stopper and airlock. Let’s hope that nothing got contaminated…

After the HUGE success of our Hoppy Birthday, we embark our second brewing journey. This time a Honey Porter using the recipe from the White House brewmasters [link], as prepared by the brewmasters at Northern Brewers.

The process went a lot smoother than last time (by that I mean that we didn’t overboil the wort!). We used a mix of whole grain and extract. Cool stuff.

    

Brewed: White House Honey Porter

Original Gravity: 1055 (recipe calls for 1054)

Brewmasters: Ariel, Steven, Andres, Beny, Bernardo, Jaco

On TV: Nets at Hawks

Dinner: Sicilian Oven Pizza

Drank: “Hoppy Birthday” (the last 2 bottles!), Doghead’s “90 minute IPA”, 5 Rabbits’ “5 Vultures”, Two Brothers “Sidekick Extra Pale Ale”, Terrapin Brewery’s “Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter”, Ariel’s Belgian Saisson.

Lessons learned:

• The filter in the funnel sucks. Should use a strainer next time.

We opened up 2 bottles tonight. The beer is fantastic! Even Maxi P. drank it!

Approved by the Principal!

look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: great | overall: 5

I had to open the marked bottle and taste it in order to see if we needed to add more yeast and prolong the conditioning.

Wow! What a surprise when the top popped open and a cloud of cold fog emerged from the bottle. Mmmhhhhh…. the smell of hops.

The beer was a lot clearer than I expected, but the taste was just as hoppy and crisp as the smell. Loved it! Had to share a sip so I walked over to Andres’  to watch him sample it in his boxers. Priceless.

 

BTW. My VP of marketing (Debs) vetoed all of the names I had come up with and gave me strict orders to name it Hoppy Birthday. Both a celebration of Steven’s and mine, as much as the birth of a new beer.

 

Oh well. I guess I shouldn’t complain about these kind of problems… So many names… only 1 gallon of our first ever brew…

You can always add an idea in the comments as well.