Finally #3

Brewed batch #3 last night, a Blonde Ale, still workin on a name. Things went well other that the heat, it was 94' ! Had to keep hydrated, lots of BEER! Checked on it when I got home, bubbling away nicely. First try with a liquid yeast. Went with the Wyeast American Ale II.

Bottled Batch #2

Brown Eyed Honey Oat.

Went well very little waste this time, getting better! Smells good, gonna have a little taste and go to bed.

Brew Club

Met a few of the guys from the brew club I joined a couple of weeks ago, it's called Tri County Fermenters. http://www.tricountyfermenters.com/

Tim had bought hops in bulk and I was getting in on the good deal. Anyway, he said he would be brewing in the morning and heading over to Ed's after lunch and I could pick the hops up there. Ed is the club president.

So I drive down to Ed's on the motorcycle, to save on gas you know, never been there before but knew I had the right place when I saw the big cauldrons steaming out front and a couple of corny kegs in the garage.

Tim is there with his wife Tina, Jon and Ed. What are they doing? Well there's a batch of brew going of course and they are tasting beer, talking about beer, and listening to a guy talk about beer on the internet. Special occasion? Meeting? No, it's just Sunday. I'm gonna like these guys.

Anyway, they ask me what I plan on brewing. "Not a clue" says me, "I'm just getting started." So they ask if I've tried this or that, and mostly I hadn't. Next thing you know I'm handed a sampler 6pack of their homebrew. "Here take these home to try and see if you like any." Did I mention I'm gonna like these guys?

Spent about an hour there looking at Ed's setup, sampled a Dogfish Head IPA 120 min boil, (first taste seemed heavy bitter, but the aftertaste was heavy sweet?) and just talking beer and brewing. Wish my ears were working better today, could have picked up allot more.

Good group of people. Looking forward to the next time I hook up with them at the July meeting. Gonna be on call that day so I'll have to limit my tasting. :-)

Washing bottles the rest of the afternoon in prep for bottling batch #2.

Had a Good Beer?

Anyone had a good beer lately? Let me know what it was. I think I've got the comments open to everyone.

Fermenting? Nope....

Not much going on in the fermenter... may have to bottle sooner than expected. Monday or Tuesday will be my first opportunity.

Still no third batch...

Been trying to brew batch #3 for over a week, where does the time go.... Will have to wait another week now, have the pager this week and can't take the chance of getting called into work mid boil......

Batch #2 to the Carboy

June 6th 2009

Transferred Batch #2 from primary bucket to secondary carboy, must have had the siphon too deep, got lots of sludge, I was sure I was at least a couple of inches off the bottom, scared me, thought the whole bucket was sludge. After a couple of hours in the carboy it settled out good. Looks much better. Smelled GREAT while siphoning....

Filled on 750ml bottle with a tsp of sugar, it may have too much sludge but its the only way to bring a sample to Mn the end of the month.

Also orderd supplies from Midwest for Batch #3 a Blonde Ale.