Monday, April 18, 2011

Centennial IPA, Belgian Witbier, and our 1st Brewing Fail


Brewing with Friends Roll Call 4.16.11:
Brewmaster Blake, Whit, Carson, Jack, Brandon, David, Andrew, Bojangles, Tina, Kristin, Katie, Alexa and Bruno

Beer Talk:
Belgian Witbier
As summer is just about to begin we have really been gearing up our brewing on delicious, citrusy, and easy drinking brews. What better choice than the Belgian Witbier (think Bluemoon style)! Not only did it have a very oaty/wheaty grain bill - but in this particular recipe we added a couple of special ingredients that are trademark for the Witbier style. Kristin zested the rhine off of three oranges and Jackson took the duty of crushing up coriander. Both of these ingredients were added with about 5-10 minutes left in the boil...and boy did it smell amazing! The Witbier is healthily fermenting as we speak and we are expecting this one to turn out really well.
The coriander being prepared for the boil


Centennial IPA
Keeping in the theme of great summer beers Brewmaster Blake wanted to try his hand at a Centennial IPA. This is going to be a big beer - both alcohol content and also hop flavor/aroma. The reason we call this a Centennial IPA is because it is a single hop variety IPA. Generally there are 2-3 separate hop varieties that are added throughout the boil to offer the beer some complexity in its hoppy flavor and aroma however the single hop variety IPA's are all the rage right now...you heard it here first. A popular beer that is also a single hop variety is Bell's Two-Hearted. I highly suggest saving up $8 bucks to buy a six pack of this beer, its very well done and if you're into pale ales or IPA's you wont regret this purchase.
All the boys around the dueling kettles



Doubly Explosive IPA
Generally there isn't too much to talk about after the brewing process is done, but I wanted to make sure I dropped an update on the doubly explosive IPA. As you remember we had quite a difficult time keeping the primary fermentation vessel sealed due to the explosive nature of this monster beer. But yesterday we decided to transfer and we dry hopped it! This will go into secondary for a week or two, can't wait to carbonate this bad boy and pour a cold one.
Dry Hopping the Doubly Explosive IPA



Party Talk and Ramblings:
The three new guys getting down on some brewing action
So overall it was a great night of brewing, we had a strong turnout of 13-14 people including 3 people for their first brewing experience, and another one for only his second brewing experience. Brandon, Andrew, and Biff helped out throughout the brewing process including Andrew/Fisher mashing in, David doing some hop additions, and Fisher doing some hop additions during the boil. It's always great to have some people come by for their first brewing experience, hopefully they learned something about brewing.

Stay tuned to Brewing with Friends, next week we will have a post that you will not believe; an NFL celebrity drinking beer that was Brewed with Friends... photo's will be included!

-Assistant Brewmaster

And without further ado, I give you our first brewing fail...enjoy!

Brewing Fail:

That Muskrat is a dirty dirty man....if you have a queasy stomach do not go further....you've been warned......


Dude...don't
Fail.

You may be trying to convince yourself at this point that this is pea-flavored baby food. Well I can assure you it's not. You may try to convince yourself that this is some delicious pistachio flavored ice cream....once again I can assure you it's not. The Muskrat has elected to take a heaping spoon full of inoculated yeast. Now in the interest of the casual reader I wanted to make sure everyone is aware of the definition of inoculate further solidifying belief that some men should not have the privilege of making decisions on their own. I leave you with what the Muskrat willingly, knowingly, and quite hilariously ingested.






in·oc·u·late

[ih-nok-yuh-leyt] Show IPAverb, -lat·ed, -lat·ing.
–verb (used with object)
1.
to implant (a disease agent or antigen) in a person, animal,or plant to produce a disease for study or to stimulatedisease resistance.
2.
to affect or treat (a person, animal, or plant) in this manner.
3.
to introduce (microorganisms) into surroundings suited totheir growth, as a culture medium.

2 comments:

  1. EPIC... jealous, and wish I was there.

    -Lewdawger

    ReplyDelete
  2. To know the beer...you must respect the beer.

    Yeast 1
    Muskratt 0

    ReplyDelete