Hooray For Beer

You gotta love this song from Bowling for Soup...

Bowling For Soup Hooray For Beer lyrics

I was lost and down
Before you turned my life around
I never knew a love like this could happen
And they said I was too young
But when I turned 21
You gave me hope that's everlasting

Now everything is going my way
The sun's shining all around me
Bells are ringing and the birds are singing now
I wanna tell the whole world

Hooray For Beer!
I'm really glad you're here
Let's make this moment last
You feel so right
Wanna be with you all night
Shout it out
Hooray For Beer!

And sometimes when I wake
You seem like a mistake
My stomach's turning circles, my head is pounding
But at 5 o'clock
You say it's time to rock
And I can't resist, I gotta be around you

Now everything is hunky dory
The stars are shining all around me
There's a happy ending to my story now
I wanna tell the whole world

Hooray For Beer!
I'm really glad you're here
Let's make this moment last
You feel so right
Wanna be with you all night
Shout it out
Hooray For Beer!

I could hold you in my hands forever
Or at least until you're gone
And then I'll order another one

Now everything is going my way
The sun's shining all around me
Bells are ringing and the birds are singing now
I wanna tell the whole world

Hooray For Beer!
I'm really glad you're here
Let's make this moment last
You feel so right
Wanna be with you all night
Shout it out
Hooray!
Hip hip hooray!
Hooray For Beer!

Oktoberfest Beer

Today, I made an Oktoberfest beer.  By the time it's finished (i.e. ready in the bottles), it will be November, so I guess I'll have to call it Novemberfest.  As usual, the smell of the grains was fantastic.  It's based in some carmel malt grains, which are sure to make some very tasty bread.  The hops and hop schedule were somewhat lower than other beers I've made, but definitely strong enough for my wife to notice.  As part of the brewing process, I have come to notice that women are very sensitive to the smell of hops and "hoppy" beer.  Even with just a small bit of hops in this beer, it was noticeable.  It should be ready to go in about 6 weeks.

Lots of Bottling - 9/22/2012

Today, I bottled two different 5 gallon beers.  My first one was a toasted rye ale that I have made before and was very popular.  The second one was an IPA that is hopped only with Simcoe Hops.  Both smelled great, but the IPA has a very strong aroma.  They both will be two weeks in the bottle, and then available for samples.  As I type this, I'm drinking an IPA from a brewery in Central Washington called Old Schoolhouse.  Very tasty.

As far as bottling goes, I got 6 22oz bottles and 35 12oz bottles out of each batch.  Not bad as far as quantity goes.

I also picked up supplies to make an Oktoberfest beer tomorrow, and some friends are going to be picking more fresh hops to be used in one of my creations.

Weekend In Spokane - 9/14/2012

On the weekend of 9/14, I was invited to spend the weekend with my "sister" and her family in Spokane.  After a night at the fair, consuming things like french fries, cheesesteaks, a deep fried twinkie (with chocolate sauce), and deep fried butter (with raspberry sauce), I was treated to a tour of different orchards and farms.  Two great things happened.  For the first time, I picked my own hops.  They were Cascade Hops, and my "nieces" helped me pick them.  Second, I found an orchard that I could easily convert into a brew pub.  They had a front structure that could be a pub and restaurant, and a back structure where they harvest apples that could easily be converted to a place to brew beer.  I'm looking forward to using the hops in my next creation.

On Saturday, my "sister" and "brother-in-law" took me to a brewery in downtown Spokane.  It is called the Steam Plant, and is an old steam plant (with original equipment) converted to a restaurant and bar.  I had the sampler, which I thought would include about 6 samples.  Imagine my surprise when it contained 11.  It included a "peach ale", which was light, but outstanding.

Great weekend!

PS.  I almost forgot to mention something.  We uncorked the latest apertif creation, which combined cab sav wine, vodka, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries.  It was very smooth and a good combination of flavors.

"Bery Blonde" Review

This evening, I opened up a bottle of my "Bery Blonde", which is a combination of a blonde ale with a mix of raspberries and strawberries in it.  I added them during fermentation, and then also added small pieces of raspberry and strawberry to each bottle.  It was definitely one of my more experimental batches of beer, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  I had read mixed reviews of fruit based beers on the different brewing web sites, so I knew there was a chance it wouldn't come out very good.

I have to say that overall, the flavor wasn't bad at all.  Because I added the berries to each bottle, I had to pour it into a pint glass in order to avoid getting parts of the berries in it when I drank it.  I would say that there is more than a "hint" of berry flavor, but it isn't overwhelming.  It was a bit tart from the raspberries, which I read can happen, and that the tartness fades as the beer ages.  So, I have several bottles of it that I'm planning to save to try after a couple more weeks.

It wasn't my worst creation, but was a bit less than I was hoping for.  I would like to try it again at some point and make some adjustments to the recipe.

IPA with Simcoe Hops

Today, I just finished making an IPA using Simcoe hops exclusively.   I got the recipe off the internet, and made it this morning.  Here is the recipe.  This beauty is now fermenting in my upstairs closet in a dark and cool place.

5 gallons of spring water
7 lb Light Dry Extract
1 lb Munich malt (grain)
.25 lb Crystal Malt 40L
1.5 oz of Simcoe hops to the boil for 60 minutes
.5 oz of Simcoe hops 55 minutes into the boil (5 minutes before the end)
.5 oz of Simcoe hops after the boil is complete while the wort cools down
.5 oz of hops added to the carboy (dry hop) during fermentation

I also took the grains and began a batch of bread.  It smells really good.  Will bake it later today and have with dinner.

Let's Get Started

When my son Andrew went off to college and began to enjoy beer, we spent a lot of time trying different types of microbrews.  We really enjoyed the different tastes and flavors.  For Christmas, in 2010, I got him a starter kit for home brewing.  We took it back to school, and we made our first beer in January of 2011 in Bellingham along with his roommate Max, and Max's dad Tim.  Our first creation was a clone of Rogue's Dead Guy ale and came out really good.  Andrew continued to brew with Max, and produced some really good home brews.

In January of this past year, Andrew moved to New Jersey to start graduate school at Rutgers University studying Music Performance.  The home brew kit ended up in our home in Issaquah, so I started to make different beers.  I also began to experiment with Apertif's, which use a base of wine and vodka along with seasonal fruits.  Along the way, I found a Sangria recipe that I also really enjoy making.

While I enjoy drinking anything we've made, I actually really enjoy the experimentation and process of making new and different beers and wine creations.  It's fun, and I love distributing what I make to friends and co-workers to get their feedback.

I brew about 2 or 3 times a month, and will be posting different things I've tried, along with things we are currently working on or have tried. 

Here is the beer we've made so far

• Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) - Toasted Rye Ale (2nd batch in fermentation)
• Arrogant Bastard clone
• Shakespeare Stout clone
• Scotch Ale
• Scottish Ale
• American Amber
• American Amber with a bit of honey wheat
• Pale Ale - juiced up with an extra 1lb of malt
• Blonde Ale
• Bery Blonde - Blonde ale with strawberries and raspberries - recently bottled - 1 week to go

Here are the wine creations we've made so far.  All recipes include fruit, vodka, and sugar

• Sangria (recipe on the blog)
• White wine with strawberries - not the best combination
• White wine with raspberries
• White wine with pineapple and kiwi
• Cab Sav wine with raspberries, and oranges
• Cab Sav wine with raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries

There will be polls so that those of you that have sampled our creations can rate your favorites.  We just love the process of making things and getting feedback so that we can improve and try new and different things.

I hope you enjoy reading about what we do as much as we enjoy doing what we do!