The World of Mr. Drysdale

Big Batch Brew Bash

2009-06-18T10:09:00.000-07:00

Last month I had the honor of picking up a little bit of recognition at the KGB's Big Batch Brew Bash. I received an honorable mention ribbon for my Strong Scotch Ale. Big Batch is a very tough competition since it is a single style competition and judged in a single day. Every beer judged has to be of the highest quality to make it to the top five. This year there we 90 beers judged at Saint Arnold Brewery. The first place winner will have his recipe brewed and sold as Saint Arnolds Devine Reserve next year.

National Homebrew Competition

2008-06-25T13:34:00.001-07:00

http://www.beertown.org/events/nhc/2008_winners.html

Wow, I am still in shock! I had one entry make it to the finals of the National Homebrew Competition and I picked up a silver medal. Goibniu's Morning Wood Sweet Mead won again. What a year for this mead. Best of Show at Bluebonnet and now a silver medal at Nationals. Maybe this really is a good mead?

Best of Show

2008-04-30T13:48:00.001-07:00

I had the honor of picking up a Best of Show award at the Bluebonnet Brew Off Competition. Bluebonnet is the largest single site homebrew competition in the United States. It is one of the most competitive homebrew competitions.

This year I picked up two 3rd place ribbons. One for my Belgian Tripel and one for my Blueberry Mead. I picked up a 1st place ribbon for my Traditional Mead and then went on to win Best of Show Mead.

Goibniu's Morning Wood Mead

12 lbs Orange Blossum Honey

Filtered water to 5 gallons

Cote De Blanc Dry Yeast

2 ounces of toasted oak chips.

Heat water and honey to 165F and hold for 30 minutes. Cool to 70F and oxygenate and pitch yeast. Ferment for 30 days at 70F and then rack to corny keg with blow-off add toasted oak chips and secondary for 90 days. Pressurize keg and push out sediment and then transfer the rest to freshly sanitized keg leaving oak chips behind. Let keg sit a couple of days and fine if needed and stabilize with potassium sorbate. Wait another week and force carbonate.

Blue Ribbon Homebrewing

2008-01-24T14:03:00.000-08:00

I have been homebrewing for a little over five years now. I have been hooked on the hobby ever since the first one gallon batch I produced from a kit that contained a small can of malt extract, a rubber stopper and airlock. This hobby suits my personality. I like learning and experimenting and I like beer.

Over the years I have met a lot of enthusiastic newbie’s to the hobby that have gotten started by using a “Mr. Beer” kit or the “Beer Machine” and been disappointed with the quality of the beer and given up. Other folks have gotten poor advice from other homebrewers or even their local homebrew shop and dropped out of the hobby after a couple of batches.

It is real easy to make bad beer in homebrewing!

This hobby is a combination of art and science and it takes an attention to detail to make great beer. Another problem with new homebrewers; they meet other more experienced homebrewers and are often intimidate by the brewing system, equipment and the cost associated with making good quality beer. But the truth is that it is not a necessity to have an expensive brewing set-up to make quality beer.

My intention is to show new homebrewers that they can make an award winning beer with the most basic equipment and a well crafted recipe and an attention to the process.

The goal here is to produce 5 gallons of high quality homebrew and enter it in various homebrew competitions and get some objective feedback on the creation and pick up a ribbon or a medal for our efforts. There is nothing better than getting an award for your hard work.

First we have to have the equipment to brew our beer. As in most hobbies there is some cost to get started. Even the most basic fishing equipment and a fishing license and bait will run you a good $100 or more. Homebrewing is a hobby that you can enjoy every evening after work by pouring a tall glass of the hoppy fruits of your labor!

That being said; basic brewing kits will run you from $75 to $100 at your local homebrew shop or one of the many internet based shops. Yes that’s a considerable amount of money compared to the Mr. Beer or Beer Machines; but keep in mind we will be making 5 gallons of beer and have this equipment for years to come.

The equipment I will use is as follows:

6 gallon plastic fermenting bucket with spigot
Bucket lid with stopper and special hole for air lock
6 gallon glass carboy
Bottle cleaning brush
3 piece airlock
Rubber stopper
4' food-grade vinyl transfer tube
Plastic racking cane
Hand-lever bottle capper and 50 bottle caps
Star San sanitizer for sanitizing equipment (4oz) or
A small bottle of Iodophor sanitizer.
Reusable nylon steeping bag
Large stainless spoon
Long stem Bi-metal Thermometer
4 gallon stainless stock pot ( not included in basic brewing equipment kits )
50 recycled non-twist off brown beer bottles ( generally not included in an equipment kit )

The recipe I have chosen is an American Pale Ale extract with grains recipe. The APA is a good choice for new brewers because it is an ale and does not need temperature control for the fermentation. Secondly the APA is generally moderately hopped and the hops hide flaws in beer and it is a very tasty beer in general

Here is the ingredients list:

8 lbs liquid light malt extract
.75 lbs Belgian Carapils Malt
.50 lbs British 55L Crystal Malt
.75 oz Columbus Hop Pellets 14.2% AA ( 60 minute boil )
.50 oz Chinook Hop Pellets 11.6% AA ( 20 minute boil )
.50 oz Chinook Hop Pellets 11.6% AA ( 5 minute boil )
.50 oz Amarillo Hop Pellets ( Dry Hopped in Secondary )
White Labs WLP001 California Ale Yeast ( 2 tubes )
6 gallons of bottled spring water.
1 tablespoon Irish Moss

I plan on brewing this beer this weekend and use the most basic homebrewing equipment and a kitchen stove to boil the wort. I will ferment in the house at room temperature and finally prime and bottle the beer. The first competition of the year is the Bluebonnet Brew-Off in Dallas. This is one of the largest and most competitive competitions in the nation. I fully expect to score very well with this beer and even have a good chance to medal.

How I Became a Mashtronaut

2008-01-03T14:44:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Day of 2001 a friend (yes, I have a friend) gave me a very small beer kit for my birthday. I know what you’re saying; he gave you a birthday present on Christmas? Yes, because my birthday is on Christmas Day; not that any of my so-called friends in this club called or emailed to wish me a happy birthday. But I Hugh!

When I received the kit, it was in a small box. The box contained a 12-ounce can of hopped malt extract, a package of dry yeast, an airlock, a two foot long length of quarter inch vinyl tubing and a little book on the history of beer with the instruction for the kit. I thought to myself; well that’s an unusual gift, I like beer, thanks!

After Christmas, I put the little box in my closet and forgot all about it. One weekend in the first part of the year I was at home and found the kit in the closet and thought I would take a look at the book. As I read the book and the stories of the history of beer and the different styles I was intrigued. I decided to brew my first beer. The instructions were fairly simple. Boil water, add malt, cool wort, pour in one-gallon jug, add yeast, attach airlock and let fermentation begin.

I followed the directions perfectly, including sanitizing everything with a mild breach solution and rinsing well. The little book suggested using flip top bottles when it was time to bottle my first beer. I remembered that I had seen some beer that was sold in bottles just like that. I went to Specs in League City and found Grolsch and purchased a six-pack and took them home and began to empty the bottles orally! My first thought while drinking the Grolsch was; I hope my beer turns out better than this! But I Hugh!

To make an already long story longer, I let the wort ferment out of the one-gallon jug all over the kitchen counter and really stink up the kitchen. Needless to say Diane was not pleased with this first brewing experience. I followed the directions and after a couple of weeks I carefully siphoned the beer into the bottles and primed each bottle with a small amount of table sugar. I put the bottles in the pantry for a couple of weeks and waited patiently.

After the time passed I put a couple of the bottles in the fridge and chilled them down. When I decided to open the first bottle I was so excited! I carefully popped the flip top closure open to the sound of a sharp pop. A little puff of carbon dioxide floated from the opening. I was thrilled! I could see the bubbles rise through the bottle. I smelled the bottle and it almost smelled like beer. My first thought was that it was going to be really strong. I poured the liquid into a clean glass and watched the deep tan head rise in the glass. The beer was not what I had expected; it was dark brown in color but relatively clear. I took the first sip and was not at all shocked by the flavor. It was strong in flavor and a little sweet but tasted like beer. It had carbonation, but it did have a slight cardboard taste. I thought this was pretty cool. Over the next few days I drank each bottle and got a little buzz off each one. I had made my first fermented beverage in my own home. I was a brewer!

I thought to myself; this is fun and I might enjoy doing this again. A few months went by and I decided I wanted to make a wine. I thought; Diane and I both like wine so it would be something we would both enjoy. Another friend (ok fine just someone I knew) suggested that I go to Defalcos and get those guys to help me get started in winemaking. I went by there and Landry put together all the basic equipment I would need to make a Strawberry wine. He even gave me the recipe. After getting home and finding out those fresh strawberries would cost me about $75 to make this wine, I had to find a better way. I made the wine and it wasn’t bad. But once again I Hugh!

A month or two later I went back to Defalcos and Scott sold me all the extract ingredients to make a light ale. I had a carboy and a bucket to ferment in from my wine equipment. I had a turkey cooker and a pot to boil in; all I needed was a little motivation. Scott gave me step-by-step instructions on how to brew the beer. I followed it carefully and watched the process of fermentation. I racked when the primary fermentation was finished and I watched the beer clear nicely in the secondary. I went back to Defalcos and bought a couple of cases of Grolsch bottles and primed and bottled the beer. It tuned out pretty good and I drank all the beer up in a couple of weekends. My friends (no really) couldn’t believe I made the beer.

I went back to Defalcos and bought another extract brewing kit and complained to Scott of the drudgery of bottling the beer. He quickly showed me how I could eliminate the hassle of bottling by using a soda keg and a CO2 dispensing system. So, without checking with the Chief Financial Officer I plopped down my credit card and purchased the set-up. I brewed my third beer and kegged it per the instructions provided and waited in anticipation for my first glass of my own tap beer. When I tapped it and poured the first glass I was horrified by the site of a muddy glass of beer. By the third glass I realized I was just pulling the sediment off the bottom of the keg and it was getting clear. But again I Hugh.

That weekend I had a group of friends (that’s enough, just stop) over to play poker. We killed an almost full corny in just less than three hours. I was a brewing god! I had been looking at the different Homebrewing websites and many talked about Homebrewing clubs. I thought that would be a great way to meet other sick individuals and learn a few things about the hobby. The next time I was in Defalcos I asked Scott about the area clubs and he told me about the Foam Rangers. He also mentioned that there was a club on the south side in my area. He gave me the name of the Bay Area Mashtronauts. In December of 2002 I went to the website and emailed then Mission Commander John Schmalz. John emailed me back and invited me the January 2003 meeting at the Outpost.

The first meeting was interesting. I met a lot of strange but nice people who had a real passion for this hobby. I was hooked. I have spent the last five years learning, brewing and drinking with my friends (don’t deny me a dream) in the Bay Area Mashtronauts. This January’s meeting marks my fifth anniversary with the club and I had the honor of being elected Mission Commander in 2006. This club is just not about making beer. It is about the camaraderie of sharing a hobby. It’s about building friendships. It’s about learning and sharing knowledge. It’s about enjoying life to the fullest.