News! Information!

Since my breakfast cereal porter hasn't exploded, yet, I thought I would try another. Yesterday, I brewed up a 1-gallon, all-grain batch with Cocoa Puffs.

It's happily fermenting away, and we'll see how it goes.

Today, on my podcast, I'm going to play an interview I recorded with my nephew, John Labeck. He did something I never thought of. He made a bacon-flavored stout.

I have absolutely no idea if this will help me any, and I'm not even certain how I'll use it. But, I set up a Twitter account. I believe you can find me as jmlabeck (I think).

We're Famous!

Will Siss writes a column for the Waterbury, CT paper, the Repulican-American, called The Beer Snob. We were honored when he agreed to be our guest judge for our little stout competition for St Patrick's Day. He judged my son's to be the best, and I can't really argue, it was an excellent beer.

I found we were doubly honored when he wrote an article about our contest.

You can find it here:

http://willsiss.com/2013/03/27/ill-be-the-judge-of-that/

'Bout Time!

Let's see. I've been brewing since, I think, 1989. I have a blog about home brewing, and a weekly podcast about the same. My son, daughter-in-law, and nephew all brew, at least in part because of me. I recently helped my niece brew her first beer, and I'm helping an old friend get started with her first.

I just today joined the American Homebrewers Association. At least no one will accuse me of jumping on any bandwagon.

The St Patrick's Day Stout Smackdown

Last week, we had our family St Patrick's Day dinner. This was the third incarnation of the event, and it has grown every year. We were joking that, next year, we may have to rent out a venue and charge a cover.

When my niece, Emily, hosted the first one, she made Irish stew, with Guiness stout as an ingredient. Last year, she asked if I would make the stout. So, I did, and the result was yummy.

This time, somebody had the idea of a family competition. I wish I could take the credit, but I really don't remember who had the idea.

So, I, my son, Joe, and my nephew, John, all agreed to make our own take the an Irish stout. Joe's wife, Tanya, decided to join in, and we all started recipe formulation.

One of John's friends, Will Siss, writes a beer column for our local paper. He agreed to be our guest judge.



 The four beers were all delicious, all stouts, and all really different. I tried to make a classic dry stout, and flavor it with coffee and chocolate. Joe made a stout fermented over oak chips. John flavored his stout with a bacon extract that he made. Tanya made hers with something called dirty chai seasoning.

I recorded the judging, and you can listen to it at
http://blogtalkradio.com/youmakewhat

I thought Will did a wonderful job of judging the beers, and explaining his reasoning. The winner? My son, Joe, won for his oak stout. I feel no shame in losing to him. In fact, I would have been happy no matter who won. All four were that good.

New Horizons

I just finished bottling my first sour beer; a Berliner Weisse. It came in at about 2.8% ABV.

I had the chance to use my hydrometer, for the first time in about 20 years. My final gravity was 1.006, very close to the estimated of 1.007. Apparently, I know what I'm doing.

When I tasted my hydrometer sample, I was pleasantly surprised. I was exactly what I was hoping for. art and refreshing, it seemed almost citrusy on my tongue (But that might just be me.).

One of the things I've always enjoyed about brewing is coming up with names for my beers. I was stuck on this one, so I asked my wife for help. She said, "What kind of beer is it?" I told her it's a sour German wheat beer. She said, "It sounds gross." So, "Sounds Gross" is the name of my new beer.

And Even Busier!

Well, I got over to Emily's to try her pale ale. As soon as it was poured, the color stood out. It was that classic, dark, reddish gold. I wanted this to be an experience, so I didn't just take a swig (as much as I wanted to). I checked the head (decent, but not lasting), the aroma (not bad, but a bit less than I expected).

Then, I tasted. Wow! Malt, bitterness, and hop flavor were all in near perfect balance. Not that I'm a real expert, but I would consider this an ideal beer for a nice steak dinner.

I look forward to the day when she's developing her own recipes. My niece has joined the family hobby in a big way. I hope she does a stout for next year's Smackdown.

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Many years ago (1970-72), I worked as a counselor at a Boy Scout camp. I made many very good friends there. One of those friends was the camp nurse, Jean, who recently found me on Facebook. She saw some of my comments about brewing, and expressed an interest.

So, I put together a small sampler of recent brews and went to her home to chat about beer.

I had an absolutely wonderful time. I love to talk about beer; the styles, the process, the disasters. It was also nice to re-connect with someone I hadn't seen in over 40 years. One thing I found amazing...even after all those years, Jean seemed the same person I recalled, both in appearance and personality.

It was fun teaching brewing. Jean showed herself to be serious about trying this, asking lots of questions, and taking copious notes. I advised her to get a setup similar to what I had purchased for my niece. The price would be reasonable; she could make about 10 bottles at a time; decide if she liked it; hone her craft.

When I left (finally) I promised to help with her first batch, if needed, and insisted I try her first brew.

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I bottled my breakfast cereal porter experiment. I left it an extra week in the primary, in hopes it would ferment out completely, and prevent the bottle bombs I had the last two times.

Just in case, I put the bottles in a separate, plastic-lined box for conditioning. If anything does happen, I hope the effects will be confined to the box.

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My wife's apple wine turned out pretty nice. It's gone, so that should say something. I had an extra packet of yeast, so I decided to try something.

The basic recipe is truly easy. One gallon of fruit juice (without preservatives), a cup of sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of yeast nutrient (or a few raisins), and yeast. The apple juice worked well, so I decided to try grape juice.

The one change I made was this. Barb had said she might like it a bit sweeter, so I stepped up the sugar just a bit; 1.5 cups, instead of 1. I'm hopeful the extra sugar will leave a bit of residual sweetness.

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I've been brewing for something like 24 years, give or take a couple. There are still a few things I haven't tried. I can cross one off, now.

I just brewed my first sour beer, a Berliner Weisse. I poked around a bit, and asked some advice, and this style seemed a good introduction to the process.

As I write this, I can hear the fermenter bubbling behind me, so that's good. I find the idea of a slightly sour, light-bodied wheat beer really appealing. If I timed this right, I'll be drinking this in the spring, when something refreshing will be what I'm craving.

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These examples show why I enjoy this hobby so much. There's always something different to do, different to try.

Busy, Busy, Busy

The biggest piece of news, I'm a first-time grandfather. My son and his wife welcomed Liberty Lavonia Labeck on Groundhog Day. The young family is doing well, and the smiles frrom Joe and Tanya are a joy to see.

My niece, Emily, brewed her first batch, a pale ale. I got put together a small. 1-gallon kit, with ingredients. I went to her house to help with brewing and bottling. As soon as the snow clears some, and I can safely travel, we'll try it.

I received ingredients for a couple of batches of my own. Yesterday, I brewed up a porter, using breakfast cereal as an ingredient.  I had tried this several times before, and the results were less than successful. The first time, there was way too much sediment, and the next two, I had exploding bottles.

I thought maybe that the cereal wasn't dissolving completely, so I decided to grind and boil it before the mash. For future reference, ground-up Lucky Charms is sorta grayish-green. Unappetizing.

All the contestants are lined up for our stout competition St. Patrick's Day. Mine is aging, my daughter-in-law's has just been bottled, and my son's and my nephew's are both fermenting. All four promise to be unique and tasty beers, and I hope to record the contest, for playback on my podcast.