The New Project

So, in my last post, I hinted at a new brewing project. And I realize I've kept all of my loyal readers (all three? five? of you) waiting for too long. So here it is, my new goal:

Brew every BJCP beer style.
23 categories.
80 styles of beer.
And I want to do it in under a year.

Some clarifications:
I'm going by the Beer Judge Certification Program Style Guidelines, 2008 revision. I'm only attempting the beers in this goal. I might brew a few ciders and meads, but they are not part of this goal. I made my first batch on February 1, 2013 (13C, Oatmeal Stout). I want to have everything fermented and bottled by the 31st of January, 2014. The bottle conditioning/aging doesn't need to be finished, as long as it's in a bottle (or keg, if I get into kegging by then.

So, what have I done since I started a month ago?

Not much. The afformentioned Oatmeal Stout (13C), and today I am brewing a Guinness clone (13A, Dry Stout). I had originally planned to go crazy and do all 5 stout styles, and then realized that the weather is getting warmer, and stouts aren't exactly a spring beer... so I'll shelve the other three stouts till the fall.

What's next?

I'm not really sure. I do know I want to do some lighter beers (Light lagers, Pilsners, Wheat beers), and I have some Belgian Ale yeast in my fridge, so I'll prob do some Belgians at some point soon, too. I don't have an exact plan on how to pick what to brew..., so I'll probably just brew whatever I feel like, while trying to keep the beers seasonally appropriate. Given that I have 78 styles to get through in 46 weeks... it'll be a fun year, with lots of brewing.

Also: while 80 batches sounds like a LOT of beer, I'm only doing 1 gallon batches. While I may upgrade to a 3-gallon system in the future, I prefer brewing small batches frequently to larger batches infrequently. 1-gallon batches means I won't get stuck with way too much beer (like that has ever been a problem), and will stay within the legal limit. (200 gal/household...)

OH MY GOD UPDATES!!!

So, I haven't posted in a while. This is not just because I'm lazy (though that is part of it). I've been dealing with depression that slowly became more and more debilitating, until it was finally diagnosed as the psychological manifestation of Lyme disease. As treatment, I had a tube stuck in my arm for a month so I could shoot antibiotics directly into my veins every day (yay PICC line!). But now that's all done and over with, I can go back to being my usual crazy self, rather than the weirdly emotional and depressed former self.

So, what have I been up to? All sorts of fun stuff. I just bottled three different beers, and I can't wait to crack them open.

YAY BEER!

From left to right:
Soulless Stout: A malty stout I've made before. Forgot to take an OG reading this time, so I'm not sure of the alcohol. Also, I bottled it at 1.020, so I might have a few bottle bombs on my hands.
Mt. Hood SMaSH Lager: The name says it all. A pale lager made with 2-row barley and Mt. Hood hops. It's like a long-lost, forgotten beer to me. I left it in the basement and forgot about it for a few months.
? IPA: It literally is a question. I have no written record ANYWHERE of what this actually is. I think it's an IPA I made back in November, but I'm not really sure.

I was also looking back at some other posts on my blog, and I came across the post about my Brewing Project List. So I decided to see what I've taken care of, and what still might happen in the future.
 - SMaSH Lagers. Done. See above.
 -  Free Beer. Not yet.
 - Courthouse Ale. Never got around to making more. I still might, but I have other beers I want to do first.
 - Soulless Stout. Done. See above (though I haven't used it for any variations yet).
 - A proper IPA. Done. More than once, if the ? IPA turns out to be an IPA.
 - A proper Dopplebock. Not yet.
 - Meade. Haven't made any more yet.
 - Hard Cider. Made some, and have more fermenting,
 - Sake. Soon. I'm ordering ingredients for it this week.
 - Pumpkin Ales. Done. One was tasty, one had to be tossed.
 - Gruit Ales. Not yet.
 - Gluten Free Beer. Not yet.

Overall, I'd say I hit quite a bit of the list, considering I didn't really consult it after I made it. There are still things to keep me busy on it, but I'm actually shelving all of this for a new brewing plan. I'll post more about that in the near-ish future. 

Zorks!

Zorks are pretty cool. Basically, they're a synthetic cork-thingy. But unlike normal synthetic corks that mimic natural corks, Zorks don't need any tools to be put onto a bottle. And unlike normal corks, they don't need any tools to be opened, either. This is pretty cool.

So, if you happen to be a homebrewer who mostly deals in beer, but dabbles in mead, and would like to have a way to bottle his mead in clear wine bottles rather than brown beer bottles, but doesn't want to have to invest in any new tools (like a corker), this is the thing for you. The only downside it they only work for still (non-carbonated) meade and wines. Anything with carbonation will not work.

Now, the reason that all that is relevant to me is because I bottled two gallons of mead today. One gallon of Orange-Spice mead, and one gallon of Earl Gray and Lemon mead. I'll post pretty pictures of what the mead looks like in bottles with the Zorks tomorrow. Until then, the Zork website is here.

Silks in Tuscon!!!

I'm in Tucson, AZ. It's hot. Really, really hot. Despite all of the sweat, it's a fun place.

I'm in the middle of a week-long vacation visiting my sister and her boyfriend. She's a yoga instructor, and he a poi-spinner and fire-prop maker. They're involved with a local circus group called Cirque Roots. Cirque Roots does quite a bit of hooping, poi, staff, fire, and other object manipulation, but is looking to get into aerials. They already have a silk and a lyra, and on Saturday, Sara and I taught a workshop on intro level aerials!!!

Because I'm feeling lazy, I won't write more about it now, but as soon as I get the pics from my sister, I'll put some of them up here.

Also, Sara and I did a photo shoot, so we will have pro-level pictures of us doing aerials.

The Brewing Project List

It's been almost 8 months (gasp!) since I last posted, and quite a bit has happened in that time. I won't go into details, but I'll just say that I've been extremely busy. How busy? Now that one major project has (mostly) wrapped up, I'm back down to working only 55 hours/week.

However, today's post is not about the past. It's about the future. In particular, it's about what brewing projects I would like to attempt in the upcoming months. Things like:

 - SMaSH Lagers. SMaSH beers are Single Malt and Single Hop beers. They are usually brewed to gain a better understanding of a particular grain or hop variety, but can still make good beers on their own. I would like to do at least three lagers, all with the same grain and different hops. I still am unfamiliar with the subtleties of hop varieties, and this seem like a good way to get my feet wet with lagering, too.

 -  Free Beer. Seriously, Free Beer. Check it out.

 - Courthouse Ale. It's an English brown ale that I've already made twice. I want to make two more batches, to try to hammer down my accuracy in re-brewing existing recipes..

 - Soulless Stout. Again, a beer that I've already brewed. Unlike the Courthouse, I want to use Soulless as a base for other stout variations (Coffee stout, chocolate and vanilla stout, perhaps an oak aged version...).

 - A proper IPA. I don't usually lean towards hoppy beers, but I know too many beer drinkers who do. This is mostly to please them, but also to learn more about styles that I don't often choose to drink/brew.

 - A proper Dopplebock. Lagering AND decoction mash?!? It could be messy. It could be AWESOME!

 - Meade. I have two batches aging right now... I'd like to do several more.

 - Hard Cider. Doug and I made almost 10 gallons last year.  I'd like to see if we can get 20 gallons this year.

 - Sake. My mother has been bugging me about this one. Technically, it's similar to beer (converting grain to alcohol... easy enough, right?), but it is a very different process, involving various mold spores that produce enzymes that convert starches to sugars in tandem with yeasts... all done at lager temperatures.

 - Pumpkin Ales. Why? Because Halloween, that's why.

 - Gruit Ales. Gruits are this old-school class of beers that are brewed with various herbs, spices and plants in conjunction with or even instead of using hops (Beer without hops. Yes, it's still beer. Yes, it will taste good).

 - Gluten Free Beer. For Salle. She knows I brew, and she would love to try my beers, but she has Celiac disease, so I want to make a beer that she can enjoy.  For that matter, I also want to make sure that my Sake, Ciders, and Meades are also gluten free, so she can try them as well.

So that's what I would like to work on in the next few months... it's gonna be FUN!

Hey! Sorry I haven't updated in forever. I wish I had some excuse, like alien abduction, amnesia or winning the lottery... but I don't.  I've just been preoccupied with other things. So here's a quick update on what's new in my life.

Food:
 - Culinary school is wrapping up. I have just two weeks left in class, including finals.
 - As part of my practical exam for baking, I have entered into the NMC Gingerbread House Competition. I have been working on my house off and on for a week now, and I've still got a lot of work to go. I'll post pictures soon...

Beer:
 - I haven't made any new beer recently... but I plan to soon!
 - The beer that I already made turned out well, for the most part.
 - Spiced Zmas Ale: brown ale with hops, ginger, orange peel, and nutmeg.
 - Coffee Pot Experiment #2: A SMaSH (Single Malt and Single Hop) beer, light in body and color. Could have used more hops in it, though.
 - Imperial Stout: Thick, chocolaty, and tasty, but I didn't add enough priming sugar, so it's a bit flat...

Circus:
 - I have a gig! I'm gonna be working a New Years Eve gig at a near-by casino.  I'll give you more details when I get them...

Life:
 - I have a steady job! I'm working as a part-time projectionist at a local movie theatre.  It's super fun, and now I'll have more money to spend on beer supplies...

So, that's the last month-and-a-half, in a nutshell.

Coffee Pot Beer: Some notes.

Some thoughts on the whole "Coffee Pot Beer" thing:

 - It was a lot of work for about two pints of beer.  But, it was kinda fun, and if I can make it work so that it becomes a mostly hands-off process, it would make it a far more attractive option for making small batches of beer. So, I'm probably gonna try again.

 - The OG of the beer was 1.030.  This is pretty low, and means that at best, I will get a 4.0 ABV beer. At first, I was concerned that I had an incomplete mash, and because I topped off the fermenter with a bit of water to make up for lost wort.  But after crunching some numbers, it turns out that I just didn't use much grain.  So, the 1 1/4 cups (about 5 ounces) be increased.  There was definitely room in the lauter-tun (or coffee filter basket) for more grians.  

 - There was a huge drop in volume during the boil. A shorter boiling time could help solve this, as could having a lid on the pot during boil.  This guy got 3 bottles out of each batch, meaning he had at least 36 oz. of beer.

 - The recipe.  Let's face it... it was way too much chocolate malt.  Also, I may have put in too much hops... 

 - I don't like using an open fermenter... I've never used one before, and I don't like not having an airlock.  Partly, the risk of something getting into the beer concerns me (but it's not that likely).  mostly, I like to have an airlock going glug glug glug as a visual indicator of active fermentation.

So... definitely not a complete failure, but there is definitely room for improvement.  I'll try it again sometime soon, and I'll try to post pictures, too.