The Son of Man

Matt. 11:18 ¶ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’  Matt. 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”

So this is a passage that really stands out to me.  Let me set up the context before fully jumping in...John the Baptist had been thrown into jail and so he sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he really was the Messiah.  Jesus sent them back to tell John about all they had seen Jesus do and decide for themselves.  After that Jesus turned to the crowds around him and rebuked them for rejecting John as well as calling himself a drunkard and a glutton.  This is what intrigues me.  

In order to be considered a glutton and a drunkard, one would have to spend time eating and drinking.  You would never call someone a drunk who never drank a drop of booze, so Jesus was definitely associating with drunks.  This is something that really stands out to me.  Jesus didn't come to teach the religious people, he came to reach out to those hurting.  He came to redeem humanity and he spent a lot of time with those society considered to be sinners.


I wonder how people who abstain because it's "sinful" deal with this passage?  How do you reconcile Jesus associating and drinking with "sinners" to mean he fully abstained?  You can't.  Drink or don't drink, that's not the issue.  The issue is that Jesus understood what it meant to reach out to humanity and to be real with them.  He met people on a common ground and then shared an eternally changing message with them.  Alcohol isn't the only way to find that common ground.  Neither is it the only way to share the Gospel message with someone.  However, Christians need to be careful that they aren't letting their 'holiness' get in the way of meeting people in the trenches to share life with them.  

This is something that I believe as disciples of Jesus we need to do a better job of. This is actually a reason I enjoy brewing beer.  I hope that by making, sharing, and discussing brews with people, I can share something of even greater importance.  I've found that people are a lot more likely to discuss God over a pint.  I don't know if the alcohol opens them up or if it beer just makes people more comfortable, but there's something about a pint and theology that just go good together.  

So brew some good beer and invite people over to share Jesus with them.  Could be the best thing you ever do for them.

First All Grain

So here's some pics from my first all grain session.  Notes about the day on the bottom.

Mash Tun in action.

Mash Tun bundled up!

Draining out the wort.

Spent grain.

One full kettle.

With the wort chiller in for the last 15 minutes of the boil.

So here's the good from today:

1. Mash tun worked great!  Almost too great though.  Got 6.5 gallons of wort.  I was supposed to get 6.1 gallons.  I'll have to keep that in mind in the future.
2. Wort Chiller worked great as well.  Went from boiling to 65 degrees in about 10 minutes.  It probably helped that it was so cold out today.
3. Got to brew.  Always a good time.

And here's the bad from today:

1. Broke my thermometer when it fell off a table.  At least I was all done for the day.
2. Because the mash tun was so great and I got more wort, gravity came out at 1.032 instead of the targeted 1.041.  I should have let it boil longer.  That's just my mistake though.
3. The hose I got for the wort chiller was crap.  It had a dented end so hopefully I can return it.  Also, the attachment for my bottle cleaner that was on the faucet is not stuck to the hose.  So there's another thing I'm going to have to buy.

All in all it was fun as brewing should be.  Hopefully this beer turns out good.  It's supposed to be a session beer, so a lower gravity will definitely help that aspect!

Why Are You Yelling At Me? -American Bitter

So this is going to be my first all grain batch, which I plan on brewing this afternoon (supposing everything works out today).  It's a clone recipe of Bitter American, which is an American style Bitter made by 21st Amendment Brewing.  Here's a review I did of the beer.  It's a session beer, so it will have a lower starting gravity and lower ABV.  I hope that this turns out well!  Here's the recipe and details:

Grain Bill:
3.75 lbs 2-Row
3.75 lbs Golden Promise
.5 lbs Crystal 40L

Hop Schedule:
1oz Centennial for 60min
.75oz Centennial for 10min
.75oz Simcoe for 10min
.75oz Centennial for 5min
.75oz Simcoe for 5min

2oz Centennial for 7 day dry-hop
2oz Simcoe for 7 day dry-hop

Yeast:
Wyeast 1056 American Ale slurry from previous batches

Anticipated OG: 1.041
Anticipated FG: 1.010
Anticipated ABV: 4.1%

Hope to brew this today!

Update from the brewing:
Gravity came out at 1.032.  I ended up with 1/2 gallon more wort than I should have, so that's probably why the gravity is lower.  Oh well, it's a session beer which should have lower alcohol, so that should help.  Things went so-so.  See my other post from today to check that out.  I have about 5.5 gallons fermenting right now with the dry hop happening as I type.  Gotta love the hops!
Update 2/25/11:  So since the gravity was so low I decided to try to fix that after talking to Old Dirty Randy at Poorhouse Brewing.  He recommended using some Dry Malt Extract and boiling it into a couple pints of fermenting beer.  So I did the math and added 1.25lbs of DME to a couple pints.  Pre-boil gravity for the batch was 1.012.  After the boil it was 1.022.  So it worked.  After a huge mess with boil overs and malt catching on fire on the stove and lots of smoke, it worked.  Hopefully it saves the batch.
Update 2/28/11: Gravity is at 1.011 with a good malty flavor.  Looks like the DME saved this batch.  I'll rack it to secondary after I bottle the Opening Day Amber Ale in the next day or two.
Update 3/1/11: Gravity at 1.010.
Update 3/3/11: Gravity at 1.010.  Racked to secondary and cold crashed in the garage.  I hope to bottle this in a couple days.
Update 3/6/11: Bottled it up.  Got 48 12's and 1 22oz.  Pretty good!
Update 3/22/11:  This stuff is really good.  It's not quite as malty as the Bitter American, but it's got a great hop flavor and is plenty smooth.  I may up the Golden Promise next time and see if that increases the malt flavor.

Tasting:  Outstanding.  Great hop flavor...really smooth.  I'm really enjoying this one and will be making it again soon!  I'll add a little more golden promise next time to try for a little more malty flavor, but this is great as it was.

Review: Beer Wars

This is a documentary I watched a few months ago on netflix.  It had some good points that I learned and really enjoyed, but also had some elements that just didn't meet my expectations.  Here are those points:



The Good:
1. 1 out of every 2 beers sold in the US is owned by Budweiser.  Help out the small guys and support micro-breweries!
2. There's some really good breweries outside of Portland/Oregon.

The Bad:
1. A big part of the focus was on how evil Budweiser is.
2. Focused a lot on Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware.  This isn't bad in itself, but they really failed to come out west to where the real brewing action is.
3. Didn't focus on one single brewery in Oregon.  How can you do a documentary on micro-brewing and not include Portland or Oregon?  This is the capital of the micro-brewing world!
4. Focused a lot on an energy drink beer that seemed kind of lame.
5. The narrator lady was a little annoying.

Overall there were some good points made in the documentary, however their failure to engage outside of how evil Budweiser is and a couple small breweries on the East Coast made me really question their agenda.  Since the film came out though it really seems like Dogfish Head is thriving, so good for them.  If you still want to watch it or buy it, here's a link to Amazon.  Buying it through this link helps support me.  Thanks.

Homemade Wort Chiller

So since I'm close to all-grain brewing, I needed a wort chiller.  The cheapest ones you can order online are $32.99, but the one I envisioned was $44.99.  That sounded like a lot so I decided to build one.  Here's how it went down.

First I needed some copper.  Luckily (by God's provision I think) there happened to be about 40 feet of 3/8" copper pipe coiled up in the garage of the house we're renting.  After a quick call to the landlord, it was up for the taking, so I took it.  It still needs a good deep cleaning, but that will come later this week.

The tool to properly coil copper was about $12.50, so instead I coiled it around a paint can I found in the garage and it turned out pretty sweet.  The only tricky part was turning the bottom of the coil back up to the top which I may need to tighten up a bit, but for now it's working.

The incoming water attachment was simply a garden hose to 1/2" male thread.  I screwed that part onto the female to tool-free copper attachment.  That part was sweet.  It's called a "sharkbite" I think.  Check out Home Depot for details.  Super easy.  The outgoing water was simply a 1/2" hose clamped onto the copper.

Outgoing water attachment.  Copper pipe to 1/2"clear tubing with a hose clamp holding it on tight.  Pretty simple really.

Here's the incoming water attachment.  Garden hose to 1/2" to sharkbite 3/8" attachment.  

         Total cost was right about $20 since I got the copper for free in my garage.  I hope to get this into action this week.  I think I'm all ready for all grain now.


If you would rather order one, here are some options (ordering through these links helps me out!):


















Update: Tried the Wort Chiller out and it works great.  Chilled boiling water down to 70 degrees in about 10 minutes.  Now, to just find some time to brew again...

So Why Brew Beer?

So the question you may be thinking is "why brew beer, especially here in the Portland, Oregon area where there are more breweries with really good beer than anywhere else in the world?"  Well, there's quite a few reasons.  Here they are in no particular order:

1. Cost.  Beer can be expensive to buy, especially for good quality beer.  A 24 pack at Costco is about $25, and you get a limited selection of the good stuff.  I can brew the equivalent of 48 12oz bottles for usually around $25.  Some batches can be as low as $10, but other batches max out around $35, depending on the amount of hops and other ingredients.  Essentially, this is a lower cost option that can be quite fun and allows me to get the exact flavor and style I want.

2. Creativity.  When brewing your own beer, you can be creative as you get to know the ingredients.  If you want a really dark, really hoppy beer; you can do that.  If you want coffee in your stout, you can do that.  The flavor possibilities are as endless as they are with a good cook!

3. Community.  Brewing can be a long process (2-6 hours depending on the type and your preparation).  What better time to invite someone over to chat and talk about life.  And you can usually enjoy a tasty homebrew while doing so!  Christianity is meant to be a community activity, and elements like coffee, beer, food, and friendships allow people to come together to share life.

4. DIY.  Homebrewing is a DIY activity.  You get to create something that is unique and exactly how you like it.  There's something about getting dirty and creating something to be enjoyed by friends and family that you just can't fully understand until you do it.

So while these reasons are personal to me, I believe that having hobbies that are productive and can be shared are beneficial.  This is a hobby I had been wanting to get into and finally got the chance.  And at the end of the day, I can sit back and enjoy this in a passive way with my wife and friends.  Cheers!

Mash Tun-CPVC Style

So I built my mash tun today.  I forgot to buy the 1/2" female thread to barbed hose piece for the outside drain, but otherwise pretty much finished it up.  Here's how it went down by steps:

1. Found the old, nasty, dirt filled cooler in my backyard and did a basic cleaning of it.  I'll give it the oxyclean next week sometime before I start the all grain brewing.

2. Bought the needed supplies (minus the threaded barbed hose).  That consisted of 4 feet of 1/2" CPVC (I should have gotten 4' 8" of CPVC as I also need to get one more 8" piece), four 90 degree corner pieces, three 'T' pieces, a CPVC female to female 1/2" threaded end, and a 1/2" ball joint.

3. Removed the drain piece from my old Coleman cooler, but saved the rubber stopper on the inside of the drain unit.  This is important as that way I didn't have to purchase a new gasket/stopper piece.

4. I put the rubber stopper back in along with the CPVC to 1/2" thread and put on some teflon tape to give it a water tight seal.  I attached that to the 1/2" ball joint piece and tightened it up.

5. I eyeballed the frame size for the mash filter/drain piece and cut the pieces to length.  After putting them together (I still need to add the middle bar-the piece I was short) I made sure it was a good fit.  It was.

6. I then took a saw and cut halfway through the bottom side of the pipes to allow the wort to drain through without the grain.

7. I filled up the cooler and left it for an hour or so with hot water to test it.  It worked great!



















Now to break it in, hopefully next week with my Bitter American clone.  Here's some pictures to enjoy of the product.  Let me know if you have questions...not that I'll be able to answer them.  Since I was able to procure a cooler from myself, this only cost me about $17.  What a great deal!


So you can see I still have a few more pieces to install, however I'm close!  I'm looking foward to saving even more money on da brews!  Plus it gives me even more opportunity to screw up, I mean make awesome, by brewskis.

Opening Day Amber Ale

So this will hopefully be my last extract recipe as I'm hoping to get my mash tun built this weekend. I got the cooler mostly cleaned out, but still need to install the filtering pipe and ball joint. Anyways, this will resemble Fat Tire. I chose an amber instead of an IPA for opening day so that more people will enjoy the brew (I have a few people in my family that prefers lower-hop ales). Opening Day is only like a month and a half away, so this should finish conditioning right in time. Go Cubs Go! So here's the recipe that I'll bust out tomorrow:

Malt

6lb Light Extract

8oz Crystal 20L

8oz Crystal 40L

8oz Munich Malt

8oz Dextrine*

*should have been Biscuit Malt, but was not available so I'll try the Dextrine and see what happens.

Hops

.5 oz Nugget for 60min

.5 oz Nugget for 15min

.25 oz Nugget for 5min
Hops were donated by Poorhouse Brewing.  Thanks Randy!

(This seems like a small amount of hops, but I guess after the Steam Face I did last week, everything will seem like a small amount)

Yeast

Supposed to be Wyeast American Ale (1272), but I'm going to use a slurry of the Wyeast American Ale (1056) to save money.

I'll update after tomorrow when I'm done brewing.

Update 2/18/11: Brewing went smooth.  OG was 1.053.  It's pretty cloudy/gritty/grain filled but hopefully will settle during fermentation and secondary fermentation.  This is hopefully the last extract batch I'll do, supposing I'm able to get the wort chiller running during the next week.
Update 2/22/11: Racked to secondary.  Gravity was 1.014.  Great flavor.  Hops aren't what I hoped, but it is an amber and not an IPA like I prefer.  Should be a great one for Opening Day against Pittsburgh.  Also, I got a great slurry of yeast again that I'll re-use again for the next batch.
Update 2/24/11: Going to cold crash this later today and probably bottle early next week.  I want this one to turn out really clear since it's for opening day (a national holiday).
Update 3/2/11: Bottled 10 22's and 26 12's.  Now to just wait for opening day...
Update 4/1/11:  The Opening Day Amber was a hit.  This is a sweet, good flavored amber ale.  I would have like a little more hop flavor, but that's true of everything I guess!  I enjoyed a couple, despite the Cubs inability to win on Opening Day.  But at least baseball is back!

My Opening Day mug with my
Opening Day Amber inside.  Tasty.

Jesus and the Brews

So this is something I've thought about before and since this here blogosphere is about beer and the Word, I thought it would be appropriate to bring up. Jesus and alcohol. Those can become quite heated items depending on one's background and culture.

I was watching this reality show one time about a big family and the oldest kid was getting married. One of the camera men was asking the father of the bride if there would be alcohol at the wedding or the reception. He proceeded to say no, because alcohol is sinful. In fact, he even said that when Jesus turned the water into wine, it was really grape juice. For some of you, you've probably heard this before. That is a ridiculous statement. Here is what the text actually says.

"On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.* Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” John 2:1-10 ESV

Now does that sound like Jesus was making grape juice? Now, if someone chooses not to drink alcohol, I have no issue with that. The issue I have is when someone is uncomfortable with scripture, so they change it to fit their worldview. Let scripture speak for itself and don't impose your agenda on it. If the guy on the show had said that they choose not to drink and so they won't be serving alcohol, I have no problem with that. In fact, I would respect that. However, to change the meaning of scripture to fit your agenda...That I have a huge problem with.

But here's a fun passage from the Old Testament in regards to alcohol to look at. Show this one to your pastor and see his reaction...

“You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. 23 And before the LORD your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always. 24 And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the LORD your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the LORD your God chooses, to set his name there, 25 then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the LORD your God chooses 26 and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household." Deuteronomy 14:22-26

So there you go. If it's too far to travel to tithe, buy some meat and booze and have a good time rejoicing unto the Lord.

Really the main point I want to make is this: Alcohol is not evil. It is a blessing from God when used in moderation and not abused. Now alcohol isn't for everyone, however it is important to let the Bible speak for itself and not impose your worldview on the text. So I'm going to brew some tasty beer and rejoice unto the Lord for the blessings he has bestowed upon me and my family. To quote the great theologian (sarcasm!!!) Benjamin Franklin..."beer is proof that God loves us and he wants us to be happy."

So since Jesus was a homebrewer (and a dang good one at that), I am honored to get to follow in my Savior's footsteps and make some beverages to enjoy!

Steam Face IPA

This is a Blind Pig clone. Got the extract recipe from Hopville.com. This smells really good. Here's the recipe. Supplies from Brew Brothers, like always. Oh, and night brewing! Not too shabby. Outside temp was a little chilly, but luckily there was a fire to sit by. Total time was right at about 3 hours to crank this one out. And I got to enjoy some Hop Donkey IPA while getting a face full of steam from this IPA. Hence the name...I spent quite a bit of time with my face in the steam enjoying the aroma...

Malt:

7 lb 8oz Pale extract

8 oz Crystal 40L

8 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine

Steeped the Crystal and Cara-Pils for 30 minutes at 158ish.

Hops:

.5oz Simcoe for 60min

1.5oz Chinook for 60min

1.0oz Cascade for 15min

1.0oz Amarillo* for 5min

.5oz Cascade for 5min

1.0oz Amarillo* for 1min

1.5oz Simcoe for 1 min

.5oz Chinook for 7 days dry hop

.5 Cascade for 7 days dry hop

*Substituted Amarillo for Centennial since Brew Brothers was all out of Centennial.

Yeast:

Wyeast American Ale smack pack (1056)

Extras:

1 tsp of Irish Moss for last 15 of boil.

Notes:

Everything went great. The only hitch was I skipped the post-boil ice bath and then the temp was at 81 degrees. It took about 10 minutes of an ice bath to get it down to 75. First time using the Wyeast. The smack pack was pretty sweet. OG was 1.053 (I wanted 1.060, but oh well). Now the waiting game for this to ferment. I'll probably move this to secondary in about a week or so.

Check out the 7 ounces of hops boiling! There's still another ounce in the dry hop stage for a total of 8 ounces used for 5 gallon batch. My kind of ale.

Update: 2/13/11-Gravity is at 1.016 after three days. That Wyeast stuff is great. Flavor taste is amazingly good. Big hop flavor and smooth pale flavor, even at 70 degrees and flat. I'll move to secondary in a few days to let it settle for a week.

Update: 2/17/11-Gravity is at 1.012. Flavor is still great. I'll rack to secondary tomorrow.

Update: 2/18/11-Gravity is at 1.011. Racked to secondary. Brew again tomorrow!
Update: 2/21/11-FG is 1.011.  Bottled today...13 22oz and 23 12oz.  Great flavor, can't wait until it's ready.
Update 3/6/11: After two weeks conditioning this is still pretty flat.  I'm going to give it another week, and if that doesn't do the trick I'll have to open them all up and add a tiny bit of yeast to each bottle.  Hopefully it's better by next week so I don't have to deal with that.

Tasting:  Great flavor.  Great hop amount.  This has really turned out great.  I'm starting to run out, so I'll have to brew this again soon!

Bitter American, a review

So on the Super Bowl I crashed my friend Kevin's party. It was only a crash because he didn't know I was in town as normally I am a nine hour drive to his house. Anyways, while there I was able to sample a few of 21st Amendments brews. They're a brewery in San Francisco that is opting to can their brews instead of bottling. Must be the new hip thing to do. Anyways, I had a few varieties including "Live Free or Die IPA", "Back in Black IPA", and "Bitter American". They were all really good, but the Bitter American really stood out. In fact, it was so good I had to run out to get some from Belmont Station in Portland. So here's my thoughts which obviously you have been dying to read about...

Flavor: Outstanding. This is a lighter bodied bitter ale (about 4.4% I believe) with a really good hop finish (probably the Simcoe hops). 21A classifies it as a session ale, meaning lower ABV so you can drink more of them during your drinking session.

Hops: Great. Not overbearing, but definitely present. 42 IBU's (seems low, huh? But with the lower ABV it's a good amount). 21A lists Warrior and Cascade in the boil with Simcoe and Centennial as dry hops.

Drinkability: Probably more than most. This is a great ale for anytime of the day, especially with the lower ABV.

The Bottom Line: I can't wait for Safeway to start carrying this as it is a little pricey at Belmont Station. Kevin said they should be carrying this soon, hopefully close to me at a good price (hint, hint). This is probably in my top five beers right now. It's that good. So go pick some up and bring them over so we can partake together.

Previous Beverages

Since starting brewing (just after Christmas thanks to my awesome wife), I have done four batches. The first was an extract kit from Cooper's, the second was an extract recipe IPA, third was Old Dirty Cider, and the fourth was the Shakespeare clone. So here's the rundown on the first three:

House Ale:

1 Can Cooper's Draught Ale.

I boiled water, added the can of extract (malt and hops), boiled for 30 or 40 minutes, and then put it in a carboy with some cold water and then added yeast. About a week later I bottled it with 3/4 cup of corn sugar. A couple weeks later I had a simple ale. Low ABV (about 3%) and a clean taste. Pretty easy all in all.

Bottled 3 22oz bottles and 38 12oz bottles.

Hop Donkey IPA:

Recipe and supplies provided by Bridgeview in Oregon City. Great advice and knowledge there, but really high prices. The batch cost me over $55. Brew Brothers would have been about $30. Too rich for my blood to go to Bridgeview! Here's the recipe though:

Extract:

7 pounds Light Malt Extract

1 pound Crystal Malt 40L

Hops:

2 oz Nugget for 60 min

2 oz Centennial for 30 min

2 oz Centennial for 10 min post boil

Extras:

2 tsp Gypsum at boil

1 tsp Irish Moss for last 15 min of boil

Yeast:

White Labs American Ale Yeast

Brewing was smooth although I racked to secondary too soon and had to re-add yeast. Rookie mistake I guess. OG was 1.060, FG was 1.016, ABV was 5.9%. Good flavor, although I think that I didn't clean the secondary bucket as well as I should have or didn't rinse as well as I should have cause it has a slight flowery oily finish. Oh well, still drinkable and not too shabby.

Bottled 8 22oz bottles and 28 12oz bottles.

Update, 2/9/11...Had another last night and the flavor was much better. I think that the longer this ages the better it will get (at least for a couple months). The problem is that I'm brewing to save money and the other stuff isn't drinkable yet...so this IPA may never reach it's peak flavor...

Old Dirty Cider:

This was an idea from Old Dirty Randy from Poorhouse Brewing. I'm not much of a cider guy, but figured, "what the heck!" Plus it was really easy to make. I'll probably give most of it away as gifts. Here's the really tough recipe:

5 gallons cheap apple juice from Fred Meyer

White Labs English Cider Yeast

I put the juice in a carboy and added yeast. A few days later I bottled it. OG was 1.046. FG was 1.014. 4% ABV. Bottled and conditioned. I think it might be ready. I'll try it this weekend.

Bottled 6 22oz bottles and 30 12oz bottles.

Here's my sweet brewery. Notice the kids toys in the background. Those are really key in the brewing process.

So there you have it. You're all caught up with my current brews and failures (and successes).

Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout Clone

So I just bottled up my Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout Clone I brewed last Saturday. That thing went to town thanks to a yeast starter donation by Poorhouse Brewing. It started at 1.084 and ended at 1.020. Got six 22oz bottles and thirty 12oz bottles. Really good flavor. I'm looking forward to this being ready. Here's the recipe I used from hopville.com:

Ingredients bought at Brew Brothers.

Malt:

7lb 8oz Light Malt Extract

8oz of Crystal 120L

8oz of Flaked Oats

8oz of Chocolate Malt

4oz of Roasted Barley

Hops: (also donated by Poorhouse Brewing)

1.0 oz of Cascade at 75 min

1.0 oz of Cascade at 60 min

1.0 oz of Cascade at 30 min

1.0 oz of Cascade at 0 min for 30 min post boil.

Yeast:

Whatever Randy gave me

Extras:

2Tbs of Gypsum for Boil

1Tbs of Irish Moss for last 15 min of boil.

Brewed on Saturday, Jan 29, 2011.

Bottled on Tuesday, Feb 1, 2011. Tasted before I bottled it. Big malt taste and I could really pick up the oatmeal. This is going to be awesome! I may have to try to get my wife to make some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to pair up with this...

2/13/11 Update: Really good flavor. Trace of oatmeal and heavy body. This is a winter beer and a good one at that. Another couple days and the carbonation will probably be perfect.

I'll do a side by side in a week or so.






Update 3/4/11: I never did a side by side with this one.  But I did convince my wife to make some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to pair up.  Oh man, so good.  Here's a picture of my enjoyment.  I'll be doing this recipe again in a few weeks, only all grain this time.

Yo!

So this will be the home of Logos Brewing. Logos as in "the word" and brewing as in "the beer". Word.