I got a new Crankandstein 3 roller grain mill from my mother in law for Christmas. First order of business was to build the base, housing, and hopper. Read all about it here.
Permanent link to this article: http://www.slobrewer.com/homebrewing/crankandstein-mill/
Dec 01
11 Amazing
Here’s my rating from www.ratebeer.com on 11:
Picked up two cases of bottles today at the Firestone taproom in Paso Robles, CA.
Served at about 55 F in brandy snifter glasses. Aroma of bourbon, freesias, vanilla, and oak. Surprisingly strong head of dark tan. Beer appeared chocolately black down to toffee brown when held up to the light.
Taste was of strong molasses, moving to coffee, oak, and dark caramel, with a roasty and vanilla finish. The mouthfeel showed the slickness of the oat component and was overall full due to the fairly high carbonation.
The beer showed strong notes of the Bravo Brown component that made up most of the blend. The hop bitterness was moderate and the alcohol was bracing. Overall the balance was towards malty sweetness. The beer shifted more towards the oak and vanilla components as it warmed.
This beer is definitely ready to drink in the bottles now but will likely significantly improve over time if 10 is any measure.
Permanent link to this article: http://www.slobrewer.com/beer-tasting/11-amazing/
Nov 30
This Beer Goes to 11
So I was frantically driving up hiway 101 this morning at about quarter to 11 to get my hands on a case of this Firestone 11. I’m a huge fan of 10 and was sure that there’d be a line around the building of people trying to get their limit of one case. When the front of the building came into view I was extremely relieved to see that I was number four to show up.
A few more people trickled in before they opened the doors but overall it was not the chaos I pictured:
It was all very cordial and it didn’t take long to get my case:
And I was out the door at a very appropriate time:
Of course the drive home had me thinking. Is one case enough? Surely I’d regret not buying more. So I picked up my wife and took her back to get a second case. I ran into several people who had the same idea and saw a lot of rolling eyes from said wives.
All in all a good day and one that makes me thankful I live on the Central California Coast. Tasting notes will be coming soon. Since I’ve got two cases I think I can afford to open a bottle now. I got a call from a reliable beer drinking friend of mine (George from Doc’s Cellar) that it’s already an amazing beer. That’s a stark contrast to 10, which was harsh and undrinkable for the first few months and took a long time to come together to the amazing beer it is.
Slainte,
Dave.
Permanent link to this article: http://www.slobrewer.com/events/this-beer-goes-to-11/
Nov 25
Mobile Brewing Calculators
So when I’m done sparging I take a wort gravity measurement so I know what kind of efficiency I got and where I can expect to be at the end of the boil. If I come in low I need to either boil off more or add some Dried Malt Extract (DME.) If I come in high I need to boil off less or add some water. Of course to figure out the exact details I either need to manually do the calculations or run inside to my laptop and ProMash.
To avoid this hassle I’ve coded up some calculators that I can access from my mobile phone. You are welcome to use them as well and provide feedback on how they work on your phone. Check them out at www.slobrewer.com/mobile.
Permanent link to this article: http://www.slobrewer.com/homebrewing/mobile-brewing-calculators/
Jun 02
2007 Firestone Walker AHA Rally
Today was the American Homebrewer’s Association’s Rally at Firestone Walker Brewing Company in Paso Robles. My wife, a friend, and I volunteered to help sign up and renew members and sign people in at the door. It was a bit hectic and wildly windy but it was a good to meet so many people passionate about home and craft brew.
Firestone brewers gave tours through the brewery and shared all kinds of tidbits of how they make world class beer. There’s nothing quite like seeing the blow off from a cylindroconical fermenter the size of a bus sitting on it’s front bumper.
Afterwards we met up at the back of the brewery where Jaime Smith (VP or Marketing) had put together a nice setup for us.
In addition to their standard beers they had a couple of treats for us. The first was a cask of unfiltered Pale Ale served by beer engine and at real ale temperatures. I first had the unfiltered at the Avila Beer Festival last weekend and loved it. The best way to describe it is an incredibly fresh homebrew version of their regular pale. One of the Firestone brewers said that he thinks the reason the unfiltered tastes so great is that it’s just finished a massive dry hopping with Centennial.
The other special beer was another component of Firestone’s amazing tenth anniversary beer, 10. Bravo Brown is an Imperial Brown Ale (22 Plato with 45 IBU) hopped entirely with the relatively new Bravo hop. The hops had mellowed to the background behind the bourbon sweetness and malt. I could see splitting a 22 oz. bottle six ways at the end of a meal.
Homebrew legend John “Rock Candy” Palmer was there too.
He was sharing his wisdom on topics from dry yeast to residiual alkalinity (can you say “Chapter 15”?) I’ve chatted with him a few times by email but it was cool to meet him in person and realize he’s a regular Joe. In the picture above he’s filling out a score sheet on one of the homebrews someone brought with them.
We finished up the rally with a bottle of Brut du Board that Maltose Falcon’s President Steve Cook brought up with him.
He launched the cork a good fifty feet. The beer was an interesting dry spicy and slightly sour ale. They prepare it in the champagne style as described in a recent article in Zymurgy magazine. Definitely a great beer for special events!
So ended the second annual Firestone Walker AHA Rally. You can be sure I’ll be there for the third annual event!
Slainte,
Dave.
Permanent link to this article: http://www.slobrewer.com/events/2007_firestone_walker_aha_rally/
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