Sparks Nevada Home Brew

The Irish Stout at 2 years

2011-04-09T11:54:00.000-07:00

I found several bottles of the Irish Stout that we made two years ago. I took them over to my neighbor and popped them open. Wow nicely preserved and still a great head, color and taste. Sweet. I have to make some more!

I have to get busy!

2010-08-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the laziness of this blog, but I have not brewed any beer in quite some time. none! Boooooo. I'm thirsty. I have been drinking the following:

Acme:

and Ranger:

My neighbor is a homebrewer!

2010-06-16T22:25:00.001-07:00

My new neighbor's truck had a home brewer sticker on it and we discussed our brewing experiences. He gave me a Imperial Double Chocolate Stout that he brewed and boy that was good. It foamed a bit but the taste was fantastic. I told him that the next time he brewed that I would help clean up or something. Maybe I can get some more of this Imperial Stout.

Today we are trying to clone Guinness

2010-01-16T16:45:00.000-08:00

@punkass @sphamma and I are making a dark Guinness like stout, @sphamma brought over a new recipe for a Guinness clone. OK lets get started.
After cleaning the all the buckets and tools we stearlize with the iodine which make great photos.

@sphamma brought over his new wort cooker, a converted keg.
We decided to use a bag to hold all the barley and malt.
@PunkAss had some of the stout that we made a year ago. It was still great.
Sparging the bag,
Next we added the malt extract. It tastes sweet and malty. Mmmmm.
Add a little magic.
and Pray to the beer gods.
oh, just a random photo.
Here I am!
Now that all the cooking is done, we start cooling off with the wort chiller (just a copper tube hooked up to the hose).
Add a little more magic.
Here we are taking the gravity reading to be used later for measuring the alcohol in the beer when it is finished.
add the air lock and we are all done except for the cleanup and waiting.

Making small batches of brew

2009-12-01T21:10:00.000-08:00

I have been looking around the net to see if making batches of beer that are 1-2 gallons rather than the 5 gallon normally that we make. I thought this would be a good way to get more practice in and get my taste buds something different to try. Anyone out there who has done this? If so, let me know the results. I'm getting thirsty! -yo

video from BasicBrewing.com

2009-11-27T06:46:00.000-08:00

In reviewing those video podcasts on BasicBrewing.com, I found a great video from the event Hop Madness 2009. Ever wonder about how hops are grown, harvested and processed - http://cdn2.libsyn.com/basicbrewing/bbv09-21-09madness.mp4?nvb=20091127143456&nva=20091128144456&t=04914e2c061876869a660

Be sure to visit their website for great stories on brewing. http://basicbrewing.com/

2009-11-26T21:33:00.000-08:00

I found a Video Podcast form home brewers http://basicbrewing.com/ I was looking around on TIVO and found it. I have watched several of the videos and it has some recipes I will review. The last for Thanksgiving was a sweet potato beer, not really my style but I'll dig further.

What to brew?

2009-11-25T20:49:00.000-08:00

Hmmm... What to brew? I've been thinking about our next brew. Send me some suggestions. I can't wait to see what you all want.

A taste test after work

2009-11-03T21:27:00.001-08:00

(Updated as it made no sense) I went over to Dean's (PunkAss) place to taste our latest batch of Sierra Ale + Extra Hopps after work. It was dark out as this week is the first week since the Fall time change and we hung out in the garage and gave toast to this great brew. After I poured my beer from the keg, I noticed that it had a great color so I tried to photograph it with some back lighting. I think it made it too orange but you get the feel. After that we geek-ed out over taking more photos and agreeing that this is one of our best batches of beer that we ever made.

Here are some of our photos.

We thought a photo of the work bench and the laptop with our site was appropriate.

2009-10-31T15:17:00.000-07:00

Dean tastes the first taste from our new beer.

Brew Interest by Country

2009-10-12T13:59:00.000-07:00

Check out where our readers are coming from

Finally a brewing day is here!

2009-10-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a long long time but today we are starting
a new batch of Sierra Ale.

A trip to Reno Homebrewer is always an adventure to start the process.

Damn that moose, his eyes are always following me!
We found some friends looking to also brew some beer.

They have everything for making beer and wine!
Retired soda kegs are now the new home brew beer keg.
A good selection of yeast is available.

We opened some of the Irish Stout that we made in the Spring. Mmmmm good.

We have added an extra 2 ounces of Cascade hops and 2 lbs of extra Light Malt Extract for a hoppier, higher alcohol beer.

We are trying a new yeast, White Labs Pure Brewers Yeast WLP001 California Ale Yeast.

WLP001 California Ale Yeast
This yeast is famous for its clean flavors, balance and ability to be used in almost any style ale. It accentuates the hop flavors and is extremely versatile.
Attenuation: 73-80%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Fermentation Temperature: 68-73°F
Alcohol Tolerance: High

Sterilizing the wort chiller with iodine.

PunkAss is adding the extra 2 lbs of the Malt Extract
Waiting for the boil over. The hops are floating at this point.
wait
wait
wait
done

Here I am chilling the wort.
A rather high starting gravity of 8% compared to the previous brewswait
wait
wait
...

I need to make some beer

2009-07-30T21:04:00.000-07:00

All the beer is gone and we don't have any current plans to make some more. I wonder what sounds good? Hmm..... Let me dream.

Brewing a Porter

2009-04-19T21:49:00.000-07:00

To start the day we pour a draft from our last batch. Very good.

@PunkAss and I went to the Sierra Peak tap house in down town Reno to get a sampling of different type of beers for our choice today. Today's batch is a Porter.

This is the draft from our last batch.

Here is the recipe of the Porter that we selected.

We continue with the non-city water experiment though we are trying a different brand.

We replaced a leaking valve on the carboy.

We start the day by cleaning with bleach and a sterilization of all the tools and containers with iodine.

Here are the ingredients for the Porter.

While boiling we had a few boilovers.

When all is cooked and cooled we add the yeast.

Kegging the beer.

2009-04-12T19:33:00.001-07:00

@Punkass kegged the latest batch of Sierra Ale and sent the following picture and information.

"New ale seems nice. Obviously flat right now, light and clean tasting. Could be hoppier but that might pick up after carbonation. I purged the keg 3x to replace oxygen with CO2. Pressured to 15psi and put in fridge to cool. Once cool (tomorrow), I'll up pressure to 30psi and it should be ok within hours."

2009-04-09T21:48:00.000-07:00

At week one a carboy transfer to clarify. Maybe kegging this next weekend.

Brew Day - Sierra Ale

2009-03-29T20:54:00.001-07:00

First we opened a beer to start the festivities.

Experiment note: we purchased distilled water for taste concerns.

This morning we went to Reno Homebrew and purchased the ingredients and instructions for a Sierra Ale.

We prepped the yeast, 1056 American, as it needs time to activate. This is done by popping the inner package which mixes with the yeast. It grows like a balloon over an hour or two.

We boiled the distilled water and added each of the ingredients.

The wort boils for about an hour.

when the wort is finished we transfer it to the carboy and attach the water lock.

All finished for now! We wait for 2-3 weeks.

yo out......

My tasting of the Irish Stout, 3 weeks into the bottling.

2009-03-01T17:01:00.000-08:00

Tasting the Irish Stout and its fantastic. It's been 3 weeks since the bottling and today is the first taste for me. Mmmm Good!

tasting of the Irish Stout

2009-02-15T07:04:00.000-08:00

@PunkAss texted me while I was out of town with the first tasting report. He reported the Irish Stout from last weeks bottlin tasted good but flat. Only the first week in the bottles, I guess it could be an accurate report. We'll keep you posted.

Today is bottling day for the Irish Stout.

2009-02-07T07:20:00.001-08:00

I woke up this morning with a vision of a rich Irish Stout in many odd bottles sitting in my @yodamon and @PunkAss's closet waiting for the carbonization to happen. As the day rolls out I will again collect pictures to show this process.

We started the sterilization of the bottles by using the dishwasher method that I talked about in last nights post.

We started to fill the bottles and not according to plan we forgot to add the priming sugar. What idiots we are!

We put pack all the beer, boiled the priming sugar and started filling again.

The final product, bottles full of Irish Stout.

We started the capping by sterilization of bottle caps. The caps went on easy except for the screw off ones. They were hard to complete and we tried one to see if they worked. It did and we recapped it.

The recipe.

Tasting Past Experments

2009-02-06T19:24:00.000-08:00

I have a little bad news. The Honey Nut Brown ale that we last bottled is not that good. I'm not sure what the taste issue is but I think it is bleachy. @Punkass had mentioned this a last week but I didn't think this was so until tonight. I was going through the last two bottles that I had and found that I could taste it quite clearly. We thought that we were using too much bleach in the sterilization process or the local water supply. @PunkAss has tasted the Irish Stout and says that it tastes good. We are going to have to rethink some of the processes in place. The book mentioned below does have the bottle sterilization done in the dishwasher without soap. We just might have to try this. Even on the Irish Stout that being bottled tomorrow.

Reno Home Brew yeasts

2009-02-01T08:29:00.000-08:00

Digging through the photos that @PunkAss and I have we found this. Reno Home Brew has a good selection of yeasts that are stored in refrigeration.

irish stout secondary fermentation

2009-01-31T18:32:00.000-08:00

While I, @yodamon, was painting my dining room @PunkAss was doing the secondary fermentation. Transferring the primary carboy contents into the secondary glass carboy.

This is done to clarify the beer by removing some of the expired yeast, hops and malt that was left over from the wort. Also to remove some of the air space that the active fermentation was using now that the fermentation has settled down.

@PunkAss decided to taste this batch and he said that this is better than the last batch.

Cleanup is a bitch though. This part sucks. Excuse the image but this is all part of our experiments. I'm glad I wasn't there. Thanks @PunkAss.

an active fermentation

2009-01-25T18:17:00.000-08:00

One day after the cooking of the Irish Stout, @PunkAss told me about the activity of the fermentation. This is the most active fermentation that we have had.

brewing an Irish Stout

2009-01-24T21:47:00.000-08:00

@PunkAss and I headed to Reno Homebrew this morning to purchase the ingredients for our morning's project. We decided on an Irish Stout last week when we went searching for a new recipe and to do some research.

The recipe was fairly easy and took about the same amount of time as the last one did. The kit was $30 plus $8 for yeast and contained the following:

2 oz. pkg Goldings hopps
6 lbs Amber malt extract
1.5 lbs Dark DME (Dry Malt Extract)
1 lb roasted Barley
1 lb flaked Barley
1099 Whitbread Ale yeast

Here are the steps we followed:

1. We sterilized the carboy, wort chiller, utensils and air lock
2. Warmed up the yeast and activated it

3. Boiled 6 gallons of water
4. Mixed the ingredients into the water
5. Tasted our previous beers, yum!
6. Cooked for 1.25 hours

7. Tasted more of our previous beers, yum yum!
8. Measured the initial alcohol content to set the baseline
9. Oxygenated the wort
10. Added the yeast
11. Set the airlock with Vodka and added Vodka to the brewers
12. Cleaned up the mess

13. Done

tasting the latest brew

2009-01-20T20:21:00.000-08:00

@yodamon here.

On the way home today, I stopped by @PunkAss's house to open one of our carbonizing beers. It was a bit early but I just couldn't wait another week or so. I think @PunkAss was also wanting to taste the goods.

Our beer tasted very good in contrast to the day we were cooking the wort. On that day, it didn't have a great flavor and I was thinking we screwed the pooch on that receipe.

What a GREAT transformation and the carbonation was right on.

-yo

searching for a new beer receipe

2009-01-16T21:27:00.000-08:00

@PunkAss and I went to Reno Homebrewer last night looking for some supplies and a new recipe. We looked around and read up on several different ones. We settled on the Irish Stout for about $30. We had several questions, I think I remember the answers he gave:

Being that an Irish Stout is very active how do we handle an active fermentation?
RH Answer: Ferment in a 6 gallon carboy and after the activity subsides a bit, transfer to a 5 gallon carboy.
What yeast should we use?
RH Answer: An English yeast
Some books cook the wort in 1.5 gallon and then add additional water at the end. What does RH think.
RH Answer: They didn't think that cooking in a small pot allowed the flavors to come out completely. Stick with the 5 gallon boil.

Questsions still to ask: Water, tap or bottled, using tap to rinse bottles...

Reno Homebrewer has a good selection of beer that you can drink while you shop. I bought an Liberty Ale and it was very good and would definitely like more. -yo

Bottling Day for the Honey Nut Brown

2009-01-10T19:04:00.000-08:00

Today is the day! @PunkAss and I are going to get a little breakfast at Pegs in Reno and start the bottling of my first full beer making experiment.

We start by sterilizing the bottles with a weak bleach bath and dried them on a bottle tree.

Next we boiled the priming sugar to carbonate the beer in the bottle. We raised the beer for a gravity feed and easier access.

Bottles all dry and setup for easy access.

Fill the bottles.

Capping the bottles. We had two bottles break and the precious beer spilling out onto the counter and floor. Boo Hoo - two dead soldiers and 41 still waiting to be drunk.

Secondary Fermentation

2009-01-02T10:04:00.000-08:00

Today we decided to put the Honey Nut Brown into secondary fermentation to help with the clarification. @PunkAss took a alcohol reading and it put the beer at 22, making it 8.5%. That seems a bit high. We will see what it is at the end.

My first batch of home brew

2008-12-21T14:07:00.000-08:00

It was a cold day in December 2008 and we purchased the kit for Honey Nut Brown Ale from http://www.renohomebrewer.com/ for $27. In @PunkAss's garage we setup the boiling five gallons of water. We added an additional 1lb. of amber DME (Dried Malt Extract).

We then sorted out the ingredients and and waited until we had a full boil.

Boiling for 75-90 minutes

@PunkAss filled the water lock with vodka, the good kind.

And now the waiting starts for the fermentation to complete. see ya when the bottling happens.

Catching up

2008-12-02T17:02:00.000-08:00

At the end of 2008 I joined forces with @PunkAss to make some beer. Not for the savings but because I was interested on how the process of beer making is done. I ended up only helping in shopping for supplies, added the priming sugar to carbonate, bottling of his batch and drinking some. Needless to say, it was fun and tasty! I was hooked. I tasted the Red Hawk Ale and even though it had not been carbonated yet, it was good. -yodamon

Sparks Nevada Home Brew starts up

2008-12-01T16:55:00.000-08:00

Hi, I'm Les Taylor aka @yodamon (http://yodamon.blogspot.com)

Recently, I've been making my own beer with http://chickenfordinner.blogspot.com blogger @PunkAss.

I decided to create this blog to follow this endeavor of ours. So stay tuned and I will give you a personal tour of our findings.