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| My Ruination clone in one of my Hard Rock glasses. Very delicious! |
Beer of the Day: Two Hearted Ale (American IPA) by Bell's Brewery
Saturday, January 15, 2011
First Tasting: Ruination and Ubu Clones
So I got a chance to taste the Ruination and Ubu clones last night. The ruination was pretty much exactly what I was going for - a very hoppy, bitter IPA. Was very pleased with the way it turned out. The Ubu was also pretty decent but was a bit on the sweet side. I think this one just needs a few more weeks to bottle condition and age a little. Probably gonna hold off on throwing more of them in the fridge for a couple weeks and try it again when I do. All in all, I was very pleased with both brews. :-)
Song of the Day: "Caves" by Chiodos
Beer of the Day: Two Hearted Ale (American IPA) by Bell's Brewery
Beer of the Day: Two Hearted Ale (American IPA) by Bell's Brewery
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Starting 2011 on the Right Foot
It probably sounds kinda cliche to say that I'm trying to get back in shape this time of year. However, I'd really like to lose about 20 or 25 pounds over the next few months. Trying to get back down my typical adult-life average weight. So far, so good. Haven't lost much weight yet but I haven't been eating as much crap and have been running and going for long walks with Theresa and Abby fairly consistently over the last couple weeks. I have already noticed my energy climb a little. I am trying to continue on this path and keep it up to incorporate it as my normal routine. I'm also trying to do this by making a few compromises but still enjoy myself food-and-drink-wise. For example, I'm not giving up beer. Considering I don't drink mass quantities of beer (usually in the neighborhood of 2 - 3 beers in a night most weekend nights), and considering that beer-hunting and homebrewing are the hobbies that I am most passionate about, I think its a reasonable compromise. I think I should get there slowly, but surely, over the next few months simply by exercising more consistently and eating better.
Now to the much more delicious and interesting portion of today's program ... BEER!
I'm pretty excited about my homebrew selection. This Thursday will mark the two week mark on the bottle-conditioning of the Ruination and Ubu clones, which means this weekend is tasting time! Both beers will probably get better over the next few weeks but I'm pretty amped to try the two new beers. These two will also give a bit more variety to my homebrew selection; with the addition of these 5th and 6th volumes I will have three brews in bottle - the Tripel, Runiation, and Ubu. Three brews is the most I have had in bottles at one time. I am hoping to sustain this variety, if not increase it, as I continue brewing. Its definately going to be nice to have a good variety of homebrew in the fridge. I am hoping to get another brew or two in fermenters in February. The next one will probably be a good session beer - maybe an ESB or something of that nature. Sometime in March I want to get something in the can for the Spring. I'm thinking of doing something like a blueberry wheat or something along those lines.
Equipment-wise, I'm thinking about getting some new gear. Right now, I'm doing extract brews with a big stainless steel pot on an electric range with a beginners starter kit with a plastic fermentation bucket and bottling bucket. I also picked up another plastic fermenter recently to use when I have two brews fermenting at once. Next on the wish list is a glass carboy. I want to get this mainly to use for secondary fermentations so I can do longer secondary fermentations with better quality. For one, it will let me rack my beer onto other ingredients to age with, such as oak chips (I really want to do an oaked black IPA sometime soon). Also, it should reduce some of the sediment that I get in my bottles (especially on bigger beers like Ruination). Been looking into doing some other minor things too (like waxing or putting foil wraps on my bottles for better presentation for gifts). However, I doubt I will do any other major upgrades at this point (like an all-grain setup) until I have house - I just don't have the space for the extra equipment right now.
On the beer-hunting/drinking front, it has also been a good start to the new year. Among my favorites that I've picked up at Pinocchio's Beer Garden in the last week or so are Dogfish Head's Pangaea (a beer brewed with ingredients from every continent - even Antarctica (water)) and Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout. Also had a chance to stop into the restaurant side of Pinocchio's and have a couple Lucky Bastards (which they had on draft) with my buddy Jim this past weekend. It was good to have a couple solid beers with Jim and catch up.
That's all for now - hopefully I'll get in another update this weekend after tasting the new homebrews :-).
And I know you're dying for today's beer and song selections :-) .....
Song of the Day: "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3" by Coheed & Cambria
Beer of the Day: Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout
Now to the much more delicious and interesting portion of today's program ... BEER!
I'm pretty excited about my homebrew selection. This Thursday will mark the two week mark on the bottle-conditioning of the Ruination and Ubu clones, which means this weekend is tasting time! Both beers will probably get better over the next few weeks but I'm pretty amped to try the two new beers. These two will also give a bit more variety to my homebrew selection; with the addition of these 5th and 6th volumes I will have three brews in bottle - the Tripel, Runiation, and Ubu. Three brews is the most I have had in bottles at one time. I am hoping to sustain this variety, if not increase it, as I continue brewing. Its definately going to be nice to have a good variety of homebrew in the fridge. I am hoping to get another brew or two in fermenters in February. The next one will probably be a good session beer - maybe an ESB or something of that nature. Sometime in March I want to get something in the can for the Spring. I'm thinking of doing something like a blueberry wheat or something along those lines.
Equipment-wise, I'm thinking about getting some new gear. Right now, I'm doing extract brews with a big stainless steel pot on an electric range with a beginners starter kit with a plastic fermentation bucket and bottling bucket. I also picked up another plastic fermenter recently to use when I have two brews fermenting at once. Next on the wish list is a glass carboy. I want to get this mainly to use for secondary fermentations so I can do longer secondary fermentations with better quality. For one, it will let me rack my beer onto other ingredients to age with, such as oak chips (I really want to do an oaked black IPA sometime soon). Also, it should reduce some of the sediment that I get in my bottles (especially on bigger beers like Ruination). Been looking into doing some other minor things too (like waxing or putting foil wraps on my bottles for better presentation for gifts). However, I doubt I will do any other major upgrades at this point (like an all-grain setup) until I have house - I just don't have the space for the extra equipment right now.
On the beer-hunting/drinking front, it has also been a good start to the new year. Among my favorites that I've picked up at Pinocchio's Beer Garden in the last week or so are Dogfish Head's Pangaea (a beer brewed with ingredients from every continent - even Antarctica (water)) and Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout. Also had a chance to stop into the restaurant side of Pinocchio's and have a couple Lucky Bastards (which they had on draft) with my buddy Jim this past weekend. It was good to have a couple solid beers with Jim and catch up.
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| Dogfish Head's Pangaea in one one of my Stone Brewery glasses. |
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| Stone's Old Guardian Barleywine in my Vertical Epic glass. |
And I know you're dying for today's beer and song selections :-) .....
Song of the Day: "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3" by Coheed & Cambria
Beer of the Day: Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout
Monday, January 3, 2011
Christmas, New Years, 3 More Cases of Beer, and a Few Goodies from the Beer Garden
Christmas was a lot of fun, and very relaxing this year. I had a great time hanging out with Theresa and her family during Christmas Eve and Christmas! :) Although I didn't make it up to Rochester around Christmas, it was pretty nice to not have to worry about traveling all over the place during the holidays. Got some awesome new gear this year. I added the four Saranac pint glasses from Theresa and the three Stone glasses that I ordered to my glassware collection. Also got a couple new scarves, a new Saranac t-shirt, the Tenacious D Complete Masterworks DVD, a pack of Omaha Steaks Filets, and lots of other goodies. All-in-all, it was another great Christmas with Theresa!
The week after Christmas, I worked from home. There was definitely work to do, but the pace was pretty relaxed and I was able to spend another week of quality time at home with Theresa and Abby. :)
Last Thursday was bottling day for the two clones (my Ruination clone, and the Ubu clone that I did with my buddy Keith). When all was said and done, the Ruination was pretty much right on the money with the final gravity and yielded about 2 cases (one in 22oz bottles, the other in 12oz bottles) plus a 4-pack of 12oz bottles. I also had enough to draw a little out into a tasting glass and taste the Ruination in its uncarbonated form. It tasted about what I expected - pretty much exactly what an IPA should taste like. I am very excited to taste the finished product and to see how it ages. I think this one should age very well and mellow out a little with age. The 2oz of Centennial hops that were used during dry-hopping really came through in the taste. The Ubu ale came out pretty successful too - the FG was a little off but I think the finished product will still taste like a solid English ale. This one yielded 3 bottles shy of 2 full cases (one case fro me and one for Keith). After getting through these two clones, I know am out of empty beer bottles and have a little over three and half cases of home-brewed beer (2+ of Ruination, 1 of Ubu, and about a half case of Tripel) conditioning in my second bedroom.
Now, onto New Years! This was the best New Years I've ever had! Theresa and I had a really nice dinner at the Moshulu in Philly followed by an awesome fireworks display at Penns Landing (which could be seen from the Moshulu). The dinner was awesome - the two best dishes in mind were the tuna tar tare that Theresa had as an appetizer and the diver scallops that we both had for an entree. This was the first time Theresa and I had done anything like this for New Years. It was really special to be able to just relax with Theresa and have an awesome night out just the two of us! :-)
With New Years marking the end of the holiday season, I am now shifting gears and enjoying one last day off (today is the day that IBM gives off as a holiday for New Years) before heading back into the normal work routine. I have mostly just been relaxing the last couple days and I decided to run down to Pinocchio's Beer Garden and pick up a mix-a-six pack and a 22oz-er. My favorites from this beer run has been Stone's Lucky Bastard and Left Hand's Black Jack Porter.
Song of the Day: "Tribute" by Tenacious D
Beer of the Day: Lucky Bastard by Stone Brewery
The week after Christmas, I worked from home. There was definitely work to do, but the pace was pretty relaxed and I was able to spend another week of quality time at home with Theresa and Abby. :)
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| Abby and I at the park before the snow we got a week ago melted. |
Last Thursday was bottling day for the two clones (my Ruination clone, and the Ubu clone that I did with my buddy Keith). When all was said and done, the Ruination was pretty much right on the money with the final gravity and yielded about 2 cases (one in 22oz bottles, the other in 12oz bottles) plus a 4-pack of 12oz bottles. I also had enough to draw a little out into a tasting glass and taste the Ruination in its uncarbonated form. It tasted about what I expected - pretty much exactly what an IPA should taste like. I am very excited to taste the finished product and to see how it ages. I think this one should age very well and mellow out a little with age. The 2oz of Centennial hops that were used during dry-hopping really came through in the taste. The Ubu ale came out pretty successful too - the FG was a little off but I think the finished product will still taste like a solid English ale. This one yielded 3 bottles shy of 2 full cases (one case fro me and one for Keith). After getting through these two clones, I know am out of empty beer bottles and have a little over three and half cases of home-brewed beer (2+ of Ruination, 1 of Ubu, and about a half case of Tripel) conditioning in my second bedroom.
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| My Ruination clone in the fermenter before I transferred it over to the bottling bucket. Definitely had a lot of sediment with this one. |
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| Bottling bucket and empty bottles ready to be filled. |
Now, onto New Years! This was the best New Years I've ever had! Theresa and I had a really nice dinner at the Moshulu in Philly followed by an awesome fireworks display at Penns Landing (which could be seen from the Moshulu). The dinner was awesome - the two best dishes in mind were the tuna tar tare that Theresa had as an appetizer and the diver scallops that we both had for an entree. This was the first time Theresa and I had done anything like this for New Years. It was really special to be able to just relax with Theresa and have an awesome night out just the two of us! :-)
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| Penns Landing fireworks on New Years Eve, as viewed from the Moshulu. |
With New Years marking the end of the holiday season, I am now shifting gears and enjoying one last day off (today is the day that IBM gives off as a holiday for New Years) before heading back into the normal work routine. I have mostly just been relaxing the last couple days and I decided to run down to Pinocchio's Beer Garden and pick up a mix-a-six pack and a 22oz-er. My favorites from this beer run has been Stone's Lucky Bastard and Left Hand's Black Jack Porter.
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| Some goodies from the Beer Garden: Acme Pale Ale, Lake Placid's Ubu Ale, Stone's Oak Aged Arrogant Bastard, Left Hand's Black Jack Porter, Victory's Hop Devil, Pilsner Urquell, and Stone's Lucky Bastard. |
Beer of the Day: Lucky Bastard by Stone Brewery
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