Ummm, its the End of the February???

Right, so haven't updated in awhile.  Seems like I was just posting about brewing the Banana Bread Ale yesterday.  Then I realized that I just bottled it on Saturday after one week in a primary fermenter and two weeks in a secondary.  So here's an update on the highlights of the last few weeks:

A lot of Theresa's cousins and aunts and uncles from out of town were in town a couple weeks ago for the weekend.  It was great to see all of them again.  Friday night, we went out for dinner with her cousins to Iron Hill.  It was a lot of fun to hang out with her cousins!  The weekend was a great opportunity to see a lot of her family that aren't often in town. :-)

About two weeks ago, I finally picked up a 6 gal. glass carboy for fermenting beer.  I have been meaning to do this for awhile now and finally got around to getting one.  I debuted the carboy as a secondary fermenter for the Banana Bread Ale, after a one-week primary fermentation.  Fast forward two weeks.  I bottled up the Banana Bread Ale this past Saturday, and the secondary seemed to do a great job.  The flavor conditioned nicely and the color came out beautiful.  The secondary did a lot to clarify the beer.  The one downfall is that the banana hasn't come out much in the flavor - but the other flavors did nicely - the vanilla and cinnamon came out very well balanced.  We'll see how it tastes in a couple weeks after bottle conditioning.

On the video game front, I picked up NHL 2011 a week or so ago.  I have been meaning to pick up a solid hockey game for awhile now, and I must say, NHL 2011 is a lot of fun.  I especially like the Be-a-Pro mode, where you can create your own character.  The storyline starts with your character as a player in the junior leagues just before you get drafted into the NHL.  Rather than controlling a team through seasons in dynasty mode, you follow and control only your character.  If you do well, you earn better contracts and other honors.  If you don't do well, you get sent down to the minors until you start performing better.

This past weekend, I also borrowed Mass Effect from my buddy Jim.  I have been meaning to pick up Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, but just haven't had a lull in other games to give it the attention it deserves.  Finally started playing it, and it is an awesome game so far.  The game play mechanics are smooth and the storyline is solid.  I can't wait to see how the storyline advances.  I have heard a ton of praise for the Mass Effect series, so I'm holding it to a high standard.  So far, so good.

Another highlight from the weekend was dinner and a movie with Theresa on Friday. :-)  Went out and saw Cedar Rapids.  If you get a chance to see this movie at a theater near you, definitely do it.  Cedar Rapids is one of the funnier movies, I've seen in a long time.  John C. Reilly was absolutely hysterical!  It isn't as widely distributed as a lot of other, more mainstream movies, but is definitely worth going to see if you get a chance.  After the movie, Theresa and I went to Rock Bottom in King of Prussia, where I had a burger that pretty much sounds like a heart attack. :-)

Theresa giving the thumbs up behind my 2A.M. burger (a cheeseburger with a hash brown and a fried egg :) ).

This next picture isn't really relevant to any particular event, but Abby is pretty much the cutest dog in the world, so here's a completely off-topic bulldog picture. :-)

Loungin' pup! :)

That's all for now - hopefully the next post will come a little quicker than this one.

Song of the Day: "Modern Wolf Hair" by Chiodos
Beer of the Day: Midas Touch by Dogfish Head Brewery

Theresa and I finally got a chance to make it up to visit my parents, brothers, and a few friends a couple weekends ago and it was a great time. :-)  Had dinner with a few close friends on Friday night and hung out with my parents and  brothers and their families most of the day on Saturday.  It was really nice to catch up with everyone and to see my niece and nephew running around! :-)  My little nephew is running around on his own and apparently needs to have an eye kept on him at all times, as he is an explorer and will sneak away in no time.

Theresa and I also got a chance to squeeze in a brewery tour and tasting session at Custom BrewCrafters.  It was a lot of fun to go back to the brewery that is effectively my hometown brewery and to finally get around to doing the tour of the brewery.  For those of you how do not know about Custom BrewCrafters, they brew original, custom beers for exclusively for local bars and restaurants in the Rochester and Buffalo areas.  They also have a four year-round releases, and a couple seasonals at a given time, that are under their brand name.  Got some goodies to take back to Media with me - a few CB glasses and some solid beers.

Custom BrewCrafters' Krysztoff Baltic Porter (from their Signature Series) poured in one of my new CB glasses.

Fast forward to this past weekend.  Had a nice low key (for the most part) weekend with Theresa. :-)  Saturday, I was able to get the first brew of the year in the fermenter and I'm looking forward to tasting how this one is going to come out.  I decided to brew a concept that I have been thinking about for awhile - Banana Bread Ale.  Essentially, the base is very similar to a pumpkin ale, but is steeped with ~6 lbs. of roasted bananas instead of pumpkin, and is spiced with cinnamon and a little vanilla.  Planning on getting it into a secondary fermenter this weekend or next to let it ferment for another week or two before bottle conditioning the new brew.  I'm really hoping the flavor comes out the way I want (like banana bread) when all is said and done.  This one should come out ~5.5% ABV.  


The next brew in line will be with my buddy Keith and will probably be an ESB of some sort.  This one is his turn to choose the recipe.  We both were looking for a good session beer to brew up next.  We will probably be getting this one brewed up this weekend or next.


Been doing some thinking lately about some brewing goals for the year.  The two main ones are:

• Brew 10 beers this year (a mixture of solo brews, and brews with Keith)
• Enter some sort of brewing competition by the end of the year

The second one is a bit of a stretch goal but I think it would be a lot of fun to enter a brewing competition.  As far as beers I am planning to do this year, here a few of the highlights that I'm planning - blueberry wheat (probably brew this one in March/April timeframe), an oaked black IPA, an acorn squash beer brewed with maple syrup (planning on brewing this as a fall brew), and a couple hot pepper brews.

After brewing up the Banana Bread Ale on Saturday, Theresa and I went out with our friends Aubrey and Josh for Josh's birthday.  We both had a blast hanging out and having a few beers to celebrate! :-)

Josh and I having a couple beers at Sligo for Josh's birthday :-)

Looking forward to another pretty low key weekend this coming weekend, relaxing with Theresa! :-)


Song of the Day: "Guilty as Charged" by Gym Class Heroes (feat. Estelle)
Beer of the Day: Krysztoff Baltic Porter by Custom BrewCrafters