The Growler Bike, Beer and Bikes Unite!!!

Found this bad boy on the Fast Company website  and this is what our Blog is all about

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671662/the-growler-bike-pedal-power-for-beer-snobs

Beers tried during our Memorial Day Brew Black Vanilla IPA From Horny Goat Not For Me

So if you are one of the half dozen readers of this blog you know on Memorial Day We brewed a Kolcsh and during that brew we had some beers. The beers we tried were 

Deschutes Red Chair Northwest Pale Ale

(Will be reviewed at a future date)

Evil Twin Falco India Pale Ale

(Will be reviewed at a future date)

Black Vanilla IPA From Horny Goat

Now the other two will end up one way or another being reviewed and either on my list or at least An Honorable mention The Black Vanilla IPA I had high hopes for. I love IPAs now and black IPA are usually tops and anything with vanilla I usually enjoy. This one did not do it for me, I will not go as far as to say it was a bad (or skunky face beer) but it just did not sit right as far as taste, it kind of came off like a black licorice to me and I don't particularly like black licorice, so when all is said and done I tried I got half way through this beer and had to dump it. But again I am never here to trash someones beer just telling you what I like or dislike about the beers out there. I am positive this will be someones taste out there, just not mine, Sorry guys maybe another one of your beers will be my mug of beer. 

Our Imperial IPA Passes the Taste Test

                               
Now I can't sit here and post our little brew groups beer as a Beer you have to try before you die, because, well you would have to come over my house and we are almost through the Original recipe or the two gallons fermented and left as it was brewed, we also have a Bourbon aged, a Rum and Dark chocolate aged and a peach Imperial IPA.

Anyway I popped open the first bottle about a week ago 

(Katie and Rob tried it during the Memorial day brew and both enjoyed it as well. I will not speak for them how they rated it but I know they enjoyed it) 

Now I had it shortly after I had a Glass of Double IPA from Firestone Walker (so a very good IPA) 

and I still enjoyed ours thoroughly. Was it the greatest beer I ever had? No. It was absolutely a step up from my very first Brew....
                                              
 (Sweet Stout which I thought was good but nothing special about it just average) This one was really good to put it into terms or comparable to Beers on my Beers to try before you die bucket list I would give ours about a Beer and a shot rating.

 I really liked it and am excited that every thing I could have possibly done wrong with this beer did not screw it up.  Anyway there will be more to come, The Peach Imperial is ready to be refrigerated and the Bourbon and Rum will be ready in a few days. 

So we will see how they compare. I can say that we tried three other beers this memorial day and with the exception of one I liked ours better, so I am pretty proud of that.

Your Dog can Love Brew day Also. Dog Treats From the Used Grain

So most of the time all that used grain goes to waste, 

tossing it in the trash or over the back fence for animals. Well if you have a dog and you brew beer here is what you can do  with the excess grain...

Take two cups of the grain, two cups of Flour, Two eggs and a cup of Peanut Butter. Mix them together well in a mixing bowl. 

It is tough at first (Especially if you double up the recipe) but mix it together the best you can, if you have a mixing machine trust me use it...

Set you oven to 350 degrees

 Place the dog treats in for 30 minutes..Now if you are going to use them within a week you are done, if you want them to last for a while and have the time lower the oven temp to 225 and cook them for another 2 hours...Your dogs will enjoy brew day as much as you

Simple Dog Treats from Your Brew Day

2 Cups Used Grain
2 Cups of Flour
2 Eggs
1 Cup Peanut Butter

30 Minutes in the oven on 300 (they will be good for about a week)
To keep the cookies longer add an additional 2 hours by lowering temp to 225

The "Almost" Daily Beer and Bike Log May 26 2015

So over the long weekend I tried some beers....

Got together with family (both through marriage and through military Service) And Brewed a Memorial Day Veterans Kolsch

We had a great day to do it and got through by mid afternoon 

M.V.K. Was put in the fermenter and tucked away for a few days till the next step.

Along with spending time with family and enjoying my oldest daughters softball team taking Second place it was a fun weekend...More about the Brew day in our Post Memorial Day Veterans Kolsch and more about the beers in my beer ratings post I can say only one beer made the list (it would be two but since I do not count our own beer, since people can't get that through a store, only one made it)

Memorial Day Veterans Kölsch Brew Day

As Memorial day weekend approached I wanted to brew some beer, not only did I want to brew, because I could have alone in my kitchen, but I wanted to brew with our little group My Sister in Law Katie who is a Navy Veteran and My Air Force Buddy Rob (obviously we are Air Force Vets) hoping to make this a yearly thing starting this year. With a Memorial Day Brew

We wanted to make a summertime beer, but something that would taste good and not be too heavy for the hot ass days here in St Louis. So we decided on a  Kölsch  

 We looked through a few recopies and found one we could make our own. Rob grabbed the ingredients we needed and everyone met up on Monday.

Now Rob has 99 percent of the equipment for our 5 gallon brews and lives the furthest, but due to the fact I have little ones running around he grabs all the shit and comes over. After measuring the grain out. (most was measured at the Brew shop but since Rob buys the 2 Row in bulk we needed to measure that out) 

So we Milled all the grain

Got the water up to temperature

Had a few beers while waiting.

You all know after getting the water temp up then the fun Starts. Brewing beer or at least the first stages are sort of like making a large batch of oatmeal. 

You get the grains mixed in and dump the hot water on it mixing it up so you don't get clumps in. (Your also trying to get every bit of flavor out of your grains (along with the sugars to turn into well beer when the yeast goes to work) 

After the 45 minutes of soaking in the hot water in this case, 45 minutes as opposed to usually about an hour. We sparge and get all that goodness through the grain bed

Once we have the wort clear we are ready to boil....

Getting through our boil, putting in our hops and finally pitching the yeast...

We officially have Beer or our Memorial Day Veterans Kölsch

The plan is about 3 days of Primary and then I will transfer it for secondary for another 3-4 weeks

Beers To Try Before you Die or the Beer Bucket 52 List 41 of 52 Firestone Walker Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA

Being a Star Wars Fan (or geek) this one caught my attention. 

Now I know Wookie and Wookey are not the same but come on! This to me was like the little know cousin of Uncle Si

 and Chewbacca. 

Close anyway...

Anyway After drinking some Firestone Union Jack on Easter 

I had to try some other Beers by the same company So Wookey Jack Black Rye was next on the list. And it was Good, Now I have to say I enjoyed the Union Jack a bit more but this was still a delicious beer,

Since I still have to try the Double IPA and gave Union Jack a solid 6

 I am going to go with a 5 Beer rating on Wookey Jack...

"You got that Jack ARRRRRR!!!"

To view what all the ratings mean go to the 52 Beers to try Before You die Bucket list page

Disclaimer I am a beer drinker and a beginner home brewer the above is only my taste buds telling me what I enjoy, it is not the law or rule of the land, these would be the beers that I am grateful to have tried before the day comes when I pass on and meet my maker.

The "Almost" Daily Beer and Bike Log May 22, 2015

Going into Memorial day weekend it looks busy....

I know I am not the only person who is busy with things like softball games getting your normal weekend items off the list, chasing after a toddler while keeping a newborn happy as can be, etc.. 

But remember to take a moment and think about why you have the  freedom to eat drink and be merry at the numerous Barbecues that take place this weekend and on Monday. 

The men and woman who died for what this country and that flag represent are why we can party with our friends and families or make beer or attend kids softball games.

 They fought and lost their lives so asshole have the freedoms to stomp on the symbol of that freedom (my opinion is it does not make you edgy or a protester it makes you an asshole to do so, and I am not going to waste space here to show a picture of those fuckbags ) Anyway I just wanted to say that because it is important to me.

My weekend goes like this. My daughters Memorial day Tournament starts this evening and goes through Sunday. 

Then My little brewing group is going to get together (By the way that group consist of Two Air Force Vets and a Navy Vet, so we know what Monday means) to brew a large batch of Kolsch, 

I think we are brewing Kolsch anyway that was what we stopped on last as a nice Summer time Ale. So hopefully we figure that one out so we can get the grain bill together. As for a bike ride? I don't see it happening this weekend with all the games scheduled, but you never know. So everyone enjoy your weekend and God Bless all of the men and women who gave their lives so we can do things like brew obscene amounts of beer....