There's nothing wrong with extract brewing

Greetings!

Yes, Once again I wait forever to send out an update. So, first with the good news. For those of you who aren't on facebook or never look at it... I'm no longer the unemployed brewer. I accepted a position with Land O'Lakes. So that's the wonderful news. Now on for the not so wonderful news. I'm in a serious beer shortage situation. I checked my kegs and all three are very low. Not good. My idea of "when one keg goes dry, I'll brew and I'll still have the other two to fall back on while the beer is fermenting" didn't really work that well.

So knowing my situation, last Saturday Erin and I went to Midwest Supplies for the emergency beer situation. I had no beer in mind. I asked Erin to just pick something out. Due to the time crunch I was in I wasn't going to have the time to brew all grain, which brings me to my point. There's nothing wrong with extract brewing. Really. When I meet fellow homebrewers they always think I think less of them because they extract brew. Hell no. I think it's wonderful that people create something that they can enjoy. I've made some damn good brews with extract too. Don't be discouraged if you're only brewing extract. There's nothing wrong with it.

Now, some of you may be asking what the heck is extract brewing? Extract is skipping the step of steeping the grains also known as mashing because it's already been done. It is provided in a half gallon like container and is very thick molasses like liquid. It saves a good hour or two off my brew session. The downfalls of extract is that the brewer doesn't have full control over the flavor profile.

In the end we opted for a sierra pale ale clone which I spiked up with some additional hops. I basically made it into an IPA. I plan on brewing again here in the next few weeks. I'm thinking a Honey Wheat. Until next time!

Prost!

-Ryan

One month into unemployment - What I've learned so far

So tomorrow is my one month mark. I want to start off by telling everyone I've had multiple interviews all thanks to friends, family, and former coworkers who've helped me make those contacts. Without you I wouldn't be getting all the calls I am. Thank you for all of your help. So here are a few things I've learned in my one month of being unemployed.

• Being unemployed isn't all fun and games. I've forgot how much work does go into looking for a job. Contacting, researching, insuring it's the correct job for myself, and prepare, prepare, prepare. I've learned I can never prepare enough for an interview. 
• Prepare for the worst case scenario. You never know when life is going to throw you that interesting wrench into your daily plans. Last week I was preparing for an interview that afternoon. I had gone to lunch with some friends, came home, parked the car in the garage and closed the garage door. I took a shower and prepared for my interview. Walked out to the garage, hit the garage door button and the garage door only went up about a foot. It turns out the wire the pulls back one set of the springs had broke. Now my garage door is a solid wood core door, this thing probably weighs about 300lbs. Here I am in my suit, car is stuck in the garage, and I'm trying as best that I can to lift this thing. It's not going anywhere. I was just very lucky that I have a friend who works from home most of the time. He was able to come get me and bring me to the interview. Tim, I owe you huge for that still. Moral of the story, if possible, prepare for something horrible to happen and make sure you give yourself enough time. I had a professor in college say "If you're 15 minutes early, you're on time." I've really taken that to heart. Now does that mean that I'm showing up at the interview 15 minutes early? No. What it does mean is that I show up 15 minute or more early to the interview and I'll sit out in my car until about 5 to 10 minutes before. Which brings me to my next point
• Cops like to setup "donation centers" more during the day. Now that I'm driving around a lot more during the middle of the day, I tend to find out the local law enforcement really keeps tabs on the speed limit during the day. Now I've been know to have a "heavy foot" or participate in "spirited driving" sessions, but I'm really watching my speed now. This tends to make me leave for an interview that much earlier to insure I'm not making any unwanted donations to my local police officers. 
• My dog is spoiled. As I spend a large amount of time on my computer during the day doing job stuff, my dog has become accustom to sitting on my lap while I'm on the computer. As I type this now she's making sure the back yard is free of vermin. She also enjoys using my right arm as a pillow for her head, making mousing a bit tricky at times. Oh the things we'll do for our pets. 
• Daytime TV Sucks. Now, I don't spend that much time watching TV. I don't have a TV in the office and we only have basic channels. I do watch the news in the morning and evening, and there has been a few times I've flipped it on during lunch. I forgot how much I don't associate with the advertising of daytime TV. I'm not a mom, I'm not injured/bankrupt, and I already have a degree (not saying that means I can stop learning, just saying I don't need one from the local community college). Needless to say, the tv stays off. 
• Home Repairs are expensive. When not performing job searching duties, I'm typically doing something around the house. I'm not as skilled as a professional, but I can perform most common repair tasks. One thing that is nice is that with this time I'm now able to fix/repair/replace that (fill in the blank with something around the house) that I've been meaning to do for (fill in the blank with a number) days/months/years. When I bought my house my father told me "Ryan, If you walk out of Home Depot under $50, you had a good trip." Well Dad, I've had a few of those, but I've learned there's a small caveat to that statement. Under $50 per day, not per trip. My dad's local Home Depot and/or Lowes is a bit of a trip for him, so I'm assuming for the most part he plans ahead on his trip. Mine is about 4 miles away. I don't really plan ahead, causing multiple trips. Now though my repaired work bench cost less then buying a new one and is crazy stable now, it still ran around $60 in lumber/parts/screws/etc. That was a bit more then I was expecting, but it's awesome now. While we're talking about Home Depot...
• Going to Home Depot at 7am on a Monday is the BEST TIME EVER or anytime M-F during the day for that sake. The wife and I had gone there on a sunday at around 2pm. WORST...IDEA....EVER. I've been enjoying my daytime M-F Home Depot trips where, for the most part, it's only contractors in there. I'm sorry to the rest of us who don't do construction, but when I'm trying to find a particular part that I know where it is and you stop to show your husband that plant you think would be wonderful in the front yard, stopping directly in front of me, it drive me a bit nuts. My local Home Depot opens at 6am M-F, I went in there at 7am on a Monday. It was heaven. Which brings me to my next point...
• Walking into Home Depot with dirt, oil, and paint marked Carhartts and a shirt to match gets you instant help. They know I mean business. 
• Walking into the local eletronics store wearing the same cloths as Home Depot does not get you any help. Apparently I looked like a bum. *Shrug*
• I really don't like painting. I'll tape, clean, whatever, but I really don't like painting. I enjoy the end result though. 
• When sanding patchwork in the office, make sure to cover the desk/computer/everything. It made a huge mess. Yes, this was a "Duh Ryan" moment. Sometimes you need to learn by doing. Last but no where near the least...
• Thank your friends, family, and anyone willing to reach out. It means a lot to me that so many people reached out to me to help me during this time. Like I said at the beginning, everything helps. A huge thank you again! Hopefully I'll land something here shortly. 

Now a little brewing update. I've still got some very full kegs so I haven't brewed anything lately. I know I need to brew my helle here soon. I also planted some hops (Once again, thank you Paul for the extra plants). I checked on them and nothing has started popping up yet.

Prost!

-Ryan

The Laid Off Brewer

Hello to all of my readers. No I haven't forgot about you. Just a lot of things have been going on. Lets get the ugly crap outta the way first.

Last Wednesday I was laid off from my job. We were notified 6 weeks before that there were going to be layoffs. Did I think I was going to get hit? Well, I had my own reason in my head why I could and couldn't. Overall I'm fine with the situation. As much as it sucks, they provided a very nice severance package. I've got a few leads thanks to everyone reaching out to me. Hopefully I can turn something here in the next month or two. As fun as it is being home, it does get a little old. Maybe if the weather was nicer so I could ride my bike or work out in the yard things would be different. Heck.. even get a brew or two in ;)

So let's get back to beer talk. Three weeks ago Tony, Rob, and myself brewed my Tree Huggin Hippy Pale Ale. It's an all-organic pale ale. I'm pretty excited about this beer for the summer. I've already kegged it and just waiting for it to carbonate and condition. This is my first beer that I've made with a yeast starter. I was amazed at how quickly the yeast kicked off, in about 8 hours for full bubbling in the airlock.

I plan on brewing my Helle here soon as all 3 of my kegs are full at the moment. I always like to have something lined up to fill an empty keg. The helle will take a while to make which will be perfect for timing reasons.

Also with this last brew session it was very impromptu. I sent out a small email to some people but others found out and were a little upset they didn't get the invite. (Sorry Curly!). If you'd like to be on the brewing email, just shoot me an email or drop me a line on here. I'll add you to the list. Sometimes the brewing is planned, but other times it's hours notice, not days.  

Here's some picture from the brew session with Tony, Rob, and myself. Pictures provided by Tony. Thanks guys for helping!

 

Prost!

-Ryan

New Years Resolution & Beer Prices

So I realized that I didn't inform many people about my New Years resolution. Yes I try to do the same things everyone else does.. exercise more, eat better, watch my weight, but I did another this year that I really am going to try to uphold. My goal at the beginning of year was to not buy any beer but to only buy ingredients for me to brew, with a few exceptions.

The exceptions are the following:

• Going out to a bar, restaurant, state fair, vacation, etc. 
• Going to a party or throwing our own party. As much as I love supplying my own beer, sometimes I can't afford to drain all 3 kegs. Not that it's the cost that hurts, it's the 5+ hours of brewing to replace what's in there that hurts.
• If something new comes out from one of the commercial brewers that I want to try. Example: Summit's unchained series. BTW the new Gold Sovereign is amazing. Go buy it if you're in the Twin Cities area. 

So, with that said something new came out that I wanted to buy to drink while having my impromptu Friday brew session (which I'll blog about once I get the pictures from Tony).  Stone Brewing out of Escondido, CA just started distributing here in Minnesota. I've had their beer before when I've gone to Washington. I was pretty excited to try their beer again. After contacting my local liquor store to insure they had some, I went down there to pick up a few 6 packs. This was the first time I had bought beer since christmas time. Holy sweet mother of god that beer wasn't cheap. They only had two of their beers, IPA and their Levitation ale. At $10.99 + tax a 6 pack, I bit the bullet and bought one six pack of each, but even I hesitated to spend that sort of cash on a quality product. I can really understand why people might be turned off from going outside of their save beer zone to try something different. Now granted that's cheaper then the $7.75 I paid the next night for a pint of Stone Arrogant Bastard at the bar I went to, but if you end up not liking the beer, that's a lot of cash to figure that out. I really do enjoy the places that allow for the build your own 6-pack. Reflecting on this now did make me just think that everytime I brew, I'm taking a gamble I might not like it also. Only problem is at that point I've dropped close to $30, 5 hours of my time, and I have 5 gallons of it. Lucky for me I typically have suckers friends I can pawn off offer up my beer to.

To close this, I still really encourage you all to continue to support your local brewer or another craft brewer, even if they are "larger" now such as the Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) or New Belgium Brewing (Fat Tire). These companies are still locally owned and put a lot of pride in what they produce. If your name is Drea and I see you drinking another Bud Lite I will give you the finger, just like I promised at the Ginger Hop on Saturday night. Remember, it's not that I hate lite beer, it's just that I hate Anheuser Busch (which now own Goose Island... damnit!)

Prost!

-Ryan

Our Friend, The Yeast.

It's times like this which I wish I would have paid a little more attention in chemistry class.

One of the major ingredients of beer is yeast. Yeast is that living organism which, in a crude way, farts CO2 and poops alcohol. It's thanks to these small guys why beer is carbonated and alcoholic. Up until now I've always used either liquid or dry yeast in my beer with no pre-processing. For liquid yeast I would use a smack pack like Wyeast or a tube of Whitelabs yeast. I'd just dump it in when it was time to pitch the yeast. As for the dry yeast, I would just sprinkle the yeast on top of the wort. After listening to the podcast Brew Strong, I've realized just how important yeast starters are.

A yeast starters is a mini-batch of beer using dry malt extract and no hops to start the yeast buildup. This is only applicable to liquid yeast. Dry yeast only needs to be hydrated in a cup of warm water. The yeast starter is made in a chemistry grade flask by boiling water, adding the dry malt extract, boiling that for around 15 minutes, then cooling. Because this is a much smaller amount of liquid it's not necessary to boil for an extended period of time like a normal beer. Also there are no hops being added so we're only doing this to sanitize the liquid.

Why this is important is to have healthy, active yeast being pitched into your beer for a quick start of fermentation. While a smack pack has around 120 billion cells, it's been found that a number more like 150+ billion is closer to the amount needed. An easy way to figure out the amount of yeast needed is to use Mr. Malty's calculator. While listening to the podcasts they talked about stiring the yeast starter often, or using a stir plate. A stir plate is essential a spinning magnet which spins a magnetic bar which can be placed into a chemistry flask or other container which is set on top of the stir plate. Yeast require food (sugar) and oxygen to build up their numbers, hence why stiring is needed to keep a healthy flow of oxygen. I figured if I'm going to start building yeast starters, why not go all in.

After doing some internet research I found the stir plates are really damn expensive ($75~$100+ range). I did however find this website which talked about building your own stir plate. After looking at the items required to build this, I realized I had most of what I needed already. I have a lot of extra computer parts, connectors, and wires which covered my need of a computer fan and the rare earth magnetic. I had a box I could have used but I made a trip to my local Ax-Man Supplies store for the box and some additional items. For those of you not from the Minneapolis area, Ax-Man is a store full of random shit. There's really no better way to explain it. It's like an army surplus store but with more random motors and tinkering items. It's the perfect store for that school science project. So for $14 I bought the rest of the items I needed, along with a few extra goodies I might use later.

Note the pint glass in the background :)

One thing that I did different was I didn't screw my fan to the box. I didn't want my $27 flask resting on some bolts so I used motherboard plastic standoffs which I glued to the lid of the box. For $14 I think it works pretty damn well. Additional costs were $27 for the 2000ml chemistry grade flask and $6 for the 1 inch stir bar. The guy at Midwest supplies talked me into the 1 inch stir bar, though I'm starting to think I maybe should have bought the 2inch bar. Here's a video I took this morning of the first test run. You'll see in the video I change the speed of the fan using the control knob. Overall I'm happy with the project and I'll post updates as I build my first yeast starter. If you're interested in building your own stir plate, feel free to contact me.

Prost! -Ryan

Spring is almost here!

Hello All!

It's been a while since I posted anything, and to be honest on the brew front not much has happened. I've been working on a few new recipe ideas for this summer and a yeast project which I'll post as soon as it's finished. Otherwise between work, social obligations, and the cold, I haven't been real interested in hanging out in the garage for 4 hours. With spring and warm weather comes a muddy dog, impromptu BBQ's, and of course brewing of my summer seasonals. I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head including one that came to me today that involves using a vegetable, and no it's not potatoes. So keep tuned as I hope to have lots of information here soon.

Prost!

-Ryan

Even the President is doing it!

I just received an interesting link from my buddy Bobby. Apparently President Obama is joining the homebrewers ranks. I wonder if Mrs. Obama will have custom cups made.

Check it out: http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2011/03/obamas-make-history-with-homebrewed.html

On a side note, I have a major case of cabin fever. I'm ready for spring and Friday brew and grill sessions.

Prost!

-Ryan