I'm on Untappd

Just thought I'd let everyone know that I'm now on Untappd (www.untappd.com). Untappd is like a facebook for beers. Check into bars or mark what beer you're drinking along with your ranking, or something. I just signed up for it now so I haven't done much with it. Feel free to add me on there. Ryan K or try crackrk. I'll be the one with the dave chappelle tyrone biggums avatar.

My current beer, Czech Yourself, in fermenting well. I haven't taken a gravity reading yet, but it looks pretty nice. I have the beer fermenting a little cooler than I wanted, but the lager yeast likes the cooler temps anyways. It's amazing how hazy the yeast made the beer. I'm hoping it will settle out. I figure another week or two before I keg it.

Fermenting right around 56 degrees, camera flash is messing with the temp gauge

Prost!

-Ryan

Back in the saddle

Before you begin reading, this post was written to music. I ask that you hit play on this youtube video and then read below.

It's been a while. Why you ask? I believe I had brewer depression. Last time I brewed was Sep 9th, 2012. Besides the quality of the people around me, nothing went right. Nothing went right with the brew I did before that either. What's wrong you ask? Brewing efficiency. Brewing efficiency is a percentage number that most, if not all brewers watch. It's a percent of converted sugars from the grain. Basically, if you put in 10 lbs of grain, how much of that actually converted to sugar, which then makes alcohol. Most homebrewers shoot for around 75%. Why not 100%? Not even the "big boys" shoot for 100% because at that rate you're starting to introduce off flavors from the process to convert that much sugar. Plus it would add time to the brewing process which is already at around 3 to 4 hours (at least for me). So, I set my sights a bit lower at 72%. My last two brews were 61% and 54%. That's not bad, that horrible. Something was wrong, very very wrong.

I felt like for the most part I had my all-grain brewing process down pretty well, but I just couldn't get over the fact that I consistently hit low numbers. Something I was doing was not correct and I needed to figure out what. I talked to my normal sources of information (Ted and Paul) and I also searched the internet. I came up with a lot of answers but one kept showing up, the crush.

The crush is cracking the grain in order to get the maximum amount of enzymes to convert to sugar. I'm sure cousin Mike can go into more detail on that, but basically by crushing the grain at the right amount you can pull off the most sugar. This would make your brewing efficiency go up. I had always crushed my grain at the local homebrew store, Midwest Supplies. I never really paid super close attention to the setting of the mill. I figured hey, they're crushing hundreds of pounds of grain for customers everyday, it must be set correctly. I couldn't be any farther from the truth. Both Ted and Paul own their own mills, but they did tell me they would always run their grain through twice at Midwest because people mess with the settings of the mill. I think my other problem was that I didn't know what a proper crush looked like. The main thing I kept hearing was "You don't want to crush it too fine because you'll get stuck sparges". A sparge is where the water goes through after sitting on the grain. If the grain is too fine, it will clog up the mesh bottom. Being afraid of having this happen, I think I always though the crush was fine.

I was at Midwest talking to one of the people their and they even told me that I want to buy my own mill or pass it through a few times because people mess with the mill setting all the time. I have come to learn that it's such a problem at all of the local homebrew stores around here that Northern Brewer actually put the mill setting under some sort of lock. The guys as Midwest informed me they'll be changing the grain room here and be doing the same thing. In the end, I was tired of messing around with this and I had decided that I would buy my own mill. This was in October/November time frame. Time passed and I still hadn't bought my mill yet. It was cold outside and I didn't feel like sitting in the garage freezing. I was also still bitter about how my beers turned out and I had 2 full kegs of it. To me the beers weren't that good. My one beer, "Kitchen Sink" was exactly that. I used a bunch of hops I didn't know which were probably too old. It tasted horrible. I tried to let it age out but in the end it got the drain. I deemed it not worthy for human consumption. The other beer, hopped up Irish Red wasn't too bad.

The holidays came and went, then it was my birthday. Someone was trying to tell me something. I got 2 gift cards to Midwest Supplies. This would cover the cost of my new mill. Still, I didn't make the jump. I was just in a funk and couldn't get over it. Finally all my kegs were empty, but at this point we were working on our basement and I my brewing storage area was a mess. I couldn't even get to most of my stuff anyways. About 2 weeks ago the basement was finally finished and we started organizing stuff. I could see that there was a warm weekend coming up and Erin had plans for that whole day. Perfect. Just me, the dog, and my brewing stuff. It's time to get back in the saddle.

The morning started with emails back and forth between myself and the brew masters (I.E. Ted and Paul). Lucky for me they both have kids so not only were they up, but very quick on their emails. After a few emails back and forth I was set on the Monster Mill 2. I also figured out which recipe I was going to brew. I jumped in the car and was one of the first people in the door at 9am. Coffee in hand I went into the grain room and grabbed my grain. No milling for me my friend. I then went hunting for the mills. They have a few options there for mills, though I was rather set on the Monster. I talked with the people at the shop and they agreed that the best bang for your buck comes from the Monster. This thing is a hoss. It weighs about twice the amount of the other only real option, the Barley Crusher. Oh yeah, this was the smaller version of the Monster also with only 2 rollers. They offer a 3 roller option for you real bad asses. So I grabbed everything I need, checked out and went out to the car. I was ready to take on this brewing devil.

Everything I need, or so I thought

I get back home and I start putting it together. Just to give you an idea, those rollers are 6" long and 2" diameter. I really thought that it should have come with a "Keep hands away" sticker.

Awesome. So before I just start rifling grain through I thought I better read the manual just a little more to make sure there's nothing I'm missing. Oh yeah, how about this line. "Before milling, run 1 lb or more of grain through to remove any manufacturing residue". Crap. Back in the car, buy the cheapest 2.5lbs of grain I can get, go back home. Ok, now it's time to start putting this bad boy to work. A few adjustments and I had it pretty dialed in. I did quickly figure out that my drill can only handle so much grain at one time, which made for an interesting milling experience. Had a few mishaps but I got it figured out. I also sent a few pictures to Paul to confirm my crush was good.

Mill locked up, sending the drill spinning and grain flying everywhere. The dog loved it. 

A much better crush

With a quality crush in hand I started my brew processes as normal. The beer I was brewing was figured out while I was out skiing in Montana. There's an awesome brewery out there called Red Lodge Ales. They have a beer called "Czech Mate" which I couldn't get enough of. It was a nice well rounded beer that would be a perfect summer beer. It was great in the hot tub after a day of skiing too. My buddy Berto told me I should make a clone of it called "Czech Yourself". I thought this was a great idea. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? Well breweries don't just give up their recipes, so I had to guess. I'm hoping that someone from Red Lodge ales reads this post and lets me know if I'm close. I really wish I could get that beer here in Minneapolis. Here was my recipe for a 5 gal batch, 90 minute boil:

10 lbs Pilsner (Weyermann)
8.0 oz Carapils (Briess)
1.50 oz Saaz - Boil 75.0 min
1.00 oz Saaz - Boil 45.0 min
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 5 -
1.00 oz Saaz - Boil 15.0 min
0.50 oz Saaz - Boil 2.0 min
white labs san francisco lager wlp810

I finished up the boil and cooled down the wort. Now was the moment of truth. Did I actually fix my problem? The answer, Yes. I was so happy. I was shooting for a OG of 1.054, I got 1.062. It gave me a brewing efficacy of around 78%. I'm finally back in the saddle. My beer sits in a dark part of my basement fermenting at a cool 56 degrees. Hopefully this one will turn out to be a keeper. I'm already planning my next 2 beers to fill my 3 keg setup.

Many thanks to the people who didn't know they were pushing me to get back at it. While I drink this beer I'll be thinking about Montana.

Me at the top of Lone Mountain. 11,166 ft.

Prost!
-Ryan

Delaware & DC.. months later

I know, I've been slacking. Most of you probably forgot that I even ran a blog. Anyways, I'll quickly cap on the rest of my trip from the last time I wrote about NYC. I'll also try to be better about updating the blog. I know, I say that all the time.

Dogfish Head Brewery

Delaware was awesome. I strongly suggest checking it out. Dogfish Head brewery was really fun to visit. A great tour. We stayed a few blocks away from the brew pub which allowed us to sample a large amount of beer. The beach was really nice there. Not too over crowded. I felt that all the locals were very nice to outside visitors. We quickly figured out that we were at more of the "adult" beach and that all the kids liked to go to Ocean City, MD which was a few miles down the road.

Bought those sunglasses just before the paddle boarding trip, Lost them 10 minutes after this picture was taken

Erin and I also tried out Stand Up Paddleboarding. It was an absolute blast. We wanted to go surfing but the waves were not cooperating with us. Overall the Delaware adventure was a ton of fun. Wouldn't mind making it back out there.

After Delaware we finished up our trip in DC. Love the town, hate the people. Everyone thought there shit didn't smell there. Oh well, we did get to meet up with my buddy Torey who took us around Virginia wine country. Had some amazing views and tried some pretty good wine.

Torey, Erin, and myself at one of the wineries

Didn't do a lot of beer-related items in DC, mostly sight seeing. Seeing the white house in person was probably my favorite thing. It was really cool to see it in person. We did do a segway tour, which was actually a lot of fun. We got to see a ton of stuff in a quick(er) amount of time.

Nerd Alert!!

For more pictures, here's a link to the Delaware pictures and here is the DC pictures.

As for brewing, I'll have an update here soon as I'm brewing a lot this weekend.

Prost!

-Ryan

From Minne-Apple to the Big Apple, Brewer in the City

Erin and I don't take a lot of days off from work, but typically when we do it's for a large trip. This year's trip was named "East Coast Invasion, Round 2". Last year we came out east for my buddy Bobby and Heathers wedding, then toured all around. This year we went Mid-Atlantic. NYC, Delaware, and finishing up in DC.

Washington Square Park, NYC

This is my first time to NYC and I didn't really know what to expect. Here's what I was told: 1. It's dirty. 2. It's expensive. 3. Watch yourself at all times 4. People are rude. I'd say everything outside of point 2 was wrong, in my point of view at least. The city was a lot cleaner for an island that is home to 2.6 million people, or so. I'd say it was cleaner then Minneapolis most of the time. The smells do get a bit "fresh" at times. Think of not-so-fresh seafood and warm temperatures, mixed with last nights garbage.

Heart of Chinatown, Freedom Tower being built in the background.

While it is expensive, there are ways to do NYC on a budget. I have to give Erin all the credit here. We rented an apartment in the Lower east side to get a real feel of what living in NYC is like. We also had a roommate, Mike, who helped manage the property along with other properties they own. Our cost: $105/night. This is very very cheap. We also only rode the subway. Public transportation is the shit out east. I love it. For $30/each we got a 7 day unlimited rides metro pass. The subway station was 1 block from our place. Everywhere else we walked. Needless to say while I'd consider myself in ok shape, my feet on the other hand are not used to putting on those kind of miles. I got a blister the 3 day we were there. I don't know the NYC women wear 3"+ inch shoes. F that. I'll take my DC skate shoes.

Our room. It's "snug" in size

8.5oz of Diet Coke. Cost: $2.50. The price we pay to use the bathroom.

Safety isn't an NYC thing, it's a (fill in any major city) thing. Crazy enough, I felt more safe in NYC then I do in parts of Minneapolis. I think maybe it's the fact that there is always people around, be it 2pm or 3am. Be smart and you're fine.


This leads me to my final point, the citizens of NYC are awesome. Their style of no-bullshit, get out of my way I have somewhere to go works perfect with me. I felt myself becoming an New Yorker when I started to get "Rage Walk" as our friend Kelly called it. Basically thing of rage driving, but walking. If you're going to walk slow then move the F to the right and walk single file. New Yorkers also have no issues at all telling you where anything is. They might not tell you the local watering holes, but they'll tell you how to get different places. They really are great people. I also love the mix of people there. It's so different from Minneapolis. There's everyone under the sun and tons of different languages being spoken all the time. It's what I think America is, but in a really small area. A mixing bowl of culture and believes all wrapped into one.

The worst type of people to get stuck behind... The Asian Tourist. Even my Asian friends know what I'm talking about.

 Ryan, what about the beer? This is a beer blog damnit. Yeah, one minute.

There, that will tie you over until I start talking about beer.

The food in NYC is amazing. There are SOOO many options and different styles that you can't go wrong. I had two food requirements: A good hotdog and good "foldable" aka thin crust pizza. I had both. For the hotdog we hit up Gray's Papaya. Great dog at a killer price. For pizza we hit up the famous Joe's Pizza. Anywhere that Kevin Bacon AND Ben Affleck have ate can't be wrong. Well, maybe it can, but this place is solid. Many thanks to Kelly, Berto, Meara, Nghi, and Bao for showing us some killer food spots.

Tasty Wiener! YAY!

Dim Sum with Berto, Kelly, and Erin. Probably the worst picture ever.

Foldable Pizza with Bao. Crazy Delicious.

Ahhh Cute. Meara and Erin.

Nghi and Erin

 I did require seeing some tourist stuff. Saw times square and promptly left. Yup. It's times square. It's like a non-gambling version of vegas. Saw Central park. Meh. Check out the High Line. Way cooler. Little Italy kinda sucks. People there were pretentious and fake. It's also full of tourists. Go to Boston, much better. Ok, enough with the negative. Here's some sweet places: Dumbo, chinatown, the village, union square (awesome for seeing the crazies), Brooklyn, tons of places. It's great. If you go, hit up the tourist stuff quick and fast, then jump on the subway and go explore. Every stop is an adventure and has tons of cool stuff to see and do.

Dumbo

Above is a video of a crazy dude in a bra rapping with a guy in a banana suit. I couldn't stop laughing.

Ok, let's talk beer.

First day we got in there Berto and Kelly told us to meet them at McSorley's. It's the oldest ale house in NYC and didn't allow women until they were forced to in 1970. They told us that it get's really packed in there, but at 2pm on a Friday we should be ok. They only offer two beers: Dark and Light. It's a beer that's brewed up state just for the bar. They also didn't ask me on a size, which was 2 smaller glasses. They also don't give a shit about the amount of head on the beer, so by the time you get the two beers it's about the amount of 1 pint glass. At $5 for 2 beers, I wasn't going to bitch. What we found out later from a local is that they are known for kicking people out who don't continue to drink or people who only ask for 1 beer when they're busy. They also gave a out-of-town couple some really nasty looks when they walked in and asked what beers they had. So, I did your homework for you. If you go there, Pick a color, order in rounds of 2, don't stop until you're ready to leave.

Might look like a lot of beer, but if Erin can lift 4 of them full you know they're small.

Many people are starting to know Brooklyn Brewery. We didn't really plan in advance to go there and figured we could just jump on a tour. Now they require you order tickets in advance. Needless to say we didn't go there, but I'm really not to bothered by that. I'm not a big fan of their beers. I haven't had one yet that I say "Damn, that's good." They are ok, but nothing great. Doesn't mean that I wouldn't go to their brewery, it just means I'm not gonna cry about it like a sally. Maybe next time.

Chelsea Brewing Company

We did hit up Chelsea Brewing Company. Not bad brews (better then Brooklyn Brewing, IMO) shitty overpriced food. Go there and get the sampler, but save your money for a street vender for food.

Legends Football Factory, Main Level

Legends Football Factory is an awesome place to watch Football (soccer, not american) and get a pint. Really fun atmosphere and a wonderful place to watch some of the Euro Cup.

Sampler Tray at Heartland Brewing

Before we left we hit up Heartland Brewing company. There are a few locations of this and they all brew in house, much like Granite City in Minneapolis. As some of you know, I really do not like Granite City. I think their beer is Ok at best and their food is overpriced slightly higher quality Applebees. Needless to say I went into this place thinking it was going to be just like that. I could not be more wrong. Place had great beers and good food. Pricing was on par for NYC. I'd highly recommend getting there sampler. Also go to the location off Union Square. Should be a little more chill/NYC/less tourists. They had a Czech Pilsner there that made me proud.

Hey Pal, Your Ferrari has some garbage stuck to it.

Ok, This is a lot of reading for you guys, and a lot of typing for me. Our next stop is Rehoboth Beach, DE. That's the home to this little brewery that makes "Off-centered Ale for Off-Centered People". Check in later for that entry as I'm typing out the current entry from there. Ok, I'm off to the brewhouse. (Side note, wrote this post in Delaware, didn't actually post it until we were in DC.)

Don't mess with fire station cat.

Prost!

Ryan

It's Growing!!

For those of you who actively follow my blog you'll know that last year a combo of squirrels and my lack of knowing how to plant hops correctly yielded in me killing off about 5 plants. This year Ted offered me up another 2 plants to try to kill grow. This spring Minnesota had a very odd weather pattern. It became extremely warm (70's) very early, then dropped off in temp again. This made trying to time the planting of the hops a bit hard for me. On one side I had people like Ted and Paul saying plant them. On the other side I had Erin saying wait. Due to some traveling plans I decided to wait. Once again I planted the hops in planters so that I could move the plants if I wanted to.

Much like last year I had the damn squirrels digging up my plants again. I guess they like to hide nuts in the planters. The Chinook plant didn't make it. The Cascade plant survived the first few attacks before I finally figured out how to stop them. I found a tighter opening chicken wire that I wrapped over the top of the planter. That managed to stop the digging.

After about a week of watering and a relocation of the planter the plant managed to hit the wire protection around it. I changed the wire setup and watched in anticipation of yet another round of attacks. Lucky for me there was nothing after 3 days. Yesterday I noticed that the plant was now starting to look for something to grow on. It's time to run the rope.

Most first year plants don't produce many cones, if any. Hopefully I'll get something out of this little guy. I'm not expecting a lot but it would be fun. Next year should be a lot more interesting. I'll keep you updated with pictures as time goes on.

Prost!

-Ryan

Honoring Mike Feltault

Yesterday another good man left our world, Mike Feltault. I knew Mike through Finnegan's beer events and other beer tasting festivals. You could always count on Mike being the man with the camera. He was a fun guy to be around and I always will remember his smile, which he always had.

I ask that you all raise a pint tonight in Mike's honor, even if you didn't know him.

Rest in peace Mike. You will be missed.

-Ryan

Happy St. Patrick's day

Happy St. Patricks day! A few things I'd like everyone to remember on this day:

1. Support your local craft beer if possible.
2. Don't drink and drive.

With the unseasonably warm temps we're having in Minneapolis today, Erin and I plan on taking our bikes out to some local pubs to enjoy a pint.

I'll leave you all with this video which was sent to me by cousin Mike. Enjoy!

Prost!

-Ryan