Just an update on some of my brewing from over the past few weekends.

• Brewed the Two Hearted Clone last Saturday.
  • OG finished a little lower than I would have liked, but nothing terrible at 1.062 (was shooting for 1.065)
  • Lag time of about 8 hours. Also added 8 drops of FermCap to keep down on the krausen.
  • Dry hopped with 2oz of Centennial hops this weekend and moved into the closest for one week on the hops.
• Moved the Pliny the Elder (Imperial IPA) clone from a carboy into a bright keg.
  • Unfortunately the pelletized hops clogged up my ball lock, so I had to just open the keg and rack it in.
  • Finished out at 1.014 from an OG of 1.088. I tasted it and was quite impressed. I had the girlfriend taste it and she said even at this point, it’s better than Hopslam.
  • Noticed a bit of fusel alcohol aroma as it warmed. Hopefully some of this will age off a bit.
• Brought the Mango Blonde down to 37° last weekend.
  • Transfered to bright keg this weekend and added 6lbs of mango. Looking back at it though, should not have moved this into the bright tank. I think I’ll just swap dip tubes.
  • Also, fitting 6lbs of mango into the keg lost me about a gallon of beer. Not a big deal.
• Chilled and carbonated the La Fin Du Monde clone.
• Bottled 20 bottles of my Oatmeal Stout and 14 Bottles of the Southern English Brown. Dumped the rest of the Oatmeal Stout.
  • Had a lot of foaming with the Oatmeal Stout, I think it was due to the keg being warm.

This weekend I tackled a Raspberry Wheat beer. 47.9% Pils, 47.9% White Wheat and 4.3% Crystal 15. One additional of Willamette at 60 minutes to bring it to 18 IBUs. I’ll add 3lbs of raspberry puree after primary fermentation has ceased.

I also did overnight mash for this beer. I’m trying to avoid brewing on Sundays and thanks to the awesome Repeal of Prohibition festival I was busy Saturday afternoon. So I began my mash right before heading for dinner on Friday night, came home and brought the temperature up to 174 with my heatstick and left it overnight. I woke up early on Saturday morning and began heating my sparge water. The temp on the mash dropped to 153 overnight, so I used the heatstick to bring it back up to 170. Did my sparge and then boiled. I was hoping this would make a 6 hour brew day only 3-4 hour day, but thanks to a 90 minute boil it was closer to 4.5-5 hours. Still made for an interesting experiment.

Oh, this was also my 6th batch in 6 weeks. Whew. Talking a Belgian Wit this weekend and then taking off a few weeks from brewing. I’m sure it’ll make Irene happy.

Ok, ok, so I’m a little late getting this up. But can you blame me? Did you see that beer list I posted a few days ago? Anyway, I’m going to try and give you a lot of sights of this event and very little of my blathering. So keep checking in for lots of pictures of the event and a little bit of chatter.

2:20 - Remember my attempt at a Randal the Enamel Animal? Well I’ve got nothing on Schlafly’s designed by James Ottolini:

2:30 -  Here’s the food available for today’s event. You also get to enjoy the sounds of Swing Deville while you’re enjoying your brat.

2:50 - The unveiling of the new Confucius!

3:40 - Lines are still long not only to enjoy the fine offerings of Schlafly but the fantastic Indiana Breweries as well.

4:30 - It’s amazing how when the festival dwindles down the homebrew always comes out!

5:02 - The aftermath of yet another great festival.

Who’s ready for rain and cold and Indiana beer tomorrow?! When this event was announced a few months ago I thought to myself, “Finally, a nice warm month to enjoy some great beer with other beer enthusiasts.” And of course Mother Nature decided to give us another Cabin Fever but with the added bonus of rain. But we’ll get the last laugh, all of that CO2 from the beer has to go somewhere! Take that Nature!

Stuff from around the web

• In case you missed the Repeal of Prohibition Toast at the Tap Room because you wanted to sleep, there’s video here.
• You may or may not have seen the list of Top 50 Breweries in America by sales for 2007.
• Here are some other very interesting stats about craft brewing in the US.
• A review of the Schlafly Pilsner has been added to Beer Review Online.
• Sam Adams recalled a boatload of beer due to glass shards in some of the bottles.

Beer Releases and News

• Paul at The Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton alerts me to some new beers he has in stock:
  • Bass Pub Cans
  • Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat
  • Left Hand Polestar Pilsner (Bottled on 04/09/08!)
  • Left Hand Jackman’s Pale Ale
  • Left Hand Deep Cover Brown Ale
• Ric at Sybergs on Gravois alerts me to some new beers he’s carrying for your drinking enjoyment:
  • Rogue - Hazelnut Brown Nectar
  • Paulaner - Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier

Here’s a list of upcoming beer events:

• April 12 - Schlafly Repeal of Prohibition Festival
• April 16 - “Tripel” Around the World at Whole Foods
• April 23 - Beer Tasting with Ray Hill at Rendezvous Cafe & Wine Bar
• April 26 - 2008 Beerfest at Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton
• April 30 - Starr’s Beer Dinner

If you haven’t made your mind up whether you’re planning on to attend the Schlafly Repeal of Prohibition Festival, maybe this list will finally get you to pony up the 25 bucks. The following is the tentative list and could be subject to change.

Schlafly

• Pale
• Hefe
• Oatmeal Stout
• Pilsner
• APA
• #15
• Kolsch
• Raspberry Hefeweizen
• Coffee Stout
• ESB
• Vienna
• American Brown
• Maplewood Ale
• Irish Extra Stout
• Biere de Garde
• Barleywine
• Imperial Stout

Brugge Brasserie

• Tripel de Ripple
• Brugge Black
• Brugge White

Mad Anthony Brewing Company

• Ol Woody Pale Ale
• Auburn Lager
• Black Squirrel Oatmeal Stout

New Albanian Brewing Company

• NABC Hoptimus Imperial IPA
• NABC Phoenix Kentucky Komon
• NABC Elsa Von Horizon Imperial Pilsner
• NABC Thunderfoot (Imperial Stout)

Three Floyds

• Alpha King
• Rabbid Rabbit

I’m sure you’ve been barraged by all sorts of media about the anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition, and I guess I’m no exception. But this is too important of an anniversary for it to go unnoticed. Thanks to the 21st Amendment we’ve now legally been able to enjoy beer for the past 75 years. We’ve seen the beer industry have its ups and downs, but I think we’re finally returning to the pre-Prohibition days where beer was local and large cities had multiple breweries providing their product to the locals.

In celebration of the event, Anheuser-Busch was kind enough to send me a replica wooden case similar to the ones around post-Prohibition. They also included a 6-pack of Budweiser and a bottle opener. You’ll notice that my 6-pack is now a 5-pack, that’s because one of my friend snagged a beer before I could take a picture.

There are going to be a number of events happen all of this week to celebrate the event:

• Today at approximately 10AM, Dan Kopman of Schlafly will be on the Charlie Brennan show on KMOX to discuss the importance of the anniversary.
• Anheuser-Busch has expanded it’s Tour Center to include more information about how AB stayed alive during the days of Prohibition. You can preview the tour here.
• Schlafly will be hosting an appetizer beer pairing cocktail party on April 7th at Schlafly Bottleworks for SIP Club members to celebrate the event.

Also if you’re a history nerd like I am, you’ll also want to watch this YouTube video of August A. Busch Jr.’s national radio address from KMOX CBS Radio at 12:01 a.m. on April 7, 1933. They also have some more media up on their website that you should check out. Video after the break. Read the rest…

If you’re the kind of person that doesn’t need to get up on a Monday morning to go to work and loves beer, I have quite the event for you. On Monday, April 7th at 12:01AM, Schlafly will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition with a barrel tap and toast:

Join us as we kick-off the celebrations commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition with a Barrel Tap and Toast. Patrons attending the special session will receive a commemorative pint glass with the purchase of their first pint. The events for the week will culminate in the Repeal of Prohibition Beer Festival at Bottleworks.

I’m still debating if I want to man-up and attend on Sunday evening. Could make for a long day at work on Monday. Anyone else planning on attending?

Another Friday is upon us, which means it’s time for the Round-Up:

Stuff from around the web

• Anheuser-Busch keeps rolling out new Michelob styles.
• Here’s a press release regarding the upcoming Brewers Heritage Festival.
• Make Mine Potato visits Sweet Water Brewing in Atlanta, GA.
• Have you voted for Short’s Brewing to come to Missouri? If not, vote now!

Beer Releases and News

• Andrew from Bon Vivant Wines informs me to some new beers he has in his stock:
  • Brauerei Aying - Ayinger Altbairisch Dunkel
  • Victory Brewing Co - Victory Old Horizontal Barleywine
• Andy from Whole Foods let’s us know about some new beers he has in his stock (and remember if you don’t see it on the shelf, be sure to ask for it):
  • Bell’s Brewery - Oberon
• Paul at The Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton alerts me to some new beers he has in stock:
  • Wye Valley Brewery - Dorothy Goodbody’s Our Glass
  • Moorhouse’s Brewery - Pendle Witches Brew
  • O’Fallon Brewery - Wheach

Here’s a list of upcoming beer events:

• April 4 - Schlafly Spring Beer Dinner at the Ritz Carlton
• April 5 - Repeal of Prohibition Pre-Party at Whole Foods
• April 7 - Beer Class at the Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton
• April 10 - Belgian Beer Blowout at Wine Merchant in Clayton
• April 12 - Schlafly Repeal of Prohibition Festival
• April 16 - “Tripel” Around the World at Whole Foods
• April 26 - 2008 Beerfest at Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton

In the run up to the Repeal of Prohibition Festival at Schlafly Bottleworks, Whole Food’s Culinary Director Ric Syberg, is putting on a pre-party:

It’s a good thing that Prohibition was repealed; otherwise we wouldn’t have the sweet nectar we call beer. Come join us to celebrate the anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition on this special night. Consider it a pre-party in preparation for the big festival at Schlafly Bottleworks! We’ll have a spectacular line-up of Schlafly Beer paired with some delectable appetizers prepared by Ric. It’s going to be prohibitively fun! 

This event takes place on April 5th, from 6:30-8PM.  The cost of the event is $25 and the tickets can be purchased here.