It's a beautiful day here in Pasadena. My thermometer in the garage reads 70F and there's a nice little breeze. Both dogs are bouncing around the yard and yapping, playing in the sun while I sit here writing and doing my day job as well (instead of a coffee break, I'm taking a brewing break!)
I started brewing late today and I'm doing a split Saison and Amber Belgian Speciality. (more on that later)
Is the HWBC shop a drop-off point for entries in the NHC/AHA competition? If so, what are the dates we can drop off for transport to San Diego? I remember seeing something about it a while ago, but can't seem to find the info.
Great idea. I do think that at least two BJCP judges on the board, preferably the grand hydro, should taste every entry before it is put into the barrel. I'd hate to see a bad beer infect the whole barrel. Also, put some clean beer in the barrel now. Try it in a month or so before you add the Imperial Stouts. One never knows if some unwanted critters are living in the wood.
How does this make you feel? Jason Alstrom of the BeerAdvocate brothers has a good point - we're reaching the point where many first generation brewers are thinking of retiring. If you don't have a successor in mind or an heir to throne, what happens?
Not to alarm anyone, but you may in the coming week find that maltosefalcons.com doesn't respond to your requests for more beer knowledge.
Why? In an effort to improve performance our hosting partner (BecoTech) is setting us up a little differently. When the dust settles out, the anticipated side effect is greater control and better responsiveness on the part of the website.
I'll post again when the transition is going to begin. When you see that post, just wait for the all clear and everything will be dandy.
Because of a stupid little football game, the February meeting will be on Saturday February 6, but the Annual Chili Cook-off will go ahead as scheduled. Please post here or e-mail the Burgermeister of your intention to enter a chili. Please plan to arrive about noon to start heating the chilis.
The Maltose Falcons Annual Chili Cook Off Rules are:
On New Year's Eve I got the chance to share a 5 year old bottle of Victory Brewing's V-Twelve. The inspiration for this beer is a Belgian Dark Ale/Quad. The beer comes in a corked 750ml, and has a bottled date, with a recommendation of consuming within 5 years.
So yesterday, the 12th, 30 of us gathered at the Home of the Stuffed Sandwich for our annual Xmas tasting. Sam and Marlene always generate a great list with a lot of oddities. In this case they managed to find 10 of 13 beers that I've never tried. See what you missed on a beautiful cold and rainy Los Angeles day?Good job by our new Activities Director Mike G for his work getting this event off the ground (and to our old AD - John Kaufman for getting things rolling)
Watch for this month's newsletter with Bruce Brode's tasting notes and official scores.
I just finished rereading the great posts here by the Raines Man on Yeast propagation and maintenance. SWEET. Thanks Rainey. It made my day.
Having just ordered an All-American 21-1/2-Quart presure cooker from Amazon, will be set up for real yeast ranching. I will now be able to make up a big batch of DME starter wort for some stir plate madness yeast starters. Now that is going to be extra nice.
Seriously folks, if I read one more person saying that running a few gallons of boiling water through their CFC is sufficient to both clean and sanitize their chillers, I'm going to cry.
Look at the bottom of your kettles over time. See all that stuff in there? That same stuff (to a lesser extent) is forming in your CFC as well.
So, the Drew method of cleaning and preparing a CFC.
1) Recirculate hot PBW (~140F) solution through a pump and the CFC assembly.
2) Circulate/Push hot water through the system for 5 minutes
Just a reminder to all that the next shop brew is Sunday November the 15th at 8:00am. It will be held at the Home Beer Wine and Cheese Making Shop in Woodland Hills. The style is American pale ale, and the brew crew leader will be our president, Steve Cook.
It seems like you can't just post something, you have to have a blog to spread beer related info? Let me know if I'm missing something.
Anyhoo- Verdugo Ryan gives a shout out to the Falcons in an interview with the latest Sunset. They ask "Where can you learn to brew your own?" and he says Falcons. PG gets the silver.
Los Angeles just did the unthinkable - we had a Beer Week, actually a Beer 11 days. Sure there were glitches, but for a first year event it was amazingly smooth.
Today will be the last day to drop off your entries for Stern Grove at the Shop. Please have them there by closing time, 7:00 p.m. I will be picking up all entries tomorrow and driving them up to San Fransisco to drop off.
So get those last minute entries in and make the Falcons proud! Remember, Anchor looks at Stern Grove entries for the home brew club of the year.
I spent another wonderful day brewing yesterday again with my brother Eric. We brewed up a batch of Belgian IPA. This recipe was modeled after the February club shop brew called Falcon - Belgique, which was led by Jim McGowan.
I was pleasantly surprised that my brother liked this style of beer, and suggested we brew it. It has a load of hops, which he is normally not too fond of, and was fermented with Wyeast 1214 yeast. Of course there was a good malt backbone to this beer too.
