it didn't suck

-tasted the wheat yesterday...a little light, but with an orange, it shouldn't be so bad
-bottled the octoberfest today...tasted great, can't wait till its conditioned and carbonated

doin it doin it doin it well...

Bottled the wheat today...tasted light and was at 1.00 final gravity, we'll see

Racked the octoberfruit
-tasted pretty good had some strange smells, very very cloudy
-1.2 gravity
-not a lot of trub, but still a decent amount
-little krausen ring with hops floating on the apples that were swelled and browning
-overall i'm optomistic, i don't think i'd leave fruit in the primary more than a week and i'm glad the hops were bagged during boil, this trappist yeast is definately high in aculation or flaculation, which ever is suspended yeast in the brew...very brown/orange coloring...i need more bottles to bottle the octoberfest, maybe i'll just wait a week and do the ginger at the same time...out

First Partial Mash

4:50 - Put 3 gallons of Water in Pot with Grains (2lbs. of 2 - Row Pale, 2lbs. Munich, .25lbs. Chocolate), Grains are in a sock stretched over the inside of the pot.
5:20 - Took off Heat at 155 Degrees, wrapped pot in towels
5:50 - Checked Temp, about 155
6:20 - Pulled up bag and Sparged with .75 Gallons (Approx. 3.75 Gallons of Wort Now)
6:30 - Added 2 lbs. of Amber LME, 2lb. of Extra Light DME
7:00 - Brought to boil and Added Willamette 4.1 Pellet Hops in Bag
7:45 - Added Cascade 5.3 Pellet Hops and 1 tsp. Irish Moss to bag
8:00 - Stopped Boil, Added 1 can of Cranberry Extract and 1lb. of Honey and Ice Bathed
8:30 - Added Wort to 2 Gal of Cold Water (Now 5.5 Gallons of Wort at 100 Deg. Temp, Sliced two granny smith and two red delicious apples onto surface
8:40 - Added Trappist Liquid Yeast WLP 500 Stirred and Capped

Original Gravity = 1.6 Looking at an 8% Alcohol Content :0)

-Went pretty well, Took a long time on the stove, need more heat!!! Honey and Juice dulled the hoppy smell, but neither is overpowering, hopefully a good mix of flavors is what is left. This recipe is all about balance and I'm hoping we get close or one takes over but isn't too dominating. Only time will tell.
-The mash wort truly was sweet, but i need a better way to Sparge.
-I NEED A WORT CHILLER HARD!!!

No Trade Backs...

live with intention.
walk to the edge.
listen hard.
practice wellness.
play with abandon.
laugh.
choose with no regret.
continue to learn.
appreciate your friends.
do what you love.
live as if this all there is.

List of Recipe's and Critiques...

1st Batch Ever (1/7/06)...
"Pilsner" Ale
-Brewmart Chech Pilsner Malt 1.8 Kg
-Laaglander Dried Malt Extract - Extra Light 1lb.
-Hallerau 1 oz. (1/2 oz. boiling, 1/2 oz. finishing)
-2 cups Corn Sugar

This brew didn't taste that good, sorta like a shitty budweiser, which is terrible enough said...

Amber Bock
-3/4 cup corn sugar
-6lb. light LME
-1.64 lbs. extra light DME coopers
-1/2 lb. chocolat
-3/4 lb. cara/munich
-1/3 lb. biscuit toasted
-1 oz. target hops (boiling)
-1 oz. hallertau (last 15 minutes)

-I remember this being very good, better with time, full bodied

English Amber
-3/4 eng. crystal, 1/4 dextrine, 1/2 bisquit
-1/2 gal LME
-1.45 lb. extra light DME coopers
-2 packets of coopers pure brewers yeast
-1 oz. perle pellet hops (boil)
-1 oz. kent golding hops (last 10 minutes)
-3/4 cup sugar

Turned out ok as I remember, nothing to speak of, not as good as the bock

Dry Stout
-1 lb. f. barley, 3/4 lb. roast barley, 1/4 lb. B.P.
-3/4 cup Corn Sugar
-1 Liter LME
-4.28 lbs. extra light DME
-1 oz. Glena pellet hops (60 min.)

Tasted plenty good, conditioned excellently

IPA
-1/2 lb. C-60, 1/2 lb. Victory
-1.5 lb. extra light DME
-1/2 gal. LME
-3/4 cup corn sugar
-11 g. Nottingham Brewers Yeast
HOPS
60 min. 1oz. Centennial Pellet
30 min. 1oz.
15 min 1/2oz.
10 min 1/2oz.
5 min 1/2oz.
0 min 1/2oz.

Shit yes this stuff was awesome, Karl said it was tried and true, he was right

Smithwicks
-1oz. fuggle hops (60 min)
-1oz. fuggle hops (30 min)
-.5oz. golding (15 min)
-.5oz. golding (2 min)
-1lb. f.barley, 8oz. 20 barley, 2 oz. roasted barley
-.5lbs. extra light DME
-1 cup corn sugar
-1 tsp. Irish Moss (last 15 min)
-British Ale Yeast WLP P005 Liquid

Left way too long in the primary, krausen ring fell into brew and made it chunky, tasted OK but not very good, not like Smithwicks at all

German Wheat
-6lbs. light DME
-1lb wheat grain,1/3 oatmeal
-1 oz. hallertau hops (4.6 aa 60 min)
-1/2 oz. saaz (15 min 3.6 oz.)
-1/2 oz. saaz (5 min 3.6 oz.)
-Hefeweisen IV liquid yeast

Very banana and clover tasting, tasted very good though after time, had to get used to the flavor

Nut Brown
-.8 lbs. xtra light DME
-1 oz. northern brewers 6.5 (60 min)
-1/2 oz. fruggle (15 and 5)
-Nottingham Dry Yeast 11g.

Tasted great, once caleb figured out the kegging process

Caleb's "I gotta baby" Milk Stout
I hope you got this one Caleb, I don't know where the recipe is, but it smells great I bottled it today

American Wheat
Don't know if i wrote this down or not, 1st full boil, Ice bath does shit for a full boil batch, killed the yeast in the hott wort, repitched couple days later, american yeast in the bag, not bottled yet, went to secondary after 3 weeks or so

So there they are, that's the beer diary in a nutshell, of the brews I'd like to brew again are
-Nutbrown
-IPA
-Dry Stout
-Bock
-Milk Stout (haven't tried it yet, but it sure smells good)

Tried the Octoberfest today during secondary racking, tasted watery and light, smelled good though, also racked the Ginger Porter, forgot to taste but should be good.

Note to self...

Brew something like New Holland's MadHatter...also, bring home toilet paper

Smells so good....

Let it begin...

How is life treating you? Better yet, how are you treating life? - Eddie Vedder

I Just started an Octoberfest on Thursday, it smells great...I got it at a homebrew store called Siciliano's Market in Grand Rapids towards Grandville...the place is great, you can mill your own mix of grains from the bulk buckets they have out, you can measure your own dry and liquid malts, and they have a great selection of both hops and yeasts, not to mention its a full liquor store with tons of different beers, pretty much heaven...but this time i just wanted a quick recipe so i picked up a prepacked Octoberfest...can't find the recipe right now, but it smells great, first time i put the batch in a glass carboy for the primary, its really neat to see all the activity, bubbles, krausen ring forming etc...

Friday I picked up from the store a ginger porter recipe and I made it on Sunday afternoon...

-2 gal H20 brought to a boil with a sock full of 1lb. 120 crystal malt and 1/3 lb. of chocolate malt
-Removed right before boil then added at boil 3.3 lbs. Dark LME, 1.5 lbs. Dark DME
-brought to a boil again added 1 oz. of cascade pellets and approx. 4 oz of grated ginger (reminded me of sushi)
-50 min later added 1 oz of cascade hops
-After 60 min boil total ice bathed
-Poured wort into 3.5 gal of Cold Water
-Poured dry 56 yeast that had been sititng in warm water for 45 minutes onto surface
-10 minutes later stirred in yeast and toped bucket

It started to bubble last night after about 20 hours from brewing

This brew hopefully won't be overpoweringly gingery, with a light to medium based porter to back it.

Meanwhile my german wheat is only getting better with age, I didn't really like it at first maybe because of the distict banana clover taste that i just wasn't ready for, but either way i love it now and really am enjoying it.

Fridge: German Wheat HB
MGD cans
New Holland Amber - its ok, a little bitter with a strange aftertaste
Founders Double IPA - holy hops, i love IPA's but this is a little too much

I wanna do this...
http://www.siebelinstitute.com/course_desc/intl_diploma.html

How's everyone else doing out there?