100th Post, Erick's IPA, and A Two-Week Rollercoaster

Wow - the 100th post here. Hard to believe that a) time has gone so fast and b) I had that much to say.

Well, I'm sitting here sipping on Erick's IPA that he and I brewed together in January and bottled on Feb 11. Pretty darned tasty. Not harsh, nice dry-hopped bitterness and floral aromas. Great head and retention, and cleared fairly well. I'll be savoring this six pack of it! I'll do a 'rating' later.

Quite a few weeks it's been. On Friday, 2/22, Justin, Jess, and Dave came over to the house for one wicked tasting. We enjoyed:

• Allagash Grand Cru (750)
• North Coast Brother Thelonious (750)
• Gouden Carolus Cuvee van de Keizer (750)
• East End Three (1 L)
  
• Ommegang Ommegeddon (750)
  
• Lost Abbey Judgment Day (750)
  
• Full Sail Black Gold Imperial Stout Bourbon Barrel Aged (22 oz)

So the four of us polished those off over a few hours while watching comedians on YouTube, BS'ing, and starting an episode of the original Police Squad. Great evening!

Last week was busy at work and my wife was fighting a wicked head cold while doing 12-hour rotations at the local E.R. On 2/28, I got another year older, but celebrated with Erick and Betsy (and Dana) at The Coney with some bottled Nugget Nectar.

The real downer was yesterday, however, when my 57 year-old aunt Debbie passed away after battling with lung cancer, which had spread aggressively to her brain and her bones. My dad's only sister (she was ~14 years younger) and my only aunt (Mom's an only child). She lived her adult life in Woodbridge, VA but will be buried in PA next to my grandparents on Saturday.

Such is life, though. For those of you who smoke: you're idiots.

In other news, we're trying to decide what to do next week for our March Homebrewers club meeting. IUP is on Spring Break next week, too, so I'm hoping to brew a batch and perhaps do an encore Spring Break Beer Road Trip.

Oh - finally. Happy Birthday to my brother Jason!

IPA and Coffee Porter to Secondary

My buddy Erick came over after work today and I helped him rack his first batch of homebrew to secondary. The gravity was at 1.010, so looking good. Tasted pretty good. We dry hopped it with 1 oz. of Cascade flower at 7.4%AA.

After that, I transferred my coffee porter to secondary. I'll be picking up the coffee extract (going with a quart of cold-pressed Sumatran Mandheling from Commonplace again). Porter gravity was at 1.011 and tasted super.

Can't wait for both of these to be done!

Beer, Books, and Yogurt

Both brews from this week (porter and IPA) are finished bubbling vigorously, but I didn't get a chance to rack to secondary today. With IUP's semester starting tomorrow, there were just too many others things to attend to.

Over the weekend, I was point towards a cool book site, where you can 'rate' and review books that you've read, share lists with friends, join discussion groups, etc. If you're a bookworm, and haven't already found it, check out goodreads.com. It's a free account, and you just need a valid email. I've kept a list of books that I've read over the years because every time I go to the library, I need to remind myself if I've read a book or not. It's particularly a problem with all the popular fiction I read where authors tend to make similar titles - like John Sandford's "Prey" titles, or James Patterson's nursery rhyme homages. I really need to read some more 'classic' literature, but by the time I get done with a day of technical reading, I just wanna unwind with books I don't have to think about.

Finally, in the spirit of fermentation, I broke out the yogurt maker tonight (first time in a long time), and made a batch for the week. One of these days, I want to try to make cheese!

A Symphony of Bubbling

Walked into my kitchen this morning to find two 5 gallon primary buckets bubbling away nicely, with the metronomic clicking of two airlocks (not in synch, however). 'Tis a beautiful thing.

Homebrew #2 for 2008 - Teaching a Friend

Two days in a row of homebrewing broke my dry spell quite well (hadn't brewed since August '07!)

Today, I tutored a buddy on extract brewing. Erick, also neighbor/colleague and fellow Indiana Homebrewers Club member, wanted to get started in brewing. He purchased ingredients for an IPA, his wife (for Xmas present) bought a carboy and bottling bucket, and I supplied some miscellaneous gear and my kitchen.

Erick came over at 2pm and I walked him through the extract brewing process ... by 5:30, the yeast was pitched and we were cleaned up. A bit shorter than yesterday!

Here's the recipe for Erick's IPA:
- 4 lbs. pale LME
- 3 lbs. extra light DME
- 10 oz 40 °L crystal malt
- 1.5 oz Nugget (60 min)
- 3/4 oz. each Northdown, Willamette; 1/4 oz. Nugget (15 min)
- 1/4 oz. each Northdown, Willamette, Nugget (1 min)
- pitched with Wyeast 1056
- O.G. 1.051