Aloha folks! It has indeed been a while! So here are my updates.
1. I have officially put my 2 week notice in sparepartswarehouse.com. Wednesday, April 17th will be my last day, and I am so pumped.
2. I am preparing to live my dream and help run a homebrewshop. We have a kickstarter, if so PLEASE, donate what you can! I will be giving a short presentation on Osborn Brewing at the NHC in Zanesville.
Click here to watch an amazing video and donate!
3. I have made 10 beers so far this year.
4. I am going back to bottling and I will now explain why.
So, you want to try kegging? Guess what, it's AWESOME. In fact, kegging is TOO AWESOME for me. Why? Beer the is ready in about 24 hours (Longer if you're patient, and I tend not to be. ) And easily drinkable. There is no gauging how much you have had, except by counting the pints, and lifting the keg. The average time a keg is on tap with me is 4 days. Rarely more, more often less. It kind of stinks, because I am burning through the beer faster than I am making it, which means I need to either A. Brew more often (Which I really can't do right now.) Or B. Brew Larger batches, which isn't possible as my equipment is set up for 5 Gallon batches. Add to this I have been on a late hopped beer kick lately, using 5-6 oz a batch, and you've got a recipe for not enough beer.
Don't get me wrong, kegging your beer is AMAZING and every brewer should eventually take the plunge. But in reality I miss having the cases of bottles, having something tangible that I know I made and can hold in my hand. I miss counting the bottles the batch yielded, looking at them, I miss bottling and I never thought I would say that. So, kegging is great. It's one of the best decisions I have ever made in brewing, it just...doesn't cut for me. I should have realized the dangers when our first keg of Ass Kickin' Coffee Stout blew in less than a week. My roommate had brewed the batch with me and we were both a little shocked. So when I say I want to go back to bottle, I only yearn to do so I may have more bottles and know how much is left.
What else have I been up to? Well, since I have posted last, I have made several beers, and I will try to list them all now. (As a side note, I judged in the Wizard of Saaz in Akron, Ohio, and won a 55lb bag of Weyermann Pilsner malt.)
1. SMaSH: 5oz Motueka & 15lb of two-row malt.
2. Left Overs Dark Brown Ale: 10lb of Pilsner malt, and the left over crystal, pale chocolate, and special B malts along with the rest of my Midnight wheat malt. (GREAT stuff btw.)
3. Worldly Chap: I named this late hopped pale ale Worldly chap because it has ingredients from all over the world: 10lb german pilsner malt, 1 lb Marris Otter (English) 1 lb Golden Promise (English) 1 lb Crystal 20 (American) 1oz Citra (American) 1oz Sorachi Ace (Originally Japanese) 1oz Motueka (New Zealand.) Dry Hopped with an ounce of each. It smelled like pineapples.
4. SMaSH 10lb Pilsner & 5oz Galena - I made this to be cheap. I had all of the ingredients on hand.
All are gone except the SMaSH pils-Galena, because it's in the carboy. Kegs are evil.
I am going to post the link one last time, PLEASE Share this on FB, on everything you can, we need to raise all we can! I can't wait to start working in a homebrew shop! Thanks!
Click here to watch an amazing video and donate!
