Beer Club

[Opsa]

How long ya gonna let it sit before you invite us all over?

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

Oh, you can come over now... you just need to bring your own beer!   

[Opsa]

Fair enough. What recipe did you use? Can you post it here?

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

It's a recipe for Scottish Ale of my own creation.

Originally, I came up with it based on some tables in the New Complete Joy of Homebrewing (though, sadly, my copy was ruined while I was living in a basement apartment that flooded whenever it rained).

I had to modify the recipe a bit this time, since the home brewing supply shop of my youth has become a shadow of its former self and now only carries a limited number of products.

Here's the recipe:

yield

- makes about 40 standard 341 ml bottles

ingredients

1 kg amber dry malt extract
500 g carastan malt
125 g roasted barley
1 oz Fuggles hops (bittering)
0.5 oz Fuggles hops (finishing)
your favourite ale yeast

1 cup molasses (for bottling)

directions

- let 20 gallons of water sit for several days (I find this gets rid of some residual chlorine and generally makes it taste better)
- crack (don't crush) the carastan and roasted barley in a grain mill (if available)
- place cracked carastan and roasted barley in a grain bag (if available)
- bring water to a boil in a large brewpot
- add dry malt extract, bittering hops and place grain bag in water (if no grain bag, add grains directly to water)
- boil for one hour.  15 minutes before the end of the boil, add the finishing hops
- during boil, prepare yeast according to directions on packet
- remove from heat and let cool (use a wort chiller if you have one - if not, cover to keep any stray bacteria out)
- when cool to 35 degrees C or so, siphon into a sterilized carboy (leaving as much hop and grain munge behind as you can) and pitch the yeast.
- seal the carboy with an airlock and place at room temperature out of the light (I've got a cardboard box that I use as a light shield)
- leave the carboy alone for several weeks

- once fermentation is complete, divide 1 cup of molasses equally between 40 bottles, rack beer into bottles and cap.

- after a few weeks, the beer will be carbonated (but molasses-y)

- after 1-2 months, the beer will (hopefully) be a good Scottish ale.

- drink to taste!

[Aggie]

Any Pixies fans in the house?  Here's a beer-filk of "Caribou" (original at bottom):

"Unibroue"

I drink lager
I hate this sh*t
Give ale to me
Double ferment
This Molson piss
Which I won't miss
I now repent

Unibroue [3x]

Repent
Re-pe-ent

Give me white
Blanche de Chambly
And Maudite
Beer on lees
Drunk me gets
I will drink
What I like

Unibroue [3x]

Repent
Rep-pent

Original:

"Caribou"

I live cement
I hate this street
Give dirt to me
I bite lament
This human form
Where I was born
I now repent

Caribou [3x]

Repent
Re-pe-ent

Give me white
Ground to run
And foregone
Lets me knife
Knife me lets
I will get
What I like

Caribou [3x]

Repent
Rep-pent

[Opsa]

I used to be in a band called "The Flying Shards" in the 80's (post-punk) and we had a song called "War Bonds" that had this chorus:

"Booze, booze, booze
Against bombs, against bombs
Alcohol against Armageddon
Drink, drink, drink
for disarmament
Until you puke for peace-
This is a drink-a-thon!"


Given Bush's last speech, I will be having a tiny drink-a-thon for peace this weekend.  I just got something called Old Dominion Oak Barrel Stout that I'm going to try.

[Aggie]

Hah!  I think you might just get Kiyo to start an anti-war protest club with that one!

Mmmm... oaked beers might just be the next big thing.  Still love that Innis & Gunn. Let me know how that beer turns out. 

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

Beer update:

Looks like my yeast was dead - three weeks and no fermentation at all, so I finally went out and got another packet.

Just pitched it and already it's bubbling merrily.   We're three weeks late, but moving fast.

[Opsa]

Let us have a moment of silence for Lambi's yeast. Oh yeast, we hardly knew ye.

We'd like to get to know the bubbly yeast, though.

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

It's probably for the best.  I got a bit suspicious when they handed me a packet that only said "yeast" - no words like "ale" anywhere to be found.

And the good news is that I found a new excellent source of ingredients, and much closer than my old homebrew shop!  The place I bought yeast #2 is like the one near me in university: it's mainly a brew-on-premises place, so they've got lots of fresh ingredients in bulk.  Need exactly 2.5 kg of liquid malt extract?  Just grab a tub, open the spigot and fill to suit.   

It was also nice that the clerk reacted oddly when he found out I needed yeast for a batch that was "only" five gallons.   

[Bluenose]

Just found this on another sire, and thought I had to share it here:

Our Lager
Which art in barrels
Hallowed be thy drink
Thy will be drunk ( I will be drunk )
At home as if in tavern
Give us this day our foamy head
And forgive us our spillage's
As we forgive those who spill
against us
And lead us not to incarceration
But deliver us from hangovers
For thine is the beer, the bitter, the lager
For ever and ever....
Barmen

[Aggie]

ZOMG....  best chocolate-vanilla stout EVER (not too sweet, but very cacao):


(not my photo)

http://micro.dieuduciel.com/en/beers.php



_{for the record, it's totally worth the $20 for a six-pack}

[Bluenose]

Time for a bit of thread necromancy.

My new favourite beer: Two Birds Sunset Ale - it's scrumptious!



See a review here ^{(just close the subscription pop-up)}

[Opsa]

What do you like about it?


Some friends gave us a big bottle of Hardywood Hoperation Pink IPA for xmas. Grapefruit ale? We haven't tried it yet. We have a friend who is growing hops and want to wait for him to come over and sample it with us.

[Aggie]

Here's a beer that I found a while ago... IMHO there are better IPAs out there, but the inscription on the label caught my attention:

Here's to Daniel Lapp, Oliver Schroer, ELH, and all great fiddlers. Libation and music, like the tumultuous marriage of malt and hops, stand waiting with us at the crossroads. And look: here comes the Devil, whistling past the graveyard, singing in the midnight choir, bottle in one hand, a fiddle in the other, and that crazy smile...

Here's the fiddler I gave it to, and got a crazy smile out of:  
[youtube=425,350]VArfQ5v_krc[/youtube]