Fresh Hops! ·
5 September 2009, 10:00
My buddy Dana invited me to check out his hops harvest last weekend. It was the first time I have ever picked a hop off a vine.
☆ Jonathan Greene
Comment [1]
Let's Brew: kegging your homebrew ·
24 July 2009, 09:16
It’s time for the final installment of the Greenethumb Rye series. In part one, we brewed a batch of all grain rye beer, then in part two we racked it to the secondary fermentor for a nice clarification stage, and here we are ready to put this baby in the keg.
Enjoy the final installment, and hopefully learn something while your at it :)
☆ Jonathan Greene
Comment [5]
First shot at a double decoction mash ·
15 March 2009, 20:24
A couple weeks back I tried a decoction mash for the first time. It was a interesting to say the least. I started about 2pm and finished after midnight. A little miscalculation cost me a couple hours!
It was worth the effort. I learned a lot. This doppelbock better be damn good!
☆ Jonathan Greene
Comment [2]
Let's brew: racking to the secondary ·
3 March 2009, 07:55
It has been a couple weeks since we brewed our all-grain red rye, and it’s about time we transfer (aka ‘rack’) the brew from the primary fermentor to the secondary. Compared to the mashing and boiling we did last article, this should be a breeze.
This is not a required step in the brewing process, but it it worth the extra effort.
☆ Jonathan Greene
Comment [5]
Let's brew: all grain demo ·
19 February 2009, 22:06
I got into all grain brewing about 8 months ago, after about a half dozen batches of extract. I really like how you can fine tune the grain bill, and tweak times and temperatures of your mash to emphasize and alter certain characteristics of the grain.
People have this notion that all grain brewing is difficult. It’s not! It just takes some extra time and equipment.
☆ Jonathan Greene
Comment [8]
Homebrewing DIY: Building a Mash/Lauder Tun out of a water cooler ·
18 June 2008, 14:22
I have decided to move into All Grain brewing and leave the extract behind for the time being. I have really gotten into brewing and All Grain is more work, but gives you the most control of your beer. Instead of buying a bag of pre-extracted sugars from malted grains, in All Grain brewing you extract all the sugars from the grains yourself.
To aid in this process, you need a container for extracting the sugars from the grain (mashing) , a Mash Tun, and a container for separating (sparging) the sugary water from the grain husks, a Lauder Tun. Orrrr, you can be creative and use the same container for both mashing and sparging, and you can even build it on the cheap with common plumbing equipment and a water cooler. A cooler is ideal, because you need the insulation to help maintain your desired temperatures throughout the mashing and sparging processes. I just built a mash/lauder tun and took some pics of the process.
☆ Jonathan Greene
Comment [11]
Newest Batch: Semi-California Common ·
16 June 2008, 11:12
The newest batch of homebrew is a steam beer ( aka California Common ). Ok, well its an attempt at a steam beer. Steam beers are malty, full-bodied beers more characteristic of ales ( not lagers ), but use a bottom fermenting ( lager ) yeast. Since lager yeast requires lower temperatures, ~48 degrees F, and I have no way of controlling temperatures in my apartment, I had to go with an Ale Yeast that works in higher temperatures. So really, I just made an Ale, but in the spirit of a steam. I am excited to try it soon!
At first, I overshot my target gravity, meaning I got more fermentable sugars in the wort than I was aiming for. I also ended up with about .5 gallon more wort than I was expecting… I am getting better about not spilling so much in the racking process! This extra sugar and less headroom in my primary fermentor resulted in some heavy blow-off. I emptied my blow-off glass a few times in the first day or two. Here is a shot of my glass:
☆ Jonathan Greene
Comment [1]
Space Beer ·
3 June 2008, 15:01
Some of the leftover barley successfully grown at the International Space Station will be used to make beer by Japenses beverage giant Sapparo. Read more about space beer.
☆ Jonathan Greene
flossmoor's pumpkin 3.14 ·
16 November 2007, 18:38
Last week the miss and I went to the annual Brewmaster’s Dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery here in the city. It was just about the best idea for a dinner party… 6 finely crafted beers, eac paired with a great meal course. The crowd was really cool, all the brewers were there taling about their beers and the chef introduce each course and talked about why she chose the food to pair with the beer.
While all the beer was excellent, the intro beer, Pumpkin 3.14 [3.14 == Pi; get it :) ] by Floosmoor Station blew me away. This by far the best seasonal beer I have ever had, and possibly the best overall beer i have ever had.
☆ Jonathan Greene