posted by Ryan
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness." I couldn't let a year go by without reflecting on Knoll Street Brewing's many successes and minimal (but sometimes grave) failures. Over a year ago Jon and I decided to start this beer club. I had some initial hesitations because I know that all of us have different preferences on the style of beer we drink. Jon reminded me of the many reasons to start this club (Friendship, New Recipes, Drinking) and that one of our desires was to help people venture out of their comfort zones to find a new hidden gem or two in their beer drinking experience. I hope you feel like we helped you do just that. Jump.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Finances
posted by Jon
A quick financial update. Last year Knoll Street Beer Club pretty much broke even financially. Some of the money was used to purchase new equipment (carboy, fermenter, siphon, thermometer, hydrometer). Since we shouldn't have to buy any new equipment this year (unless I break more thermometers or hydrometers) we should have extra money to spend. One of the most expensive parts of brewing is the yeast, which is why I started harvesting yeast last year. However, my harvesting and reusing practices aren't doing a good enough job. Yeast doesn't survive very long. The last couple of yeast starters I've done have had a much longer lag time, since there is less viable yeast left. This is why I have decided to start a yeast library in my freezer. The initial cost would be about the same as a new fermenter and carboy (about $50) and we would be able to reuse yeast for years, as yeast that is properly cared for will survive freezing temperatures for at least a year. Look for posts later this year explaining my new library.
Gourdon will be brewed this afternoon. I have a big ol' pumpkin roasting in my oven as I write this. More details later.
A quick financial update. Last year Knoll Street Beer Club pretty much broke even financially. Some of the money was used to purchase new equipment (carboy, fermenter, siphon, thermometer, hydrometer). Since we shouldn't have to buy any new equipment this year (unless I break more thermometers or hydrometers) we should have extra money to spend. One of the most expensive parts of brewing is the yeast, which is why I started harvesting yeast last year. However, my harvesting and reusing practices aren't doing a good enough job. Yeast doesn't survive very long. The last couple of yeast starters I've done have had a much longer lag time, since there is less viable yeast left. This is why I have decided to start a yeast library in my freezer. The initial cost would be about the same as a new fermenter and carboy (about $50) and we would be able to reuse yeast for years, as yeast that is properly cared for will survive freezing temperatures for at least a year. Look for posts later this year explaining my new library.
Gourdon will be brewed this afternoon. I have a big ol' pumpkin roasting in my oven as I write this. More details later.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Gourdon's Return
posted by Jon
On my way home from work today I saw pumpkins being sold. This means that instead of a barleywine, we will be brewing "Gourdon" this weekend. Barleywine will now be brewed as our October beer (October 2). "Gourdon" should be ready to drink on Halloween and the barleywine will still be ready around Christmas.
On my way home from work today I saw pumpkins being sold. This means that instead of a barleywine, we will be brewing "Gourdon" this weekend. Barleywine will now be brewed as our October beer (October 2). "Gourdon" should be ready to drink on Halloween and the barleywine will still be ready around Christmas.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Catching up is hard to do
posted by Jon
Well, it's been almost 2 months since the last post. Summer is over, kids (and teachers) are back to school, the weather is gettingcooler insanely hot (???) and I should probably give an update.
Since my last post, three batches of beer have been brewed: Caspian, Batch 22 and The Queen's Rye. If you want the play by play it is in the previous post.
"Caspian" was brewed on 7/18. It is a robust porter styled after GLBC's Edmund Fitzgerald. Should end up around 5.5-6% ABV. I will be bottling it today. [edit: bottled 9/3, F.G. = 1.010, 5.9% ABV]
"Batch 22" was a lot of fun to brew. You may remember that originally is was going to be called "Batch 20" as it was the 20th batch of beer that I had done as a Professional Brewmaster (tic). It was going to have 20 different ingredients. However, since we brewed the Caspian first and I did a side batch of IPA, this beer ended up being my 22nd batch of beer. This meant we now needed 22 ingredients. On brew day, 7/30, Ryan W and I went to the store to pick up our final few ingredients. We decided on fresh ginger root (requested by Ryan B), a 7 oz bag of coconut (which we toasted), 2 chipotle peppers in adobo (yes, you read that correctly) and a stick of brewer's licorice. We added these to our normal ingredients and also added .25 lb of maple syrup than Ryan brought, .6 lb of molasses from the Ippel house and 2 1/2 vanilla beans. I tasted the beer when racking it to the secondary and it has the potential to be the best beer I've done. It should clock in around 10% ABV.
Finally, "The Queen's Rye" was an IPA that turned into a RyePA. This was the final batch of beer to be done in KSB's first fiscal year, so the funds were all tapped out. Ryan W had enough interest in making it a RyePA that he was willing to use his own money to buy a lb of rye malt and a lb of flaked rye. We brewed it on 8/26 with a crazy amount of hops and I will be racking it to the secondary on top of a couple oz leaf hops. We're looking for 6% ABV by the time it's done, so this will be a nice IPA.
We are still looking for suggestions for our next few beers. We will be rebrewing the Gourdon, but still need 11 more recipes. Feel free to comment.
Well, it's been almost 2 months since the last post. Summer is over, kids (and teachers) are back to school, the weather is getting
Since my last post, three batches of beer have been brewed: Caspian, Batch 22 and The Queen's Rye. If you want the play by play it is in the previous post.
"Caspian" was brewed on 7/18. It is a robust porter styled after GLBC's Edmund Fitzgerald. Should end up around 5.5-6% ABV. I will be bottling it today. [edit: bottled 9/3, F.G. = 1.010, 5.9% ABV]
"Batch 22" was a lot of fun to brew. You may remember that originally is was going to be called "Batch 20" as it was the 20th batch of beer that I had done as a Professional Brewmaster (tic). It was going to have 20 different ingredients. However, since we brewed the Caspian first and I did a side batch of IPA, this beer ended up being my 22nd batch of beer. This meant we now needed 22 ingredients. On brew day, 7/30, Ryan W and I went to the store to pick up our final few ingredients. We decided on fresh ginger root (requested by Ryan B), a 7 oz bag of coconut (which we toasted), 2 chipotle peppers in adobo (yes, you read that correctly) and a stick of brewer's licorice. We added these to our normal ingredients and also added .25 lb of maple syrup than Ryan brought, .6 lb of molasses from the Ippel house and 2 1/2 vanilla beans. I tasted the beer when racking it to the secondary and it has the potential to be the best beer I've done. It should clock in around 10% ABV.
Finally, "The Queen's Rye" was an IPA that turned into a RyePA. This was the final batch of beer to be done in KSB's first fiscal year, so the funds were all tapped out. Ryan W had enough interest in making it a RyePA that he was willing to use his own money to buy a lb of rye malt and a lb of flaked rye. We brewed it on 8/26 with a crazy amount of hops and I will be racking it to the secondary on top of a couple oz leaf hops. We're looking for 6% ABV by the time it's done, so this will be a nice IPA.
We are still looking for suggestions for our next few beers. We will be rebrewing the Gourdon, but still need 11 more recipes. Feel free to comment.
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