Back In The Game - Dead Ringer IPA

It has been awhile since brewing my last beer at home, and a lot has changed in my life over that period. I have sold my house and live in a new duplex with my son every other week and after a couple of months, I have truly started to settle in. I have just begun to organize all my home brewing equipment and look to make 2013 the year I get serious about home brewing.

So the latest ingredient kit (malt extract) that I got, was from Northern Brewer and it's called the "Dead Ringer IPA". Since I'm still on my IPA kick, I thought this would be a great one to get back on track with.

Here are the ingredients that came with the kit:

• 1 lbs Briess Caramel 40
• 9.15 lbs Gold malt syrup
• 5 - 1 oz packs of Centennial hops (4 for brewing day, and 1 for dry hopping)
• Wyeast #1056 American Ale Yeast
• 5 oz Priming Sugar

With the help of my buddy Rich, 2 days before brewing day I did my first ever Yeast Starter. He let me borrow some DME (dry malt extract) and several pieces of equipment that I needed to pull this off. He also pointed me in the direction of a great link showing the basic steps to creating a Yeast Starter.

sketchy activities

So with the new equipment at hand, and having watched the video about 4 times to make sure I fully understood everything, I went to my new gigantic kitchen and began. If you didn't know much about home brewing (or me for that matter) and you saw what I was doing, you'd swear I was making meth or something illegal. Measuring amounts of white powder (DME) and using a 5000mL flask on my stove to boil liquids doesn't look so innocent, it's a good thing I had the curtains pulled down.

Brew day was last Wednesday (January 16th), and I had friends Josh, Rich and Blake Hoffman over to help out with everything. We had the burner set up in the garage and all the ingredients and equipment inside the house. It was really cold outside, so we kept having to do shifts of standing around the wort as it was steeping the grains and boiling the wort with adding hops. And as you can see in the picture to the left, we were obeying the #1 rule on brewing day.....drinking beer. Everyone brought over some different kinds of beer, with Rich bringing some home brew to try, and it reminded me of one of my favorite parts of home brewing, getting together and talking about beer while sharing/tasting different kinds of beer.

Blake before he passed out

Once we were done with the boiling and adding the hops, we made an ice bath in a tote out in the garage, where the cold weather outside really helped. Then we brought it inside and poured it through a strainer and funnel and into the glass carboy for primary fermentation, gave it a really good shake, then added the yeast and continued to shake for roughly 4 minutes (2 minutes me and 2 minutes Hoffman), at the end Hoffman was winded and passed out, since it was the most physical activity he has done all winter. The first two days in the carboy had plenty of activity and the airlock filled with whiskey was bubbling away.

All in all, I'm glad that I started back up with brewing beer, and look to continue this throughout the year and want to get better at it, and get more knowledgeable about beer in general. 

Here is the schedule for the rest of this beer:

• 2 weeks primary (1/16)
• 2 weeks secondary (1/30 - add hops)
• 2 week in the bottle (2/13 - bottle)
• I've found that a week or two in the fridge can help clear up the beer as well

Bubbling away!

"Favorite Beer"

It used to be every time someone would ask me what my favorite beer was, I would say something along the lines of Coors Light or even Sunset Wheat from Leinenkugel's for a period of time. Today when I get asked that question, I honesty have no idea what my favorite beer is right now. As I am trying more and more different types of beers, it gets a little harder to decide on a certain beer as my overall "favorite", but rather what is my favorite beer at that moment. 

What I've come to realize is that I have several different "favorite beers" that are based on either the season or a certain type of event going on.

For instance, right now with it being cold outside, I tend to like darker beers and stouts where normally in the spring/summer time I wouldn't. I have been going through several different seasonal variety packs this winter season, and I'd have to say the Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale is definitely at the top of my list.

I know this isn't a really dark/stout beer as I previously mentioned, more of a bronze color, but I have become a fan of IPA beers lately and this definitely hits on that. Though aside from other IPA's there is still a darker/malty feel to the beer while still having the bitterness that I've come to like from IPA's.

A slightly different situation that I might find myself in, is what is my "favorite beer" when quantity matters more than the quality of the beer. Some examples of this would be really hot days and something really cold to quickly quench your thirst or playing drinking games with old college buddies, or special occasions where I know beer is going to be consumed over a long period of time.

As much as I love the taste of craft beers, the truth is that when I'm playing beer pong or biz (form of beer die), I'm not going to have Sam Adams in my cup while the opponent has Busch Light....it puts me at a slight disadvantage and I am a competitive person.


Not only is this harder to consume at a fast rate (which is sometimes required) but due to the higher alcohol content of the beer, my hand-to-eye coordination will decline at a faster rate than that of my opponent. So when it comes to these circumstances, my beer of choice has to be something easy to consume, and not have a high ABV....this beer is Coors Light which was my main beer in college, so you can call me loyal, haha.

I do look forward to expanding my taste and appreciation of different beers, and who knows....maybe someday I will come across a beer that I will be able to give the title of My Favorite Beer.