Catching Up

Alright....been on a little bit of a break again and a lot has happened since the last post. Not to make excuses, but I know see myself being able to blog on a more consistent basis since I finally got my keyboard/docking station for my tablet computer. So I've wanted to do posts of all the different things that have happened, but in an effort to catch everybody back up, I'm going to break this post up into small summaries of each event, first starting out is:

Big Brew Day - Russian Imperial Stout
Last month (February 2nd) was the Big Brew Day by the SDSU Homebrewing Club, and this time a Russian Imperial Stout, a really strong beer that we were aiming for a 10.5% ABV.

The idea for how to start this Big Brew Day had good intentions (9am meeting at Heist brewery), .....however we did not take into account the fact that most of us would be out that Friday night prior, and you could say that nobody was moving fast in the morning. I am guilty as well after going to my first Brookings Blizzard hockey game, where you can buy "VIP Tickets" for $26 and it includes entrance into the game, as well as all you can drink beer and all the food you can eat (catered by BBQ shack).....simply incredible.

So we ended up getting a late start on the day, had to make a pit stop on the way to Heist and get some coffee and Casey's breakfast pizza...mmm. Once I got to Heist and we started getting everything set up, Rich and I had to run back to his house to get the yeast starts that he did the other night. Soon enough we had everyone at the brewery and started crushing the grains and making some beer! Everyone brought different kinds of beer to share and put them in a big ice bucket, I bought a 4-pack of Ivan The Great. I was pretty excited to try this beer, until it became apparent that all 4 were incredibly flat and tasted like borderline syrup. I have experienced more carbonation out of a Bud Light that was sitting in a cooler for a couple days while at the cabin/Apple River. Thankfully others brought some really good AND carbonated beer so I wasn't at a total loss for the day.

I can't remember what prompted this, but I had written a quote down from Rich: "Beer with cheese...it accentuates the funkiness".

Me filling up my carboy

After we got done and it was time to start filling up everyone's carboy's, we realized that we may have a little bit more than expected, so instead of some of us getting 5 gallons, we got 6 (which I was not going to argue with). Then we had an aerator to help create oxygen prior to pitching the yeast, this was the first time I had used one of these, and wow does it definitely make it easier than picking it all up and swishing it around constantly. So we all got our allotted amount of beer, aerated, and pitched the yeast then loaded up our vehicles and head our separate ways.

Rich getting the hops ready

SDSU Homebrew Club February Meeting
This was the first meeting in quite awhile that I didn't have my kid and was actually able to attend. These meetings are so much fun, if you're a fan of beer, and a fan of trying different kinds of beer while meeting new people....there is no reason to not check out an SDSU Homebrew Club meeting. At this meeting, Rich showed everyone how to make their own labels and how to get them to stick to the beer bottle. After printing off a design on a colored laser printer, simply coat the back of the paper in a saucer of milk and press it to the beer bottle firmly and hold. I couldn't believe how easy this actually was and I think many others were surprised as well and now we all feel comfortable being to start making our own labels for the beers we make.

One of my best friends from college ended up coming into town so I had to cut the meeting short, but before I left I did try someone's beer that was actually rated at 28% ABV.....as soon as I heard about that I knew I had to try it. Wow! This pretty much tasted like drinking straight rum, sweet of course but some good flavor and not what you would expect from a beer, felt more like I was drinking alcohol straight. 

Bottling Dead Ringer IPA
Blake made a trip up to Brookings to help me finally bottle the Dead Ringer IPA that we brewed about a month or two ago. We took a final gravity reading and it came out right around where we wanted it to be for a 6.5% ABV. I am a fan of bottling day, though as much work as it may be, something about filling up bottles and capping them really hits home that you made beer....and I love it. We are using bigger bottles instead of the 12oz ones so we don't have has many to fill, so it's the best of both worlds.

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.

Lakefront Brewery - Wisconsinite Summer Weiss

BEER REPORT CARD - Lakefront Brewery - Wisconsinite Summer Weiss - 4.2%

So I was stopping by the liquor store here in Brookings on my way home from work today to decide what beer to evaluate tonight, and came across a brewery that I have not heard of. I know I'm new, but I have not heard of Lakefront Brewery and was interested in trying a beer from Wisconsin with "local ingredients".

Brookings is currently in a 4 day heat advisory, so when I saw this was a Summer Weiss I was hoping it would be light but still have a lot of flavor, which sounded good because of how warm it was outside.

When pouring into a glass, it actually looked more clouded than I expected and had good carbonation. A very sweat type of aroma, and on my first sip can definitely get a sweat cider taste. Aside from the cider I don't really get a lot of flavors out of this beer, seems more dull and bland than I had hoped. I can't see myself having more than a six pack of these, but might be good for those people that into the sweat summer type beers. In the end, this is a little more sweat than I like, but it's really hard for me to say that I ever "hate" a beer (very few fall into this category), so I feel it was average overall.

Overall Grade: C

Summit - Saga India Pale Ale

BEER REPORT CARD - Summit - Saga India Pale Ale - 6.4% ABV

As I'm still on an IPA kick right now, I saw this at the liquor store tonight and being a fan of Summit and never hearing of it before, I was very excited to try it.

"Our Condolences To The Smelling Impaired", this is what comes up on the Summit website about this beer and they aren't kidding. As soon as I opened the bottle I am overwhelmed by the smell the hops......and it's awesome. When I poured it into my glass, I was kind of surprised at how light the body looks for it being a strong IPA and fairly heavy in alcohol content. I do really like how Summit provides a scale for their beers if you were to research it ahead of time (which I did not):

On my first sip, I immediately catch that strong, bitter hop taste and while it may have caught me off guard, I really liked it. It's almost like drinking whiskey straight, it gets easier after every sip.

Not an actual picture of my wife - my contract
states that I have to say that

Knowing that my wife is a) curious of new beers I bring home, and b) doesn't like IPA's because of how bitter it is, I couldn't help but offer her some saying that she should try it. She took the tiniest sip and immediately gave the scrunched up, bitter beer face look. I wanted to act shocked and concerned, but all that came out was laughter as she immediately put the glass back down on the counter.....guess we'll try next time.

There is a slight fruity flavor, but is definitely overpowered by the hops. I was eating some spicy foods as well and found out that the hoppier the beer is, the less it helps with spicy foods, so if there was a grade for that, it would be an F.

I do like beers with a good hop taste, while this did have that (and I did enjoy the beer) it was almost a little too much after a couple, especially with food, so that is the only part that is keeping this from a higher grade.

Overall Grade: B

Anchor Brewing - Liberty Ale

BEER REPORT CARD - Anchor brewing - Liberty Ale - 6.0% ABV

Matt's Review


I'm starting to really like the steamed beers from Anchor, I've been reading about them in different publications and figured it was something that wasn't available in South Dakota. I was very happy the other day when trying to decide which beer to get at the liquor store and saw some different beers from Anchor and immediately wanted to try them all.


Blame it on the marketing side of me, but it seems like when people grab a bottle of a beer they have never had before, one of the first questions they have is, can I twist this off or do I need a bottle opener? Sometimes this results in a first attempt at trying to twist it open, which either works or lead you to keep trying harder until your cut up your fingers. Well there is no secret with this beer when you look at the top of this beer...."Use Opener".





You can tell there is something different with the natural carbonation, not too thick but doesn't affect the taste of the beer at all. The aroma and body smell/look just like an amber ale and has an orange hint to it. I really like overall taste and get the hop flavor towards the end but it finishes really smooth. This is a great summer beer where it's light enough to have more than one, and still has a lot of favor.

Overall Grade: B+

Tallgrass Brewing - 8-Bit Pale Ale and Sand Creek Brewing - Oscar's Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

BEER REPORT CARD - Tallgrass brewing - 8-bit pale ale - 5.2% ABV; Sand creek brewing - oscar's oatmeal chocolate stout - 4.5% abv

Doing a double report card this week since I missed out last week.

Matt's Review


Last week I had the 8-Bit Pale Ale from Tallgrass Brewing at 5.2% ABV. I had heard about this beer from a couple other friends, but was immediately curious when I saw the can looking like an old Atari with a Pac Man like appearance. The first thing I noticed about this beer was the really strong hop taste (which I loved), there wasn't much for a hop aroma however. Even though I've been into beers lately with a really strong hop taste, this one hit the spot but don't think I could drink too many in one sitting because of how strong the hops are.
Overall Grade: B-

The next beer that I just opened tonight, is the Oscar's Oatmeal Chocolate Stout from Sand Creek Brewing at only 4.5% ABV. It definitely has that chocolaty smell to it, and didn't seem to have too much head/carbonation when pouring it into the glass, which seems to be normal among stouts. I typically do not like dark stout beers, but I'm not sure if it's the low ABV, but this one really finishes smooth with a sweet taste that I really enjoyed. I figured this would be a good one to try while down in the man cave because the basement gets really cold and a dark stout would taste better. However, I don't think this would be terrible outside on a warm day, not saying I'd drink this while grilling, but doesn't really have that dark beer feel to it that would scare off summer drinking.
Overall Grade: B