I got your update right here buddy!

02 Tuesday Sep 2014

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Apple, beer, brewing, craft, craft beer, fermentation, Grove, guy, Porter, primary, regular, regular guy brewing, secondary, smoked, Smokey, Smokey Grove Apple Smoked Porter, strep, strep throat, throat, update

Here’s the facts fool!

– We were supposed to brew our Hot Blonde Jalapeño Blonde Ale on Friday.

– We didn’t brew our Hot Blonde Jalapeño Blonde Ale on Friday.

That’s the facts fool!

So, what happened?

It’s a funny story actually. No it’s not. I had strep throat. Brian and Seth knew how much I was looking forward to brewing, and being the big ol sweeties they are, decided to postpone our brewing session until next Friday. That’s what I’m going to believe anyway. They did, however, transfer the Smokey Grove Apple Smoked Porter to secondary. Brian sent me a few pictures of the action and I’ll share them with you now.

The first fermentation is complete and from what Brian said, it was a very active and almost violent one! Here is being transferred from primary to secondary.

Here’s the Smokey Grove going into secondary on fresh Fiji apples.

Here’s a closer look at the Smokey Grove and the Fiji apples getting all sexy with each other. Another week in secondary and she’ll be ready to keg!

Well, that’s it. I wish I had more to share, but you know, strep throat.

Until next time!

Regular Guys minus one

26 Tuesday Aug 2014

Posted by Justin in Just for Fun

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beer, brewing, craft, craft beer, Flipside Red IPA, gears of war, Gears of War 3, guy, IPA, Lagunitas, Little Sumpin Extra, NHL, NHL 14, Nintendo, regular, regular guy brewing, Sierra Nevada, XBOX, XBOX 360

Most of the time my Monday morning update is actually on a Monday, not this time! It’s also usually about the three of us getting together and brewing or kegging or bottling or doing something brew related, but this weekend was a little different. Our brewmaster, Seth, was out of town for his “real job.” This left Brian and I wondering what we should do with ourselves.

We could brew, I mean we do have all the equipment at Brian’s, but it just wouldn’t feel right brewing without our fearless leader.

We could take a long drive and go play disc golf in a cave, but it just wouldn’t feel right playing disc golf without the guy who introduced us to the sport.

We could take an even longer drive to the eat the best horseshoe sandwiches in the entire world, but it just wouldn’t feel right eating a horseshoe without the guy who brought those delicious sandwiches into our lives.

We could go check out a new local brewpub we haven’t tried yet, but it just wouldn’t feel right…you get the idea. We like doing stuff together, the three of us. We’re good, loyal friends.

So what can we do that Seth doesn’t really care to do, but Brian and I both like to do? Play video games, duh!

(No we didn’t get to play the NES, I don’t have one anymore) We don’t get the opportunity to play on our own much anymore let alone playing together. It seemed like the obvious choice. Before we settled in for our marathon gaming session, we grabbed a couple of six packs.

We got the Sierra Nevada Flipside Red IPA.

Which paired really well with the Gears of War 3 we were playing.

We also picked up the Lagunitas Little Sumpin’ Extra.

Which paired quite nicely with the NHL 14 we played as well.

Both of these beers were an excellent choice, not always the case when purchasing beer you’ve never tried before.

Anyway, as much fun as Brian and I had doing stuff that Seth doesn’t really like to do, we missed our friend very much. We’re happy that he has returned home safely and that we’ll all be back together this Friday to do something we all love, brew some delicious Regular Guy beer!

Oh yeah, Brian and I also went to Hooters. The food, service and beer was terrible. They’ve got nothing on Buffalo Wild Wings.

Until next time…

Monday = Update Time!

18 Monday Aug 2014

Posted by Justin in Brewing

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Apple, beer, brewing, craft, craft beer, grain, Grove, guy, hops, mash, mash in, Porter, regular, regular guy brewing, smoked, Smokey, Smokey Grove Apple Smoked Porter

Good morning Monday! Said no one ever. At least I have a photo update to brighten your day! Friday night we got together and brewed our Smokey Grove Apple Smoked Porter. We changed the recipe slightly this time around, but only to lessen the amount of smoke flavor. As one random taster said, “it tastes like a campfire in your mouth!” Not necessarily a bad thing, but we collectively agreed that the smoke could be toned down a bit. So without further adieu, here’s our night in pictures!

The brew session is about to begin!

There’s the magical water correction ingredients to adjust the water to make a perfect porter!

Brewmaster Seth is manning the controls and regulating temperatures.

Here’s some of the grains that make up our Smokey Grove Apple Smoked Porter.

Almost time to mash in!

Brian and Seth pretending to do something important.

Brian and I mashing in. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it!

Brian loves the aroma of the grains as they mix with the water.

Here’s a closer look at the grain.

Seth checks the numbers of the first runnings.

This is the first runnings in the kettle. It’s a beautiful sight!

Brian takes a well deserved break!

The wort is starting to boil and we’re getting ready for the hot break.

Full on boil and hop additions.

Just when you think it couldn’t get any better, throw in some apples!

Aerate, pitch the yeast and call it a night!

There you have it, our Friday night brew session in pictures. This batch will go on to a competition, we’ll keep you posted on the results when we get them.

Hopefully the beer porn will ease you into your Monday! Until next time…

Let’s talk about stuff!

15 Friday Aug 2014

Posted by Justin in Brewing, Business Stuff

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Tags

alpha, alpha brewing company, Apple, beer, brewing, business, craft, craft beer, Grove, guy, Porter, regular, regular guy brewing, smoked, Smokey, Smokey Grove Apple Smoked Porter, Stolze, Stolze Style Brewing

Hi guys and one gal! How have you been? It’s been a while since we’ve posted anything so I’m going to bring you up to speed. The last time I posted I talked about the business meeting we were having on a Friday night and you complained and said we weren’t doing anything fun or exciting. Boy were you wrong! We lined up the rest of the year’s brewing schedule and drank beer! It doesn’t get much better than that.

Then last Friday we met up with Eric and Jennifer from Stolze Style Brewing at Alpha Brewing Company for a little home brewer meet and greet.

Alpha’s excellent beer was only topped by the excellent company. We shared many great stories and delicious beers and by the end of the night our conversation shifted to collaboration. Now, I can’t tell you all the details about our collaboration beer because it’s top secret, but I can tell you it’s going to be a “Storter.” You might be asking yourself, “what the hell is a Storter?” I will tell you. A “Storter” is a beautiful combination of a Stout and a Porter (thank you Alpha for the inspiration). Basically it takes all the best characteristics of both styles and gently and lovingly swirls them together. I can sense your excitement. This style mash – up is great, but it’s not even the best part. The best part is…TOP SECRET! Sorry I can’t spill the beans just yet. The only other thing I can tell you is this epic collaboration is taking place on Friday, September 19th and it will blow doors down.

Your socks will literally be knocked off your feet. Not unlike that picture up there. Smoke will come out and everything.

That brings us to today! It’s Friday and you know what that means, we’re brewing! We will be brewing our Smokey Grove Apple Smoked Porter for a competition that is taking place in October.

The smokey apple flavor of our porter will go wonderfully with the fall weather and more than likely win the best beer in the entire universe award. That’s a real award and we’re going to win it because I’m Bob Johnson, and I’m a winner! (Where did that Bob Johnson business come from and what does it mean?)

Until next time babies!

Friday night business meeting.

01 Friday Aug 2014

Posted by Justin in Business Stuff

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beer, brewing, briefcase, business, craft, craft beer, group hug, guy, handshake, legal pads, meeting, regular, regular guy brewing, schematics, suit

You: Friday night business meeting?

Me: Yes, Friday night business meeting.
You: Why aren’t you brewing or kegging or bottling or doing something fun?

Me: You don’t know fun until you’ve been to a Regular Guy business meeting!

You: Sounds boring and not fun.

Me: You’re wrong and I’m done with this conversation. I win.

You can be such a downer sometimes, you should try to be more positive.

Any who, yes we are having a business meeting tonight. We are planning our future brews and reviewing recipes for those future brews. We’ll show up in our business suits.

With our briefcases.

And legal pads.

Schematics will be drawn.

Heated arguments will ensue.

An understanding will be met.

Followed by a group hug.

None of that will actually happen. We’ll drink beer and talk about our recipes. I’m hoping to get a little work done on our website as well. Now having wasted a few minutes of your precious time I’ll let you get back to pretending to work on this glorious Friday. Have a great weekend everybody!

Until next time…