Late update time!

16 Wednesday Jul 2014

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ale, beer, Beer porn, brewing, craft, craft beer, extra, extra pale ale, fermentation, guy, hot blonde, kegging, pale, regular, regular guy brewing, secondary fermentation, update

Wow it’s already Wednesday! This update was supposed to be posted on Monday. Where did the time go? Anyway, last Friday 2/3 of the Regular Guys got together to get some work done. Brian was out of town, but that didn’t stop me and Seth from breaking into Brian’s garage to dry hop our EPA and keg our Hot Blonde. We were like ninjas sneaking through the shadows and entering the garage unnoticed. Actually we know Brian’s code so it was pretty easy.

Ready for some pictures?

Our EPA had a VERY healthy fermentation!

Here’s the Simcoe and Columbus hops patiently awaiting the EPA. Last time we dry hopped with leaf hops which look way more impressive than the pellet. Oh well, they do the same thing.

The EPA being transferred on the hops.

The secondary is complete for the Hot Blonde Jalapeño Blonde Ale.

Hot Blonde transferring into keg number one.

The Hot Blonde being filtered and transferred to keg number two.

Here’s a closer look at the filters.

Here’s the filtered Hot Blonde filling up keg number two.

Well, that’s my update from last Friday. This Friday we get to bottle the Hot Blonde and keg the EPA. I think we are also taking a field trip to one of our favorite micros!

More to come, until next time…

EPA brew session, take three!

30 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by Justin in Brewing

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ale, beer, brewing, cleaning corny kegs, corny keg, craft, craft beer, diaper rash, dough in, extra, extra pale ale, guy, keg, mash tun, pale, regular, regular guy brewing

Friday night we got together to brew our EPA for the third time. To recap our first two sessions, the first had perfect bitterness, but was lacking the intense hop aroma and flavor we were looking for. Not bad for our first time brewing a new recipe. The second had a sweetness that masked pretty much all flavors and aroma. We pinned it down to our new/used corny keg that I didn’t properly clean. I solved this problem right away.

There’s two of our kegs soaking, the third which is also soaking is not pictured. All components were disassembled, scrubbed and soaked in Oxyclean Free. A thorough rinse and sanitize and I surely will redeem myself!
Anyway, here is a pictorial of our evening. I know how much you like pictures!

A big ol bag of grain ready to be crushed.

Brian and “El Crushinator” crushing the grain.

Doughing in.

Reverse angle, close up shot doughing in.

Dough in complete. Let’s give it 60 minutes.

The first runnings. Because of the movie Cool Runnings, when I say first runnings I have to say it with a Jamaican accent.

Check the first runnings once…

Twice…

Three times the laaaadaaaay! Sorry.

TIM doing what TIM does best. On a side note, Seth’s latest add on to TIM, the one that involves diaper rash cream, worked beautifully.

A closer shot of TIM’s handy work.

The boiled and chilled wort filling the fermentation bucket. She’s pretty!

Check the temperature, aerate, pitch the yeast and call it a night!

All in all it was another successful brew night. We hit all of our expected numbers and our efficiency was 85%. Not too shabby!

Until next time…

Monster EPA dry hop

09 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by Justin in Brewing, Our Brews

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ale, aroma, beer, brewing, Columbus, Columbus hops, craft, craft beer, dry, dry hop, extra, extra pale ale, guy, hop, hopping, krausen, pale, regular, regular guy brewing, Simcoe, Simcoe hops

Oh my god, you guys, oh my god. Friday night the Regular Guys got together and got some work done. I’m talking about a ton of work. Most of the work was brew tech related and Seth is going to fill you in on that. What I’m going to tell you about is our yet-to-be-named EPA.

First of all, the EPA had a VERY active fermentation. Brian said that it was so active that the top actually blew off twice! Not just once, TWICE! Luckily he was home both times and barring a mild heart attack, he was able to get the lid back on quickly. Here’s a picture of the EPA in primary.

The remnants of the krausen show just how active the fermentation was. This beautiful beverage isn’t even ready yet and I’ve gotta tell ya, the aroma was quite possibly the best smell that has ever entered my nose. No harsh fumes, no hot alcohol tones, this is going to be a beast. Especially after you see the amount of hops that went into secondary!

Holy cow that’s a lot of hops! We went with a glorious mixture of Columbus and Simcoe hops. Next picture!

This is the Columbus and Simcoe hops welcoming our EPA into their home. Remember how I said up there how our EPA’s aroma was the “best smell that has even entered my nose?” I lied. Our EPA mixed with the Columbus and Simcoe is the best smell that has ever entered my nose!

And here we have the final product. The hops are soaking up the EPA and are going to do their magic. It will bathe in the hop addition in secondary until Friday where we’ll transfer to the keg for carbonation and soon after, we’ll be able to enjoy.

I really can’t wait to try this version of the EPA. Seth did a lot of hard work recalculating and reworking the recipe to make it just right and I have full confidence that it’ll turn out great.

Until next time…

Shall we update? We shall! With pictures!

27 Tuesday May 2014

Posted by Justin in Brewing

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ale, beer, brewing, craft, craft beer, dough in, extra, extra pale ale, guy, HLT, hot liquor tank, mash tun, pale, regular, regular guy brewing

Friday night the Regular Guys got together to brew a five gallon test batch of our unnamed EPA. This was our second time brewing this recipe. The first time we brewed it, she turned out great. The bitterness was spot on, but the hops aroma and flavor were lacking just a bit. So with a few minor adjustments we set out to brew this awesome beer again. I’m really looking forward to tasting this version as the EPA has become my favorite beer that we’ve brewed.

Friday I promised you pictures of our brewing session and while I forgot my nice camera, I did have my phone with me so I was able to snap some shots.

Enjoy!

Getting our things in order. Measuring hops and such.

Pellet hops looks like rabbit food! This is the 60 minute addition, we chose Warrior.

A big ol bag of grain freshly crushed.

There’s the kettle heating up, the grant to the left and the hot liquor tank in the back.

That’s the innards of the HLT.

Dough in!

The first runnings after an hour in the mash tun.

The brain of the whole operation, keeping us in check!

Kettle is all filled up and ready to boil!

It’s almost boiling! I tried to get a picture of the full rolling boil, but my camera wouldn’t cooperate.

The wort is being pumped into the fermentation bucket. Pitch the yeast and let it roll!

Well, there you have it, our Friday night brew session in pictures. I hope everyone has a great abbreviated work week!

Until next time…

A beer outing

12 Monday May 2014

Posted by Justin in Business Stuff

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ale, beer, brewing, craft, craft beer, extra pale ale, Fleetwood Mac, guy, hot blonde, jalapeño, Kenny Rogers, regular, regular guy brewing, Smokey Grove Apple Smoked Porter

You should all consider yourselves lucky. As I write this, it is currently Sunday evening. Relax time. Unwind time. My wife is busy doing wife stuff, kids are in bed and normally I would have taken advantage of this rare quiet time to indulge in a game or two of NHL 14.