A chilly Monday update!

17 Monday Nov 2014

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beer, brewing, carbonation, cold, craft, craft beer, frozen, guy, ice, IPA, keg, kegging, red, Red Rye IPA, regular, regular guy brewing, rye, winter

Happy Monday! Said no one ever. I do, however, have some good news and pretty beer pictures to brighten your day! Friday we got together on a rather cold night to keg our Red Rye IPA. It was a brisk 20 degrees and we had two kegs to fill. Now I know our friends up in the Great White North would consider 20 degrees shorts weather, but after a few hours outside in the cold, playing with water we were ready to call it a night! Ok, no more crying about the weather, let’s see some pictures!

The bubbles from the sanitizer froze in the bucket and all over the driveway.

Can you see a face in the frozen sanitizer bubbles?

Brian is a trooper and true bad ass! He was the one who dipped his arm into the sanitizer to retrieve the sanitized parts we needed. Rumor has it, his arm had to be amputated on Saturday.

Seth rinsing one of the kegs. Note the ice on the driveway from spillage.

Red Rye IPA being transferred from secondary into a keg.

Filtering the Red Rye IPA. It goes from one keg through both filters and into its new home.

The filtered IPA filling up the keg.

Two full kegs being carbonated, it’s a beautiful sight! It’ll be ready to bottle on Friday.

Even though it was incredibly cold, we toughed it out, with a whole bunch of whining (mostly by me, “I’m freezing, I can’t feel my toes” blah blah blah) but the end result was well worth it!

Until next time…

A short update for a long Monday

10 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by Justin in Brewing

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beer, brewing, craft, craft beer, guy, IPA, red, Red Rye IPA, regular, regular guy brewing, rye

When brewmaster Seth is away, Brian and Justin will play…the PS4! Yes we did get a video game session in, but we also proved that we can be an asset to Regular Guy Brewing. It was up to us to transfer the Red Rye IPA to secondary and dry hop that sucker, and we pulled it off! High fives and flying chest bumps and sprays of champagne filled the crisp night air. I was able to snap a few pictures if you’d like to see them.

After a VERY vigorous fermentation the Red Rye IPA is ready for secondary and a hearty dry hopping. According to the refractometer, we’re right on track for 6% ABV.

Brian really likes the Amarillo hops.

NO BRIAN THAT’S NOT WHAT WE DO! See what happens when Seth is out of town?!?

Filling the buckets. The Amarillo swirling around in that pretty red beer!

One more picture, just to rub it in! Beautiful!

Well, that’s it. I’ll spare you the details of the video game session, just know that many beers were drank, a good time was had and Seth was dearly missed.

Until next time…

Monday morning update is here!

27 Monday Oct 2014

Posted by Justin in Brewing

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alpha brewing company, Bacon and Brown Sugar Storter, bacteria, beer, brewing, craft, craft beer, guy, infected beer, IPA, red, Red Rye IPA, regular, regular guy brewing, rye, Stolze Style Brewing

Good morning ladies and gentlemen, fellow brewers and lovers of craft beer. It is with a heavy heart that I have to report that we lost one of our most anticipated brews. Our Bacon and Brown Sugar Storter, has been infected. Yes, it’s true. We currently have a Sour Bacon and Brown Sugar Storter. Not really a great combination. While we’re not 100% sure at what point the bacteria was introduced, we have a couple of theories. Our biggest regret is that StolzeStyle Brewing and Alpha Brewing Company won’t get to enjoy, what could have been the best beer known to man. She’ll be laid to rest this Friday October 31st, followed by an intense cleaning and disinfecting session.

In death there is life, and we brought new life to a recently revamped recipe. We brewed our Red Rye IPA. I have a few pictures to share with you now.

Looks like we’re brewing an IPA! Some of our hops were provided by Bobby at Music City Brew Supply.

Crushed grains are happy grains.

First runnings.

Last runnings.

Pre-boil in a glass. Just checking the color. Tasted great too! Brian looks like he’s mad at it!

Getting ready to boil.

Cooled wort filling bucket number one. Now that is a beautiful red beer!

Brian manning the chiller, keeping the cool water flowing.

Bucket number two almost full.

Seth checking the final numbers.

Well, that’s it! Another successful brew in the books. We hit our numbers and we dry hop in two weeks. Have a great week everybody!

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…