For all you hip and cool websurfers out there that are familiar with Friendster (Friendster!? How three months ago!), you might be interested in checking out our good friend Homebrew whom I have discovered is hip with the whole Friendster scene. Check it out! Looks like Homebrew needs friends to step up and wave the beer flag.
And if anyone cares, you can find me at Friendster as well.
I love walking into the beer cellar and seeing four carboys quietly (or not so quietly) fermenting away. I love it even more when I know that one or more of those beers are heavy hitters, special beers that need that extra time to develop the superpowers that they will one day yield. Examples, you say? Well, there is the baltic porter that I racked a few weeks ago. It was strongly alcoholic in flavor. It needs lots of time for the alcohol to mellow and the malt to assert itself. It said to me, "Check back in a few months, I'm comfortable right here for now." And then last weekend I brewed my yearly barleywine, hopefully to be bottled at the new year. That gives it a few months in the fermenter, which it will definitely need. This beer is going to be the strongest I have ever made, I believe. It could hit 12%. I am excited to drink it - but it will be a good six months at least until I even dare open up a bottle. While these big beers are time and money intensive, they are just too much fun to ignore. Rounding out the cellar collection, I have a crystalweizen that is coming along nicely, likely to be kegged this weekend, and of course Nate's fig wine. I don't even know what to expect from that. If all goes well and we get some freshly pressed grape juice from Toni's family's vineyard this weekend, we can add a few carboys of cabernet to the cellar as well. We are very very very fond of our alcohol at our house, if you didn't notice.
Well, another years homebrew party has come and gone. Just as last year, I had a great time with Dan, Melissa and Toni, hanging out with a bunch of fine folks I only know from one evenings party a year ago. I must say that the quality of the beers was much better this year than last. There were some great beers out there, including Andre's strong bitter, Adam's amazingly fruity IPA, and a great winter pale ale. The apple cider made with mead yeast was delicious, and the lime soda was quite refreshing. Needless to say, anytime a group of people can gather together with homemade food and beverages at a beautiful location in the middle of the woods, a great time is going to be had. I hope I get to go again next year. And I would perhaps be remiss if I failed to mention that my very own Pivo Pilsner was voted best beer at the party. Quite an honor as there were many great beers. My prize: a $20 check and a bottle of Midas Touch by Dogfish Head Brewery. I'm excited to sample this very special "beer" in the near future. I also traded a bottle of my red for a bottle of Andre's Johnny's Bitter Harvest, as we both wanted an opportunity to try the beers with more age on them. The only disappointing thing about the party was how poorly the alt aged. I guess sitting in the cellar over the summer is not a good way to age beer. I decided not to be too disappointed as my other two beers were great. In summation, I would just like to publicly (if by publicly I mean the three people out there in the world that even know this is here) thank Andre and Beth for a great party, and I'm looking forward to next year. Cheers!
Tomorrow I will be heading out of town to attend a homebrew party. I'm very excited. I got the pilsner and the red eye bottled over the weekend, so all I have left to do is figure out how to fit all the beer bottles in my luggage.
I also brewed on Sunday, my attempt at a Baltic Porter. I think it went rather well. Racking the chilled wort onto the bed of yeast left from the brown was a good choice - the beer was starting to foam up within a few hours. However, when I checked on it the next day, the foam had filled the carboy, pushed through the airlock, and made a dark sticky mess all over the place. I will take that as a good sign. This is going to be some dank ass beer. Yum Yum Yum.
So, look forward to an entry early next week with a recap of the big weekend. This is really the only time I hang out with other brewers, sample and evaluate beers, and eat and drink until I think I'm going to explode. Needless to say, it will be great.