Heavenlyfire Homebrew

It has been a while since I have had the time and money to actually brew a batch.  I am really wanting to get back into the swing and maybe next week I will have the time and money.  Anyway, I really wanted to talk about hops.  I purchased some Spaltz hops for my last couple of batches.  I had never tried them before so I was a little scepticle but willing to give them a go.  The alpha rating was very low, 4.50% and they have a great arroma to them.  I have been looking for a hop that would give me the flavors and arroma without all the bitterness and I think I found a good one.  Typically these are only used for arroma hops but I will be using them for bittering as well.

I have a few friends who have been asking me to make fruit beers and all of the fruit beers that I have tried I have not liked.  I do like Wit beers with their hint of orange but it is just a "hint".  I tried some differant craft brews lately such as Kona, Sam Adams and Leinenkugels.  I like these breweries and figured that their fruit beer should be pretty good.  I was wrong, atleast in my opinion.  Maybe I will just stick to the beers I like best and buy store bought for them.  Maybe I will play with some ideas this weekend.

Well we just arrived back home in Arizona and OMG is it hot.  I really miss living in Colorado and can't wait to move back.  Just 2 more years and all of our kids will be out of school and we are out of here.  Anyway, back to the trip.  We stay at a place called Rainbow Lake Resort.  It is a private lake with cabins about 12 cabins around it.  The cabins are furnished so all you have to bring is clothes and food.  I spent 4 days doing nothing but fishing (very little sleep).  I do a lot of catch and release but we did keep about 15 fish with a total weight of about 50 lbs.  The biggest was just shy of 3 lbs and tasted wonderful.  The side meat on this thing was about half an inch thick.  What a meal.  This fish was so big that after cleaning 3 of them I pit it back on the stringer to take it to the cabin and another fish came through the mouth on the stringer.  Yes the other fish was kind of small but it was still a 14 inch trout.  I call this one the 3 that got away.  Here is a fish story that is kind of hard to believe but it is very true.  I had caught 2 trout and had them on my stringer.  One about 14 inches and the other about 18.  A little while later I hooked on to a real fighter.  Got it to shore and it was just beautiful.  The colors were great and it weighed out just under 3 lbs.  I put it on my stringer and tied the stringer to a large rock that I had sittling there.  I turned around to grab my camera before the fish started to lose it's color.  When I turned back to take the photo, I just stood there as I watched my stringer swim away.  I looked for it for the rest of the day but no dice.  The next morning I got up early and took the boat out and had a great morning fishing.  When I got back to shore I was told that a 10 year old little boy had hooked my stringer and all 3 fish were still there.  A friend I was fishing with saw this and told the young man that he could keep the fish, if I were there I would have too.  The young man told my friend that he was taught that he could not keep anybody elses stuff so he had to give them back.  Before I got off the lake his family had checked out and I couldn't talk to him.  It's hard to believe but true.  The fish story is hard enough but for a 10 year old in this day and age to have morals that good, my hats off to ya kid.

 

I am now back in Colorado and loving life.  I have to laugh at all of my family and friends because they are complaining that it is too hot today, mid 80's.  In Phoenix it is going to be 115.  Any way, we are spending a few days visiting family and then off to the lake until Saturday.  Today I am going to be spending some time with my oldest daughter.  We don't know what we are doing yet but we will figure something out.

Ah, it is that time of the year again. I have an annual vacation to the mountains of Colorado. Let me set the scene for you. 12,000 ft above sea level. No phone service, no tv, no radio. Cabins are fully furnished with everything except food and our clothes. You don’t even have to bring fishing gear because they will lone it to you. There are only 12-15 cabins on the lake and the only people allowed on the lake are the residents. No pets, unless you can count the hummingbirds as pets. This is a week of pure relaxation and tranquility. I get to forget all my problems and do nothing but fish. I can’t wait. This year we are flying up and back so I will really need it as I hate to fly. There are no feathers growing out of my ass, lol.

Well here is a photo of Andy’s pale ale and as you can see, the plate tells the story.  I can’t seem to get the balance with carbing.  If I use sugar it doesn’t carb enough and if I use CO2 it over carbs.  Trial and error I guess.

Well Andy got into town tonight and we tapped the keg.  First issue, I over carbonated AGAIN.  I either get too much or not enough carbonation.  One of these days I will figure it out, I hope.  The flavor of the beer itself is awesome.  The spaltz hops don’t have a whole lot of bitter bite to them and that is a nice change.  After 5 or 6 glasses I got to thinking that it was missing something, just a little something.  I squeezed a wedge of orange in it and wow, that was it.  Well back to drinking.

Well I pulled a sample and wow, great color, flavor and the FG was 1.010.  I am going to leave it in the primary until this weekend and then throw it in the keg and let it carb until next weekend.  The Spalz hops that I used gave it that great hoppy flavor without the bitter bite that some others do.  This should be a real easy drinking beer.

Well I gave the prehistoric porter a test run and I have to tell you, the flavor was great.  The only problem I had with it is that it is not carbing like it should be.  Maybe I should have used a little extra sugar.  Anyway, I will let it sit another week and try another one.  I wil be taking a sample of Andy’s tomorow.

Well the fermenting has slowed way down but I am going to wait until Saturday and then I will take a sample for testing.  Also I will be throwing a bottle of Prehistoric Porter in the fridge tonight and sampling it tomorow.  I really hope it turns out ok.

Well yesterday I decided to play with my new Spaltz hops.  I have never tried these but have heard a lot of good about them.  My LHBS owner says these are one of his favorite types of hops.  I also tried a new idea of mine (new to me probably old news to everyone else) and used muslin bags for my hops.  It seemed to work great and I had a lot less sludge in the bottom after I transfered to the primary.  It really made for easy clean up if nothing else.  So far everything is going right and good on this one.  I woke up this morning and the yeast was doing the happy dance.  I will leave it in the primary for about 10 - 14 days and throw it in the keg for Andys visit.  Andy is the best friend I have ever had and that is saying a lot but it is true.  That is why I named this one for him.  Here is the recipe I used.  PROST!

 

Andys Rock Out With The Hawk Out Pale Ale

Blonde Ale

 

Type: Extract	Date: 4/12/2008
Batch Size: 5.00 gal	Brewer: Heavenlyfire Homebrew
Boil Size: 4.08 gal	Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min	Equipment: Brew Pot (5 Gallon)
	Brewhouse Efficiency: -
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 6.50 lb Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 78.79 % 1.00 lb Pale Malt (6 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 12.12 % 0.50 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 6.06 % 0.25 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 3.03 % 2.00 oz Spalter [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 27.7 IBU 1.00 oz Spalter [4.50 %] (5 min) Hops 2.8 IBU 1 Pkgs German Ale (Wyeast Labs #1007) Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.048 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.045 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG	Measured Final Gravity:  SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.79 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol:  %
Bitterness: 30.5 IBU	Calories: 194 cal/pint
Est Color: 8.8 SRM	Color: Color
Mash Profile
Steep grains 30 minutes.
Mash Notes: -
Notes

Well today I put my new toy to work.  I just ordered a bottle tree from jeepguy and got it put together.  I had planned on bottling tonight but the family had other ideas lol.  Anyway, the bottles are washed dried and sanitized, ready for filling.  In the process of getting them cleaned I stumbled across an answer to an age old question, how do I get the labels off?  After I washed the bottles I let them soak in a sanitizer solution for a few seconds (long enough to wash 4 bottles).  As I started pulling them out of the sanitizer I noticed that the labels were loose.  Come to find out they pealed off nice and easy and I ran a green scratchy over them and the glue was gone, little to no effort.  The bottles look great.  I will add some pics tomorow of the bottling and the beer.  This is the Prehistoric Porter.