ReverendTenHigh's Brews and Views

Recently, a friend of mine who had always been interested in brewing beer, began brewing beer. I offered what knowledge I had about extract brewing & partial mashes and his hobby took off like a wildfire. After two or three batches he had already built an all-grain cooler out of a 5 gal igloo cooler.

So whats the point? The point is that I am making excuses. Long story short, we’ve been brewing so much beer lately that it is impossible to think that I could “catch up” this blog to include all my previous beers and make everyone a story in its own right like I thought I originally could/would. It might get there at some point in time, but right now we’re simply just brewing too much. I think, between the two of us, we have cranked out over 60 gallons of beer in the last 6 months.

For the time being, I’m probably going to use this blog like a notebook. Just posting the recipes as they are brewed, starting with my rye pale ale from last night.

When I first started this little blog up, I thought it would be an easy way to keep notes on my beer and record random thoughts and events that happened to me or that I was influenced by on brew day…What music I listened to, what the weather was like, what was pissing me off, what was making me happy, who helped brew, etc.   A little photo album for each day or whatever.  And it is.  It’s a great idea and I need to keep this stuff written down as my memory doesn’t serve me very well as of late and I like remembering brew days.  I don’t really own any notebooks, I lose any pen I get my hands on, and my organization skills are sub-par to say the least.  But AHA!  I use the internet daily.  This should be easy for me to do!!!  Yet despite all of my excitement and good intentions, BLOG FAIL.   Don’t get me wrong.  I haven’t given up.  I’ve just proven to myself once again that one of my weaknesses is procrastination and I need to work on that.

I’m sick today.  Just a bad cold.  It’s my fault.  The last couple weeks I’ve had the winter itch.  SAD is what they call it I guess.  I never thought I was affected by this “condition” but the dark snowy days have finally gave way to a need for increased social contact and I’ve been attempting to embrace that need.  My boss calls it burning the candle at both ends.  It’s not healthy and I know this.  I’ve been working all day, and partying through the night…I saw it coming and it’s my fault I’m sick.  I’ve just had too many nights stuck inside with the dog and the cat.

I need a bonfire! A huge one!  A night under the stars with a bright moon to keep everyone’s bare or sandaled toes un-stubbed should they stray away from the light of the fire.   Not a full moon tho, only half lit up with  a slight crescent shape like a seductive wink of the eye in the night sky.  That’s how I like my moon.   A shirt optional drum circle, maybe with some warpaint for those of us up after 3 am and most definitely some scantily clad women dancing around, one that’s not too good on the tambourine but ain’t afraid to shake it.  That’s what I need.  A night of the wild, abandoning all inhibitions.  An evening barking at the moon.  There needs to be beer there too, oh yes, plenty of beer…but really it’s a night for whiskey…yea…thats what I need right now…whiskey and women, fire and the moon.  Nature…but not this cold shit!

Bah! What am I talking about?  I need some dayquil, a cup of tea, and a nap!

The reason for this post and rant is to once again try to light a bonfire under my ass and get me to update this with my brew notes, and in the future, write more concise accounts of the brew day. I’m sitting here staring at my last two brew “notes” and I need to get them down before I can no longer understand my own chicken scratch.  Hell the last notes are written on the cardboard backing of an aqua-mist air stone package. (I use the airstones to infuse oxygen into the wort).

So long story short, I got my torrified wheat!  I’ve brewed a cyser and a winter ale and should I call into work sick today, it is my goal to have both of those written up before bedtime.

The brewing supply company I’ve been using for years and years and years biffed on my order twice, so I’m still waiting on that torrified wheat for my upcoming winter warmer. The first package had torrified barley instead of torrified wheat. I felt bad asking them to pay shipping for an item that was $.97 plus I needed another yeast strain for my cyser so I ordered that along with the replacement torrified wheat and asked them to only eat the shipping costs and I would pay for the yeast. They were apologetic and shipped me the wheat and yeast with no shipping costs. The package finally came 2 days ago and there was a nice white labs cider yeast vial and no torrified wheat. I slept on it for a day, cause I was pretty peeved, then wrote them a nice email and spoke with a gentleman named Pete who refunded me pretty much everything on my order, sent me out the torrified wheat, and a few ounces of free hops. He says its a new slovenian variety sample from one of their suppliers? Anyway, free hops. woo hoo! I’m weird about getting things for free…kinda makes me feel bad but this time i’m gonna have to let it go and have a homebrew.  If things go right, I’ll have my cyser in the fermenter by this time next week. Two more for the winter warmer. Then we’ll have to come up with an ale for petes hops and some other randoms i’ve got sitting in my freezer. HOORAY BEER! I’m excited