Today is another brewday. I don’t tend to brew during the week, but I wanted to get this going before leaving on a short trip this weekend. I am basing my recipe on the Abbey Weiss by Jon Sharp, posted here (and it really does look delicious there, and beautiful… I can only aspire to something as gorgeous as the beer in his picture). The two changes I went with were to include about 250 grams of Quaker Instant Oats, and first wort hopping. (I also considered using a Chrysanthemum tea instead of Chamomile, since I’d like to see how …
Tag: BEER & HOMEBREWING
Biere D’Enfer
A long time ago, I was in a hurry to use up one of my beer kits, eager to go to all-grain. So I made a pilsner, pitched the yeast, and nothing happened. The record of my panic is here, but I’ll save this post for talking about what happened next. Which was, I was kind of disappointed by the beer when I tasted it a few times–it felt more than creamy, and I wondered if there was something diacetylic about the odd mouthfeel–so I left it over the summer. Didn’t think about it, didn’t look at it. I had …
Brewday: Wonmisan Tan Belgian Pale
Another day, another brew. This is an attempt at a slightly-beyond-style Belgian Pale: the alcohol is a bit higher than the style specifies, in order to take advantage of the characteristics of the yeast cake I’ve got ready for it. I could call it a Wonmisan Tan’n’Heavy Belgian Pale, but I don’t want the name to be too long. Another thing I’m doing differently here is the hops. Since the Belgian Abbey II yeast won’t be doing much in the sense of estery flavors, I’m doing a slightly crazy late-hopping experiment (or what some call “hopbursting”). The thing is, when …
Saisons: Belgian Beer and Global Warming
Homebrewing has bloomed again to the level of an obsession. I have a couple of books coming my way which elucidate the secrets of the Belgians–Stan Hieronymous’s book on Trappist Monk brewing, and another on Farmhouse Ales. But something dawned on me quite a while ago, which I recently worked into the plot synopsis for a novel I am hoping to write soon. One (small) part of the book has to do with Belgian brewing and how global warming will affect it. You see, Belgian brewing is, more than many other sorts of brewing, quite closely linked to the landscape. …
Belgian Brewday: On a Jag Abbey Dubbel Quad (Version 1)
Update (27/9/2010, 29/9/2010): Notes on fermentation appended after the end of this post. Original Post (26/9/2010): Yeah, you knew this was coming. I have a few reviews to post, of Delerium Tremens and a bottle of Old Peculier that my friend Mark brought over for us, as well as a bottle of framboise by Mort Subite that Nick brought over back in February and which I saved, somehow, until a week ago, but today, my beer-related post is a recipe log for a brewday! (Whew, it’s nice to be back at it. I get a weird itch in my mind …
German Beers at Costco?
Those interested in fruit-beer blends might want to drop by Costco (at least, the Costco by Yeongdeungpo Office Station) and check out the deal on imported German “beers”). I quite like the Red Sonja (Hefeweizen with blood orange) and the Radler (Lemonade + pilsner) they have available there. More info here.
An Update, Scattershot
Been raining hard occasionally, quite late at night. I’ve drawn close to the end of the first of three papers, which is pretty good considering all the crazy grading stuff I had to finalize last week, and some other stuff that came up over the weekend. I have some editing to do, I have a story on the go, I have some references to look up. I have a movie to go watch, maybe. We’ll see. But mostly? I have some serious laundry to do. And brewing of beer, but I have to find some place to crush my grains …
Where the Wild Beers Are…
A few brewing-related events lately warrant a post. First, I ended up supplying the beer for a party hosted by Soyeon Jeong and her husband Dongjin Lee. She posted about the party here, with a photo (though all the faces are blacked out for some reason… privacy, I guess). I haven’t said much about it here, so I’ll just say I had a great time, it was fun to geek out, talk SF (and other stuff) and it was fun to see so many people enjoying my beer. Anyway, there were a few bottles of IPA left over, which I …
Beer Festival (at Homeplus) and man, VB sucks!
So, a guy I know at work (hi Dave!) alerted me to the fact that the local Homeplus (a grocery store chain) is holding a “beer festival” which means 5 bottles of a number of imported beers were on sale for for $10-ish. (Probably more like $12, but we think of W10,000 as about $10 here.) He specifically noted that Paulaner Hefeweissen was among those beers, and it turned out to be the only beer worth it, unless you have fond nostalgic reasons to want to drink Singha outside Thailand. (I figure there’s a reason why Beerlao — the Laotian …
Coming Up: Beer Festival, June 12th
So Rob at homebrewkorea.com has organized a homebrewing SMaSH-off festival. If you’re not a homebrewer, you likely have no idea what SMaSH means, but it’s simple: Single Malt and Single Hop It’s a special kind of challenge that homebrewers take upon themselves, to keep things simple, and focus on their brewing techniques, instead of mucking about adding extra grains or other stuff for effects. Anyway, there are two parts to the event: the first half is for the brewers, who will sample one anothers’ beer and and talk shop.That’s already booked solid, but for most readers, unless you’re a homebrewer …