Soul One Brewery

A new look!

2011-05-21T17:31:00.001-07:00

As you can see from the top of the blog, we've now got ourselves a snazzy ole logo. Many, many thanks to our friend Jesse Barnes for his hard work in designing it along with the labels that he designed to go on the beers themselves!! We're lovin' the new look.

Brewing has been going good this year, though of course we're still not brewing as frequently as we would like to. Hopefully we'll be brewing again soon, maybe next weekend, likely brewing our Rainy Day Pale Ale.
We did have a minor SNAFU the last time we brewed the Rainy Day Pale Ale, where 1/2 of it ended up not being good for drinking. The good thing is that instances like that make it good for other things. So, we're trying our hand at making malt vinegar. It's been aging for about a month now and, while it hasn't developed a mother on top, it is smelling nice and vinegar-y. We're going to keep letting it age and see how it goes, but we promise to keep you informed.

Also, Big Brew was May 7th this year and we hope you all celebrated in style. Carrie, of course, took photos of SCBG's Big Brew event. Here is a link to those: http://www.flickr.com/photos/funkymamataney/sets/72157626682794152/
Since she is also now doing more freelance writing she wrote an article about the event as well and it appeared in the local Cave Spring Connection. As soon as that article gets put up online we'll share the link with y'all!!

Cheers!

A Proud Moment

2011-01-01T20:40:00.000-08:00

Blacksburg Brew Do (http://www.blacksburgpartnership.org/brewdo/index.html) was a local craft beer festival held on October 30th. They also had a Homebrew Competition with four categories that you could enter beer into: Light, Amber, Dark, & Specialty. The four 1st place winners would then be judged and a Best of Show would be declared. We entered our Russian Imperial Stout, 'Izvinite Babushka' (Russian for 'excuse me Grandma') into the Dark category. It won 1st place. It then won Best of Show as well. We had good competition for Best of Show, 2 of the other 1st place winners in the remaining three categories were fellow Star City Brewers Guild members.
Part of the prize for Best of Show was getting the chance to brew your winning beer at Bull & Bones in Blacksburg. We went up there the morning after Christmas. We had to be there at 7am, giving us a roughly 45 minute drive. And it was snowing. And the windshield wipers decided that they didn't really need to work. And then we nearly ran out of gas. But we made it there, which was the hardest part of it all.

At 7am we were greeted by Bull & Bones' head brewer, Jim Strickland. Jim only had to roll out of bed and make the couple minute drive there from his house. We were a little jealous of this given our ordeal getting up there.

The brew session went well from what we could tell and other than the one boil over there were no problems that we were aware of. In the between times where we would normally sit around and, pardon the pun, shoot the bull we enjoyed some of Jim's beers off of the tap and played pool. Not a bad way to start your morning, or brew in general.

Their system maxes out at 900 lbs of grain so to accommodate that we had to brew a slightly smaller batch to get the target OG (OG = Original Gravity, which along with the Final Gravity will tell you how alcoholic the beer is). I think he said 8 barrels instead of 10. We ended up coming out a little low on the gravity anyway but still hit 23 plato (1.096), which coincidentally I think is what we actually ended up with when we brewed this at home. So assuming this ferments out to about 6 or 7 plato (1.024 – 1.028) we should end up with about a 9 – 9.5% beer.

As far as the actual process of brewing went I thought it seemed easier than what we do at home. All temperatures, pumps, etc. were controlled electronically and all liquid flow was plumbed in stainless steel and controlled with valves…so no tubes to take on and off or switch around. We did have to hook up the CIP (clean in place) pump and a separate tube to pump sanitizer through heat exchanger though. Cleanup was easier too (except for emptying 900 lbs of grain!!) because everything else was just hosed down and flushed out of the system and down the drains in the floor. ~ This was especially nice given the fact that we've had to have our pipes cleaned out as a result of emptying out a minute amount of grain into the kitchen drain here at the house. It stunk. Badly. We learned a lesson.

The spent grain from the brew session was picked up by a local farmer that Jim knows. He feeds it to his cows. We used a modified hoe to scrape out the mash tun, letting the grain fall into trash cans below that we then hauled outside. It was nice to know that the grain was getting re-used and not just going into the landfill.

Naturally Carrie took a lot of photos while we were there. Here is a small selection of them.

~Stirring the mash~

~This is a neat shot because you can see Jim loading the grain into the mill (in the room in the background of the photo), which then travels to the mash tun where I am stirring it~

~A look down inside the boil kettle as it fills with liquid gold ... aka wort~

~The wort boiling. It boiled over almost immediately after this photo was taken.~

~Jim, hosing down things after the boil over. This ability to clean up like this was one of the true perks of getting to brew on a setup like this.~

~Jim beginning to empty the spent grain out of the mash tun~

~The perk of being the head brewer and having someone else up there brewing with you ... letting them empty all the grain!!~

We want to thank Jim for being such a great host and letting us brew along with him. It was a truly wonderful experience. Thank you Jim! Thanks also to the folks at Blacksburg Brew Do for a fun festival and to those who judged for choosing our beer!

Also, our win garnered us a mention in the Salem Times Register. Here is the link to that article: http://ourvalley.org/local-home-brew-declared-best-in-beer-competition/

The Perfect Place to Have a Beer?

2010-06-15T18:28:00.000-07:00

Rick Lyke over at http://lyke2drink.blogspot.com recently blogged about an article he'd written in the new issue of All About Beer magazine titled "150 Perfect Places to Have a Beer". Check it out here: http://lyke2drink.blogspot.com/2010/06/beer-traveler-150-perfect-places-to.html - it's a very good list.
However, in our opinion, some of the best places are missing. Here is our brief list of some of those places.

*In your local pub
*In a pub or brewery you're visiting for the 1st time
*On the deck, with dinner
*On the front porch with friends as it pours down around you
*Beside a bonfire while camping
*Overlooking the water
*With fellow homebrewers
*With other beer snobs
*At a homebrewer's gathering, such as with your local beer guild!
*At the judges' table during a brewing competition
*At someone's homemade bar
*On someone else's tab
*When you're accepting the gigantic lottery check

.. Ok, now we're getting silly. But you get the picture. Some of the best places aren't named, don't have websites, and are just moments in time.

Yazoo Brewing Co. - Nashville, TN

2010-06-01T10:47:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday, May 29th, we passed through Nashville and decided to stop and check out the local brews. Our first stop was at Yazoo Brewing Co. Click here to check out their website: http://www.yazoobrew.com/home.php

They opened at 2pm. When we got there there was already a guy standing outside the door. We weren't sure if he was an early bird like us or an employee. Turns out, this is apparently the place to be on a Saturday! We weren't there more than 90 mins and the place was PACKED!! It was really insane!
One of the first things we noticed about the place was the style. Very cool. Paintings hung everywhere, great colors and layout.

~Carrie did misread this painting from across the room as 'Yazoobre Wing Company'. We could make lots of fun at her expense, but she had been driving all day & had a migraine, so we'll cut her some slack~

~Left to Right: Sly Rye Porter & Onward Stout. Extra points for British-style pint glasses!~

As soon as we got there we ordered a pint of their Sly Rye Porter & a pint of their Onward Stout. Here is their description of the Sly Rye:
A rich, chocolaty English Porter with a clean finish. We use the finest floor-malted Maris Otter malts from England, the same malts used for the best single-malt scotch. A portion of malted rye gives a spicy, slightly dry finish.
Our thoughts on it? GOOD!! We were definitely more impressed with the Sly Rye than the Onward Stout. It was very nice, quite surprisingly so.
Onward Stout was good too, but we preferred our Ruby's Deep Winter Stout over it. It just didn't blow up our skirts. Here is their description of the Onward Stout:
The tan lace clings to the glass as you raise the pint to your lips. Close your eyes and smile as the rich espresso notes fade to a dry, roasted finish. Exceptionally smooth and satisfying. Made with English Pale malt, roasted barley, black patent malt, and flaked barley. Hopped with East Kent Goldings and Target hops, and fermented with our English ale yeast.
Not a bad beer, but like I said, didn't blow up our skirts.

We also signed up for the first tour @ 2:30. Nashville has sustained some pretty nasty flooding recently. Luckily, the main floor of the brewery wasn't affected. Unluckily, the AC unit was stored in the basement, where they got 3' of water. And it was HOT on Saturday.
Some serious sweating aside, the tour was a good one. The gal who gave the tour (a nice change, usually tours are given by guys) was really enthusiastic and fun. It definitely wasn't your typical boring tour.
During the tour we sampled three more of their beers. Dos Perros was the first one. They claim it is one of their best sellers, but we weren't terribly impressed with it. Their Pale Ale was the second one. We had just smelled some Cascade hops and you could definitely taste the hops when you tried the beer. Not a bad Pale Ale at all. Finally, we tried their Hefeweizen. The tour guide pointed out the banana aroma with a hint of cloves, but honestly, we found it lacking in aroma. Again, not a bad beer, just lacking in aroma.

Apparently, at one point in time, the back of the brewery used to be a boxing gym. You can still see things that were written on the wall. Pretty cool, though we all know not to let Carrie get too many boxing thoughts in her head.
The brewery also used to hold a police training area in the back at one point and, presumably at another point in time, had a Swinger's Lounge upstairs. Pretty interesting past.

Overall thoughts?
If you're in Nashville, definitely take some time to swing by here and check the place out. The beer wasn't bad at all. Their growlers were clear which was a bummer. The souvenir pint glass that you got with the tour was definitely cool.
They apparently are working on renovating the upstairs because people keep wanting to come there and have birthday parties, wedding receptions, and other types of gatherings. This was a little foreign to us, since we haven't really been to just a brewery where people were packing the place, but it was cool.

Truly Green Beer

2010-03-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

First off, Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone!! Cheers! And, on a personal note, Happy Anniversary to us! Here's to many more years together.

St. Patrick's Day is a well-known time for green beer. Beer dyed green is all well and good, but there is another type of green beer, a type that is truly Green Beer, and we wanted to dedicate some space to it. This company is an inspiration to us.

New Belgium Brewing ~ http://www.newbelgium.com/sustainability

New Belgium Brewing is located in Fort Collins, Colorado. According to their website, see above link, here are the ways they are Alternatively Empowered.

Our Alternatively Empowered efforts:

While there are many ways to be stewards of the earth, each company must determine which strengths they have to leverage. Here are some of ours:
1. Increased efficiencies in the brewing process
Our brew kettle, Steinecker's Merlin, was the second of its kind installed in the U.S. and is considered more efficient than standard brew kettles because it heats thin sheets of wort rather than the whole kettle at once.
During wort boil, the steam exits the kettle through a stack and into a heat exchanger which continually extracts heat from the steam vapor and holds it in our energy storage tank. During the next batch, the stored heat helps the wort to boil very quickly, allowing us to use very little primary energy.
2. Utilized green design throughout our building.
Lighting. We take full advantage of the more than 360 days of sunshine in Fort Collins by using UV blocking windows, sun-tubes, and light shelves.
HVAC. Using evaporative coolers, we can condition our 55,000 square foot packaging hall with no compressors, using much less energy.
Materials. In our new packaging hall, the interior wood is beetle kill pine. Summit County, CO, anticipates that mountain pine beetles will kill 98% of their lodgepole pines. So, we’re giving these fallen trees another life.
3. Implemented a process for treating our wastewater: The Clean Water Act of 1973 requires business to clean their water to domestic treatment standards before discharging, but we go above and beyond to reduce the load on our municipal plant. And we get two valuable by-products from this treatment—methane and nutrient-rich sludge.
4. On-site energy production. The methane produced by process water treatment is used to fuel a combined heat and power engine—or co-gen—which creates electricity and heat for the brewery. The co-gen allows us to offset those critical—and expensive—peak loads by creating electricity on-site from a renewable source—our process wastewater. When the co-gen is running full-time, it can supply 15% of our electrical needs.
5. Wind-powered electricity since 1999. In 1999, New Belgium became the largest private consumer of wind-power electricity at that time and the first wind-powered brewery. In 1998, when we were researching ways to lower our environmental impact, Fort Collins was launching the first city-sponsored wind program in Colorado. We made a 10-year commitment to buy all of our electricity through the program, which allowed them to install an additional turbine, in Medicine Bow, WY. Since the wind premium increased our total cost per kilowatt-hour by 57%, it impacted employee’s profit sharing pool. So, we asked employees: wind-power or not? They unanimously voted for clean energy, and the decision is a fabled moment in New Belgium history.
6. Employ a High Involvement Culture. An environment in which the full power of everyone’s hearts and minds are brought to bear on creating positive change. HIC is a 3-legged stool which stands on opening the books, employee ownership, and participative decision-making.
7. Sustainable Eventing. We try to minimize the environmental impact of our events at every turn. Our philanthropic bike festival, Tour de Fat, celebrates bicycling as a viable form of alternative transport. A solar-powered stage provides sound for the day, beer is served in compostable cups and our overall waste stream diversion rate is better than 85%.
8. Actionable Advocacy. We’re members of 1% For the Planet, which means that, through donations and fund-raisers, 1% of our revenue goes to environmental non-profits.
Team Wonderbike, our bicycle commuter advocacy program, has more than 10,000 members who have pledged to offset more than eight million car miles by riding their bikes more over the next twelve months.
Public speaking/education: Because we make and sell beer, people are interested in our story. We’ve been very successful while being values-driven, and we strive to be a business role model.
To encourage sustainable transportation, every employee gets a custom cruiser bike after one-year of employment.
9. Constant benchmarking. Without data, how can you measure progress? Every company needs to figure out how to track non-financial results, to be sure that they’re not just giving lip-service to environmental goals. Our Life-cycle Accessment
10. Partnering to support innovative technology. The company Oberon has installed a small treatment plant next to our own that will use our process wastewater to harvest sludge to create a high protein fish food for aqua-farms. If successful, we can learn how to turn our waste stream (that currently becomes an amendment to compost) into an income stream and a source of global nutrition.

~ Seriously, WOW!! That is some truly green beer for you!

OK..

2010-03-01T20:58:00.000-08:00

Carrie: Why are you shaking it like that?
Me: So it all comes outta here

Carrie: Do you have to keep shaking it like that?
Me: This is a different one! What's wrong with you?

You perverts .. I'm just making a yeast starter!

Decadence takes 1st Place

2010-01-09T19:59:00.000-08:00

~Our 1st place trophy from the Star City Brewers Guild's December 2009 "Imperial Anything" Competition. A very proud moment.~

We're members of Roanoke's local homebrewers' guild, Star City Brewers Guild - aka, SCBG, http://www.starcitybrewers.org/. We're proud to be part of such a great group and are grateful for the chance to get to learn from, and drink with, other homebrewers. Unfortunately, the Roanoke Valley is not yet known for it's appreciation of good beer.
Every year the SCBG holds 4 different competitions, spaced out over the course of the year. We don't normally enter them, as we're working towards opening our own brewery and choose to focus on perfecting our own recipes. The general rule has been that if we had a beer that fit the competition, then we could enter it. To date, we've entered 3 competitions with SCBG: Dec. 2008's Porter Competition (we entered an Imperial Vanilla Bourbon Porter ... not exactly to style!), March 2009's Brown Ale Competition (we entered our Back Porch Brown Ale), and then Dec. 2009's "Imperial Anything" Competition. We had yet to be sent up to the final round, much less place.
One thing about competitions, especially ones where you don't have BJCP certified judges, is that they're REALLY subjective. The judges are seeking out flaws, many of which are hard to detect and often flavors that the brewer intended to put in the beer. It's tricky. So, competitions aren't something we put too terribly much stock in.
This past SCBG meeting (which, ironically enough was held Jan. 2, 2010 because of a big snow that hit the weekend it was to be held in December) we weren't holding our breathes. Decadence is a big beer. The name embodies it. We titled it as an "Imperial Bourbon Chocolate Stout." Since this was an "Imperial Anything" competition there were Imperial Pale Ales, Belgian Ales, Pilsners, Stouts, Porters and so on. Titles were required so the judges would know what to base their judging on - and each beer was judged by it's style, not against other beers. At least not till the final round, where the judges pick what they feel is the best beer.
But, like I said, we weren't holding our breathes. We were shocked to find that Decadence had been sent up to the final round, which was a large round due to many entries. When the winners were announced we were blown away to find out that we got 1st place. Our first time placing at all in a competition. A very proud moment. We were especially proud because Decadence is the first beer we really crafted together as a team. And, that particular batch was brewed on a good day, with friends over, good food, and, most importantly, the kids helping out. http://soulonebrewery.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html It was a great day. It is something that confirms to us that we each have our own part to contribute, that this is a family brewery ... even if right now it is a homebrewery.

But there is something that matters much more to us than a trophy, and always has. It is hearing people try our beers and tell us what they think. It is that "oh yea" expression on someone's face. We brew beers that WE like, that we hope YOU like. Competitions, contests, awards, trophies ... all those things are secondary. Nice if you win, a little bit of a bummer when you don't, but nonetheless, secondary.
Driving home that night we were both a little overwhelmed by the win. More overwhelmed by the praises of Decadence's quality and the "THAT'S a good beer!"

Thank you. Thank you all, even those of you who weren't at the meeting. Thank you for drinking our beer. Thank you for liking it. Thank you for asking for refills, and for the praise and smiles.

... and thanks for the trophy. ;)

Ice Coated Brewing

2009-12-11T19:20:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday we brewed another batch of our Back Porch Brown Ale. The difference of brewing this day was that we started brewing was coated in ice.

~This was the deck, first thing in the morning, as we got ready to set up for brewing~

~We're getting set up now and you can see the ice still coating the deck. At least it's not raining, right?~

Brewing went well, despite the bitterly cold start to the morning. Several people have asked whether the cold weather makes it take longer for the water to boil, but we didn't find that there was much of a difference. Our burners are some high kickin' burners though, so maybe that makes a difference? The cooler weather DID make it a little bit quicker to chill down after the boil; which was good because it saved us some water consumption (less water needed to cool it down), and the quicker it cools down the quicker you can get it into the carboys. This equals a smaller chance for infection. Also, the quicker you cool it, the better "cold break" you will get which will reduce or eliminate the occurrence of chill haze. Chill haze doesn't affect the flavor of the beer though, only its appearance; so for those who want a nice, clear, "see-your-hand-through-the-glass" beer, chill haze is something that is a bit undesirable.

~Shannon, in his hat & gloves, helping to skim the foam off of the wort, at the end of the sparge, as it gets ready to boil~

~Here he is dumping the foam he skimmed off into a pot of water that will be dumped out on the grass~

We once again fermented 5 gallons with American yeast and 5 gallons with English yeast. We've been a little lax about keeping good records as to which yeast we prefer in the final product. Note to brewers: keep good records, all the way through!!
5 gallons we will keg and 5 we will bottle. Kegging is easy and quick, and it is hard not to keg all 10 gallons, but we're remembering the importance of bottling beer as well. Gifts, bartering, competitions, beer in bottles can be a good thing.

We'll keep you updated with what we brew next.

Teach a Friend to Homebrew

2009-11-12T08:40:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, November 7th, was National Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day. From http://www.beertown.org/events/teach/index.html ~
The American Homebrewers Association (AHA) Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day is an international event to introduce people to the homebrewing hobby and establish relationships with local homebrew supply shops.
Each year on the first Saturday in November, homebrewers around the world are encouraged to invite non-brewing and brewing friends and family to celebrate Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day and brew a batch of beer together.
Before the event, participants that have Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day events register their site on this web page. These registered sites help the American Homebrewers Association track how many participants celebrated the event.

As usual, the Star City Brewer's Guild hosted a TAFTH at Lamplighter Mall, outside Blue Ridge Hydroponic and Homebrew Store. While we only stayed a short while, we did stop by with the kids for a bit early on in the day. We watched one member add his grains for his all-grain brew, and another start his kit-brewing. The gentleman who was doing the kit-brew explained to the kids how he was hanging the grains from a wire so that they wouldn't burn from sitting on the bottom of the pot. Shannon picked up on this and was able to tell us what he learned on the way home. Tristan, who is still only 3, only noted that the gentleman didn't have crackers and cheese .. something he had when we visited him at his home during a brew day!
HOWEVER, something kinda impressive happened the next morning.

~Tristan helping stir the pot~

Sunday, the 8th, we brewed our "Ruby's Deep Winter" Stout. While both kids insist on helping, it is normally Shannon who is really insistent upon being a part. This Sunday, however, it was Tristan who woke up ready to brew. I have no doubt in my mind this was because of attending Teach a Friend to Homebrew the day before.

While a 5 1/2 year old and a 3 year old may not have exactly been the "target audience" for learning to homebrew, they did learn. And since we live in a society where practically the only thing deemed allowable/acceptable/appropriate for children to do is watch tv, play video games, and generally be worshipped rather than productive members of a household ... I consider them learning how to homebrew a great success.

Mellowing into Fall ~ Pumpkin Ale

2009-10-11T08:13:00.000-07:00

We brewed our first Pumpkin Ale of the year on Sept. 23rd. We use fresh pumpkins, so the anticipation and wait for them to be in season is an event all it's own. Here are some photos from this past brew session.

~The set-up, with the pureed pumpkin and rice hulls~

~Shannon stirs while Justin adds the grain~

~Tristan watches~

~Tristan and Shannon take turns stirring the pot~

~And, finally, the pumpkin is stirred in~

We must confess here, this didn't turn out quite like we had hoped. To quote Carrie's step-father "it didn't blow our skirts up." So, ingredients have been ordered and we hope to brew another batch this next weekend. That's one of the little hiccups with brewing seasonal ales, if you're not quick enough, you only get to brew once a year! And, we expect our seasonals to blow our skirts up!!
We're also still working on a good name for this brew. Some have come to mind, but we worry about copyright infringement and stuff like that. If you have any good ideas you'd like to suggest, please leave a comment ~ we'd love to hear from you!

Decadence on Memorial Day

2009-05-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

~Quick apology for the lack of photos here, but keep a weather eye our on that horizon for a slideshow of photos soon to come!~

On Memorial Day, after a long weekend (two nights + little kids = long weekend) of camping, we got to brew! Most people were busy grilling out and celebrating pools opening ~ we were busy brewing up our intense "Decadence" and noshing on some homemade pizzas!
Decadence is our Winter Holiday beer. Last year, we brewed it with the intention of drinking it over Christmas, but it ended up being our known as our "winter holiday preparation" beer as only a couple bottles made it to Christmas. It's an Imperial Stout with chocolate, vanilla, and Wild Turkey. It earns it's name! This year, we needed to use up the grain we had gotten via a bulk order from Big Daddy's Brewing (http://www.bigdaddybrewingcompany.com/). The grain arrived crushed instead of whole, meaning it would spoil quicker. Decadence to the rescue!
Brewing went really well. We did realize that 36lbs of grain is about all we can handle, with our current set up, during one brew session. We could possibly do 40lbs, but we're not sure how we would get the sparge arm on over it. We hit the OG dead on at 1.100. We also got a chance to really test out the new tent.
If you aren't in the area, or if you are in your own world, you may have missed the fact that the greater Roanoke Valley has been going through a very wet "rainy season" lately. Great for the ground, for building streams and rivers back up, for crops and newly planted trees; but bad for a lot of other stuff. We've set the tent up once before on a brew-day, but didn't have all the hot liquor tank underneath. This time we did. We had water on hand in case of fire, but we needn't fear. One: it did fine. Two: it DID rain!! It poured down for a while actually. The tent worked, everything remained safe and not-watered down, and when the sun returned, we had a nice, dry, shady area to hang out. The only ones not happy about the rain were the dogs. We've begun putting up a baby gate to block them from the deck (Whiskey, our chocolate lab keeps burning herself on the burners .. you'd think she'd learn!), and instead of finding other shelter in the rain, they stood at the baby gate, leaning their heads over it & pouting. Yes, they were pouting. Especially Jomo.
For the most part though the rain ended as our guests arrived. We were joined for this brew-day by our friends Kevin & Bailie. Kevin is a brewer as well and both he and Bailie are also members of the Star City Brewer's Guild. http://www.starcitybrewers.org/
As usual, Shannon helped add the hops. This time he also got to add the cocoa, which was a nice treat for him. He has now begun telling his friends he can't play with them "because I'm brewing!" This is pretty funny to here a 5 year old say. Tristan was asleep for most of the time, but he did show a lot of interest when Justin was filtering the beer into the fermenter. Carrie was able to get some cute photos of all of this.
All in all, the brew-day went really well. Carrie made two homemade pizzas which were quickly devoured by everyone. She is now on a quest to find some good pepperoni made from pasture raised pork.
The beer has gone through quite a vigorous fermentation process though. If we had hooked up a blow-off tube it probably would've been fine and resulted in less mess to clean up, but hey. To help try and keep it as we want to be, we've put the beer into coolers filled with water and ice packs. The goal is to keep try and keep the beer at a constant 70-72 degrees. This is one of those times where we realize the downside of not having AC, and we're looking for remedies for the future.
The vanilla will be added during the secondary fermentation which might occur next weekend - we'll just have to see how it's all going. The Wild Turkey will be added when it is time to bottle &/or keg the beer. In the future we will plan on using a cask for this time, and let the beer age to absorb the flavors. We're hoping to let the beer age in bottles and still drink it during the winter holidays, but this is like getting boxes of Girl Scout Cookies and expecting them to last for 6 months. You can hope, but don't hold your breath.

Shooting Creek Brews!

2009-05-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

While wandering up to Floyd to pick up a few things, we stopped by Harvest Moon (always a must!) and were delighted to find Shooting Creek Brewery's beer! YAY!!

We tried three of their brews: Farmhouse Stout, Red Tractor Ale, and Buffalo Brown Ale.
Right now, of all the beer being brewed locally, Shooting Creek's is the only one you can actually buy in bottles at a store. I hope the other local breweries follow suit and start making their beer available in bottles too.
The beer is really good. The brewery, the brewers, and everyone involved with Shooting Creek are even better. Quoting their website (www.shootingcreekbrewery.com): Both a Farm and a Brewery, we produce much of the hops, honey and grains used in our beers. Brewed in small batches, our unique beers will please, refresh and inspire.
Portions of each brew are packaged in returnable containers to help reduce the Brewery's carbon footprint.

This is something that really speaks to us. We grow some of our hops now, and hope to expand that, as well as grow more things for the beers, in the future. Trying to maintain a small carbon footprint and walk lightly on the Earth is very important to us as well.
If you haven't checked out Shooting Creek yet, do so.

May Tasting

2009-05-20T09:05:00.000-07:00

For May, in honor of Spring, we decided to sample some fruit beers. Fruit beers are really popular right now, with more varieties seeming to appear stocked on the shelves by the day. It's been fun to watch, and surprising to taste. For reference sake, we bought all of these beers at the Kroger on Brambleton Ave. in Roanoke. This Kroger is locally known as both "the old Harris Teeter" and "the good Kroger."

To start the tasting we tried Orange Blossom Cream Ale. It says it is brewed by Buffalo Brewing Company, but on the side it also says it comes from Pyramid. Here are our thoughts:
~Justin - orange aroma up front. Good but not worth $8.50 or $9 a six-pack
~Carrie - first scent, it smells like cheap beer, orange aroma comes out as it warms up. Very smooth taste, decent. Agree on price.

Up next was Wild Blueberry, a blueberry lager, from Blue Dawg Brewing. (Into alliteration are they?). Here are our thoughts on this one:
~Justin - lots of blueberry aroma. taste is too overpowering, like drinking alcoholic blueberry juice, too much juice used - wouldn't call it beer, but I'll drink it because it is 8% alcohol
~Carrie - aroma reminds me of blueberry muffins. Very sweet, very "dessert-y". No "beer" taste - would be good with dessert, but definitely can't drink more than one in a row ("lacks drinkability")
~ Now, I must note something here. This beer reminded us both of alcohol without the alcohol taste. Like Zima or something. We let Carrie's mother and step-father try it. Both like it, particularly Carrie's mom. She also used to drink Zima. If you're into that, you'd probably really like this. All of us shared the comment about it tasting more like blueberry juice than beer.

Our last beer was Aprihop from Dogfish Head. Here were our thoughts on it:
~Justin - good, a little tart
~Carrie - nice floral aroma, nice flavor
Anyone who knows us, or who has been reading this blog for any amount of time, knows our love for Dogfish. We weren't sure if we didn't have a lot to say because of the following reasons: a slight buzz from the Wild Blueberry, watching a movie (HellBoy 2 for those curious), eating some extremely yummy Roasted Garlic and Parmesan chips, or just not being terribly blown away by this brew. We do agree it warrants a second-round of tasting when all other factors are not into play. We will always give Dogfish that courtesy!
HOWEVER .. this one can NOT go without being noted.

UGH!!! Playboy may have been smooth in the 60's & 70's, but no more! This made me want to smack the carton, or at least smack whoever thought of it upside the head. Playboy today is "Sleeze" NOT "Smooth"!!! While I realize the beer isn't calling Playboy smooth here it is instead Playboy calling the beer "smooth" - well, it is still just wrong. Dogfish is leagues above Playboy. Couldn't they have quoted Frank Sinatra instead?? (yes, I know he is dead .. it's a joke) bah.

SOOO --- What type of beers are you wanting to drink when Spring rolls around?? Do you like the fruit beers? Whaddya think .. we wanna know!

Belgian Blonde Ale

2009-05-10T08:10:00.000-07:00

We took full advantage of the break in rain to brew yesterday. They were still calling for a 60% chance of scattered thunderstorms, so we set up the tent that Justin got for Christmas, just in case. Of course, if you plan ahead and set up a tent, it won't rain - and it didn't. But it WAS nice to have a shady deck for once, as ours is always very sunny & in the summertime that means VERY hot!! In the photo you can see Justin taking a few minutes to check out his first issue of "Brew Your Own" (the how-to homebrew beer magazine) that we just got that day. So far, we must admit, this is looking to be one snazzy beer magazine.

We chose to try a Belgian Blonde Ale, our first non-kit Belgian, since 1)we really love a good Belgian Ale, 2)we've noticed that Belgians are pretty popular around here, 3)we've been really inspired by the complexity of Caracole's beers and just "HAD TO" try our own take, and finally 4)though the dark strong Belgian ales are more popular, we were more motivated to do a blonde. Sometimes the beer speaks to you .. or something like that. ha ha ha

We got off to a slightly later-than-usual start due to the rain and some other craziness here at the house, but were able to be mashing by about 10:30. Although we had planned on using Belgian Pilsner malt, but we had gotten some "bulk grain" (American 2 Row) from Awful Arthur's and their brewer had forgotten to not have ours crushed. Since it came crushed, we needed to use it up sooner rather than later, so this time we went with the American 2 row.

Brewing went well. Nothing terribly special or note-worthy, just one boil over when the first hop (Kent Goldings) was added. We finished up with ten gallons and a final gravity of 1.076. The carboys (well, one is a glass carboy, one is a bucket) are now in the dining room. We have been concerned that the dining room will be too warm for a good fermentation, so we'll have to see how that goes over the course of the summer. Old houses without A/C are proving to be tricky. We just checked on them though and they've really taken off. Overall we're thinking it should come out very nicely, on target with what we planned and wanted.

April's Beer Tasting: Belgian Beers

2009-04-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

We announced around Christmas-time that we had joined Wine Gourmet's Beer of the Month club, with promises of reviewing the beers for you here. Well .. that didn't happen for a couple reasons, and effective April 1st, we left the Beer of the Month club. We still think very highly of Wine Gourmet, we just personally wanted to go a different direction.
We still plan to do our own "Beer of the Month" though it may be more of a style focus rather than a "from ________ brewery" focus. For April we decided to try out some Belgian Ales.
To keep things simple, we went with two breweries: Chimay & Brasserie Caracole. These are two we already think pretty highly of, or have at least heard lots of good things about.
There were clear "winners" here. Brasserie Caracole just can not be beat. The complexities of their beers are amazing. Seriously, Carrie was determined (a couple years ago now) to name one of our kids Caracole, or some version of that.

First, we tasted SAXO from Caracole. Here is the description from http://www.specialtybeer.com ~
SAXO from Brasserie Caracole is a very complex artisanal Wallonian blond ale with an unusual hoppiness, bitterness and a touch of spice. Bizzare grainy punch of taste preceding hops and waves of flavors whizzing over the tongue.
Couldn't have said it much better ourselves. We did pick up the scent of cloves, and there was also a nice banana taste to it. A great Belgian, summer-time beer.

Next, we tried Chimay's Triple, aka Cinq Cents when bought in the larger bottles. Here is the description from Chimay's website, www.chimay.com ~
Named Cinq Cents in 75 cl (25.4 fl.oz.) bottles, this beer with its typical golden colour, its slightly hazy appearance and its fine head is especially characterised by its aroma which results from an agreeable combination of fresh hops and yeast. The beer's flavour, as sensed in the mouth, comes from the smell of hops: above all it is the fruity notes of muscat and raisins that give this beer a particularly attractive aroma. The aroma complements the touch of bitterness. There is no acidity, but an after-bitterness which melts in the mouth. This top fermented Trappist beer, refermented in the bottle, is not pasteurised.
Chimay beers are really popular around here, but we were kinda disappointed. Justin thought it was "alright", Carrie gave it "meh" vote .. bordering on ugh, and not wanting to drink it again.

We decided to stick with Chimay, and next tried their Red, which is a dubbel. Again, the description from Chimay's website:
First sold in 75 cl (25.4 fl.oz.) bottles, it is noted for its coppery colour which makes it particularly attractive. Topped with a creamy head, it gives off a light, fruity apricot aroma produced by the fermentation. The taste perceived in the mouth is a balance confirming the fruity nuances noticed in the fragrance. Its taste, which imparts a silky sensation to the tongue, is made refreshing by a light touch of bitterness. To the palate, the taster perceives a pleasant astringency which complements the flavour qualities of this beer very harmoniously. This top fermented Trappist beer, refermented in the bottle, is not pasteurised.
This one we liked much better, and we think that this is probably the Chimay that most people are going for around here. We both thought it was good, though questioned whether it was really worth the over-all price tag. It brings to mind a nice Belgian version of a brown ale, pretty much anyway.

We finished off our tasting with Caracole's NOSTRADAMUS, a Belgian Dark Strong. Here is the description from http://www.specialtybeer.com ~
NOSTRADAMUS from Brasserie Caracole is a very complex artisanal Wallonian brown ale, rich, warming, little piquant in the mouth with liquorice, mocha flavors, pear and toasted bread background notes, perfect after-dinner drink or night cap.
Again, Brasserie Caracole's beers just whoopped Chimay's butt. Justin liked this beer, noting that it was "very interesting. Carrie also really liked it and noted that it was fairly fruity.

And those were our beers for April's Belgian Beer Tasting. Chimay isn't bad, it deserves a lot of the attention it gets, though it does seem a little on the pricey end for what you're getting. Brasserie Caracole continuously impresses with it's complexity. Maybe it wasn't fair judging them side by side. One is a Trappist brewery (brewed by monks), one is just a good, old Belgian brewery. Chimay has been brewing beers since 1862, Brasserie Caracole has been brewing since 1766, though the name has changed twice since then. I guess that extra century of brewing has proven invaluable as far as knowledge and talent goes. Fun Fact - Brasserie Caracole is known for a couple things: 1)heating their water via a wood heated oven, and 2)bottling and labeling all their beers by hand.

What do you think?? What is your favorite Belgian beer??

Homebrew on Tap

2009-04-04T08:24:00.001-07:00

Every year we set a goal for ourselves, brew-wise. There are other goals that can be achieved, we don't just limit ourselves to one, but we do always have one in mind as "the next step." Last year we went from extract brewing to all-grain brewing. We also began growing, and using, our own hops. This year, the goal was to start kegging beer. Above is a photo of one of our 5 gallon kegs with our own label on it.

Here is Justin filling up the keg. Right now part of our ultra-elaborate brew set-up takes place in the kitchen. At least the bottling and kegging does. Here is what Justin had to say about kegging for the first time:
The kegging went really well. Setup went about as I expected…I had been reading different posts online about it and stuff so I pretty much knew what to expect. It was A LOT easier than bottling and it feels really nice to be able to have draft beer now. Clean up was pretty much the same as bottling...a little less since I didn’t have to clean a bottling bucket and the carboy. It was really foamy at first but like I said that’s to be expected after rocking and rolling the thing around while it’s being injected with C02….it’s like shaking up a soda can…you have to wait for it to calm back down. So I’m looking forward to pulling off a pint and seeing how it is. With this being the first keg and wanting to be able to try it last night I went the impatient route of force carbing so next time or maybe even with the IPA I will do the slower way of just hooking it up at a lower pressure (between 10 and 15 PSI) and letting it sit for a 3 – 5 days before trying to drink it.

Here he is, pouring a beer. It had been in the fridge to cool down, but he took it out so that he could do the rolling & shaking. As he noted above, pouring the beer immediately pretty much resulted in all head.

Finally, here is a shot of the keg & CO2 tank, where they belong, in the cooler. We got the cooler from Sear's, as it had the best deal going on at the time. We chose black in color since the cooler sits inside - we wanted it to look as little like a chest freezer kept inside as possible.
A couple other things that we've decided on regarding the cooler: 1) We decided NOT to put taps on the outside of it. Originally we had wanted to do this, and had planned on it - but we have two little kids. Shannon, who is 5, already knows a lot about beer, and Carrie could pour beer from a keg when she was 4 ... we figured it wasn't a wise parenting decision given the circumstances. 2) We chose a cooler that has a lock on the front. This, we felt, was another wise parenting decision. There will come a time when the boys are more curious about and interested in the beer inside the cooler, and we'll want to keep them out. Until then, it serves the easy purpose of cutting off someone (he knows who he is) who may have already had enough to drink.
So here is a "Cheers" to our "next step" completed. In the above photos we're kegging our Back Porch Brown Ale. Last night we also kegged 5 gallons of our JedHead IPA. Having two kegs on hand, ready to drink, feels good. The other beers seen in the photos are also all homebrews. That feels good too. Pretty damn good actually.

3/22/09 - Brewday review

2009-03-23T06:19:00.000-07:00

Although yesterday morning when we started brewing it was barely 40 degrees out, it warmed up quickly and turned out to be a very beautiful day. Here is a review of the day for those who couldn't make it over:

~Justin, starting things off nice and properly by apparently taking a moment to say the "Beer Prayer"

~Justin checking the temperature of the water for the Brown Ale. You can see the IPA in the keg-kettle in the foreground.
This was our first time brewing our Jedhead IPA all-grain, up until now it has always been brewed as an extract. How we haven't brewed this as an all-grain yet is beyond us. The recipe we did yesterday will be completely different from our previous one: it should be a lot hoppier, with more citrus, and be more copper in color. When we brewed our All Right Then Pale Ale, the recipe ended up being similar to the extract recipe, so the new Jedhead IPA should definitely satisfy the hop-heads.
We brewed our Back Porch Brown Ale last time we brewed as well as yesterday. We're still working on our recipe, trying to get it just right. For this batch we changed up the hops used and also added some molasses to it (Shannon got to add that, along with the hops ~ he knew exactly what Justin was getting ready to do, and made sure he got to help!).

~John Merkwan, the current President of the Star City Brewer's Guild. John brought with him for sampling a nice beer from Brooklyn Brewery, Local #2. A very nice beer. We also sampled some of our stouts, our brown ale, and March's Beer of the Month from Wine Gourmet, from Avery Brewing Co.: 14'er ESB, which everyone seemed to enjoy, and Ellie's Brown Ale, which was pretty decent.

~Harry Montoro, a new member but already proving to be a very enthusiastic member & all around pretty cool guy. When we came inside to show them our new keg-freezer, Harry spotted Justin's guitar and took it back outside with him. You can see Jomo "standing guard" - Jomo has become a little hesitant about new people, but found an instant friend in Harry .. who brought over meatloaf & immediately gave some to him! The smoke in the background is from the smoker -- the food came out utterly fantastic, but not until everyone had left. Better planning required for next time!!

~This is Justin's brother Matt, holding up the skirt I had been wearing. Here is the excitement for the day ---- I caught on fire! *NOTE - I told Matt to smile when I took this photo, as he had just saved my life ... so, know, he isn't just looking pleased with himself for burning my skirt or something like that.
I'm not sure how it happened, and all anyone can come up with is that it was one of those flukes - me walking past the burner, wind catching my skirt and/or the flame just right. All I know is that I was standing several feet away from the burner, facing back towards the house when I thought "do I smell something burning", I looked down and my skirt (at about my right calf) was on fire. I hollered about being on fire, swatted at the flame, and thankfully, Matt sprung into action. He quickly smothered out the flames and saved me from being burnt to a crisp.

~This is Matt sticking his arm through the hole, to show the damage done.
I did get slightly burned on my fingers and on the back of my right knee, but no worse than grabbing something hot out of the oven. No blisters, at least not on my fingers, I can't really get a good look at the back of my knee. No harm done though, except to my skirt ~ which I had specially made for me many years ago. I'm thinking about patching the hole from inside, with some fabric that has flames on it. Might as well have a good story and run with it.
A lesson was learned though. From now on, JUST IN CASE, we will be always keeping stuff outside for putting out a fire while brewing (or smoking food). Thankfully no-one was hurt, thankfully it wasn't a guest or one of our kids that caught on fire. Thankfully Matt was there to swiftly put me out, as Justin merely thought we were joking around and didn't believe I had caught on fire. Only Justin can find a way to get himself in trouble when I catch on fire!!! (He did come back to the bedroom as I was changing to make sure I was ok though).

We will be getting to keg some of the beer brewed yesterday, another first for us. So, expect another post for when that happens.

Bull & Bones ~ a review

2009-03-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

A quick bit of background info: we got married on St. Patrick's Day. One year, for our anniversary, we decided to venture into the world on homebrewing which has now put us on the path of opening our own microbrewery. Now, we've begun a new tradition of sorts: either taking a "brew-tour" (road trip to breweries) or just visiting a brewery nearby. This year we chose the latter.
Southwestern Virginia has gone from having absolutely NADA in the form of brewpubs and breweries to having a rapid string of them pop up. A blessing indeed. So, yesterday we traveled up to Hokie Country (Blacksburg, Va for you non-Hokies ... and if you aren't a Hokie, why are you reading this?) to check out Bull & Bones.
Location: It is located on S. Main in a new development, just off of 460. Good for driving up from Salem. It is in one of those new "outdoor centers" - a wonderful, revamped, and MUCH better version of the old strip mall. Being the luddite and conservationsist that I am, new developement immediately makes me approach with caution, this I liked. There was parking in the rear, easy to get back through to the front, very nice.
Atmosphere: We got up there about 5:30 on Saturday evening, before dinner rush had begun. Interior was very nicely done. Ok - here is where luddite opinion will vary from "the way things are": It was too noisy!! Though the bar is to the left and dining to the right, the ceilings are cavernous and the sound echos .. something not helped by my migraine, I'll admit. However, Bull & Bones is in a COLLEGE town!! It's Blacksburg baby & PROUD OF IT!! So, take it for what it is .. if you want quiet & romantic, this might not be the best spot, but over-all the place is nice.
Food: Now this is where they get a BIG A+! We got their Shrimp & Crab dip appetizer & were REALLY impressed. Normally this dish is pretty greasy and gooey when served at other restaraunts, but this one was awesome!! Justin had the wings for dinner and thought they were good as well. I (Carrie) had the Smokehaus Chicken sandwich - very tasty, though I didn't eat much because of my migraine; their homemade potato chips were also pretty good.
BEER: (Why you're really reading this after-all, right?) We got the sampler to try, just one for both of us, which honestly we thought was enough to know what we liked or didn't ... these are good size samplers (we've gotten WAY less beers at almost every tasting we've gone to .. aside from Starr Hill, so a nice plus here for Bull & Bones). So, here is our take on their beers to date:
*Sun Lit Wit ~ We liked this one. Justin thought Awful Arthur's was a little bit better, Carrie doesn't remember AA's that well, so this was her #2 beer from B&B. Lots of orange present. VOTE: Justin - yes, Carrie - yes
*All Night Light ~ This one was dyed green for St. Patrick's Day. According to Justin "just call it a Miller Lite." Carrie is NOT a fan of American Lagers, and this was no exception!!! VOTE: Justin - meh, Carrie - NO!!!!!!
*Lunch Pale Ale ~ We both liked this one. According to the resident hophead, it could use more aroma, but the non-hophead thought it was ok. I mean, it is Bud Foster approved, and our Lunch Pail Defense is strong, so I'll trust it. VOTE: Justin - yes, Carrie - yes
*IPA (their Seasonal, doesn't have a special name) ~ This one we thought could use some more aroma since it was an IPA. It does have more hops than the Lunch Pale Ale, but it ought to since it is an IPA! VOTE: Justin - yes (and this is what he ordered a pint of), Carrie - yes
*Stricks Dark Lager ~ This one started off nice, and had a nice flavor, but as it rolled around in your mouth it suddenly took on what can only be described as "armpit flavor." A weird combo. VOTE: Justin - meh, Carrie - meh
*Maroon Effect Ale ~ At first we thought it needed some more aroma, but the longer we let it sit out the more the aroma came out, so not too bad. We found it to be a fairly typical brown ale, nothing terribly special, but not bad either. VOTE: Justin - ok, Carrie - ok
*St. Maeve's Stout ~ Great flavor, nice aroma, definitely an Irish stout. We did think it was a little thin, but still a good beer. VOTE: Justin - too thin but ok, Carrie - yes (and this the one that Carrie got a pint of).

Over-all, would definitely go there again. Would be a great place to go and watch the Hokies play while shooting some pool. Their prices can't compare with Awful Arthur's $2.50 - $3 for a pint, but where can? Definitely a good place to go for a night out.

~ A quick side note we found amusing: Another table was being seated nearby and as they walked past our table the girl said "there's a sampler" (referring to the sampler we had on our table) .... one of the guys in the group immediately replied "a sampler of what?" -- Yea. Then, you have us, beer snobs & wanna-be alcoholics (haha). The waiter came up to our table which was full of the beer samples, our pints, and our food. He asked me "have you had a chance to try everything?," to which I replied "... you mean the beer?" -- He was referring to the food. Oops. Justin admitted he thought he was inquiring about the beer as well. -- Yea.

Get your booty movin'

2009-02-15T05:39:00.000-08:00

We love Bebop Hoedown. It is really about as simple as that. So, we felt it imperative to share this with everyone. Both Justin and Carrie have known Sonny for many years now, and think it is impossible to know a nicer guy. We can tell you one thing, when we actually get to open our brewery .. plan on hearing some good music ~ they don't know it yet, but they will be playing there!
Just click on this link, turn the sound WAY UP and get ready to boogy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJpCA7ffJJY

First Brews of 2009

2009-02-08T07:54:00.000-08:00

Saturday turned out to be a very gorgeous day, so like many homebrewers across the valley, we headed outside to brew. We got started at 8:45 am, while it was about 45 degrees out. It quickly warmed up to 62 degrees though, which was quite nice.
We were especially fortunate today because of the amount that we were able to brew. We brewed two 10 gallon batches of all-grain beer: our stout, "Ruby's Deep Winter," and our brown ale "Back Porch Brown." In the top photo you can see the Back Porch Brown still finishing sparging, with the wort being collected in the bottom kettle. In the right side of the photo is our stout in it's final boil. We had decided to brew the stout, as St. Patrick's Day will be upon us soon and it just seems quite wrong to celebrate without a stout. St. Patrick's Day is not only special to us because of our love for beer but also because we were married that day ~ 2009 will be our 4th anniversary!

Here is another shot of the brown ale, March's competition beer for Star City Brewer's Guild, finishing sparging with the wort being collected in the bottom kettle.

One of the really great things about this particular brewing day was the reaction of our boys. They were both not only very interested in it all, but very excited about getting to help. In the above photo you can see Shannon helping add hops to the brown ale, in the bottom photo you can see Tristan getting his turn adding hops. Shannon has been very proud of the fact that he gets to help brew beer. And while we certainly don't condone underage drinking, teaching them about brewing beer is another matter.

We believe in being self-sufficeint and sustainable, and we practice urban-homesteading. Brewing our own beer is part of that. Since we're also homeschooling the boys, we like that in learning how to brew beer they are also learning stuff like volume measurements, some basic math skills, along with the processes of how things come to be. Shannon helps measure, weigh, and grind out the grain. In the summer we grow hops, so they learn about horticulture and caring for the land, as well as the plant. In the fall they get to see how the hops are harvested and stored. They also learn about safety, something that is every parents' concern, since there is boiling water and wort and flames on burners. So far they've managed to learn this lesson very well .. much better than the dogs who keep getting their fur singed!
All in all yesterday's brewing went pretty smoothly and much quicker than we had anticipated. Wind was a little bit of an issue, as it kept blowing out the burner. We were much luckier than some others who had not only burners being blown out, but lids being blown off, and even glasses being blown over! Both beers are now in the fermenters, chugging away like they ought to be. Our only dilemma of the day was using the "new" keg and having to pour some beer over the edge of it, into a fermenter. Hopefully this won't pose a major contamination threat. We will plan to drink that stout first though, just in case. Not like any beer, much less Ruby's Deep Winter Stout, sits around waiting to be drunk for very long here anyway!!

Frustration, Envy, & Luddites

2009-01-11T12:33:00.001-08:00

Labels are a bitch! Our friend Kevin (http://revolutionisbrewing.blogspot.com/ ) always has rockin' labels on his beers, I'm quite envious. His girlfriend recently called me a Luddite: one who opposes and dislikes technological advancements. She has a point.
We've been working on designing our logo, which we've got down in one format but can't seem to get it transfered from that format so that we can use it wherever we want. Hence why you don't see it on here yet. Believe me, it is something we're working on!
For our labels, we're in a dilemma of sorts. So far I've been drawing some of the characters, but again, trying to get them looking nice and onto labels is proving to be quite tricky for me. There are many programs you can use, and while we've had a good one, it is the one that won't allow things to be transfered out.

Today, at Kevin's suggestion, we downloaded paint.net. Justin has used it before as well and likes it. But, the Luddite in me is having troubles figuring out how to use it. I can't just tell it what I want and have it magically appear. One solution would be to just hire someone to do this all for us, but right now that would be quite silly, and besides we are DIY people, so that would feel like cheating or failing. It just wouldn't work out to well. It looks like we're going to have a couple long nights of trying to explain things to Carrie ahead of us.

Year Review

2008-12-31T17:05:00.000-08:00

This was what Justin found looking back at him when he looked into his stocking Christmas morning. Quite a sight to be sure! ha ha ha. Quick review is that it was a very well liked beer around here. We also got Delirium Noel (yummy!), Sam Adam's Chocolate Bock (also yummy, but not worth the cost we thought), Bell's Special Double Cream Stout (good, but we expected more from it), as well as some other beers that I am currently blanking on. You can see some photos that we took of the beers here though: http://flickr.com/photos/funkymamataney/3154861718/in/set-72157605649531380/ ~ This is Carrie's online photography portfolio, and that link will take you directly to beers. Always a good place to start in our opinion.
New Year's Eve finds us here at Soul One looking both back at the past year and forward at the years ahead (as we're sure it finds many people). Early in the year we began all-grain brewing and have had both success and flops with that. Lessons have been learned, and notes made for next time. We've entered our first competitions, both in our local homebrewer's guild (http://www.starcitybrewers.org) and in a national organic one through Seven Bridges Cooperative.
We've seen one site we had hoped to place a brewery get "crossed-off" because the new Intermodal is supposed to go on the lot that it literally next to it. An small, eco-friendly, artisan craft brewery and a pollution spewing Intermodal facility hardly go hand in hand. We found another tentative site, wondered if it would ever become vacant, and then watched it ironically burn to the ground (we both have alibis! ha ha). We'll see what happens next year.
We finally designed a logo (that I've yet to figure out how to upload to here .. a goal for next year?), and Justin now has our first "official" Soul One Brewery t-shirt, a gift for Christmas.
We've learned a lot this year, taken a lot of notes and talked to a lot of people, readily listening to all advice. We've got a lot planned still for the future. We plan to begin finally kegging early next year. This should be quite a triumph as well as an ongoing source of interest. Our almost 5 year old is already figuring out how to open bottles, and I myself new how to pour beer from a keg at his age ... so LOTS to consider when switching to kegging!! :)
As we mentioned in our last post, we also joined the Beer of the Month Club at Wine Gourmet. Our first month was quite a shock. We had been expecting Bell's beers and, due to an sudden spike of new Beer of the Month members, they had to switch to Ballast Point. We got their IPA and their Pale Ale. Their Pale Ale was a very easy drinking beer, I liked that. The folks at Wine Gourmet told us they hope to have Bell's ready for next month, so we're still looking forward to that as we've had very good experiences with their beers.
We wish you all a very Happy New Year. Much luck in both brewing and drinking. We hope your cup never runneth dry and that the Ales are always plenty! Cheers!!

Christmas, Santa, & a Lump of Coal review

2008-12-18T16:54:00.000-08:00

Tis the season and we've realized something. There is just no way that Santa would not leave beer in a brewer's stocking! However, unless he's bringing a time-tested favorite as a treat, he surely would leave a brew that has a nice Holiday theme to it. Ah, the joys of a new tradition being started.
So, yesterday found us at Wine Gourmet here in Roanoke. It is one of the best places to buy beer in the Valley, and their staff couldn't be friendlier or more eager to help! While we were there, as a gift to Justin, we joined their Beer of the Month club, so be looking for reviews and more to come about that.
One of the beers we got was Lump of Coal. It sounded deliciously tempting, slightly naughty, and so we drank it last night.
Here is the review of the beer from Shelton Brothers, http://www.sheltonbrothers.com/beers/beerProfile.asp: Looking forward to a depressing holiday? Here is liquid consolation. This 8% bittersweet chocolate stout is the best you could hope for in these dark times. Actually, come to think of it, considering how bad you’ve been, this little coal-black gem is more than you deserve for Christmas this year.
The handiwork of vastly talented (but altogether too cheery) master brewer Peter Scholey, Lump of Coal is the perfect stocking stuffer for the beer lover or manic depressive in your family.
Though we had high hopes for Lump of Coal we were disappointed. Though somehow it seems like an oxymoron to have high hopes for a lump of coal. Our thoughts? First, it was seriously lacking needed aroma. The only scent we picked up from it was alcohol, which if it was classified as an American Stout (under BJCP style guidelines), wouldn't be too terribly bad. There definitely wasn't any roasted malt aroma or any chocolate aroma either. As far as the look of it though, it looked just fine & had a fine head on it, so that part was good. Flavor: it was definitely a sweet stout (intentional or not), with a slight taste of chocolate, but completely lacked any roasted flavor. Mouthfeel: It was an easy drinking stout, with an appropriate body. -- Ok, this is where we disagree: Justin found it medium to heavy bodied, and I (Carrie) like my stouts full-bodied enough to chew on, so I found it just medium. But still it was fine by definition.
Our over-all impression? It could've used some more time aging, and it definitely needed some more roasted characteristics. Grade - somewhere between a B- and a C+.
Santa's Butt will be in a stocking, so ... well, I don't think anything more needs to be said there. And this month's Beer of the Month are Bell's Two Hearted Ale & Bell's Porter - we've always liked their beers so we're eager to try them.. Tis the Season to have Santa's Butt in your stocking and Bell's beer in the fridge!!

Porter Competition

2008-12-14T10:07:00.000-08:00

For December's Star City Brewer's Guild meeting we had a 'Porter Competition.' This was the first one we have entered with the Guild, so we were excited. However, our Porter wasn't just a standard Porter, nor was it even a standard Robust Porter. Ours was an Imperial Bourbon Vanilla Porter! So, even though we were eager to enter it, we held no hopes of winning, since it wasn't "to standard."
While I disagree with some of the ratings our beer got, we have to keep in mind that there were 3 different tables of judges, each table with three judges at it. So, you have nine different judges who are coming to conclusions based on whatever personal nuances and opinions they have. Nor did each table get to try every beer, so if you had a table scoring harsher or kinder than the others, then .. well, there you go. This isn't meant as holding any sort of ill-will or anything like that, it is just a statement of facts that can not be taken personally but ought to be noted. Our beer did ok with scoring, though we think it ought to have done better.
One thing though that struck us was the personal reactions we DID get from the judges after the competition was over. Those who had tasted and judged our beer came up to us raving about how wonderful the beer was! This was better, to us anyway, than actually winning the competition.
While we look forward to entering more competitions in the future (and hopefully doing better in them) these past two competitions have given us a lot to ponder. What do WE want out of our beers? What are WE trying to achieve? What is important to US?
We want to use fresh ingredients, brew them well, brew in as great of an eco-friendly manner as possible, and brew beers that people WANT to drink and remember!! Having people coming up to us after the competition expressing regrets that they couldn't/didn't give it higher scores because it wasn't to standard, but saying what a GOOD beer it was, is what we want. We want people to say "wow, now THAT is good!"
So, along those lines, we thought it only appropriate to share a Porter that leaves us with that reaction. From Kona Brewing Company, "Pipeline Porter" http://www.konabrewingco.com/beers/pipeline-porter --- the description from their website: Pipeline Porter is smooth and dark with a distinctive roasty aroma and earthy complexity from its diverse blends of premium malted barley. This celebration of malt unites with freshly roasted 100% Kona coffee grown at Cornwell Estate on Hawaii’s Big Island, lending a unique roasted aroma and flavor. A delicate blend of hops rounds out this palate-pleasing brew.
We couldn't say it better & highly recommend going out, getting a six-pack, and trying it for yourself. Our grade for this beer: Outstanding ... we'd say it'd score easily 45 or higher. Congrats to Kona for such a fantastic Porter!!

Character & Beer

2008-10-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

"There can not be good living where there is not good drinking" - Benjamin Franklin
We were told by Seven Bridges that they would call the winners of their contests that night. We never received a call. We weren't really expecting to win - this was certainly a "learning beer" for us, it was our first organic beer and there were new varieties of things to acquire an understanding of. We will try again. Failure builds character.
Just because we didn't win though doesn't mean the days are dismal around here! "Decadence" has been bottled and is almost ready to drink. It needs some more time to mellow, not a bad thing. Our Imperial Porter was bottled this past Friday evening. It is truly a magnificent brew as well. And finally, our first batch of Pumpkin Ale was bottled last evening. Justin used fresh sugar pie pumpkins for flavoring, along with the various spices to really fill it out. And there are still many bottles of our organic "Rainy Day Pale Ale" around for consumption. They're a constant reminder to keep trying, to keep striving.
We may not have won, but we certainly have not lost. This holiday season there will truly be good drinking here at The Blue Nymph. Mr. Franklin, I believe, would be satisfied.

Hard Waiting

2008-10-12T06:54:00.000-07:00

The seasons are changing and the days are growing shorter, but they sure seem to be stretching themselves out around here. Waiting is a hard thing to do!
We've entered our first competition (judging on 10/19), Carrie submitted an entry into Seven Bridge's Quarterly Contest, under the "Why Brew Organic" (judging on 10/15), we've bottled our Imperial Stout "Decadence", have the Imperial Porter in the secondary fermenter soaking up the goodness of vanilla beans & oak chips, and this weekend we brewed our first batch of Pumpkin Ale.
We're foaming at the mouth trying to hold ourselves back from getting into Decadence and drinking it down. Ok, Carrie is at least, Justin is much better at being calm! We're also both salivating over the Imperial Porter ~ even the kids are quite nosy about it!
Speaking of the kids, they were quite pleased that they got to help brew the Pumpkin Ale this weekend. Of course, in reality they mostly play on the deck (in the sandbox) while brewing occurs. They are allowed to help dumping in grains, stirring mash, and in the process of cleaning up. Most importantly though they get to learn step-by-step what is going on and what we're doing. They love feeling like and knowing that they are being included, that they are learning what is going on and why each step is important. The pride that radiates from within them is even better than the beer itself.
But, we're still in the LONG days of waiting. Made especially difficult during football season!!

Green Packaging for Organic Competition Beer

2008-10-02T19:54:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we will mail off our first beer that we're entering into a competition. Proudly, it is also our first all-organic homebrew. We blogged about it before, it is our Organic Rainy Day Pale Ale, and we're entering it into the National Organic Homebrew Challenge, located in Santa Cruz, CA. (Yikes ... carbon footprint it takes to get the beer there ... need to do something to offset that!)
But, we CAN proudly say that our packaging of the beer was fairly green. The entry form and labels were printed on 100% recycled paper, the rubberbands were (I think) leftovers from tie-dye projects, and then there was what we used for cushioning.

Per a suggestion from Bryan S., our current SCBG president, we decided to use a poster-tube and stack the beers for sending. First, we needed to cushion the bottom. We decided to take advantage of some of the kids stained clothes (that we were going to use for rags). A pair of shorts was stuffed in the bottom first. Then, we had to wrap the beers. We cut the shirts in 1/2 and, as you can see in the photo above, wrapped the beers.

And then we stuffed it down into the tube! We also stuffed a shirt in between bottles for extra cushioning. Needless to say, this entire process had us laughing our asses off!! Once we got all three bottles in, we capped it all off with another 1/2 of an old kid t-shirt for padding. We wondered if we should've included a note "Beer is INSIDE clothing" --- should that be included in the tube or written under where we wrote "FRAGILE" on the outside of the tube?
Though we hope the recipients of our tube find humor in the packaging, we do take delight in the fact that not only is the beer green (obviously though not literally in color!), but so is the packaging: recycled, soft, cut up clothing!!

Check out our poll!

2008-08-25T17:07:00.000-07:00

As those of you who know us already know, Carrie is prone to getting some wild-ideas and crazy ass theories, and once she gets them in her head they tend to stay for a while!
We thought we would run with her latest one & put a poll up here to see just how close she is to being correct. Without giving away her theory here is her thinking: men and women have very distinctively different tastes in beer. This is an IN GENERAL and AS A WHOLE type of thing!
So, take a minute and scroll down to the very bottom of this page. There you will see two polls: one for guys & one for gals. Please only vote for the gender that you are! If you don't see the type of beer you prefer or aren't sure, read some of the examples listed and see which one suits you the best or closest.
Thanks for voting!

Harvesting Hops & Rainy Day Pale Ale

2008-08-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

In part because of the hop shortage and in part because of our desire to be organic & self-sufficient, we grew hops this year. Or, rather, we tried. Dogs and puppies, when paired with an inexperience in growing hops, managed to leave us with only one vine that produced. We originally plants 2 fuggles, 1 kent golding, 1 magnum, & 1 cascade. The one we got anything from was the cascade, but it did manage to grow the full height of the trellis (with attempts to grow higher), so we were happy. After all, you learn best by trial and error.
On Wednesday the 20th we harvested our first round of cascade buds. We were able to get 1/2 an ounce (dried weight). Not too shabby, since this was from one rhizome and it's 1st year planted. We dried them in the dehydrator and froze them once they were nice and dry. They look good and we are eager to use them in a brew!
We also have decided to enter our 1st competition. This is something we're very excited about, as it is an organic beer competition. The 2008 National Organic Homebrew Challange is being put on by Seven Bridges Cooperative and is being hosted by Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant (http://www.gordonbiersch.com/) in San Jose, CA.
We had originally wanted to enter a couple different styles, but we all know how the economy is and so with limited finances and a heavy sigh, we settle on one. We decided upon a Pale Ale as our beer to enter. It has been given the name "Rainy Day Pale Ale" because, as you can see in the photo, as soon as we began brewing it began raining! One of the things you have to love about SW VA, late summer "mood swings": if they call for rain, we won't get any; if they call for sunshine, it will rain; if you put off brewing till Friday because there is a 90% chance of rain on Wednesday (& 0% on Friday), you will be hit with a quick-moving, clothes-soaking downpour!! Thankfully, as you can see as well, we have our super handy (albeit weather beaten) porch umbrella! TADA!

We haven't bottled the beer yet, and it finished with a lower O.G. than we had planned on, but it should still come out well. We'll let you know as soon as we do!

"God D*mn Brewery!"

2008-08-21T12:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, before any complaints roll in ... it's a quote from Beerfest, get over it. ;)

The reason for this title is because of an incident that occured on 8/13/08 at our house. We had visited Vintage Cellar up in Blacksburg, Va that day (well worth the visit, as always!!) and picked up a selection of beers for tasting. Brought them home, put them in the fridge, and eagerly awaited till after bed-time for the kids so we could begin our tasting.
We were standing in the kitchen with Justin in front of the fridge, holding a beer, when suddenly the beer exploded. He wasn't trying to open it or anything like that - the damn thing just exploded. Luckily he wasn't badly injured, but it did put a nice little cut in his leg.

Here is a, somewhat, close-up photo of the exploded beer. There were shards of glass across the width of our kitchen, with beer splattered and spilled over 10' in one direction and a good 6' out from the fridge. The beer that blew was a Vanilla Java Porter from Atwater Block Brewing Co. out of Detroit, Michigan.
We immediately called the brewery, though it took a couple days (and several more phone calls) before Mark Reith, the owner, bothered to call us back. He acted barely sympathetic and tried to blame the distributor, Hop & Wine out of Sterling, Va, as well as the store for not having the beers refridgerated (even though they were in a building with AC, and then went into our fridge), and for not rotating product (even though how accurately you could do that since there are no dates of production on the bottles is a good question). I told him I wanted his insurance info so that we could give him the bill from the resulting doctor's visit. He actually tried to tell me that he doubted they (Atwater) would be responsible for the bill, but that IF I wanted to send him a copy he would "make sure it gets forwarded to the proper people."
We have since found out that our incident is far from being an isolated incident (despite Mr. Reith's claims) and that two people were severly injured on Aug. 2, 2008 up in Michigan. This has become a hot-topic on www.beeradvocate.com ~ here is the direct link: http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/1498371
While we support small breweries & the entire art of craft-brewed beers, it is the fact that Mr. Reith accepts no responsibilty, even though there is obviously a problem with their brewing & bottling methods, and shows little-to-no concern or care for his customers health and well-being. In doing so he also shows that lack of concern for the trade of craft-brewed beers in general.
To craft brew beer is an act of love. You must love beer, you must love what makes good beer good, you must be willing to show that love and dedicated not only to your beer but to the entire craft/micro-brewed trade. Mr. Reith, where is your love???

International Brewers Day

2008-07-18T14:22:00.000-07:00

Today is International Brewers Day. To honor that it has been suggested that bloggers post a profile of a brewer. Well, we thought we would start with us.
Justin & Carrie Cox, home-brewing since March 2007, members of Star City Brewer's Guild in Roanoke, Va., Justin is 27 (4-28-81) & Carrie is 30 (11-19-77), we've been married for 3 years, & we like beer so much we got married on St. Patrick's Day!!
We decided to begin homebrewing as an anniversary gift to ourselves. We have been beersnobs for years, drinking good beer is actually what helped us become so close in our relationship (we were best friends before dating, kids, and marriage came along), so brewing was the natural next-step. Justin is a true hop-head, though he enjoys all good beers; Carrie is a stout-lover, liking her beers dark, thick, and with flavor to really chew on, but she will drink most brews as long as they aren't too hoppy. Add these two tastes together and you get some nice debates on what type of beer ought to be brewed next, but it does help balance us out in the end.
While Carrie is a good taster and good idea-chick, Justin is the true brewer. He's the one with the patience to do it right (Carrie barely follows a recipe when cooking in the kitchen!). It is definitely a passion for him and something he was born to do.
Justin and Carrie (aka: we) also grow hops in the back yard of their home. The reasons for this are plentiful: the hop shortage, the strive to be self-sufficient, the ability to produce a superior product that is grown organically, and the joy of knowing exactly what is going into their beers.
So, take a moment to enjoy a good brew today. If you aren't able to hug a brewer, at least toast one (or more!) while you're sipping your beer.
For more info on International Brewer's Day go to: http://brewersday.org/

"AllRight Then"

2008-06-15T11:41:00.000-07:00

Got to get our brew for June done yesterday just before the storms let loose. Quite lucky timing, looking back on it now. This brew is a continuation of our pale ale. The last batch came out too dark, and the flavor wasn't quite what we were looking for. This one has come out with a much better color and we tweaked the hops to enhance the flavor. We're tentatively calling it AllRight Then Pale Ale. It is in the carboys now fermenting, I'll repost when we bottle.
As soon as we finished up brewing yesterday we took a road-trip. We had to drive down to Winston-Salem to take Carrie's mother to pick up her new car. While we were there we visited Foothills Brewpub. Justin had been there before, but it was a first for everyone else.
It was a nice brewpub: open and exposed brick walls, wooden floors, restaraunt up front, bar & brewery in back. Since we had the kids, we were up front. They have several different beers, more to Justin's liking (hop-head) than Carrie's. Though we both did agree that their Total Eclipse Stout was pretty good, and we brought home a growler of that. Their Torch Pilsner was drinkable, but had a strong aftertaste that reminds one of "commercial crap" beer. Can't quite put our fingers on which one, but we all agreed that it was there. Their Pilot Mountain Pale Ale reminded us of Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale. I'd like to see them both in a side-by-side tasting to see just how closely the taste really is. Justin also had a glass of their Seeing Double IPA and really liked that one. It is one of their seasonal beers, which Carrie was sad to not see their Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout currently available, and was just as sad to find that they didn't even had any of the t-shirts for that beer in stock since the logo was pretty snazzy.
Back home today we went out and took inventory of our hops that we have growing. The Cascade and Magnum hops are doing really well, with the Kent Golding finally seeming to be getting a foothold in growing. We were really late in planting our Fuggles hops, but they've broken the ground already, so now we're just waiting for them to take off. We will try to take some photos of the hops to post. The dogs have really given us a challenge with growing the hops, as they keep getting stuck in the twine. Talk about hair of the dog beer!!
And, finally, we've had to invest in a college-style mini-fridge. Our last batch of Pale Ale (or not-so-pale-ale) was exploding when you opened it because, due to summer heat, it was getting over carbonated sitting back where we keep beer. We're hoping that a day or two of chilling will stop the exploding problem. Luckily, it only "exploded" when you opened it, so no bottles have been lost and no real damage done. Also, it was our not-so-pale-ale, one we weren't too impressed by, so it could've been worse .... though the loss of any beer is always a sad and solemn occaission. Hopefully this will work though and solve the problem. Of course, living in our nice, 100+ year old house brings about the usual "delight" - needing to find a converter plug. The plug for the fridge is 3 prong, the available outlet is only two. A trip to Walmart this morning only yielded an empty box, not yet re-stocked, and so alas, no remedies - yet!!

A New Brewery

2008-05-07T11:52:00.000-07:00

The notice of a new brewery opening up nearby is like a cross between being told Christmas is coming when you weren't expecting it, and a Pavlovian bell being rung. It gets us giddy as children and has our mouths watering with thirsts that suddenly need quenching. And, of course, for us words such as: organic, artisanal, traditional, and authentic, leave us quivering with desire.
If you haven't guessed where we're referring to yet, it is none-other than Shooting Creek Brewery (http://www.shootingcreekbrewery.com/). The much-anticipated "mini-microbrewery" is slated to open Saturday, June 14th, 2008. It is a moment highlighted on our calendars.

Why should this one be any more exciting that any other brewery? Well, it is located in Floyd, VA so it is only a stone's throw from here. It is, according to Shooting Creek's blog, the first producer of "legal" grain alcohol ever in Floyd; the building structure and brewery were handbuilt by family and friends; they are a "mom & pop" outfit - no outsourcing, they did it all themselves; and, most importantly they "will be first farm brewery to open in Southwest Virginia – they would hope to encourage more microbreweries around the region to open –it’s about brewer’s brotherhood." Now if that doesn't make you giddy with excitement, well, you just need to get giddy!

The owners of Shooting Creek Brewery already own a wonderful organic farm, 5 Penny Farm, (http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M8028) where the brewery will also be located & whose produce we delight in finding at the Salem Farmer's Market. Now, if only they could sell the beer there!!

Don't be shy, let us know what you think of Shooting Creek Brewery. Let's all toast to them and hope that they have much success! CHEERS!!!

Big Brew Day

2008-05-03T20:44:00.000-07:00

'Today was Big Brew, the anniversary of Jimmy Carter once again making homebrew legal. We weren't able to make it to the Guild's meeting today, but we did manage to brew some of our own - and of course, we toasted at noon in honor of the celebration.
Today we brewed our first Brown Ale, affectionately title "Back Porch Brown #1." To add to our normal all-grain set-up, we added for the first time today a second burner - so we could use one for heating the hot water and one for mash temperature control. All went well if you don't count the following: the wort chiller hose still has a leak, and when we were funneling into one of the carboys Tristan, our 21 month old son, stuck his hand into the brew. What can we say, we train them young and they're curious!! ha ha ha.
This is our first try at a good Brown Ale. We figure that a good brown ale is essential because in our society Americans have a pallete that has been bred to appreciate the taste of a good brown ale. Often, when training novice brewers how to brew ale, the first ale taught is a basic Brown Ale. With this being the case, brewing a Brown Ale is essential. We've chosen to name our's "Back Porch Brown."
Today we also added our second burner for the process, which could've eliminated the need for an insulation jacket, though we still used the jacket in order to save propane and constantly running the gas. Eco-thoughts: tis better to insulate than to waste gas! (Ok, even my immature mind snickered at that one ..... if you didn't, grow up and get a little immature .. laugh more! It is funny!!)
Either way, is a photo:

Ten gallons of sweet "Back Porch Brown #1" fermenting. I've been trying to upload a good photo of it all brewing, but for some reason it just won't upload. Don't you love the age of computers, blogs, and all that technological shit???
Hope you toasted to the day that once again we were all allowed to homebrew legally once again. And we hope you toasted to those who said "Fuck this shit" and brewed anyway all along - because, in all honesty, where would we really be without them??
No matter which way you view it, brew on!