Beer Diary...

Malting Barley In Mexico III

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:07:00 +0000

Just a quick update on my malting progress. The barley has grown as much as I want it to and so now it's time to stop the growth. One interesting note is the growth is very inconsistent. Much of it is over modified and just as much is undermodified. Does anyone have an idea why that would...

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Brewing At Antigua Capilla

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 21:38:00 +0000

When Susan and I first arrived in San Miguel de Allende this year, we stayed at the Antigua Capilla bed and breakfast for a couple days. What a treat. Francisco and his wife Antonieta own this gorgeous Spanish colonial style hotel that is built around a 17th century chapel nestled on the side of...

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Malting Barley In Mexico II

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:28:00 +0000

Here are some updated pictures of the sprouting barley after several days of growth. There are a significant amount of grains that do not show any rootlets or even chit and this has me concerned. I will be giving this growth period another two days before starting the drying process but I will...

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Malting Barley In Mexico

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:49:00 +0000

Dirty grains I've started the process to malt some barley that I located at a feed store here in San Miguel. This is part of an experiment to see if I can somehow create beer out of the local materials at hand. This stuff looks pretty rough with a lot of dead grain and chaff. There is also quite a...

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El Gozo 'Cerveza Alitas'

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:03:00 +0000

I am spending the first nine days in San Miguel De Allende living in temporary lodging and don't plan to launch into any homebrewing activities until we move into our permanent place in a couple days. O.K. I have started to purchase a few brewing related items and five kilos of raw barley that I...

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I Feel Violated

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:23:00 +0000

Our flight out of San Jose, California went smoothly. My heavy, beer equipment ladened suitcase was checked in without question despite the excessive 35 kilos of dead weight. My small carry-on case had some additional non-metal brewing stuff that wouldn't trigger any x-ray suspicions but was mostly...

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Cerveza Casera (homebrew)

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:55:00 +0000

The homebrew movement in Mexico is at the infant stage in development, kind of like it was in the U.S. in the early 80's. Sparse product availability, exorbitant costs and questionable freshness or quality. I can only find two homebrew retail outlets in all of Mexico, Fermentando and Homebrewing...

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Help Me Improve This Blog

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:37:00 +0000

Once again I fill my luggage with the 'hard to get' materials for brewing in preparation for my stay in Mexico. I maxed-out my large suit case and half of my carry on which leaves me with about twelve cubic inches of open area for clothes. I may have to stuff my underwear in the side pocket of my...

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Brewing A 'Black' IPA

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:02:00 +0000

Thanks to the generosity of brewer John Gillooly at Speakeasy Brewing in San Francisco I was able to successfully brew up a batch of Black IPA. I guess it could be called India Black Ale (IBA) but nobody does so I'm going to stick with Black IPA. For me, this beer stuck out from all the others at...

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3 More Easy Homebrewing Tricks

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:01:00 +0000

As I continue to homebrew, I discover and perfect techniques that make the process easier, more effective and/or more efficient. Often, simple modification in my equipment or in my brewing procedures at first appear small and inconsequential but are in fact significant in terms of making the...

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Rogue Shakespeare Stout

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:41:00 +0000

My buddy Chris Mc. generously brought over a Rogue Ale's Shakespeare Stout for sampling. The sad part of the story is that Chris had to leave for Washington before we had a chance to share. The happy part of the story is that I didn't have to share. A bitter sweet story kind of like the...

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Brew Fest At The Rio Cafe

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:23:00 +0000

Some brave California souls ventured out into the intimidating Aptos fog today to attend the 2nd annual Oktoberfest at the Rio Cafe. On hand to serve beer were a couple of the local Santa Cruz favorites, Uncommon Brewers and Ale Works. Uncommon Brewers pleases with pints. The Ale Works...

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Homebrew Emotions

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:33:00 +0000

Moving is making me sad. Packing up all my stuff again to put into storage means I have to repeat the experience of nostalgia that always comes as I go through some of my more personal items. We'll be heading off to Mexico again for the winter and I can't shake the regret of leaving behind my...

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Storing Hops

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:00:00 +0000

In my preparation for returning to San Miguel De Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico I am gathering some special brewing equipment and materials to take with me. These are items that are difficult or expensive to get down there. One item that is particularly difficult to get are hops. You can buy them...

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Class Finals At Brew School

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:53:00 +0000

This last Sunday, I ended another great series of homebrewing classes for the Brew School conducted at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California. We had a potluck and homebrew pairing to celebrate. We enjoyed the Hefeweizen, American pale ale and the Dry stout that we brewed during the early classes in...

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Stone Vertical Epic Ale

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:54:00 +0000

I was in the neighborhood of the Shoppers Corner market and took a look at their selection of beers just for the hell of it when I came across a bottle of Vertical Epic Ale. Stone Brewing Company the makers of 'Arrogant Bastard' in Escondido, California is responsible for this beer. I haven't...

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Beer And Meat Diet

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:05:00 +0000

For all those familiar with my now famous 'beer and popcorn diet', that I developed for reducing increased weight due to the consumption of vast quantities of home brewed beer, you will be pleased to know that I have developed a new and improved diet that is vastly more effective on a number of...

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GABF Pre-Prohibition lager

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:58:00 +0000

While wondering around the convention center watching the crowd move about in beer induced euphoria, I was intrigued by the fact that a relatively large line was forming around the Coors booth. "What the..?", I asked out loud to no one. With all the exciting, amazing, unique, and mostly delicious...

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Homebrew With Balls

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:45:00 +0000

I came across this as I was leaving the Great American Beer Festival on its final day. It was early Saturday and the throngs had not fully arrived yet so I was able to easily navigate my way past the different vendor booths. My attention was drawn to the BrewBalls display, which at first I...

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GABF Day Two

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 05:28:00 +0000

I started to write out my activities from 'Day Two' of the GABF when I realized that I was summarizing a lot of my experience in order to cram it all into a single post, and at the same time, boring myself to death. The amount of self editing that I was doing was necessary because of the scope of...

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GABF Day One

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:59:00 +0000

I only have one word to describe my first day at the Great American Beer Festival 'overwhelming' no; 'audacious', wait, no, it's more like 'scary big'. I walked into what can only be described as pandemonium or just shy of chaos after picking up my press pass and "swag bag". Entering was effortless...

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Traveling to GABF

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:51:00 +0000

I'm sitting in the San Jose airport waiting on my flight to Denver. I'm heading off to experience for the first time, the Great American Beer Festival. I'll be there for three days of beer tasting and attending some special beer related functions like the 'Farm to Table event and a Samuel Adams...

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Better Than Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:00:00 +0000

I like to make sure that a part of my personal beer inventory is five or ten gallons of my American pale ale. I've tweaked this recipe into submission over the years and am satisfied with brewing it the same with each batch now. I am not apposed to using alternate hops, depending on what I have in...

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What It Feels Like When...

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:41:00 +0000

My yeast isn't working! I look into the open fermenter and see a flat plane of dark liquid reflecting my disappointed image back up to me. What have I done wrong? My thoughts oscillate between this brewing mystery, and my concern of the increasing possibility of infection. It's been 24 hours...

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First Day Of Brew School

mbirdlane@yahoo.com (backyardbrewer.blogspot.com) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:17:00 +0000

We're off and running in the fall series of homebrewing classes at Cabrillo College and ten gallons of beer is now quietly fermenting, the fruit of our labors today. The class brewed a German hefeweizen and an American pale ale without any problems. I was struggled a little to keep the brewing...

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