Skull Stache Brew

A Small Hiatus

2013-10-17T13:32:00.001-07:00

Brewing has not been much of a priority this year. I have made a couple nice brews, the Berliner Weisse in particular, but not much else. I recently got a new job in Massachusetts and will be moving out there in the next two weeks. That means that I will have to continue my hiatus from brewing but don't worry, I have a few things planned. Specifically, my new single vessel, automated brewery! Look for that at the beginning of next year!

Two Brew Day

2012-12-19T19:31:00.001-08:00

It was a nice, crisp, 40 degrees this morning at the start of my brew day. Successful day all together brewing an ESB and Bourbon Vanilla Bean Porter. Both recipes can be found on my Recipe page. The new brewing equipment still works perfectly. I was able to set the mash temperature and let it run by itself while I went inside to warm up. Can't wait to try them!

Tap Display

2012-11-08T10:45:00.001-08:00

Although this is mainly a sight about my brewing, here's a little something I put together to display beer taps I have collected. Eventually I want to display them on a wrap around shelf in a basement or something but this will do for now.

It was specifically made to fit on top of my kegerator.

New Pages!!

2012-11-04T18:42:00.001-08:00

Finally, new pages are up! Check out the Equipment section above to look at my new brewing setup and learn a little more about certain parts of the brewery. Please let me know if you have any questions about my setup or brewing in general. I will be happy to answer them and I'll help look things up if I don't know.

I have also come up with a cool way to label my beers. Grog Tags makes reusable beer and wine labels that can be written on with a dry erase crayon and wiped off. They are supposed to stay on even when the bottle has condensation or is put into an ice chest! They are completely customizable and look pretty professional. I have come up with an initial design below, let me know what you think!

New Posts Coming!!

2012-10-24T09:41:00.000-07:00

This website has been idle for far too long! I have still been brewing and constantly updating my brewing system. I am currently in the process of a major overhaul and upgrade with picture and descriptions coming soon. I will also update recent recipes used and how they turned out soon as well! Keep checking back for those updates!

Here's a little something to hold you over....

Oh, and I think we have a temporary mascot!!

What should we name him??

American Honey Wheat

2012-02-06T22:02:00.000-08:00

New brew on Friday went well. Learned some things about my setup that need to be addressed for my next brew, specifically that my mash tun needs hotter water in order to heat up the vessel to ensure the proper holding temperature.

Here is the recipe for the Honey Wheat:

3 lbs Pale Ale Malt
3 lbs Wheat Malt
0.5 lb Carapils Malt
0.5 lb Aromatic Malt
3 lbs Wildflower Honey
1 tsp Gypsum
1/2 oz 8.0 alpha Northern Brewer (60 minutes)
1/2 oz 3.6 alpha Fuggles (15 minutes)
1/2 oz 3.6 alpha Fuggles (end of boil)
Hefe IV Yeast

Because the temperature for the mash was a little low, the starting gravity was also a little low.

Brew Day!

2012-01-20T19:47:00.001-08:00

It's been over 7 months since my last brew. Finally with all my additions I am ready to go to all grain 5 gallon batches. The two I made today were a Red Hook ESB clone and a Firestone Walker Double Barrel clone. Here are some pictures of how the brew day went....

New brewery setup.

Grains ready for some hot water!

MMMM, smells good.

Recirculating the wort to clear it out.

Getting ready for the boil.

Took about 8 hours from start to finish to brew both beers. I'm really happy with the setup I have so far. Much easier than trying to boil and mash on my electric stove.

I will have to see how they turn out. Both had low starting gravities so my cooler may not be as efficient as I hoped. I'll probably brew another batch in two weeks!!

New Supplies

2012-01-20T19:34:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the new brewing supplies I have purchased and made.

New kettle from a keg.

With a false bottom and center pickup.

Sight glass and thermometer too.

Mash tun from a 10 gallon cooler.

50' copper coil immersion chiller.

High flow March pump.

Each hose connection has stainless steel quick connects.

New Brewery

2012-01-09T15:33:00.001-08:00

The new brewery is almost up and running. It's been far too long since my last post and my last batch. Here's what I'll have set up...

15.5 gallon keg has been transformed into a keggle complete with spout, screen bottom, thermometer and sight glass similar to one here.

10 gallon rubbermaid cooler has been converted into a mash tun like the one here.

I now have an outdoor propane burner to do all my brewing.

I have constructed a wort chiller out of 50' of copper piping.

I also have a March pump to transfer all my liquids between vessels.

I'll upload pictures tomorrow and maybe have a batch going before the weekend!!

Good News and Bad News

2011-06-14T17:28:00.000-07:00

Well so far the only bad thing I've heard about the Vanilla Porter and Bourbon Vanilla Porter is that they are over carbonated. That I can live with. I'm assuming it has something to do with the fact that I used regular sugar instead of the corn sugar I used on all my other batches. Some like the plain vanilla one better, some liked the bourbon one better but they all liked them both. This is one recipe I will make again and hopefully it will improve every time.

The bad news is that my Imperial Stout flopped. It didn't carbonate at all and I had to throw it all out. The only thing I can think of is that when I boiled the sugar in water to dissolve it I didn't cool it down enough before I added it to the batch and it killed all the yeast.

My next batch is going to be a Barleywine. Keep you updated on how it turns out. Email or message me on FB if you want some of the beers I've been talking about or that I have coming up and I will try to save some for you.

New Brew

2011-04-19T22:23:00.000-07:00

I bottled the Vanilla Porter and Bourbon Vanilla Porter. Smelled very strong so I hope they turn out OK. Two more weeks until I can pop one of those open so I'll let you know.

Since summer is coming up soon, I decided to try and brew some hard lemonades and such. I looked online for some recipes and decided to try some smaller batches. I bought three Carlo Rossi 4L wine jugs, chucked the wine and brewed three one gallon batches. I'll have one hard lemonade, one hard pink lemonade, and one hard orange(ade). Should end up with around 5-6% alcohol. Sounds good to me! I also think I want to freeze some into hard lemonade pops for hot summer days....

Bottling

2011-04-14T23:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, well the gravity isn't exactly where I want it to be on my Vanilla Porter but it will have to do. I really want this thing off my kitchen counter and into some bottles. Still have to wait another few weeks until it is drinkable.

I'll check my Old Rasputin clone tomorrow to see where it's at. I may be bottling two beers tomorrow!

Keep you guys posted!

(Bourbon) Vanilla Bean Porter

2011-03-07T20:30:00.000-08:00

Brewed a new batch of brew!! Per Jeff's request I found a recipe for a Vanilla Bean Porter. This one has a bit of a twist as they add bourbon too which sounds amazing! Made up a 5 gallon batch and will bottle half, then add the bourbon and bottle the other half. I'll let you all know how it turns out and I'm sure some of you will be trying it :)

Recipe:

9.0# Light Liquid Malt Extract
1.5# Munich Malt
1.0# Caramel 120L
0.5# Caramel 40L
1.0# Pale Chocolate Malt

1.0 OZ Magnum (60 min)
0.5 OZ E.K. Golding (10 min)

American Ale Yeast

Vanilla Bean (Secondary)
Bourbon (Just before bottling)

Measured OG 1.082 giving me a potential % alcohol 8-9%! Whoohoo!

Tour of the Brewery

2011-03-02T14:06:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures of my brewery and bottling line in action! (aka my closet and kitchen counter)

My Fermentation Room:

Storage Room and Carbonation Room:

Some Brews Bottle Conditioning:

One of my Assistant Brewers, Ringo!

Bottling Line:

Bottling at work!

Capping Machine:

Links

2011-02-22T21:55:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of my favorite homebrewing related links:

http://www.homebrewing.com/
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/
http://www.homebrewing.org/
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/
http://hopville.com/

Welcome!!

2011-02-22T21:19:00.000-08:00

I started homebrewing around April 2010 in my last year as an undergrad. My operation has expanded a bit but I am still limited in my space so far and haven't ventured into all grain yet. Once I get a house I will construct my brewing sculpture.

I will be posting news and other updates about my brewing here so if you want to keep up to date check back every now and again!!