Indianapolis - Brew-Drink-Vote-

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Microbreweries could sell beer for takeout on Sundays under a bill endorsed by a Senate committee Wednesday.

http://www.latimes.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-us-in-alcohol-bills,0,2147098.story

They can also sell during voting hours on election day!!

Home Brew List

Just finished and IPA/Lager, Lager, Pale Ale Rye HB, 10 gallons of Pinot Grigio. I am into the final stages of the pinot, 8 more days of clarifying, 14 days of polish and clearing then it's time for the bottle. Ready to drink early march, prime time to drink will be in May.

Xmas Beer Trees Revisited

http://pivonation.blogspot.com/2007/12/beer-christmas-trees_07.html

Plus a few more I looked up this morning.

Updates

Hops: My hops only produced a few cones, with the 60 plus days of 100+ temps it seemed to fool my hops into flowering too early, by the end of August the vines were already turning brown. The Willamette got to about 7 feet and the Nugget to about 3 0r 4. I am hoping they have a good root structure and will produce very well next year.

Beer: I have converted a small dorm fridge into a lager box for our first attempt at making a lager. The fridge still hovers around the low 30's, so we have put it on a timer to try to regulate it better, it seems to be in the high 40's low 50's now. If the wort we put in a few days ago doesn't show any signs of life since it was too cold, we will repitch with some fresh Lager yeast.

Ale: We made ten gallons of a light beer and are pitching each one with a different yeast and different fermenting temps, ale and lager. both will be dry hopped with fresh Cascade hops.

Whiskey: I am hoping to finally start the corn whiskey project once the temps drop into the lower 80's, so that makes short term moonshine by winter, and putting it in oak for about a year. I am hoping to get into a cycle so I can age it for three years and always have some on hand.

Pictures and more updates soon.

Hop Update

Willamette: 1st vine is 59 inches tall, second one is about 36 inches. A third vine was starting to come up, so I plucked it and replanted it to see what will happen with it, so far it has lived three days. The leaves are getting eaten by something.


Nugget: 30 inches tall, second vine about 20 inches. Nothing seems to be eating the leaves.

I am getting a few leaves that something is eating on, as well as some small lighter blotches. I don't see any bugs or larvae during anytime of the day except maybe late night? See the images below.

Hop Update:

This is the Nugget hops, two vines poking through, the Willamette is over six inches and started it first curl around the rope. Lots of rain today and this week. Catching as much as I can in the rain barrels!!

Baby brew is coming along nice.

Homegrown Hops

I have converted a small space under my purple martin house to try and grow some hop vines. The location is that small strip of ground between two driveways. For most of it's life it has grown grass and weeds, but was converted into a small 3x5 raised bed. The existing sprinkler head was converted into a drip system to cover three vines. I have created an 3 small anchors and buried them when I filled in the beds. The ropes are attached to my purple martin house and it can raise and lower with a hand crank to check the vines. Rhizomes went in the ground in early April, and both have finally pushed up a small vine. The Willamette is faster than the Nugget. Pictures and better details soon.

Willamette - Hybrid of the Fuggle grown in Oregon. Moderate bitterness and spicy aroma. Alpha rating 4-6, used for bittering or finishing ales.

Uncle Billy's 2 Year Anniversary

Homebrew: Belgian Style White

White, Whit, Wit, Wheat Belgian Style. Last night we bottled about 19 gallons of bier. Brian and Travis were on hand to go through it quick. With the addition of El Keggo, it makes it easy to cook up 10 gallons at a time. 6 1/2 cases of 12 oz bottles, and 27, 22 0z bottles. Plus a few corkers, for a one year aging.

Baby Brew

So Instead of doing cigars to announce my upcoming son's birth, I have decided to brew 20 gallons of beer and hand them out instead. It is going to be a Belgian style white beer and I plan to use some Satsuma peels from Breaux Bridge in December.

Nice town, cooler name!

Down in Devon, down in Devon,
There's a village by the sea,
It's a little piece of heaven
And the angels call it Beer!

http://www.beer-devon.co.uk/

The Still

My wife's grandfather used to make his own whiskey in Louisiana and last year her family gave me his old still. Of course this still did not come with instructions and needed a little retrofitting to make it work, but finally we distilled some water for a test run and everything went well. I was given his old recipes to make whiskey and he must have made a good spirit as there was a letter from Early Times, which he had sent in a sample. I will try to post the letter later but they said he made a good whiskey.

In his notes are a few recipes from his local distilling buddies. One of those was from a Mr. Tin Patin, who luck has it was still around in Breaux Bridge and I was able to meet with him and pick his brain on distilling. Mr. Patin said we would meet him at the "Asshole Club" when we came to visit, the club consists of a building that backs to the bayou filled with boiling pots, beer fridge, a table full of liquor, wood burning stove and just about everything else needed to have a good time. Mr. Patin gave me some good pointers on running the still as well as some comical stories from his past distilling adventures. He was taught to distill from his Uncle and informed me that everyone made whiskey back then, Judges, Priest, all walks of life. He no longer distills as according to Mr. Patin, his still must have grown legs and walked off his property many years ago.

Homebrew

I just made a Firemans 4 style brew and a Magic Hat #9 with a brewing buddy Travis. As well as picked up some Satsuma Oranges from Louisiana to use in a Wit Bier. I will post pictures when we pour.

Gulden Draak

Gulden Draak, from Van Steenberge, Ertvelde, East Flanders. Reddish brown with a slight bitter finish. Strong at 10.5. Described as being a good winter warmer with a long finish. My corked bottle seemed a little lacking on the bubbles but was still enjoyable.

Another beer from the same place is the golden, hoppier Piraat Ale, also available in a corked bottle. I didn't have the camera set up when I tasted this one.

Annual Fishing Trip

Every year my family has a father/son/uncle/cousin/any male in the family fishing trip. I leave today for that trip. We go to Seadrift, Tx and stay at my Uncle Tony's Bayhouse. It's like a mini family reunion, we fish, or catch depending on who you talk too, drink, play dominoes, drink and generally have a good time. This is one of my favorite photos and I always think of it, when my family gets together, below are the details provided by my cousin Frank.

An interesting thing he pointed out about the cans in the photo, in 1958, they did not have pull tabs on cans but were opened with can openers, that is why some can are upside down. A dance flier for the Vesely Playboys at Frydek hangs on the wall amidst some beer advertising.

From left to right: Otto Matus, Sr. (friend of family, Ganado), Rudolph E. Dybala (great grandfather), Edmund A. Dybala (grandfather), Frank Jendry (friend of family, Ganado), Emil Trojcak (friend of family, Ganado), Albert "Sleepy" Zouzalik (Frank Brauner's uncle, San Antonio), John Vincent Oehl (Sophie Oehl Dybala's brother, Houston), August "Gus" Oehl (Sophie Oehl Dybala's brother, Ganado), Grandpa Dybala's brother Arnold Dybala is in the shadow of the post in the picture, Victor Korczynski (husband of Elsie Novosad Korczynski who is Edmund Dybala's first cousin, and also from Ganado), and Louis A. Oehl (Sophie Oehl Dybala's brother, San Antonio).

This picture was taken June 23, 1958 in the K. J. T. Hall barroom in Ganado, Texas, at the wedding reception of Frank Brauner and Barbara Dybala who were married at 8:30 a.m. in Assumption Catholic Church in Ganado, Texas by Rev. Anthony Matula.

Duchesse de Bourgogne

This beer is named after the Duke of Burgundy's daughter, Mary born in Bruges back in 1457.

Belgian Red Ale, dark reddish color, apple or fruit cider nose, slight pucker, sour tartness to it. 6.2% ABV Brewed by the Verhaege family with a brewing history dating back to the 1500's.

Black Star Beer Co-op Pub Brewery

Chantal and I just joined up as investor members, I remember looking into them back in 2005 but was to busy with my store to join at the time. I am hoping to become more involved with them in the future.

Black Star CO-OP Mission

To apply the models of co-operative ownership and worker self-management to create the best venue in Austin for the production and enjoyment of high quality beer.

Website

It's the first concept of it's kind and the plans are to open a pub with a brewery as well. There is a beer social once a month where you can meet other members, drink beer and listen to music.

Austin Homebrew 17 year Anniversary

This Weekend, big sale on everything, live music, probably some beer. I am going to pick up a bunch of supplies I need, including a Wort Chiller.

Go check it out.

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/

Bottled Pinot Grigio and started a Cabernet

The Pinot has cleared up very nice over the past weeks, it has developed a fruity, crisp taste that should develop nicely over the next few months. It should be at it's prime during the wedding. 23 bottles total, half is for the wedding.

The final few inches of the Pinot carboy was remixed for the final time with the Fig wine and should be ready to bottle in a few weeks.

In addition Chantal and I have started a fresh batch of Cabernet Savignon.

Shiner: Spezial Leicht

At the local HEB and saw a few new Shiner labels, one of a re-do of the Heffeweizen with a bold new orange label, plus the new Light, or Leicht or whatever. To tell you the truth, I buy Shiner to drink a local beer with flavor, this tasted just like your regular light beer). It would probably be cheaper to go with any light beer out there. Not a fan.