So my buddy just left after a weekend of tasting beers. Here's how we ranked the beers if anyone's interested.

Stouts:
1. Abyss - delicious, our clear favorite
2. Ivan the Terrible - really smooth bourbon flavor
3. Dark Lord - much too sweet for our tastes, most disappointing brew.

The rest I can't rank because they aren't similar styles but I'll give our impressions.

Westy 12 and 8 - we aren't big belgian fans but these blew us away. Absolutely deserving of any hype they are given.
Cigar City Imperial Milk Porter (Stranahan Whiskey aged)-needs more respect, a fantastic beer.
FW Abacus - really enjoyed this one, my first BA barleywine
Bruery Melange No. 3 - not what we expected, a big beer at 15% that crossed styles.

A little behind you. Just mashed in as well, and 152 as well. Close enough.

Warming up a bit, better then the 18 degrees when I left to go running this morning.

Wind was wicked. My flame blew out once. And my boil must have been much higher then usual, hard to tell with the wind. Ended up with 5.33 gallons of 1.058 as opposed to 6 gallons of 1.051. Should have known to cut the base grain down a bit, as I tend to get higher efficiencies then the book. Loss some wort to a boil/wind over.

I need to get some water to water it down at some point. Or I assume that is the best course of action.

On a diet, sort of, so was looking forward to some lighter beer. Have money on losing 40 pounds (225 down to 185) and brewing 40 gallons by Labor Day.

Had a sip of my Black DIPA that has been carbing for a week (with keg hops) and it tastes decent. The aroma is way different theny anything I've smelled before, two New Zealand Hops (Rakau and Pacifica) and A little Citra will do that.

I just picked up the yeast, will brew this weekend. I'm going to use WY1968 London ESB on half and WL Yorkshire Square on the other. Never tried the Yorkshire yeast before.

Topped it off, 5 gallons in the fermentor to 6 gallons. Should be easier on the yeast.

I got some higher efficiency then normal resulting in a higher preboil gravity then I wanted so I sparged with an extra 2 gallons and recalculated my additions. It worked out well, I hit a 1.046 OG but ended up with 13.5 gallons instead of the 12 I was targeting.

Pitched a 2L starter of Burton ale yeast into 6.5 gallons, a 1L starter of Brett C into 5.5 gallons.
The last 2.5 gallons are getting some washed 1056 bc it's what I had.

hi guys, I was wondering if any of those $5-17 bottles of beer I see @ bevmo are any good. The reason being is, my broke friend and I always have a laugh when we see them, and I would like to get him one or two as a gift.

I should add both he and I have brewed, him much more than I, so he is very openminded w/ respect to beer.

good beer costs money. make adjustments accordingly

Youre going to have to be a bit more clear on which beers youre looking at, there is a lot of beer on that site in the 5-17$ range. That being said, Allagash Curieux is 17.99 and it will not disappoint at all.

Hop Stoopid by Lagunitas and Hoptimus Prime by (I can't remember this brewery for the life of me, Rucker something?) both run close to $5 for a 22oz bottle and are good beers, great given the value.

racer 5 is also a quality IPA. It's usually available for $5-6 per 22oz bomber too

Hoptimus Prime is Ruckus brewing and I got my first taste of it this weekend! It was delicious. Definitely agree that Hop Stoopid is also a great value. In fact, most Lagunitas bombers are really good value. Lucky 13 is another one that sticks out in my head that is delicious and quite affordable.

I was doing too much technical writing at home today. Removing the writers block to precedent over the diet today.

Not a big fan of my Black DIPA. There is an interesting hop aroma that I like but it disipates to fast leaving an alcohol smell for sips past number three. Slight bitter hop taste, but very fruity not at all citrus or bitter. No real alcohol taste which is odd given the 9%. Wish I had mashed a bit higher, much rather had an 8.5 to 8.7 with a little more malth then I got. Also should have moved mired hops from the flame out/dry/keg to the 5-10 minute additions I think.

Post your recipe, I'd like to take a gander.

My entire house wreaks of sulfur. Atm

Work's been crazy so I haven't been in the thread much lately, but hopefully we'll be brewing our ESB Saturday. TR to follow.

I had Hopslam on tap last Friday. I was pleasantly surprised at the malt character and liked it much more than I anticipated I would.

New Belgium is selling their glassware for super cheap again.

http://shop.newbelgium.com/store/mer...tegory_Code=GW

only 6.99 shipped with product code IHeartGoodBeer

I bought a pai last year but broke one so I plan to buy another set again.

in compensation for Brewdog messing up my xmas order (they misplaced order and ended up sending me alot of stuff i didnt order as what I wanted was out of stock by time they processed order) they have now sent me my original order plus a few others for free.

in the box for free was a couple of bottles of there Abstrakt range

Abstrakt AB:08 Deconstructed Blond Impreial Stout 11.8%

Abstrakt Ab:05 Belgian Imperial Stout ages on toasted Coconut and Cacao 12.5%


anyone tried these ? , will drink and the weekend and post report

Those sound insanely interesting. Looking forward to hearing what you think about them.

Tried a pour today and the head is much better as is the mouth feel. I think the carbination was a bit low. Set it at 15PSI and 48 degrees now.

Grains for 6 gallon batch:

2 Row Base
37ppg, 1.5°L 14 pounds
79.8%
Barley (Flaked)
32ppg, 2°L 1 pound
5.7%
Carafa III
30ppg, 600°L 0.8 pounds
4.6%
Dry Sugar - Cane
42ppg, °L 0.75 pounds
4.3%
Biscuit
35ppg, 25°L 0.5 pounds
2.8%
Crystal 60L
34ppg, 60°L 0.5 pounds
2.8%

Mashed at 152
OG 1.080
FG 1.014
ABV 9.0%

Hops
1oz Chinook Mash Hop (1 year old)
1oz Columbus Mash Hop (1 year old)
2oz Warrior - 60 minutes

.75oz Rakau - 10 mins
.75oz Pacifica - 10 mins

1 oz of Citra at flame out
2.5 oz of ablend of the two NZ hops at flameout

dry hopped with .5 oz of citra and 3 oz of the blend

Then keg hop with 1 oz of the blend

What differences do you find between mash hops, first wort hops, and start of boil hops?

I went to a Dogfish beer paired dinner last night at a great local brew pub. The food was all created by the pub using the guidelines Dogfish provides for what each beer pairs well with. No one from Dogfish was actually there so I'm not sure what influence they had on the event, if any.

The setting. The white haired guy on the left is actually the proprietor of my local home brew shop.



Five courses with an appetizer at the beginning too, all in all 6 different Dogfish beers.



Interesting to note that 60m was the 2nd weakest beer ABV wise at 6.%

I forgot to take a picture of the oysters & sausage, but they were really really good. My Antonia was served from the 750 and refills were available. The picture here is of the 60 poured from the first course in a 16oz glass, but the Antonia was consumed from a ~6oz glass.

Antonia is fantastic IMO and "went very well" with the oysters. My palette is mostly crap as far as I can tell. Nothing I ate / drank tonight tasted better because of what was accompanying it. That's just me tho.



Split pea & ham soup paired with the 60m. The soup was actually really amazing, but all I can say for the pairing is that the 60 "sat on top" of your tongue after having a spoonful of soup. You really only got the backend of the 60, which I guess just means my tongue was coated with soup and couldn't take in all of the 60m. Shrug.



10% Hellhound on my Ale paired with a Spicy Jambalaya. I actually did not enjoy the Hellhound at all, tasted very much like rubbing alcohol to me. The Jamba was very spicy ( which I love ) but intuitively I would've thought a mild beer would be paired with it. No refills on the Hellhound.



7% Faithful Ale paired with a Salmon with Poppyseed Dressing on a bed of greens. Faithful is the Pearl Jam beer. Forgot to mention that the owner of the pub had a computer & TV hooked up to play Sam C's intros to each of these beers ( so I guess maybe Dogfish did have some influence on the event ). I think the videos were straight from YouTube tho.

Sam C in the video said when talking to Pearl Jam and asking for their imbibing influences they said all they used to drink was wicked fruity Pinot Noirs and Mexican Lagers. Sam said this beer is a "Faithful" representation of that, but I think that's just Sam being Sam.

Discussing the food doesn't do the Beer Club much good, but I have to say it was really good. There was some goat cheese in there that really softened the 7% bite of the Faithful and the poppyseed dressing is going to become a staple here.

Can't say much for the Faithful, didn't enjoy it that much which is OK, still drank it all obviously. Faithful ( and everything else here on out ) was served in the ~6oz glasses. I think there were refills available of this. The 60m was the only one where we got an actual 12oz bottle of beer to pour, everything else was poured for us.



The Bitches Brew paired with Pork Loin, Sweet Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts. The BB was fantastic tho I think would've paired better with something else. The food, each of the individual ingredients I'm not a fan of, but mashed together on your fork with a little bit of the rosemary was very good.





I forgot to take a picture of the Chicory Stout, but it looked exactly like the BB. Paired here with a Chocolate Bacon Cheesecake. At this point in the evening it was a little difficult finish the food and drink. Not necessarily because I was full, but there was quite the melting pot of ingredients in my stomach at this point. Chicory Stout was OK, it's always stocked at my local grocery store so I've had it plenty of times. Again, can't really say it did anything for me when paired with the food, but I enjoyed it.



All in all a nice evening. Service was a little bit slow, started at 6 and ended around 9:30. Would've enjoyed it more if stuff was brought out faster, or if refills were brought out sooner. We waited about 40 minutes with no beer in hand before the Pork course came out. Could've eaten about 50 more oysters too.

$55 included tax, but not tip. I thought it was a fine deal and made me want to go there for normal dinner which I had never been for.

I like Dogfish quite a bit. I love 60 and 90, but I think Sam has created a kind of caricature of himself / brand at this point with all the off centered stuff they're pushing out. Aside from the core flagships, I don't think I've come across anyone who really wanted one of their limited edition beers to make it into their main lineup. Bitches Brew is the only one I could see.

A nice evening.

Ive never done any mash hopping, Ive never heard of the technique being used for an IPA. I thought it was a technique used for no boil beers like a Berliner Wiesse.

I like using First Wort hops as a replacement for a 15-20 minute addition, it adds some pretty amazing aroma imo. My last few Pale Ales and IPAs Ive FWH bittered at 60 min and moved everything else to the last 5 minutes of the boil. Its worked out pretty well for me.

I realize its only about 0.8lb but do you think that might have been too much Carafa III? I used a considerably less in a Roggenbier and got alot of coffee and roasted notes, Im not sure if that was your goal or not in the Black IPA it may have been.

I've read a lot of sources that say mash hopping doesn't do anything and is a waste of hops. I've never tried it though.

For my beers that I FWH I do pretty much the same as you: FWH, bittering addition at 60, then the rest 5 minutes and later plus DH. I haven't notice much aroma profile from FWH but I do notice a greatly enhanced flavor as compared to 15 or 20 minute additions.

I also do an AIPA that's FWH, no bittering addition, and then hop bursted from 15 minutes all the way to a strikeout addition plus DH. I get tons of flavor and aroma (and an interesting creamy smooth mouthfeel) and the bitterness is fine when young (less than 4 weeks) but it fades too fast. I'm not sure if I just need to crank up the hop quantities through all the additions, or add some at 60.

Ive read the same about mash hopping, most people say it doesnt give you all that much and youre supposed to use 1.5x more hops if you go that route.

Maybe Im confusing the aroma of the FWH with the heavy handed hoping in the last 10 mins, but I am with you on the interesting flavor that it adds. I FWH an all Simcoe beer and it has an amazing flavor, slightly less bitter then I would have liked so next time I'll up the 60 minute addition.

Great TR, I enjoyed reading it.

I love DFH, living in Philadelphia we have access to pretty much anything that they offer at virtually anytime (120 min excluded bc it hits the shelves and is gone ldo). A Few times a year Monk's Cafe will host DFH beer dinners and Sam will be there and walk around and talk beer with every single table, pretty incredible and meeting him will make you like DFH even more.

All that being said I have to agree with you that some of their special release beer isnt anything to write home about. The 60, 90, 120 are amazing obviously, so is My Antonia, Bitches Brew, and Burton Baton imo. But like you said some of the others I could take or leave. Doesnt mean they are bad beers they just arent for me.

***If anyone ever visits Philly Monk's is a must, if you come here and dont go there you are doing yourself a diservice.