crowdsourcing a stout

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A few days ago, blog reader Joe J. asked:

I am gearing up to get a nice dry stout going for Patty’s Day. Do you have a tried and true recipe that you stick by?

I’m going to invite y’all to help me answer in the comments section. I’ll go first:

What I brew, when I brew a dry Irish stout, isn’t mine by any means – it’s pretty much the standard modern Dublin DIS formulation: 65% pale malt, 25% flaked barley, 10% roast barley. I like a bitter dry stout, so I aim to get low-mid 30s for IBUs with one bittering charge. Then 1084 Irish Ale yeast and Erin go bragh … nitro serve is nice if you can do it, but the texture is nice regardless with the flaked barley.

So … what say you, citizens?

on Minnesota hops

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A reader posted this question to the “About” page of this blog:

I’m curious about your thoughts of the hops industry, or lack thereof in MN. It seems that there are breweries opening every month, but virtually no one in MN is growing hops at even a semi-commercial scale. Do you think this is a needed industry in MN, and do you think that the local brewers would prefer to brew with locally sourced hops?

… and as I’ve written and rewritten my thoughts on this, the response turned into something that needed more than a one-paragraph reply to a thread on a different topic.  Continue reading →

2013

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140/-

 

Happy new year, citizens.

I am not big on resolutions – when I make a to-do list, I like to include items that I’ve already completed so I can start crossing things off right away and bask in the glow of my own incredible efficiency – but I do believe in the importance of intentionality and not waiting for things to happen all by themselves. So, with that in mind, here are my brewing resolutions for the 363 days to come:

  1. Read in a timely fashion these good books that Santa brought me.
  2. Renew the bonds of friendship with some yeast strains and beer styles that I haven’t visited in years … Dortmunder, Witbier, straight lambic, Wyeast 2565 …

I’d love to hear what you guys have planned for your fermentors and kegs this year.

save the date

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Dig this: Doppelbock brew day on December 21, the end of this age of the earth by the Mayan’s long count calendar, the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, the day when perhaps the northern soul most needs a bock. Brewed too late, or right on time? Continue reading →