Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Christmas Eve menu 2015


Adult Cheese plate with figs and fresh fruit
Pettole - anchovy, locatelli
Clams Casino
Fried smelt
Smoked Salmon
Baccala with potatoes/onions
Grilled Shrimp
Grilled Pompano with Lime

Mike's seafood pasta (crab, clams, anchovy)


Kids:
Mac/Cheese
Mini hot dogs
cheese plate


Tammy cookies 
Cream wafers
Red-Devil 
Cherry chocolate kiss
Blueberry cheesecake
Cherry cheese cake
Peaches
Pumpkin Log
Pizelle

Christmas Eve Tap list 2015

Here is the Christmas Eve tap list:
“Nollaig shona duit”
 
That’s how to say “Merry Christmas” in the Irish.
Thank you for coming to our house to celebrate Christmas Eve.
Here is what is on tap for 2015:

Gemütlichkeit
German Vienna Lager: 5% ABV
Gemütlichkeit is a German saying that describes the good feeling of the holidays. German Vienna is a light colored and malty German lager. Hopefully you experience this feeling here tonight.

Mrs. Claus’ Secret
American Pale Ale: 5% ABV
What makes Mr. Claus so jolly? What indeed.
This blonde ale is a hoppy, light colored beer that boasts plenty of aroma from American hops. Her secret is late kettle hops to make the beer flavorful and not bitter. Columbus, Apollo, Simcoe, Cascade is the hop blend.

Sledwrecker
American Stout: 5% ABV
If Santa drinks a few of these he most certainly could get himself into trouble.  This dark roasty beer has notes of chocolate and caramel.
Pull the tap forward to fill glass. Let the beer settle for a minute or two and then push the tap backward for a creamy head.

Le Chevelle est levee
French/Belgian Saison : 6% ABV
A little play on words for our good friend Michael’s favorite toy.
Saison is fruity and spicy ale that is flavor driven by the special yeast that makes it.  See if you can figure the underlying flavors as well as the inspiration for this beer’s name. Hint on the name – One of Cosmo’s friends

Wild Elf
American Wild Ale: 5.2% ABV
Ale made with real wild elf. Aged on black and red currants from the garden along with various wild cultures from a Michigan brewery.


Beer Engine: (PLEASE USE A NEW PLASTIC CUP FOR EACH POUR)
Jamison Cask Ale: 3.5% ABV

Low alcohol easy drinking cask ale for the cook.

Monday, September 7, 2015

Saison - 09/07/15

September 7, 2015.  109 days until Christmas Eve.

This is beer one of the tap list for this years Christmas Eve. A Saison is a orange colored beer with fruit and spice flavors from the Saison yeast strain. I used White Labs 585 - Saison III. This yeast is supposed to be fruity and produce an easy drinking beer.

Brew day was uneventful. I did throw a little spice in the end of the boil - 3 camomile tea bags.
I also used 1/2# brown sugar and 1/2# of white sugar.
This was also a split batch. I pitched a Brett Saison from The Yeast Bay into a separate carboy.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Fat Tire in Jamison!

First Fat Tire in Jamison

I picked up two beers in the Lips of Faith series so they are distributing their sours as well.

Friday, August 28, 2015

New Belgium Brewing distributing in PA starting 8/31/15


Be prepared to see this logo around town as New Belgium is finally coming to PA.
Fat Tire is sometimes considered a "Craft gateway beer", but I always enjoy one whenever  I go out west. It was a pleasant treat that I looked forward to. Now I can enjoy one at home.

Hopefully their Lips of Faith line will be distributed as well.

If only we could see more Cantillion and Heretic!

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

2015 Harvest Pale Ale - 08/16/15

Harvested my hops today. I bit early this year but this when the schedule allows so I picked the top cones of the bones and donated the rest of the hops. I ended up with 1# dried hops (Centennial, Columbus, Chinook, Cascade) with the later two being double the first by weight.
I ended up with as 5 gallon bucket full of dried hops for a 8 gallon batch.
Grain bill - 65% 2 row, 27% 6 row, 5% victory, 3% c20
I bittered with a small amount of Warrior for 18 ibus at 60 minutes. The harvest hops were added at flameout and I had a 30 minute stand. I then chilled with a immersion chiller for about 70 minutes to 65F, then rested 30 minutes to let everything drop out.
Transferred to 2 carboys with OG 1.056.

The brewery was super hot - close to a 100F  while brewing. The boil was controlled as it should have been. The relay in the control panel must not switch off correctly with the heat.  I've had this problem before. If this starts occurring more often I may have to replace the boil circuit relay, but my gut tells me the control panel is too small. With all the man hours I have into that panel, I'm hoping this is an occasional problem on hot days.




Monday, May 18, 2015

Hoe de Garden (Belgian Wit) and Little Cousin (American Pale Ale) 05/16/2015

Hoe de Garden - Belgian Wit - OG 1.046
Spiced with Orange/Grapefruit peel, chamomile, coriander
50/50 wheat/pils
mash ph 5.29 -
no sparge
Bella hop bittering/Hallertau (5 grams) flameout
WLP400 - 1L starter 1 day

Little Cousin - American Pale Ale OG 1.046
Golden promise 93%, 7% carafoam
mash ph 5.3 - no sparge
All flameout hops (9oz-3oz of each) Chinook, Columbus,Galaxy whirlpool 10 minutes
2 oz of Columbus at start of chilling.
Chill to 70f
Rest for 45min.
Pitch WLP001 - 1L starter 1 day


Brewery issue - I have an oring going bad on a hose connector. I pulled the connector out and will replace it before it leaks or causes a burn.
No pressure fermentation for 30 hours then put air lock on.