Topics

31

Events / Rockin' Brews 2011 - Silverton CO - June 11

« on: June 01, 2011, 08:00:47 AM »

The Silverton Brewery officially reopens TOMORROW (June 2), but with our annual festival already scheduled for the 11th we're going to use that as our coming out party. Food and drink specials, brewery tours, the whole nine yards.

Beer! Food! Music! Beer!

The price of general admission is $30 and includes a commemorative tasting glass and unlimited beer samples. The event starts at 1pm and concludes at 6pm, with three regional bands and ten microbreweries from the western slope. Advance tickets are available online for $25.

http://www.rockinbrews.com

If anyone's interested and needs help with lodging (please don't drive Red Mountain AFTER the festival), train tickets, etc. let me know.

32

Ingredients / Honey malt - should I bother?

« on: May 20, 2011, 09:30:42 AM »

I'm getting ready to brew a simple honey wheat for the summer. When I've done it in the past I've used a decent proportion of 20L crystal malt (about 12%) to leave some residual sugar flavor that I think helps to accent the honey. But now I'm wondering if replacing that with honey malt would do even more to increase the perception of honey. What's holding me back is that I've heard the honey malt can be unpleasant in large quantities.

So, what say you?

33

The Pub / Randall Munroe gets it

« on: April 22, 2011, 09:01:28 AM »

Another convert to the cult of the Weaze.

http://xkcd.com/889/

34

Equipment and Software / Refractometer FG Update

« on: April 07, 2011, 05:16:20 PM »

Since I had some unplanned free time today, I finally got around to posting an updated refractometer FG spreadsheet: http://seanterrill.com/2011/04/07/refractometer-fg-results/

There are some minor tweaks, but the big news is that I was able to collect data from six other brewers, and the precision of the new FG correlation seems to be about on par with the typical $8 homebrewer's hydrometer.

35

The Pub / Smoke on the Brewery

« on: April 06, 2011, 09:22:15 PM »

So the building next to us burned down today: http://durangoherald.com/article/20110406/NEWS01/704069878/0/s/Building-burns-on-historic-Greene-Street-in-Silverton

I was walking to the brewery at about 7:45 AM and saw the smoke; by the time I got there the first fire engine was already parked in the street. Eventually we had five trucks spraying water - both Silverton units (all volunteers, by the way) plus two from Durango and one from Ouray. Even then it took them eight hours to get it extinguished. Apparently they were able to save our building from any major fire damage, but they cut the power to the entire block, so the sump pumps wouldn't have been running the entire time they were pumping water onto the roof, and I'm all but certain the basement brewery flooded as a result. No one, tenants or firemen, was hurt, so at least there's that. I'd assume we'll have smoke damage as well.

I think it's mostly a formality, but there will be an arson investigation, so I can't enter the building until the Sheriff's office executes a search warrant, and they tell me that will be tomorrow afternoon. So at this point there's absolutely nothing I can do, and I don't even know how bad the damage is. We had several thousand dollars worth of grain inventory in the building, so at best we'll have lost that. At worst we'll have structural damage and then who knows what.

Sorry for the rambling post. I've had several beers throughout the day today. I'll probably have several more. For at least the next 16 hours, that's about all I can do. I'm not looking for sympathy or anything, I'm just sitting at home unable to think about anything else - and the bar burnt down, so I don't have anywhere else to go.

36

Questions about the forum? / View poll results?

« on: December 07, 2010, 05:47:53 PM »

Hopefully this is just a checkbox an admin can set...

Anyone know if SMF allows you to view the results of a poll without voting? It's a handy little link to have on topics with polls. Just a thought.

37

Beer Recipes / Doppelbock Grist

« on: November 24, 2010, 06:06:55 PM »

Any thoughts on this? I've only done one doppelbock before, but it was a mini-mash and I didn't note the extract I used, so I'm not necessarily trying to recreate it exactly. Plus I'd like to stick with things I get free from the brewery, at least for the base malts. Anyway, what I'm thinking is:

22% Cargill Special Pale
65% Cargill Munich
5% Dingemans Biscuit
5% Pauls Medium Crystal (~55 SRM)
3% Dingemans Chocolate (~450 SRM)

38

General Homebrew Discussion / Only 1-2 beers for the winter

« on: October 07, 2010, 11:38:28 AM »

I'm going to be moving in about two weeks, so I'll have time to brew at most two beers to take with me. I'm going to bottle up the rest of what I have (APA, Maibock, Bourbon Barrel Stout, Oktoberfest, Tripel, Triple IPA), so I'll have plenty of variety, but quantities on all of those are getting low.

So, which two beers would you most want to have with you for a long Colorado winter?

39

The Pub / What has two thumbs and is going pro?

« on: October 05, 2010, 02:09:15 PM »

<- This guy!

It's funnier if you see me do it in person.

Sean Terrill
Assistant Brewer
Silverton Brewing Co.

40

The Pub / New favorite online game

« on: September 29, 2010, 06:08:35 PM »

And it's HTML5, so double geek points.

I just can't stop playing.

Entanglement

41

Beer Travel / Road trip! (Beer in KS, CO, UT, CA, NV)

« on: July 30, 2010, 05:52:42 AM »

I'm preparing for my annual pilgrimage to Black Rock City and this year I've decided to make a little better use of the opportunity. So I'm taking about three weeks to drive out (leaving August 9). I'll be staying in St. Louis, NW AR, Wichita, Boulder, Steamboat Springs, and Vegas at some point, and spending time in Rocky Mountain, Zion, and Yosemite NPs. So hopefully that gives people some idea of the route.

I know it's a ridiculously broad question, but are there any beers (that I can't get in IN) that are must-drinks? (Extra special burner bonus points if they're in cans.) Brewpubs that are good lunch/dinner stops? Brewpubs that are so good I should consider spending the night?

I'm already planning on stopping at Avery, Dry Dock, Odell's, and New Belgium, and trying to find some of the West Coast brands (Russian River, Bear Republic, AleSmith) in liquor stores. So if there's a good beer store on the I-70 corridor to stock up on the way home, that would be great too.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

42

The Pub / 42!

« on: July 10, 2010, 07:26:11 PM »

My RIS scored a 42 at the IN State Fair! I know it isn't off the charts or anything, but it's the highest I've gotten so far. The crazy part is it didn't even go to the Mini-BOS. Lots of tough competition I guess, or just inflated scores in that category. A National-ranked judge wrote "great job" in the comments, though, so I'm thinking it's the former. Yup, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

My dubbel and tripel scored a 38 and a 37.5 respectively, and my AIPA got a 36, so I'm pretty full of myself right about now. No bling though.

43

Equipment and Software / FG from Refractometer Readings

« on: June 11, 2010, 06:13:37 PM »

I know some people have had good results, but I've never found the refractometer correlation to FG that everyone seems to use to be very accurate. I modified it slightly to give better results, based on my last ten sets of readings. If you have data from both a hydrometer and refractometer I'd be interested in hearing how the new numbers compare with the old.

Refractometer Estimates of Final Gravity

44

Yeast and Fermentation / Pitching rate effects (experimental results)

« on: May 09, 2010, 09:52:28 PM »

I (and some very generous volunteers from the NB forum) recently conducted an experiment to determine what, if any, impact under-pitching would have on a beer. The results more or less conform to the conventional wisdom - slower fermentation, increased off-flavors, etc. I know a lot of people, especially new brewers, question the need for starters, and I think the tasters' results make a pretty persuasive case for using them.

Yeast Pitching Rate Results

45

The Pub / OK homebrewers, where should I live?

« on: April 07, 2010, 05:08:39 PM »

I've been in the job market for a year but haven't found anything, and I'm starting to think that I can work fast food in a place with better scenery. I like outdoor activities (skiing, hiking, running, cycling) and beer (good local micros and homebrew scene), so I'm thinking Colorado-ish. Then again, I've never been to the PNW and I hear good things. Plus, how do you just up and pick a place to live?

So I figured I'd throw the question out there and see if any fellow brewers live somewhere they absolutely love, and why.