Freaked Out Stout (E.F.S. Quatro)

Two weeks ago we made another Oatmeal Stout. (E's 4th Fucking Stout. AKA E.F.S. Quatro) In the past we have come close to winning with this beer but it has always come up a bit short. So, it's time to freakin' tweak this thing and get it just right. This is the fourth stout that we have made in the last year or so. We have done pretty freakin' well with our stouts lately so, it only makes sense to get one ready for the Iowa State Fair and, work out the Freakin' bugs. Don't get me wrong. This is a great beer. It just needs that little bit of magic to put it over the Freakin' top. We got 3rd in stout, last year at the fair (white ribbon on the left), and we got 2nd at the IBU Open (silver medal in front) in March. With a little Freakin' work we may just pull off a 1st at the fair this year. Stout is one of the categories that everyone enters. That is why it is so hard to win and, that is why we want to win it. Look out boys! We are comin' atcha! At both competitions last year they wanted more malt character so, we raised our mash temps to 150+ and jacked up the grain bill a bit. Hopefully this will be what it takes to get us in the money (or gold that is). Here is the recipe! Don't tell anyone or I will have to kick some Freakin' ass!!!! He He!!! Nahhh! Brew it up! Have fun! And Freak out!

17 Gallons All Grain

30 lbs. Marris Otter Crisp
3 lbs. Flaked Oats
2.25 lbs. Chocolate Malt
2.25 lbs. Victory Malt
1.5 lbs. Roasted Barley
1.5 lbs. Crystal 60L

4 oz Hallertau No. Brewer 8.5% 60 mins.

WYeast 1968 London Extra Special Bitter repitched from a 5 gal. batch of Mild that E made.

E's Bitter was kick butt! So was the yeast. It just about pushed the lid off the fermentor.

OG - 1.070 FG - 1.020

I just tapped the first pint a while ago and it is tasting freaky good!

UPDATE: This Stout is excellent! So were the rest of them but, I think we hit our Freakin' mark this time. Much better malt character. We'll see how it does in August!

Freak Out and Brew On!!!!

Puget sound Pro-Am and the GABF

UPDATE: BIG NEWS COMING SOON!!!! THE FREAK BROTHERS DID WELL AND, WE WILL LET YOU KNOW JUST HOW WELL VERY SOON! TRUST ME, IT'S BIG!!! STAY TUNED!!!

Hey everyone, just a few updates for the blog and brewing in general. We just entered our second competition of the year so far, it's the Puget Sound Pro-Am. It's an AHA sponsored competition out of Seattle Washington. Normally I wouldn't feel the need to enter a competition thats 2000 miles away but, this one is a big contest with over 10 breweries that will be brewing winning beers from the competition and entering them in the GABF Pro-Am division. We entered just one beer, the Rauchbier that we made for the IBU club from the smoked malt that nobody wanted to do anything with. I'm hoping that we score well and get some good feedback from the judges, I'm really curious to see what they will have to say because both Freak and I love this beer and think that it's reached it's prime in the last month.

In other beer realted stuff, tickets for the GABF went on sale the 19th. I just purchased mine online and can't wait to get out there and try all of the beers that we can't get here in Iowa. If any one else out there is planning on attending let us know and maybe we can meet up and have a few.

The Puget Sound website
http://www.bewbc.org/pro-am

Cheers,

"E"

What's been freakin' happening...

Well it seems to be a busy time for both of the Freak Bros in the last month, we havent really brewed anything together since the American Wheat for the IBU club last month (and that was a week late for the meeting). In the mean time we have both managed to keep the brewing alive. I took a trip in the way back machine and made a 5gal partial mash English Mild and Freak finally made a hard cider with some help and direction from our fellow IBU member John Douglas... the strange part is that neither of us knew that the other was brewing at about the same time, I guess that when you gotta' brew... you gotta' brew. Here's the recipe for the English Mild:

Retro Brew Mild.
5 gal Partial mash Extract.

5lbs Munton's light DME
.5lbs Crystal 40
.5lbs Crystal 120
.25lbs Pale Chocolate Malt
2oz EKG (Goldings) 60'
Wyeast 1968 London ESB

So far so good, the yeast took off quickly and the beer fermented out in about 4 days. Right now it's just chillin' in the secondary waiting to be kegged.

Freak, feel free to put your cider recipe on here.

Cheers, "E"

Back to the Freakin' Basics!!!

I know, I know! It has been way too long since our last post. Sorry to let you all down. However, we have been busy brewing but I just haven't had the time to document our excellent adventures so, I though I would come back with a Big Brewing Bang of "The Kind"! Last Saturday we brewed another batch of our Douche Bag American Wheat. All of that went very well but, it is what we did in our idle time that was totally hilarious! After nearly 20 years of brewing beer I never thought I would go back to brewing with malt extract. However, a friend of mine gave us a Coopers Home Brew Beer Kit to mess around with. How funny! I thought it would be fun to go back to the basics of home brewing and make this kit as if I had never brewed beer before. Do everything just like the instructions tells you to do. and act like you know nothing about brewing. Go back to the days of brewing small batches on the stove top with nothing but the kit and the instruction manual. So we made this beer while we were mashing the Douche Bag Wheat and it will surprise you what happened.

This brew session was funny as hell. The kit came with a plastic fermentor, 30 plastic bottles and caps, a plastic spoon, a hydrometer, a bottle filling tube, a can of pre-hopped malt extract (a lager they claim), a 1k box of corn sugar, a bag of "priming lollies", an instructional DVD, and all of the other goofy little things required to make your very first batch of beer. We had a blast making this thing. I suggest all of you seasoned brewers out there try making a batch of extract beer. Not just that but, do it like we did here. No boil! No Hop additions! Just mix, stir then pitch the yeast! He He!!!

As you may recall, you have to heat up the syrup so it will pour out of the can. Here we are warming the syrup. It was called a lager but the instructions said to ferment it at room temp. How weird is that? Room temperature lagering. That's sort of a contradiction in terms or an oxymoron at best. Right?

Funny thing is, this kit didn't even require us to boil the wort. All we had to do was pour 2 liters of boiling water into the fermentor, add the pre-hopped malt extract, add the 1k box of corn sugar, and then top it up to 23 liters with cold tap water.

Here we go! In with the pre-hopped malt extract...

Then... In with the corn sugar...

After topping up with cold tap water... It was in with the yeast...

However, we did stray a bit from the instructions on the DVD that came with the kit. We hydrated the yeast before we pitched it. Any brewer with a brain would do that. Otherwise, we followed the instructions to a tee. And, that's it! It was like making a 6 gallon batch of Kool-Aid!! No boil! No hop additions! No nothing! This goes totally against the grain of all experienced brewers but, it seemed to work. It was at that moment that I got a freaky idea! In the middle of this process I came up with the insane idea of doing the same thing but on a 15 or 20 gallon scale. I mean... Why not?! How cool is that?! It was funny as hell when I thought of this. You just had to be there. I am seriously going to do the same damn thing but on a larger scale. No boil. No hop additions. Just mix and pitch! I can't wait to taste this beer. If it turns out good, to hell with all of this mashing grain and boiling bull shit! He He!!! I'm kidding. That will never happen. But, I do want to keep experimenting with this method. Might as well. As long as this batch turns out good, why not? I am sure this beer will taste OK but, it ain't gonna be as good as "The Kind" of beer that the Freak Brothers are normally brewin'! It just ain't "The Kind"! E took some vids of me at the moment I came up with this brilliant idea. Too damn funny. I think you will all enjoy our bizarre outtakes and I hope you all try going back to the Freakin' Basics.

E wanted to film me in the midst of my brilliant thought but, it was just too damn funny!

I finally got it right on the second take but, I'm tellin' ya, it was too damn funny! You had to be there.

Brew on and Freak Out!!!

Freakin' Busy!!!

Sorry I have not posted anything for a while. It has just been crazy around here. We did have a couple of guests over for the brew session 1 1/2 weeks ago. We made a Rauchbier for the IBU. They had 55 lbs. of Rauch malt that needed to get used up so we made a big batch for the club. I think we are going to make an American Wheat in the next 2 weeks. We are the brewers of the month in April (I think) and that is the style of the month. I will keep you all posted. If you are a new visitor to our Blog, please check out our archives. There is a ton of cool stuff in there. Chat with you all again soon!

Freak Out!!

IBU Open is This Weekend!!!

It has been quite a while since the Iowa State Fair and I am sure most of the brewers around Iowa and the Midwest are pumped up about this event. As you can see, all of The Freak Brother's beers are ready to go and we are looking forward to it. I look forward to seeing you all this Saturday too.

The Freak Brothers have 7 beers in the game. We have made some adjustments to our operation over the winter but, I think we will do well. Good luck to the rest of you too!

IBU Open Entries

1. Brown Porter (2008 Iowa State Fair "Best of Show" Beer)

2. Oatmeal Stout (Freaks pick to score the highest of our entries)

3. German Pilsner (Freaks 2nd pick to score the highest of all our entries)

4. Hefe Weizen (Bottle conditioned, Should do well)

5. Traditional Bock (This one might do better than I think)

6. Lite American Lager (Freakweiser that we wrote about in this blog)

7. Chipotle Lager (Freakweiser with peppers and liquid smoke added)

Freak Out!!!

Freak Brothers Visit the Worth Brewery

Last Saturday my wife and kids were out of town so E and I decided to trip up to the Minnesota border and check out The Worth Brewery. If you are from Iowa you are likely familiar with this establishment. It is the smallest commercial brewery in the country. Pete, the owner and brewmaster, uses a 10 gallon Brew Magic system. That is sort of why we wanted to visit. It is the kind of thing that makes any home brewer want to quit their day job and go pro. It proves that a brew pub can be run on any scale. I encourage anyone to go see this operation. It's really pretty cool. Here are some photos of our trip.

This is Pete, the owner and brewmaster. He used to work for the Summit Brewing Company in Minnesota.

This is one of the locals that we met. He was in there buying a growler. I guess they just started up a homebrew club.

This is the Brew Magic System that Pete uses. I'm sure some of you are working on the same set up. This proves that you can open your own brew pub if you "Just Get Your Freak On".

Pete uses several Blichmann fermentors. Most of them are 14 gallons I believe, but his web site says he has a 27 gallon. It must have been tucked away some place out of sight. I'm sure he needs all the space he can get.

Check out the yeast culture in the 1 liter beaker. Reminds me of home. Hey E!! You need to build one of your stir plates for Pete!! He He!

Here is E getting drunk with the locals. It was a great time. The food is really good here too. I had the Bratwurst (with a great homemade mustard) and E had homemade beef stew. Both were excellent. If you ever get a chance to go here you should. It is a wonderful place to visit. I can see places like this popping up all over and doing very well.

Freak Out!

I would also like to say thanks to Pete for all of his hospitality. He was more than helpfull answering all of our questions and showing us around his brewing area.

He's making some great beer and has a very nice setup going for him up there in northern IA / southern MN. We had a great time, sampled all but one of his beers and they were all very nice.

Worth Brewery

Late, "E"

YOU ARE INVITED TO BREW WITH THE FREAKBROTHERS!!!

CHECK OUT OUR BREWING SCHEDULE. -------> -------> -------> ------->^^^^^

KEEP AN EYE OUT AND JOIN US!!!

If you are a member of The I.B.U. (Iowa Brewers Union), The R.R.B.A. (Raccoon River Brewers Assn.) or if you are a home brewer that lives anywhere in Iowa, we would like to invite you to join us in any of our future brew sessions.

WATCH THIS VIDEO!!!!!!


CHECK OUT THE ARCHIVES TOO!!! ------> ----------> ------------->^^^^

This is something that we have been wanting to do for quite some time. The reason we want to do this is to promote better home brewing and to learn from others. When I first began brewing I was totally lost. Things like all grain batches, full wort boils and kegging seemed like highly advanced science fiction. After seeing how these things were done, it all made sense. None of these things are difficult if you just have an opportunity to see them done first hand. We would love to help others learn how to do all of these things and more. At the same time, I have to give credit to those who taught me what I know and, I am sure there are still a ton of things that we can learn from other brewers. You may be able to share some things with us that will improve our beers. It's a win, win situation.

I will bring this up at the next beer club meeting and we will keep a schedule of our brew sessions right here on the blog. If you are interested in brewing with us, give me a call or send an e-mail. I live in Grimes and we will be brewing on Saturday (2-28-09). We would (to some extent) be willing to work around your schedule. We tend to start around 11:00 am and finish around 5:00 pm. Get hold of me if you are interested in this weeks brew session or keep an eye on our blog for future sessions.

Keith Gordon
515-205-4154 or 515-309-1606
gordie691@mchsi.com

Freak's Tool !!!!!!!!

Check out my tool! I got it for X-Mas. I suggest that everyone should get one. A refractometer will allow you to take Brix readings (instead of, or in addition to, gravity readings) at any point in the brewing process. With just a few drops (not several ounces) of wort, partially finished beer or finished beer, you will know the exact sugar content of any liquid. This thing is a must have. They are fairly inexpensive (about $60 or less). Make sure you get one that has ATC (automated temperature compensation). This will be more accurate in a wider temperature range (about 40-80 degrees, or more). Don't buy one that does not have ATC. They are much cheaper but, you will not be happy with it. Go buy one with ATC today. You wont be sorry.

Freakwieser Lite 2 & E's German Pils

You have heard about our attempt to create a Lite American Lager that resembles something that comes out of a can. Well, here is our second attempt. As I have said in the past, it is much harder to make a good light beer than it is to make a good dark beer. There is nothing there to cover up your flaws. I think our second attempt at making Budcoorsmilleroldmillnaturalpabstoldmillbest Lite was successful but, I intend to tweek it a bit more. It is so close, it's not funny. However, it needs a tiny bit of work to make it right. If you judge it on nothing other than the SRM you will see that we got an A+!!!!

Not only does it look like water but it tastes like it too. No, I'm just kidding. It actually tastes pretty good for what it is. I could drink this beer all day long on a hot summer day. It is pictured here next to our latest German Pils to demonstrate just how light it is. The pils (left) is very light. This beer is almost clear. The photo does it no justice.

I wanted to make this beer for 2 reasons. One, because people that know nothing about beer always ask me if I can make Bud Lite and second, because I believe this is the hardest style of beer to make (in a home brewing environment) and make it well. Don't give me shit until you have tried to make it yourself and make it good. That is a tall task. Trust me. Give it a try!!!

Freak

P.S. 60% Pils malt, 20% flaked maize, 20% flaked rice and Saaz hops at 60 and 20 mins.

P.S.S. I am thinking about going 65, 15, 20 and adding a tiny bit more flavor hops. I want to get more opinions before I do it.

The Freakin' stirplate is complete...

The other day Freak and I came to the conclusion that we needed to get back to using liquid yeast and repitching for our upcoming batches. (We have been using dry yeast because it is cheaper than using 3 or 4 packs of liquid yeast and we have not taken the time to do starters over the last several months.) We decided that to get the most out of our starters we needed a stir plate. If you've never seen one they are pretty freakin' cool and they are also a good way to greatly increase cell counts for yeast starters. I started looking around online and found lot's of info on building one for around $30.oo. Here are some pics and a quick video clip of what I built. Let me know what you think. "E"

Freakin' Hopper for the mill!

E and I have been talking about making a big ass grain mill forever. We have looked at electric motors, belts, pulleys and everything else it takes to make a giant grain mill. Then! On Christmas day my mother bought me and my wife a new bed frame. I could give a shit less about what our bed looks like! I just want a place to land when I've had too much homebrew. Sure, I liked the gift! It's a really nice bed and, it looks real nice in our bedroom! But! When I opened the box, what I got really, really excited about was the packing material that it came in! I opened up the box and I found these boards inside. At first I thought they were part of the bed. Then I noticed that there was Styrofoam glued to them. It was at that moment that I realized I had just stumbled across the best packing material discovery of all time! It was the gigantic grain mill hopper that I had always wanted!!!!! Of coarse I pretended to be excited about the bed but, what really got me going was the extra crap they packed in the box. Here are photos of what I did with it.

The "E" Quad Keg Fermentor

Yesterday E and I made another lager. We have been going lager crazy since we got the lagering chest. This lager rage presented us with a space problem. We are just a bit shy of being able to get six carboys (2 batches of beer) in at one time. We were able to get around this problem by using kegs to secondary. That worked to primary one and secondary another. We still got backed up because, this week, we needed to primary 2 batches at once. The latest issue of B.Y.O. had an article about fermenting in kegs so, E put 4 empty kegs to good use. We just hooked up an out line to each keg, and ran 4 hoses to a jar of water, for the blow offs. E still had to take a carboy home and put it in his fridge. I guess it is about time to get back to making ales for a while. Space is not a problem with ales.

Freak E Bock d-E-coction Mashing!

With the recent addition of the lagering chest, we have been wanting to make a Traditional Bock. So on Sunday we did just that. Here you can see E stirring the decoction mash. What a Freakin' Stud! We used a 5 gallon pot and removed about 4 gallons of thick mash from the main mash. (It boiled down to about 3.5 gallons.) We stepped it up from 122 to 145 and held it for 30 mins. We then stepped it up to 158 for 30 mins. and finally boiled it for about 20 mins. We returned the boiling mash back to the main mash which in turn raised that up to about 155. (The main mash started at 122, rested for 30 mins., and was rested again at 145 up to this point.) After 20 or 30 mins. we mashed out at 169. This worked pretty well. Next time we may do a double or triple decoction. It all depends on how good this beer tastes. Our OG was 1.069 and the color was a real nice, deep, copper. It should be a very tasty, cock knockin', Bock! If one decoction works out there may not be any need for adjustments other than using a bigger pot and pulling a bigger decoction. (The 25 gal. pot may be too big for this but, we may try that next time.) We will keep you posted.

Freak Out!

E's Pils Picks

E wants our next batch to be a Pilsner so, he picked up a few examples for us to drink while brewing the Freak E Bock. I guess he is upset with the professional photographer that documents all of our Excellent Adventures. Stay tuned. We have a competition comming up in March and we will brewing our nuts off over the next two months.

Freak Out!

Drunken Stalkers

If you are not familiar with the follower gadget that is now available to bloggers, this is your chance to become a follower. I call our followers "Drunken Stalkers". This is an easy way for those of you that frequent this blog to give us easy access to your blog. Please take a look at the top of the column on the right side of this page. Go ahead and become a follower. We will return the favor. You are now a Drunken Stalker! Thanks!

Freak Out!

I.B.U. X-Mas Party

I just got home from the Iowa Brewers Union X-Mas Party. I did not stay too long because I have not been home much the last couple of weeks but, I had a great time. The food was good. The beer was good and I wish I had been able to stay a little longer. Sorry I don't have any photos. Just wanted to say thanks to all that put it together.

Freak Out!

Freakwieser Lite

As if our Wheat Beers were not gay enough, I decided to try and out gay even a wheat beer. With the addition of the new lagering chest (pictured in the last post), I just had to make the next beer a lager. So, I made a Lite American Lager. I got the idea from the never ending flow of people asking me if I could make a beer that tastes like Bud Lite. For the last 17 years I have constantly been asked this question by everyone when they find out that I brew beer. So I decided to just make the damn thing and get it over with. It is a 17 gallon batch. I used 12 lbs. of 2 row, 4 lbs. of flaked maize and 4 lbs. of flaked rice. I used 4 oz. of Cascade hops and the OG ended up at 1.034. I should finish around 1.008 or 1.006. I'm actually kind of excited to see how it turns out. It looks and smells just like a can of Bud Lite. It has been 10 days now and it appears to be about ready to transfer. I will keep you posted on how it turns out.

Another New Freakin' Toy!!!

This is our new lagering chest. I hooked a thermostat up to a chest freezer. It can also double as a keg fridge. During BBQ season, it can also be used as a meat freezer when I run out of freezer space. However, the primary mission for this thing will be lagering beer. In the future, I intend to install a 20 gallon plastic tank with a pump. That way I can keep the entire batch in one tank rather than using 3 carboys. That is going to be cool as shit! Stay tuned for updates.

Freak Out!

Freaktoberfest is almost here...

Once again as the leaves are tuning and the weather is becoming optimal for brewing that can only mean one thing, Freaktoberfest! 

This year should be an outstanding event once again with an even better turn out than last year. Freak and I have decided to take things up another notch as far as home-brew is concerned. Last year we had 15 gals of brew minus what Freak drank the night before and that went pretty quick. So this year we'll have 30 gals + 5 gals of "special" ale and of course the smoker will be loaded with all variety of animal carcasses for snacking pleasure. Another change this year is that we will keep the party going until the last person drops ( Freak). 

Freak and I went down to help Rob clean up and things are looking great rain or shine. The beer will be cold, the fire hot and our friends all having fun. Hopefully we'll have some good pics to share and stories to tell. Later "E"

 

It ain't just good. It's Freaky Good!!!!

It isn't very often that I get all braggadocios about our beers.... Well, maybe I do. All I have to say is that E and I are starting to brew some beers that are "Freaky Good" or, should I say "Scary Good"?! As you know we have been brewing for a long, long time (since 1991) but, we are starting to turn out some beers that are on a level that is as good or better than many commercial brewers are putting out these days. This wheat beer is a perfect example of a perfect beer. I'm telling you.... It is really good! At only 3 weeks old, it is tasting like the best wheat beer you have ever had in your life! That ain't sayin' much, as wheat beers are gay but, I like making the fucking things. Not only that but, I have found that it is harder to make a good light beer than it is to make a good dark, full body, beer. It is harder to cover up the flaws. It is really cool when you can make a beer that looks and tastes as clean as this one does. Yet, it is malty and crisp with a perfect hop balance. It is time to perfect the pils I believe! This is as close as you can get to a pils when you are using 6 row malt and wheat. I have no idea how we get it to be so crisp and clear. It ain't filtered! It must be the protein rest or just the freakiness of our brewing process. Wicked, scary, good stuff!

Freak

Don't Toss Your 2nd Runnings!

Check out this video! This is a beer I made from the second runnings of 3 different beers. They were a porter, a stout and a wheat beer. I ended up with about 11 gallons of runnings. I added 6 lbs. of DME and boiled it for 3 hours. That's right! 3 hours! I added 2 oz. of cascade hops. 1 oz. at 2 hrs., a 1/2 oz. at 30 mins. and a 1/2 oz. at the end. I boiled it down to 5 gallons and, that gave me an OG of 1.096! I pitched 1 packet of Safale US-05 and it is fermenting like a mother fucker! See for yourself! Watch the video!



The primary finished in about 3 days. There is a ton of yeast in the bottom. About 4 inches! I have never seen anything like it! I should end up with about 3 1/2 gallons of Jet Fuel! I don't think I should be smoking when I'm drinking this stuff. He He!!!! I will keep you posted.

New Freakin' Secondary Fermentor

Here it is folks! The new secondary fermentor on it's maiden voyage! I have tried several configurations and, this one seems to make the most sense. I wanted to do a test run with water but, the primary fermentor was full of beer. I did some water runs in the other configurations and, I didn't have any leaks. I was a bit nervous during this process (I would hate to bust a leak and loose $100 worth of beer on the floor) but, it all went well. This will be a nice addition to the Freak Brothers Brewery. We used to secondary in 3 different glass carboys. I have always felt like we were making 3 different beers. This fermentor will allow us to keep our batches together, in a single vessel, all the way to the end. I guess our next step will be 15 gallon Sankey Kegs! Well.... Maybe. Time will tell. Take a look as I rack the beer from the primary to the new secondary. You can make one of these for under $200. Give it a try. Cool stuff!



Take 2! Sorry folks. I did this while drinkin' a high gravity IPA. I ran out of talent. Take a look at take 2. It ain't much better than the first one. I made one hell of an effort but, it sucked too! I gave up after take 2. I should stick to brewing (and drinking) not video commentary. Enjoy!



If you would like more info on how to build this fermentor, or where to get the parts, e-mail me at gordie691@mchsi.com.

Freak Out!

The Awards Are Here!!!

They shorted us one Silver. We won 4 but, they only sent 3.

The Best of Show won us a slot at the AHA National Competition on 7-27-08. That must be a mistake. That was 2 months ago! I will have to find out if it will be good for 2009.

New Member of the Freak Brothers Family!

This is the newest gadget we've recently added to our system. It is a 16.5 gallon chemical mixing tank. (they call it a 15 gallon but, it has 1/2 gal. incremental marks on the side that go up to 16.5 gallons.) We will obviously use it as a fermenter. You can build one for around $175 - $200. I got it at Sprayer Specialties in Grimes, Iowa for $193 but, I bought some extra rubber hoses and nipples so, It cost me a bit less than that. You can get it for $175, easy! This is a place that builds spraying equipment for farmers, pest control companies and anyone else who uses large spraying equipment. I manage a pest control company and, they build all of our power sprayers for us. That's how I found this fermenter. I bought all of the parts and pieces from that one company. The frame, tank, valve, hose and everything else. No need to shop all over the place. You can get everything you need right there. They told me that wineries buy them all the time for storing grape juice. They are food grade plastic and they come in 15, 30, 60, 85 and 110 gallon sizes. I think if you look around, you may be able to find a 5 - 10 gallon tank from another company like this one. Sprayer Specialties doesn't have one that size but, some other company might have one. I'm not sure.

I used a black marker to darken the content lines. This will come in very handy. We never really know how much beer we end up with. Now we will know! 16.5 gallon capacity!

My original idea was to use it as a secondary fermenter. Currently we primary in the stainless vessel and secondary in 3 separate glass carboys. I have always felt like we were brewing 3 different beers. If you are a brewer, that brews large batches, you have to admit that each carboy is doing it's own thing. Don't try to tell me otherwise. You know, in your heart, that each carboy is doin' it's own thing. You know it! I know it's the same batch but, I want to make all of our kegs, that come from the same batch, more consistent. I want them to be truly from the same batch. I believe that having the entire batch going into a single tank will give us this consistency that we are looking for. This plastic tank seemed like a cheap and easy solution to our problem. "E" suggested that, if need be, we could use it as a primary fermenter too. I don't see why we couldn't. Sounds like a good idea to me. If we wanted to do 2 batches, back to back, we could. The only modification that I will have to make is putting longer legs on it. It will need to set about 16 inches higher in order to gravity feed into our kegs because, I don't think it would be a good idea to use a pump. Too much oxygen I would think. Maybe not. I don't know. Anyway, this will not be a problem. I plan to take the frame back to the place I bought it. One of the guys there is a welder. He can give it some legs. He said he could hook me up if I brought him some beer. He He! That sounds like a fair trade to me but, if you have any ideas on how to transfer without gravity feeding it, let me know. One other thought! It just might be small enough to fit inside a large fridge or a homemade cool box. That would make one hell of a nice lagering vessel. Just a thought. Let me know if you have other ideas for this thing.

You can spin the large hex nut off the bottom and remove the entire valve assembly for cleaning. This is a cool feature.

I will keep you all posted on how it works. If you have questions about how to get one, just send me an e-mail or comment on the blog. I check it about every day. If you would like me to build one for you, please let me know. I will do it for $350 + shipping.

Freak Out!

"E" is Freakin' Out About the Brew Awards

Here is "E" checkin' out our "Best of Show" award. Hey "E", you look like you know you're good. Nothin' wrong with that. If you got it, you got it! Keep in mind folks, a whole bunch of those ribbons belong to The Freak Brothers. We ain't messin' around! As for that sign, that is posted bellow our beer, they are using the word "Amateur" very loosely. There is nothing "amateur" about the Freak Brothers! Freak Brothers are the Shiznit! We ain't no stinking amateurs!

Freak Out!

FREAK BROTHERS! BEST OF SHOW! BEST IN IOWA!

THE RESULTS ARE IN AND, THE FREAK BROTHERS ARE #1 !!!

Last night "E" and I went to the Iowa State Fair Grounds to find out the results of the Iowa State Fair Homebrew Competition and, we won "Best of Show"! I was blown away! I know "E" was pretty freaked out too.

Our winning beer was a Brown Porter. I don't want to sound braggadocios but, I was not shocked as much as I was totally excited and proud. I knew all along we would do well. After all, we have over 30 years of combined experience and, "E" finished runner-up, at this competition, a few years ago. I was positive we would win and/or place in some of the categories we entered. I even felt like we had a shot at "Best of Show". I guess I was right. Believe it or not, this was my first competition. I guess I just never got around to doing it. Now that I have had a taste of success (and lots of tastes of homebrew), I only want to do more. If it were not for "E", I would still be sitting around, drinkin' homebrew, with nothing to show for it but a hang over and a beer gut. He He! Congrats "E"! We may need to build a trophy room!

177 Beers Were Entered and, Here are the Results!

Brown Porter*
1st Place Porter and "Best of Show"
(silver)**

Robust Porter
2nd Place Porter
(silver)

American Stout
3rd Place Stout
(silver)

Scottish Export 80
3rd Place Scottish Ales
(bronze)

American Pale Ale
5th Place American Pale
(silver)

American Wheat Beer
5th Place Light Hybrid
(bronze)

Ordinary Bitter
6th Place Bitter
(no ribbon)

India Pale Ale***
6th Place I.P.A.****
(bronze)

We are very proud of our results but, there were a few funny things that happened. As you know, some beer styles are very similar to others. Many times, in beer competitions, things are grouped together in strange ways. This is done when there are not enough beers in a category to justify judging that category.

*First of all, our "Best of Show Porter" had an identity crisis at its inception. When we formulated the recipe, it was intended to be a Brown Ale that pushed the specific gravity limits of BJCP style guidelines. When we tapped the first keg (or even before that), it was obvious that this beer was not a Brown Ale. It was a Porter. We even joked about entering this beer in more than one category. We talked about entering it as a Porter and as a Stout. There is such a fine line between the two styles that we thought it would do well as both. We went with Porter.

**Even though we won "Best of Show" with this beer, it did not get a Gold ribbon. It got a silver. It came up a half of a point short. It was judged for best of show because it got first in that category. Had a different set of judges done the initial tasting, it probably would have been a gold. Who knows?

***There were so many I.P.A.'s that they had to judge them in 2 different groups. We were 6th in our group but, had they judged them all in one group, we would have been 12th. I am not sure why they did it that way. All but 1 were American. The other one was obviously English. Even though we were 12th over all, it may have scored higher in the other flight. The beers in the first flight scored much higher than those in our flight.

****As you may have noticed, I was bragging about our I.P.A. in an earlier blog post. We thought this was the best beer that had ever been created by God or man. As it turned out, it was the worst one of all that we entered (Actually, our Bitter scored 2 points lower than our IPA but, it placed 6th out of 9 Bitters). We were told that our IPA did not have enough IBU's. It was very hoppy in it's early days but, it mellowed out after 6 months in the bottle. Oh Well! If anyone knows the extreme limits, when it comes to hops, it's "E". I'm sure he will come up with an obscene recipe that will push it to the limit. Maybe 100+ IBU's! I foresee next years judges choking on the most insanely hoppy beer on the planet. You asked for it, you're gonna get it! Hold on to your nuts boys!

We're Not Running Second To Anyone!

Here is "E" holding the Iowa State Fair entries. I am confident that our beers will do well.

Yesterday we brewed another batch of our high gravity I.P.A. As you know, we have been experimenting with our second runnings. No longer do we throw out our second runnings. What we have been doing is, save them, add some DME, boil it, add some hops and, off we go.

The I.P.A. that we brewed yesterday came in at 1.076. We took the second runnings (about 4 gallons) , added 2 gallons of water, 3 lbs. of light DME, one ounce of cascade hops, boiled it for 1 hour and, it came in at 1.064. That just blew my mind! I had no idea that it would come in that high. This was the third time we tried this (the 2nd time that we added DME). This has inspired us to try some really radical stuff. Not with the main batch but, with the second runnings. In fact, we decided to go old school. We put the second batch in a plastic bucket and, we are doing open fermentation. The cool thing about brewing this way is that it gives you 5 gallons to screw around with. You can experiment with it. Even if you are doing a 5 or 10 gallon batch, you should try this. You can take that last gallon or two and goof around with it. You still have your primary batch and, all you have to loose is a bit of DME and a bit of hops. Give it a try and, stay tuned to The Freak Brothers blog. If you don't want to try it yourself, we will try it for you. Cheers!

Iowa State Fair Oenology Entries!

Hey all! The Iowa State Fair will start on August 7th and many of the best brewers in Iowa, and the mid-west, have brought out their best beers to go head to head. This is the biggest homebrew competition in Iowa. The beers have been judged and, the results will be in tomorrow!

The Freak brothers entered 8 beers. This is a photo of our entries. I feel good about our beers. We entered the following beer categories.

American Pale Ale, American I.P.A., American Stout, Scottish Export 80, American Wheat, Ordinary Bitter, Brown Porter and Robust Porter.

With any luck, the Freak Brothers will have a good showing. I believe our best beer was the I.P.A. This was a high gravity (1.074) , very hoppy (63.1 IBU) , beer. It was excellent in the keg but, after 6 months in the bottle, it really came around. In fact, it was so good, we brewed another batch of it yesterday. This time it may be even better (O.G. 1.076, 74 IBU). The rest of our beers were pretty good too, with the exception of our wheat beer. We must have had some sort of a problem in the bottling process. It tasted very good in the keg but, it was flat out of the bottle. E uncapped it and added a bit of sugar and yeast. I hope that did the trick. Oh well! The bottom line is, we had a great brewing year. During the year we picked up a Blichmann Beer Gun and a few other little toys. We also made a few modifications to the brewery. That, plus one more year of experience (17 years now), should make our beers a whole lot better. I look forward to the 2009 brewing season. It gets better every year. Keep an eye out for the Iowa State Fair Results. I will let you know in a few days how we did. Cheers!

Don't Give Up On The Freak Brothers

Sorry it has been so long since the last post. It's BBQ season! In case you don't know, my other hobby is BBQ. I have competitions and parties to cook for. That will keep me busy for several weeks. No time for brewing. We will be back at it real soon. Keep checking our blog. There will be more to come in the near future.

Freak

Small Beer Success!

The small beer was a success. It tastes clean and, as expected, watered down. It came in at 2.62% ABV and, the color and flavor are the same as the big beer (only watered down). I just wanted to see what would happen if I boiled, hopped and fermented the second runnings. I will seldom throw this stuff away again. Next time I will add some dry malt and boil it just like the big beer. The only thing this beer lacks is malt and alcohol. The dry malt should fix that. I will use a few more hops too. One thing you can use the small beer for, if you don't add dry malt, is to cut your big beer when you don't want a heavy beer. I have mixed the two when I wanted something a little lighter. This is good when you have a heavy beer on tap but, you want to drink it outside on a hot day. Just mix them. It tastes just fine. It may not be competition quality but, it will be very, very drinkable. Who knows? I may just enter a small beer in a competition just to see what it does.

Give it a try!

Freak

My George! A Porter is in order!

This weekend I brewed a porter and I made a small beer from the second runnings. (I brewed alone because my brewing partner "E" had to work. (He is a, wheat beer drinking, gay porn star. He He!) and, I'm out of beer.) I came up with this idea (Actually "E" thought of it first.) because, I am a brewer and a patriot. I have been watching the John Adams series on HBO and was inspired to do this. I wanted to do as the early brewers did and take advantage of every bit of my brewing resources. I looked for the original George Washington porter receipt and, I found out that it was hardly a beer. It was more like a molasses wine. However, I wanted to stick with the colonial, small beer, theme. It is true that most colonial age brewers made small beers for their kids. They used the second runnings to make a small beer. So, I did just that. I brewed a porter called "My George Porter". After I pulled off all the good stuff, from the mash, I put the second runnings into a carboy (just for lack of a better place to put it). Then I cleaned all the grain out of my mash tun (while boiling the porter in my boiler) and poured the second runnings back in to the mash tun. The gravity, at that time, was 1.018 (intentionally a bit high). I boiled it for 30 mins. and added 1/4 oz. of Cascade hops. The OG after boil was 1.030. I cooled it, in a glass carboy, in a sink full of cold water. I pitched 1 packet of dry yeast in to it. Both the small beer and the porter have taken off very well. The cool thing is, I learned something about my brewery. In a 17 gallon batch, I throw out quite a bit of semi-good stuff. With a gravity of 1.030, I could add a bit of dry malt to my waist and gain an extra 4+ gallons of beer for little or nothing. If I had added just a few pounds of malt, I would have been able to take the gravity up to the 40, 50 or even 60 range. Next time I brew I will be sure to have some dry malt on hand. No need to waist all that good colorful wert. I will keep you all posted on how it turns out.

I Got Some Serious Gas Now!

As you can see, I did a bit of work on my gas lines. Click on the photo for a close up! This has been long (about 17 years) over due. In the past, I have always used a single gas line for all of my brewing and serving applications. (I have never been one for leaving the gas hooked up to all the kegs all the time. I worry about leaks. All that has changed.) I now have 2 lines going to the keg fridge and a 3rd line for forced carbonation, pushing beer out of the fermentor, hooking up the Blichmann beer gun, and any other co2 applications. I made sure to use lots of gas line so it will reach any corner of the brewery. While I was in the mood (to do some real work) I went ahead and hard wired the thermostat. It no longer sets on top the fridge and, no more extension cords hangin' out. It may be a couple of weeks before the next batch because I spent way too much cash this week on, this project and, competition entry fees for my other hobby. BBQ! I hope to get back at it soon. The wheat beer we made came out as good as a wheat beer can. I took 5 gallons to a Bud drinkin' party and it was gone in about 45 mins. They had 2 kegs of Bud and they all stopped drinking it until the Wheat was gone. Funny Shit. Oh well! That's the kind of party wheat beer is made for.

The Beer Gun, part 2...

Well, after the last try at using the beer gun with somewhat mixed results I think that I've found the proper technique. Here are the steps that I took this time around:
1. Chilled keg to 40 degrees.
2. Set keg pressure to 4psi. (just enough to push out the beer)
3. Put sterilized bottles into the freezer to chill them. (nice and frosty)
4. Used a shallow baking pan to catch overflow, instead of the floor.
5. Did not have Freak help. (#1 reason for better results)

This time everything worked absolutely great! There was very little overflow I'd say less than a 1/8 cup for 4 beers. The only other thing that will make this work even better is a direct gas line to the keg, which Freak has taken care of with a new regulator with 3 gas outs. We will supply some pics of the new setup in the future until then Keep gettin' your freak on and have a freakin' homebrew.

Queer Eye For The Beer Guy!

Here is a man that looks like he should have a wheat beer in his hand. Maybe even a slice of orange or lemon on the side. By the way, is that "Queer Eye" on the TV behind you E? I took one restroom break and, when I came back, you changed the channel. Nice, hand on the hip, thing there E. I guess it is wheat beer, from here on out, for you brother! He He! Actually, E is holding up a Gouden Carolus Classic. Notice the Schlitz Pimp Goblet? It is a excellent Belgian ale. E brought a bottle over to drink while brewing our, most flamboyant, "Douche Bag Wheat" Beer. It has sort of a champagne taste to it. Pretty good beer.

Yeah! It's That Gay!

This is the gayest beer we have ever made. In fact, it may be the gayest American wheat beer ever made by anyone. This is our Pink Triangle clone. (Just kidding) The Freak Brothers tend to avoid this level of gayness in brewing because, this is the kind of beer you see phrat boys drinking to appear sophisticated. It is the kind of beer our wives order when we take them to a brew pub. But, we made it anyway. After all, you gotta have some beer that the family and friends will drink. I hate to gay this (I mean say this) but, E wants to fruit the beer next time we make it. How queer is that? As if it weren't fem enough. He wants to toss in some cherries or raspberries. I am not sure I can go that gay but, he says it is for his sisters birthday party. Must be a Power Puff Girls theme or something. Oh well, it will taste good on a hot summer day. And by the way, Yep! It's that Gay! However, it had an OG of 1.054 and the FG is 1.013. Not bad for the gayest beer in the world!

P.S. I checked on it the next day and it was settling out, clearing up and getting some good color to it. I actually can't wait to try it. Don't tell anyone.

Don't Try This At Home! (unless you are sober)

Well folks, the Blichmann Beer Gun is cool but, we had a bit of trouble with it at first. The biggest problem was that the beer was over carbonated. In addition to that, E and I were fucked up. This thing looks really cool. I know it will serve us better in the future. I just wanted to put up a funny as shit photo to let you know what can happen if you are drunk when you make the maiden voyage with the Blichmann Beer Gun. Don't let this photo talk you out of getting one. Once we pull our heads out of our asses, we will let you know how it works. I am sure it will work well.

The Freak Brothers have a new toy...

Hey everyone, just a quick update on what has been going on lately with the beer and the brewing. Brewing has been at a standstill for the last 2 to 3 weeks mainly because we were trying to get an actual commercial brewery going, which for now has been moved to the back burner due to licensing restrictions with our business partner. It looks like this week will be the start of a new brewing cycle probably starting with an American Wheat Beer and continuing until every fermenter is full. It also looks like the hop market shortages are starting to take hold, I've been trying to price ingredients and have seen hops going for $5.00+ an oz, I think that because of that we are probably not going to be making any more IPAs for a while and probably start working on brewing some Belgian beers or Wheats. The final bit of information to share is the one that we are the most excited about, we now have a Blichman beer gun. I have to say that this thing is freakin' cool, we just got it the other day and haven't had a chance to use it yet but it looks like the perfect way for us to bottle beer. We'll have more on the beer gun later, I'm sure with videos and pictures to follow. Until then Keep on brewing and keep on trying something new.

Cheers, "E"

Just Another Day For The Freaks!!!

As you can see, it looks like we have been at it hardcore. The truth of the mater is that we have not been brewing much lately at all because of the holidays and we are trying to open a small brewery and we have not had much time to brew. As it turns out, Iowa has a law that lets native Iowans get past many of the laws that prohibit making and then selling beer. E and I have been talking with a pub owner and it sounds like we may be able to put a small brewery in one of his pubs. This is one of the coolest things that I have come by in years. I tried to do this before but, it didn't happen. The problem was that back in the early 90's, when I tried to do this, the laws were different. Now that the laws have changed, it seems as if we can get this done. E and I are very excited about what might happen. It is a long shot but, it is as close as you can get to making the dream come true. We will keep you posted on our progress. Wish us luck.

Whats been brewing with the Freak Brothers?

It' s time to update everyone as to whats been brewing in the last couple of weeks. The first recipe from a couple of weeks ago is a revised Red Cock Ale recipe which is as follows:

Red Cock Ale II (18 gallons)

33 lbs Bries 2 Row Barley
8 lbs Weyerman Munich Malt
3 lbs Carapils Malt
.5 lbs Crystal 80 Malt
.5 lbs Roasted Barley
2 oz Centennial Hops 10.5 aau 90 min
2 oz Cascade Hops 5.9 aau 30 mins
2 oz Fuggles Hops 4.75 aau 5 min
1/2 gallon Fat Tire Ale yeast starter

1.072 OG
40 IBUs
13.3 SRM

This is a remake of the recipe that we served last fall at Freaktoberfest. If all goes well this should be around 7-8% alcohol low hop profile and an ass kicker.

The most recent recipe is a slight change on our oatmeal stout recipe the only change being instead of crystal 60 we substituted dark munich malt, I'm thinking that there shouldn't be a drastic change in the recipe because this beer was fine just as it was, a nice easy drinking stout. I know that we got it right because even Freak was singing it's praises and he's not a big stout guy.
Here is the revised E.F.S.

E.F.S. (18 gallons)

27 lbs Breiss 2 row
3 lbs Weyerman Dark Munich Malt
1.5 lbs Chocolate Malt
1.5 Roasted Barley
3 lbs Flaked Oats
2 oz Chinook Hops 12.9 aau 60 min
2oz Cascade Hops 5.6 aau 15 min
3 11g packets Nottingham Ale Yeast

1.054 OG
38 IBUs

This recipe was brewed last Sunday and will be a welcome addition to my fridge in another 3 weeks or 10 days for Freak. I also need to add that it's not a good idea to drink nothing but HG IPA and Barleywine on brew day, all I can say is that the Change O' Plans IPA will fuck you up! you don't really realize it when your drinking it because you don't notice the alcohol until it's too late, right Freak? Thats all for now, keep on brewing everyone!

Homebrew System of the month

First off, I would like to thank Travis from CNYBrew.com for sharing his brewing setup. I think that this should encourage anyone that is thinking about going all-grain to make the switch. Here is a few pics of his setup along with some links about how he converted a keg for brewing.

Homebrew slideshow
Keg conversion
Tap box

We've shown you ours, now show us yours...

Last night I was down at El Bait Shop (a very cool local pub) for "Jimmy Carter Happy Hour" which is a weekly event where a local homebrewer can bring in his beer for everyone who wants one (or 10) to sample. The beer served was a "Robust Porter" which was very good and a nice American Brown Ale. I also ran into fellow homebrewers from the local homebrew clubs, here in Des Moines, that I haven't seen in quite a while which was good to see but not surprising considering the free beer. This made me realize that there are a lot of brewers out there, some still going strong after decades and some starting their journey right now. We would like to start a "Brewery/Brewer of the Month". To everyone out there, it's time to share with us your brewery whether it's just a 3 gallon brewpot and a bucket (my first system) or a full on 3.5BBL Micro brew setup. Take pride in your setup and send some pics with a description and your brewing background to: freakbrothershomebrew@gmail.com

Keep Freakin' on but not Freakin' out!

PS: Freak, I picked up a bottle of Bourbon County Stout for you.

Let Me Be Perfectly Clear!

One of the things that I am annal about is clarity. The unfortunate thing is that I don't have the will to wait for it. However, I think this is a good example of why you should always do a protein rest. I have always taken the time to do them and it pays off. Send us some photos of your clear beer perfection. We want to see them. By the way, the photo does it no justice. I can see my finger prints and read the computer monitor through it.

Freak

P.S. This is a Scottish Export 80

Share Your Beer!

It appears once again that Freak has gone off the deep end and said something that he has regretted. He has mysteriously disappeared since the original message was posted, there have also been sightings of all black helicopters hovering overhead and unmarked delivery trucks parked across from his house. On a serious note, all invites will be through email correspondence on an exclusive need to know basis. Watch your inbox to find out more.

Freaked out and Freak on!

Is your beer killing you?

I was browsing through the blog circuit this morning and I found this little tidbit from the "kegerator" website, underneath a draft kit for a home fridge.

"Notes:
Most domestic draft beer is not pasteurized, so it must be kept cold. The temperature must be maintained between 36-38°F, and the temperature must be maintained all the way to the faucet. Temperatures above 38°F will cause foam and promote sour/cloudy beer. If the temperature rises above 50-55°F, bacteria growth rapidly begins to spoil flavor and cloud the beer. Simply put, keg beer storage can be compared to milk storage: "If it is not kept cold, it will spoil.""

Wow, I never realized that I had been cheating death for so many years by keeping my keg fridge a nice and constant 50 degrees. Sarcasm aside this got me thinking, If you are a home brewer and have a fridge dedicated for kegs or bottles (you really should keg) you should absolutely get an external temperature controller for your fridge. There are so many good reasons to invest in one, initially I bought mine to make lagers and keep my ales as they should be at 50-53°. The one I've been using forever is a digital controller used for commercial coolers wired to an extension cord, it allows me to set a temp, and a temp range + or -. Please make the small investment and serve your beer at its proper temp and ignore any advise to chill the hell out your beer, you will notice the difference.

The Freak Brothers, cheating death since the early 90's.

A New Look at "Freak Brother's" Blog!

As you may have noticed, the videos are gone from our blog. E is going to put up links to a remote site so you will be able to navigate our blog much faster. You will still be able to see the videos once he gets the links up. Be sure to watch them. You will also be able to see, on the side bar, all of the beers that we have made, have on tap and what is coming down the pipe. I hope you all like the new look and please feel free to add a link to our site on your own blog or web page. We will be adding yours to ours!

Freak out and brew on!

The Freak Brothers

Update: Our videos are still on the blog for all to ridicule, they're just archived. They will eventually be moved to google video. To speed things up I've just limited the number of posts shown on the main page.

The Gremlins Are Gone!

Well Folks! Here it is! The beer from hell. And I don't mean that as a good thing. Nor is it a bad thing. What I am talking about is the big scare followed by a big save. You have all been here and I must tell you all, don't give up. Here is the story of a beer that was almost not.
This is the Scottish Export 80 that got stuck. Well, it ain't stuck any more. This was gonna be a great brew. Then all hell broke loose. Since I bought this system, back in the mid 90's, I have not had to toss out a single batch of beer. Well, this one came close to gettin' poured down the shitter. We used a Scottish ale yeast and it petered out after the beer was half way done. The SG was 1.050. It stuck at 1.024. I was just sick. This was the yeast we planed to use on our Barleywine. I found out that it was stuck the day before we planed to re-pitch. What a bummer. (Speaking of BUM, have you seen the really bad brewer guy on youtube that wears the BUM sweatshirt?) Anyway, we had to shift gears mid-stream. Next thing I knew we were pitching dry yeast into an IPA. The Barleywine did not happen. We will get that one done in a couple of weeks. Anyhow, back to the Export 80. We dumped dry yeast and a yeast nutrient into the beer. We took that shit and shook the crap out of it. We blew CO2 into the bottom of the fermentor to stir it up. We did it all! After a day or so of worrying, it took off again. Ahhhh! Happy times again! After about a week it dropped down to 1.012. In the end we wound up with a great beer. The moral of the story is, relax, don't worry and never give up on a homebrew.

The king of all "BIG" beers...

Last week I stopped at one of my favorite bars, El Bait Shop here in Des Moines (the bar deserves it's own post 100+ micros on tap 100+ bottled...) looking for a barley wine to try, they were out of Bigfoot bw and another that escapes me at the moment. So I ordered a pint of Rouge Ale that was new on tap and very tasty. While enjoying my pint I noticed the Goose Island Bourbon County Stout in the cooler, I'll admit I'm a big fan of Goose Island beer so I had to try it. I ordered the stout and the bartender asks me "are you sure?" which was kind of puzzling at best, I responded "Yeah, don't you like it?" which brought out a long, glowing diatribe ending with "this is the best beer we have in the bar" that's a lot of hype for a beer, could it possibly live up to it? The beer was poured into a brandy snifter like the one pictured in a previous post and the first thing I noticed was very little head, what was there faded quickly. I lifted the glass, slowly inhaled the aroma and took my first taste. It was an explosion of flavors, the first thing that hits you is the alcohol combined with a taste of bourbon, followed by a huge dose of caramelized malt with hints of molasses and a touch of toasted flavor. My God this is a HUGE beer! a King of beers! I was absolutely amazed that a beer could be taken to this level. As I continued to savour the beer, each sip brought more and more flavor. This beer is simply amazing! If your a fan of barley wine or "big" beers I highly recommend trying it, if you can get it your hands on it.

Trouble in paradise... But, not so fast

Well the barleywine took a left turn on brew day. Last Sunday, we were going to re-pitch the slurry from our Scottish ale we made 3 weeks ago but at the last minute Freak calls and tells me that the beer isn't done fermenting. So instead of risking it, we used the same recipe and increased the final volume 5 gals for what should be an outstanding IPA. I think that our problems were due to the Scotch ale yeast dropping out too quickly leaving a way underfermented beer. Freak is doing his best to try and revive this batch by adding dry yeast, shaking the fermentor, rolling the fermentor, yelling at the fermentor etc.
Here is the recipe for the Change of Plans IPA:

Change of Plans IPA (15 gal)

35 lbs Briess 2-row
2 lbs Crystal 60
2 lbs Dark Munich
2 oz Chinook hops 12.5% aau (120 min)
2 oz Cascade hops 5% aau (60 min)
2 oz Cascade hops 5% aau (30 min)
3 oz Cascade hops 5% aau (dry hop 1 week)
3 packets 1056 dry yeast (too late for a starter, Freak swears by dry yeast)

120 minute boil reducing wort from 19 gallons to 15 gallons

Staring gravity 1.075
Final gravity 1.011 (as of 1-2-08)
Alcohol % w/v 6.56 / 8.39

Let the madness begin...

Since the year is coming to an end, Freak and I decided it's time to do something wild... Barleywine! Our plan is to make the most powerfull beer possible. So far our target starting gravity is 1.144 (the max BJCP guidelines allows) and a hop bitterness in the 80 to 90 ibu range. I think this beer, out of all the beers ever made, will be the hardest for Freak to deal with . Why? Because it will not be ready to drink for at least a year if not longer. For Freak thats 11 months and 2 weeks too long. You can look for more updates later in the week.
"E" Out...

Black -N- Freakin' Tan Baby!!!

Here it is Mutha! A Freakin' Black -N- Tan! Cool thing is that it stays that way to the bottom of the glass. It's a gravity thing folks! Tastes great too!!!!!

Happy Freakin' Thanksgiving!

Here it is, the start of the holiday season. The Freak brothers have been on hiatus for a couple of weeks now with both of us juggling family commitments and making the rounds for Thanksgiving meals. It is now time to start brewing again. I'm pretty sure Freak is getting low on beer, 36 gallons won't last forever you know. So far, since the end of September, we have made: Red Cock Ale, E's Special Bitter, Shit Brown Ale, E's Fucking Stout and WTF (What the Fuck) Pale Ale. That's not to bad for a couple of months brewing. It's time to start with a new yeast strain for the next batch of beers in December. We are looking to use a British strain probably "ESB" and jacking up the malt content in the recipes. The beer has been good but a little thin on body, I think it has to do with the yeast fermenting down so low and only 25lbs 2 row per recipe, which would be good for 15 gallons but not so much for 18 gallons. We should start brewing again this weekend and we will update the blog accordingly with drunken video clips, pictures and other nonsense. Until then "relax, don't worry, have a home brew". "E" out...

E's Fucking Stout Is Out!

Here it is folk's! This is the Oatmeal Stout from 2 weeks ago. I killed a keg of brown ale and made room in the fridge for some EFS! God I Love Beer! Take a look!


I'm 6 pints to the wind so, sorry about the poor quality of the video. I guess you are used to it by now. So, no big deal!

Color Code Your Brew! (Tip O' the Week)

This is a really cool idea that I got from a friend in the beer club. It is a good way to label your beer so you know what is what. If you brew a lot of beer, and you need a way to keep track of it, this is a great way to do it. If you enter beer competitions, this will help you keep track of what you have in stock. Just take the sticker off when it is time to enter your beer. Check out the video!



I hope this tip was helpful. Thanks for the idea Brian! Brew on brother!

Premature "Freak-keg-ulation"!

The pale ale is gone and I need a good brew to cure what ales me. So, it is time to keg the brown ale. I would love to secondary it for 6 months E but, I'm fucking thirsty right now! No time to wait. As I have always said, "You never know when your drinkin' your last homebrew".



Not sure if you noticed but, the brown ale is lookin' real good and so am I! Not! He He! It really turned out nice. However, just as we predicted, it is closer to a porter than a brown ale. The OG was 1.050. That clearly puts it inside the BJCP guidelines for a brown but, it also fits the profile of a porter. E suggests we enter it in the state fair in both categories. I suggest we both enter the same beer, in either (or both) category, and see who wins. That would be some funny shit. Those beer nerds would trash one of us and say the other was the best beer they ever had. Trust me I have seen that kind of objectivity take place before. I say we should do it. That would be some funny shit!


















Here Is what she looks like. One thing I must say is that we never have a problem with head or head retention. It always seems to be great!

E's (Oatmeal) Fucking Stout (EFS) 11-3-07 and Re-Pitching Yeast

On November 3, 2007 we brewed a batch of Oatmeal Stout. In addition, we re-pitched the yeast (1056) from a Brown Ale that we made the week before. That same yeast was also used in the Pale Ale that you can see us drinking, in the videos posted, since October 20th. The Pale Ale was brewed the week prior to the Brown. As you can tell, we have been very busy boys. This series of videos, "wobbly" as they may be, documents the process of back to back batches of beer. One after the other. The first video is the addition of the grain (for the EFS) to the mash tank.


The grain bill goes as follows:

25 lbs. Briess 2 Row Pale Malt
3 lbs. Flaked Oats
3 lbs. Crystal 60 L
1.5 lbs. Chocolate Malt
1.5 lbs. Roasted Barley

Total Grain: 34 lbs.


Mash recirculation. The damn thing kept getting plugged with grain. Not sure why. That never happens. Oh well. It's still gonna be a great stout.


While we are mashing out, we are pulling yeast off of the bottom of a previous batch of beer. It is a brown ale. This is the 3rd time we have used this yeast.


Here I am putting the brown ale into glass carboys (I do a secondary fermentation in glass to free up the primary fermenter) after I removed the yeast for re-pitching into the stout.


Filling the carboys with brown ale! But, I must inform you all that this is not water! E was too drunk to commentate this video properly. Drunk Fucker!


This is the sparge process. I have a 20 gallon sparge tank and this shower head type sparge ring. We are sparging at 170 degrees. This works real well.


We are cleaning the fermenter to get it ready for the oatmeal stout.


The brew pot is full, the grain is spent and so are we.


Let the boil begin! The chinook (12.9 alpha acid) hops smelled great! Watch this thing boil.


If you have ever boiled over on your stove top, you ain't seen nothin' yet! I have done it twice. Both times I lost more wort than most of you have ever brewed in a single session. It makes a hell of a mess. Good thing my brewery is all contained. I just bust out the hose and wash it down the floor drain. Kinda sucks loosing 5 gallons of wort.


In go the aroma hops. Cascades (5.0 alpha acid) and some Irish moss. Notice the pale ale setting on top the fermenter. Mmmmmmmm. We is toasted!


The boil is done and the fun begins! If you don't have a wort chiller (or you have a sucky one), you gotta see the next clip.


This is how you go about spilling a 1/2 gallon of wort on the floor. The next take went better and we appear less intoxicated.


Just kickin' back and chillin'! The wort that is.


I'm not going to waste my time turning this video upright just because E thinks he is some kind of fancy schmantzy videographer. Turn the fucking camera the right way next time E!


I like the way E pitches the yeast but, I can't believe he drank some of it. Watch that goofy fucker at the end. I think he took a swig!

Well, thats it. Homebrew, Freak Brother Style! I hope you enjoyed the videos. Please leave your comments and insults. We look forward to showing you what can be accomplish even if you are an alcoholic. He He!

Cheers!

This Is What You Have ALL Been Waiting For! (Almost Better Than PDG)

The Pale Ale is ready and, it has been requested that I video myself as I get intoxicated. Well, I'll do my best to give you what you want. I'm on my 5th pint and I will pour my 6th on camera. Other videos will follow.

Gettin' ripped with Freak and The Dead Kennedy's! Pint #6 is better than pint #5. I expect #7 to be even better. #8 should be real good! #9 is gonna blow my mind!!! Too bad you aren't here E! It sucks to be you! I promise I will save a few drops for tomorrow's brew session. He He!!!!


I was right, as I always am. Pint # 7 is better than #6. I think I will kick back and listen to some more tunes while I suck down the Pale Ale that E is so desperately waiting to drink tomorrow. I hope I have some left. That would suck if I drank it all tonight and, we didn't have any beer to drink in the morning. He He! Sucks to be sitting on the South side of Des Moines, miles away from what I am enjoying right now. Doesn't it E?


I am laughing my ass off, as I watch our efforts go down my throat!


This is some good beer! Just think how good it will taste tomorrow! I'm at 7.5 now. 8 is coming soon. After that will be 9 followed by 10. Then comes 11. I can count still. Thats good. I won't even need to count tomorrow because we will have 0 beers left. It is easy to count to zero. You must be pissed right now. He He!


Pouring #8 was easier than #7 because, I knew I was 1 beer closer to keeping you from getting one of your own. Freak on full display for all to see! God Save the Queen!



PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS... Ahhhh!! He He!

This is some funny shit! Filming myself getting tanked! F.U.B.A.R.ed!

I Call That "Good Head"!

Well E! Too bad I'm here and you are there! Cause I'm gettin' good head and your not! He He! Look at the froth! Well, I guess you will just have to sit and wait to taste this one. It tastes great. Sorry that I'm the one that has to tell you about it. It is pretty hoppy. Not quite an IPA but, close to it. You were going for the Sierra Nevada and, I think you came close to it. I will know more when it is colder. Sorry Sucker!

Cock Out!

Hey Freak I would like to say that you've shown your usual patience when waiting to keg up the beer. I'm glad it looks and tastes good and can't wait have a few while we're brewing the next batch "E"

Don't Believe Al Gore! CO2 is a Good Thing!

Don't buy into the Left-Wing propaganda! CO2 is a good thing. If that BS were true, I would have, single-handedly, burnt the Earth to a crisp! I am man! Watch me keg!

Cock Out!

Rack-N-Roll the Pail Ale!

I decided to, go ahead and, keg 5 gallons of the (10-20-07) Pale Ale because we are going to do a batch of "Freaked Out" Oatmeal Stout on Saturday. We need so home brew to drink while brewing! It seems to make the beer turn out better. Check out the video. The beer looks and smells great! We will probably keg the rest of it while we brew and, maybe bottle some for future contests.

Cheers!

Cock O' the Brew Haus!