Harvesting Conan yeast

Conan is a BEAST!!! I'm not talking about either of these guys either.

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I'm talking about the proprietary yeast strain from The Alchemist Brewery in Waterbury, VT.

Heady Topper from The Alchemist

Dry Hopping...

It's as good as it sounds!  Last night we dry hopped the Octane Wayne with 1 oz Amarillo, 1 oz Simcoe, and 1 oz Citra.

Amarillo, Simcoe, and Citra

Dry Hopping!

Black Friday? More like Brew Friday!

What better way to beat the crowds on the craziest shopping day ever than by dropping the "s" and having the craziest HOPPING brew day EVER!!!  Black Friday we are going to be brewing up this years batch Octane Wayne IIPA by popular demand.  OW features 1 lb. of hops!!! We add hops every chance we get during the making of this glorious beer.  We start out by first wort hopping with 2 ounces. Follow that up with an ounce of bittering hops and then we add 7 ounces in the last 15 minutes of the boil for flavor and aroma. After we are done fermenting, we use another 6 ounces during dry hopping!  "Don't make me go nitro on your ASS!"

Cheers,

Philip

Rush River Double Bubble

Shout out to McChain and his roommate Andy for hooking my up with a 6-pack of Rush River Double Bubble. I hope you guys are enjoying the sampler I brought over last week!

Rush River Brew Company Double Bubble

Cheers,


Philip

Mendocino Imperial IPA Review

Mendocino Imperial IPA

In a recent drinking session with Flop and Adam, we tried out this California-born IPA. The Mendocino Brewery was founded in 1983. I found this beer on the specialty shelf at MGM in Mankato and bought it just to try something new. Mendocino Brewery describes this beer as such - Imperial IPA - This full bodied Imperial IPA is brewed with massive amounts of premium varieties of hops such as Amarillo, Cascade, Simcoe and Crystal and paired with a rich blend of luscious Munich, caramel and 2-row pale malts. The result is a perfect balance of luxuriant malt and heady, exhilarating hop flavor. After primary fermentation is finished, we dry hop our Imperial IPA with copious quantities of the above mentioned hops. It is then cold conditioned for a few weeks. The result is an outstanding and unforgettable hop aroma. Starting with an original gravity of 20 Plato and finishing at 8.0% alcohol by volume, this Imperial India Pale is a hop tour de force!

Nice carbonation and head

Pliny the Elder Review

Pliny the Elder Bottle

In a recent beer trade conducted over HomeBrewTalk.com with rlhvegas of No Limit Brewing out of Las Vegas, Nevada, I acquired myself a bottle of Russian River Brewing Company's Pliny the Elder!!!  This American Double IPA is considered to be the best of the best!  Take it for what it's worth, Pliny the Elder has a score of 100 out of 100 on BeerAdvocate.com with over 2,570 reviews.  I have wanted to try this beer ever since I first heard about it.  Three and half years later I finally have obtained myself a bottle of the highly sought after Pliny the Elder.  Again, thank you rlhvegas for contacting me.  First brewed in 1999 by Russian River Brewing Co. of Santa Rosa, California, Pliny the Elder is brewed in small batches and is supposed to be drank fresh.  Highly hoppy beers do not store well.  The hop aroma and flavor diminish over time, thus the reason for the small batches.  With supply low and demand high, an urban legend originated around this beer.  It was not until 2004 until Russian River starting brewing Pliny the Elder year round, and in 2012 I finally get to taste the legend! 

Hopslam Ale Review

During a recent brew session, I was able to sample a bottle of the coveted Hopslam Ale from Bell's Brewery, Inc. located in Galesburg, Michigan. The reason Hopslam is such a sought-after beer is in part due to the fact that it's a winter seasonal only released once each year around the months of January or February and also because stores have a limited supply for customers. It can be found on draft or in bottles at select locations in select Midwest and Eastern states. Hopslam is classified as an Imperial IPA because of its relatively high ABV (10%) as well as its hoppy aromas and flavors.

Bell's Hopslam Ale

Firestone Walker Double Jack

Recently I participated in a beer trade conducted over HomeBrewTalk.com with rlhvegas of No Limit Brewing out of Las Vegas, Nevada.  Over the exchange of numerous private messages and emails, we settled on a trade consisting of Russian River Brew Company's Pliny the Elder and Double Jack by Firestone Walker Brewing Company in exchange for a variety of Surly beers.  I want to thank rlhvegas for initially contacting me about a trade. Firestone Walker's Double Jack is a highly acclaimed Double India Pale Ale big brother to Union Jack.  Firestone Walker's Union Jack won gold medal in the category of IPA at the Great American Beer Festival two years in a row.  Double Jack is brewed with the same malt bill and hopping schedule as Union Jack but instead of collecting 50 barrels of wort, only 35 barrels are collected.  This condenses the sugar content in the pre-fermented beer (called wort) making it a Double IPA.  The Brewmaster at Firestone Walker is Matt Brynildson and he is known globally in the brewing industry.  His previous work at Goose Island Brewing Company located in Chicago, Illinois helped him gain his reputation.

Firestone Walker Double Jack

Dry Hopping Octane Wayne V1.1

Update:  It was been 7 days since we brewed version 1.1 of the Octane Wayne IIPA.  I took a gravity reading this morning and it was within 0.5º Plato of it's final gravity.  After listening to an interview with Matt Brynildson, I learned that hops will help your yeast flocculate in high gravity beers.  In the interview he stated that at Firestone Walker Brewing Company they will dry hop up to three different times to get the aroma and hop flavor into their high alcohol beers.  The hop oils are dissolved by alcohol and it takes a more vigorous hopping schedule to get the aroma and flavor.

Overview of Dry Hops

Octane Wayne Double India Pale Ale

Double Octane Wayne IPA

Imperial IPA

Type: All Grain	Date: 1/7/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal	Brewer: Fluke Brew Co.
Boil Size: 7.13 gal	Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 69 min	Equipment: Fluke Brew Co. 5 Gal All Grain
End of Boil Volume 5.98 gal	Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal	Est Mash Efficiency 63.6 %
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage	Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients