The Needham Landfill; What a Dump!

So a few weeks ago. Wait. So a few MONTHS ago (jesus!) I accompanied the Bones and H&K to the town dump. It was far less impressive than I was hoping. What was I hoping for, exactly? I don't know....I guess I was imagining a giant mound of garbage, thousands of feet high, and some sort of cliff or ledge from which one hurled garbage out into the abyss.

It was more like a parking lot with like 6 different colored dumpsters. Shit, there weren't even any diseased seagulls around. What a gyp.

Anyway, there is this part where people leave old stuff they don't want any more, and I scored a Moka.

I did not know it was called a "Moka" until two days ago, when I finally dusted it off and tried using it. Unsure of the correct technique/procedure, I googled "Italian stovetop espresso maker," and that wikipedia entry popped up, answering any and all questions I could possibly ever have regarding said instrument of caffeination.

It worked well. Even though I lost the rubber gasket which came with it (the thing would have needed replacing anyway), a basic 1.5 inch tri-clover gasket from the brewery fit it just fine, and the thing worked with minimal leakage.


It tasted pretty much like percolator coffee. Which makes sense as this is in no way an espresso machine but really just a fancy Italian percolator. Unfortunately it didn't make the trademark crema I was hoping for, but it was a fun change all the same. There are now three different weird coffee making things in my arsenal, and for that, I shall not want for caffeine.

Monster Engery Drink vs. Rock Art Brewery

Some of you may have heard about this unbelievable bullshit that a small brewery in Vermont is currently struggling with: a baseless copyright infringement lawsuit that could potentially bankrupt them. I am outraged to the point of actual physical anger here....watch this great interview with Matt Nadeau and check out the links below, please!



Facebook group

Send an angry email to these DOUCHES here

Brewery's support webpage

Thanks

Back on the Hombie Horse

I finally got past that bullshit summer hangup I had, got off my ass, and got back on the Homebrew train. Actually, let me re-phrase that. Not only did I get on that train, I did it with a neckerchief tied around my mouth, and proceeded to hijack the bastard and send it straight to Awesomeville, Kick-assia.

Let's begin:

Last weekend, I ended up in Saratoga NY - basically a last minute trip I needed to take, mainly to grab some music gear from my Dad's basement for eventual transfer to The Bones' new basement Rock & Roll studio. More on that sweetness later.

Anyway, while I was there I decided to follow through on an idea I had been mulling ever since I left Boston: to brew my first Brett beer and allow it to simmer away in my Dad's basement for a year or so and see what happens. I found a new homebrew shop in 'Toga and had a good time hanging there with a couple local homebrewers. Actually, because of this random meeting I got hooked up with my first judging gig, which is something I've always wanted to do. More on THAT sweetness later.

After procuring the necessary 'ients, My Dad & I mashed and boiled a half batch of a Belgian Pale Ale.

5.5# Briess 2-row Malt
.5# Aromatic Malt
.5# Dextrine Malt.

I mashed it pretty high, around 154 or so. I wanted to create some dextrins for the Brett to work on (a trick I picked up from Vinnie Cilurzo). We hopped it modestly with Styrian Goldings, and started the fermentation off with some of the Belgian yeast we use at the Fish. (It's White Labs 530, for you obsessive types) I probably used too much, because the fermentation was a crazy mess, blowing crap out of the carboy even though it was only half full of wort. 36 hours later the krausen was dropping and I pitched a packet of Wyeast's Brettanomyces Bruxellensis. For the uninitiated, Brettanomyces is a type of wild yeast, this particular strain cultured from the indigenous micro-flora inhabiting the Brussels region. Brett is a slow working organism capable of surprising complexity and intensity given enough time and the proper conditions. Some people describe its characteristics as "sweaty horse blanket," but I think that's the most god awful disgusting thing you could say about a beer, and to be perfectly honest I've NO IDEA what a horse blanket smells like, let alone a sweaty one. So, I prefer to use words like: musty, earthy, barnyard, sour fruit, spicy. But that's just me. Gravity was 1.054 - a little lower than I wanted.
____________

Tonight:

12# Rahr 2-row Malt
.25# British 60L Crystal
.5# Dextrine Malt
1# Dextrose sugar

This is going to be another Russian River-esque IPA. I've attempted these in the past, but was never satisfied. I had always used whole flower hops, and with my system (boiling on the stove) I just don't think I was getting the hop utilization needed for a beer like Pliny. Tonight I'm using pellets in the hopes of finally getting that hop profile I have been looking for. Also, I'm treating my water with Gypsum to help lower my mash pH and to accentuate the hop flavor. Hop schedule is crazy...here goes

Bittering addition:
1 oz Summit 16.7 AA%
1 oz Simcoe 11.9 AA%

Followed by 3 late additions:
1 oz Columbus
.75 Simcoe
.75 Centennial

1 oz Centennial
.5 Columbus
1 oz Simcoe

1 oz Centennial
1 oz Summit
.75 Columbus

Also there will be 2 Dry additions, using similar hops.

I'm hoping to get the gravity in the low 1.07's -fermenting with my old favorite American yeast.

More details to come...I'm about to come up to a boil now.

James Brown on the computer speakers

Cyser in the glass

Life ain't too bad sometimes

Love

-Wrence

Brooklyn Fail

So I drove up to NYC this past weekend for some good times and adventure. Some things went well, some things did not. Here is a brief re-cap in list format.

Fail#1 -Arriving late and parking too close to a fire hydrant
Fail#2 -Keeping my car there overnight even though I was warned by Nikki about it, and even after noticing a ticket had been affixed.
Result: Two tickets and a towed vehicle

Fail#3 -Attempting to visit my friend who works at the Sixpoint Brewery on Saturdays, only to arrive in Red Hook about an hour after they had closed up shop for the weekend (partial blame on the group I was traveling around with)
Fail#4 -Attempting to reclaim awesomeness with a tour at the Brooklyn Brewery in Williamsburg, only to again arrive just after they closed (again the group dynamic made it difficult to proceed with my normal levels of kickassitude)
Result: Incredibly thirsty

And now some good things:

-Having an El Salvadorian girl make an amazing paella from scratch
-Having an Italian girl cook an amazing pasta dish from scratch
-Having my clothes forcibly removed, being oiled up and massaged by a woman I had known for all of 7 minutes.
-Evaporator hits
-Breaking up a fight in a Williamsburg bar
-Drinking a crap-load of great Oktoberfest beers all weekend.

All in all, one can't really complain about that, no?

Love,
-Wrence

Blind Pig & New Routines

After all the traveling I did in the last 5 weeks, it was nice to have a weekend to relax in Philly (yea, I just said that). Saturday included a weird pattern and some very welcome happenstance.

First, I ended up covering for someone at work and had to come into the brewery for tours Saturday afternoon. I don't mind doing this at all, in fact I actually really enjoy it. Anyway, that morning I was thinking of calling up Snotty as I hadn't heard from him since like July; on my way out to the brewery he actually called me. Vague plans were made to meet up later for beers. I had a few errands to take care of before tours started, and while I was driving around swearing at New Jersey traffic I realized that each of the other 2 times I worked tours at the brewery I ended up meeting Snotty afterward at Justin's Restaurant. (1) (2) Since we are both piss-poor foodies, we ended up back at the Key this time as well. 3 for 3 for me. Also, now that I think of it, I ended up writing about each visit on here as well, so that's part of the routine now as well I guess.

This visit was another delight for the face, as Monkey sent us out a few special dishes he had prepared from a whole suckling pig that he had picked up that day. I never knew someone to confit a pig, and it was HEAVENLY.

OH: the best part - when I first arrived and started perusing the beer list I came across Port Brewing's Hop 15 and quickly ordered one. The bartendress informed me that they unfortunately just kicked that keg, and would be replacing it with "Umm...(she looked down at something written somewhere)....Russian River....Blind- "YES," I emphatically interrupted.

That's right, I was there as they put on a fresh keg of Blind Pig IPA, a beer I brewed back in my apprentice days at the beloved NorCal brewery. See above photo. Me So Happy! I had about 15 of them. I don't think I even bothered to drink anything else the whole night. Damn.

Hope you all are enjoying your September.

Peace

-Wrence

Shmeptember

Latest in the series "Wrence Taking Weekend Trips to Various Places He'd Rather be Living" - some shots from Portland, OR & Pink's wedding.

(thanks to Dea & Sarah for the photos)





Love to all

-Wrence

The Damofest Effigy

After Damien told us we could definitely NOT have a bonfire on the lawn, Garvey inquired about burning an effigy. Diesel said "sure, you go ahead and do that." -partially because he didn't think we'd actually follow up on it, and partially because he didn't know what an effigy was. Hell, I don't even think what we did qualifies as such, however it was large and we burned the shit out of it just the same.

Here is a photo essay for your enjoyment. For whatever reason I ended up being the point guy on building this thing. I think it worked pretty well.

(Thanks to Garvey and Rosario for the pics)














-Wrence