30th Anniversary!

Today marks the 30th anniversary of my wife, Brenda, and I. Mrs. Lazy Brewer doesn’t read this blog, so this post isn’t really being written for her eyes. But, today is a landmark day. Many people don’t reach their 30th anniversary, even with multiple wives/husbands. We did it with just each other – and a couple of kids!

Brenda puts up with all of my quirks, obsessions and hobbies. She keeps our lives in order and is the foundation of our home. She is the glue of our family. And I love her:)

Related posts:

1. 28 Glorious Years!
2. Chillin’ in Monterey…

Look Carefully...

Yesterday I bought some bottles of ale at BevMo to take to my brew club meeting.  The style of the month was pale ales and I wanted to take a couple samples of ale, so I grabbed a bomber of Bear Republic’s XP Pale Ale and a bomber of Anderson Valley’s Poleeko Gold Pale Ale and headed up to check out.  I got carded!  Woohoo!  I thanked the girl (well, she wasn’t a girl, but based on my age, she could have been my daughter:), paid for my ales and headed out the door.  Life was good!

Today, I headed into town to grab a quick lunch, ordered, and was filling up my soda cup when I heard my tech guy politely arguing with the counter girl (same “girl” definition as above:) that his lunch cost more than mine did, even though he ordered exactly the same thing.  Come to find out she had (unasked for) given me the senior discount!  Woohoo!  I saved 50 cents!

But, damn, this was both ends of the spectrum, two days apart!  I had to laugh:)

Life is good!

No related posts.

Mark's Centennial IPA Tap Handle

Batch 100

This Friday (with the close of another school year imminent, I’m trying to recover some of the extra days I worked last summer to open a new school campus – use ‘em or lose ‘em), I’ll be brewing my 100th batch of home brewed beer!  My, how the time flies.  Seems like it was just yesterday and I was waiting for any new information I could get on the progress of the construction of my MoreBeer 1550 BrewSculpture.  I even visited the Concord showroom and was taken on a tour of the metal shop.  There in a bucket, were the various pieces of of angle iron , tubing and parts that would eventually become my brewery.  When the FedEx freight truck finally arrived in June, I couldn’t wait to brew my first batch and in 100 degree plus weather, I brewed a Racer 5 clone.  It turned out OK – not great, but OK.

It was at least fifteen batches before I really felt comfortable with my equipment, where I could brew on autopilot and not make stupid mistakes.  By batch 30 I was making really good beer and feeling comfortable with replicating recipes and experimenting with what different malts and hops brought to an ale.  I started messing around with lagers, first brewing in the winter, taking advantage of environmental chilling to aid the fermentation.  By batch 50, I was fermenting both ales and lagers in a temperature controlled fermentation vessel – a thermostatically controlled refrigerator.  I brewed a couple amazing ales in this period of time.  Somewhere in the next few batches, Sociables became a reality.  From there, it was a race to this batch!

I’ve been thinking about this batch of ale – batch number 100 – for quite some time.  I has to be an IPA:)  It has to use my favorite hops and have a simple malt bill.  It needs to be a big, bitter IPA.  Here’s what a threw together.

Mark’s Centennial IPA
14-B American IPA
Author: Mark Ranes
Date: 5/7/10

Size: 10.0 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 316.98 kcal per 16.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.071 (1.056 – 1.075)
Terminal Gravity: 1.018 (1.010 – 1.018)
Color: 9.71 (6.0 – 15.0)
Alcohol: 7.03% (5.5% – 7.5%)
Bitterness: 71.1 (40.0 – 70.0)

Ingredients:
12.0 lb American 2-row
12.0 lb Maris Otter Pale
1.0 lb 2-Row Carapils Malt
1.0 lb Carastan
1.0 oz Columbus (15.0%) – added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
2.5 oz Centennial (10.0%) – added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
1.0 lb Corn Sugar
1.0 ea Servomyces Yeast Nutrient – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2.0 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
4.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) – added during boil, boiled 4.0 min
4.0 oz Amarillo (8.5%) – added during boil, boiled 4.0 min
4.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) – added dry to secondary fermenter
4.0 oz Amarillo (8.5%) – added dry to secondary fermenter
2000 mL Starter White Labs WLP041 Pacific Ale

I hope turning 100 feels this good!

Related posts:

1. TAFTBD IPA on Deck for Sunday
2. Mash Destruction IPA
3. Imperial IPA on deck for tomorrow…

The 2009 Teach a Friend to Brew Day Crew

Today’s Teach a Friend to Brew Day event was successful in several ways.  First and foremost, it was a wonder social event – many good (old) friends, some good (new) friends (I got to meet some local Twitter folks – Hi @AlexisDias !) and many friends of friends.  Homebrewing just seems to attract high quality people.  It’s one of my favorite things about the hobby:)

Between Brad and I, we brewed 20 gallons of ale, 10 of my annual TAFTBD IPA, and 10 of Brad’s German Hefeweizen.  My brew day went well, short of forgetting to add clarifier and yeast nutrient (I get distracted with so many fun people around:), and the IPA has been put to bed for a nice cozy fermentation.  Everything else aside, we made beer!

Most importantly, I think we may have picked up as many as four new homebrewers out of the event!  The Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day event is all about showing people how easy it is to brew great beer, showcasing the ales you’ve brewed and lighting the burner under new brewers.  I think we did that today:)

A Photo Gallery has been posted of the day’s activities for your viewing pleasure.

Related posts:

1. Teach a Friend to Brew Day 2009
2. Teach a Friend to Brew Day Success!
3. Teach a Friend to Brew Day

You may notice (even more) flakiness (than usual:) with the Lazy Brewer site over the next few days.  The Lazy Brewer is transitioning to a new hosting service and I’m currently backing up/restoring databases and moving content to the new host.  If things go well, the site should be far more responsive than it has in the past.

Related posts:

1. Happy Birthday to the Lazy Brewer!

Kalssic Kolsch Tap Handle

It’s time to brew my Klassic Kölsch tomorrow.  This ale was last brewed in July and the second keg just blew tonight (Brenda was the BlowMaster:)  I’m using the exact same recipe as the last batch as it turned out well and needs no tweaking. The starter for this ale has been working since Tuesday.  Kudos to Stephen for opening up his conditioning fridge to cold ferment this ale.

On a sad note, yesterday I ended my association with my local homebrew club.  I was a charter member and have only missed 3-4 monthly meetings over the last three years.  The drama in the club is not something I want to be a part of.  In the coming weeks, I’ll post more on this, but considering the fresh nature of my exit, I want time to reflect on what happened, and hope to temper my thoughts before writing on the topic.  The biggest issue currently facing the club is that I set up, configured and managed my homebrew club’s web site and forums.  Additionally, I actually host the club’s forums and web site on my small business’ servers, and that is ending with my departure.  I’ve done this at no charge for the last three years, and I want to provide the club’s data to an able member to continue the (often contentious) communication of the club.  I fear they are in for a shock concerning this aspect of the club’s daily function.

Overall, I’ve met some really wonderful people in the club – some who I know will be lifetime friends.  I’ll miss the camaraderie at the meetings, the sharing of information, and the love of quality ales.  I’ll even miss managing the club’s forums – it’s been a mostly fun ride:)  Good luck, Mashers!

Related posts:

1. Klassic Kolsch is Fermenting Away…
2. Kolsch on Deck for Friday
3. Feeling Empty (Figuratively and Literally!)

Happy Birthday to The Lazy Brewer!

Today marks the one year anniversary of The Lazy Brewer!  I really wondered if I’d see this day.  I started this site as an experiment – of myself.  I wondered if I’d take the time to post regularly.  At this point, I’ve exceeded my own expectations and have posted 87 times.

If the Lazy Brewer has made your life any more interesting than it already is, please open your favorite ale, and raise a toast (and maybe leave a comment:) to the Lazy Brewer.

Cheers!

Related posts:

1. A Visit to the Good Brewer
2. Lazy Barleywine

When we returned from our last camping trip at the end of July, we discovered that the kitchen counter in our trailer had snapped in half.  Upon closer inspection, I discovered that this was really just a symptom of a much bigger problem.  The frame on the rear passenger side of the trailer was bent and crumpled, causing the wall to shift several inches.  We waited for our dealer to move to Turlock and finally got the trailer in for repair in late October.  What we heard from the service department put us in a panic.  Labor alone was going to run about $14,000!  They suggested we contact our insurance company to see if the problem would be covered.  After many conversations over the phone, we were delighted to learn that our insurance would cover the loss, but saddened to find out that the trailer would be totaled – which makes sense when you figure the the labor (no parts) was more than we owed on the trailer.  We really liked the layout of the trailer, and had only used it 7 or 8 times since we bought it, so we are sad.  The bad news is that I’ll have a strike on my driving record with our insurance company for the next three years for a “collision” – but this is still better than being stuck with a loan and a 25 foot box we couldn’t use.  I never felt any collision, but all in all, I’m OK with the outcome:)

Trailer Stuff!

Long story short – we had to remove all of our belongings from the trailer.  Those items have been sitting under our covered patio – next to the bar, for several weeks now while we wait for the insurance paperwork to clear.  I’m pretty sure we will buy a replacement trailer, but we need our last loan to finish clearing, as well as get a settlement check from the insurance company.  For now, all the trailer stuff is blocking my regular brewing location.  I may try and brew further out in the patio area this weekend, but I need to get my butt in gear and make a starter…

Happy Thanksgiving to all Lazy Brewer readers.  Have a safe and restful day with your family and friends!

Related posts:

1. Happy Birthday to the Lazy Brewer!
2. Merry Christmas

Graffiti in my Shower

I just got back from my daily shower while camping at New Brighton State Beach – it feels good to be clean.  But I felt a bit dirtier after finding that the only graffiti I saw in the shower I used was the word Turlock, scratched into the doorjamb of my shower.  How sad it is to have my home town so poorly represented…  

Related posts:

1. iPhone has Shipped!
2. iPhone Heaven!

I got to visit with Daniel for about twenty minutes and really enoyed how he could multi-task.  We chatted about homebrewing and running a homebrew shop, and he never missed a beat keeping his happy seven month old daughter smiling the whole time:)  I left a couple of my hoppy IPA homebrews for Daniel and a German Hefeweizen for Julie.

Related posts:

1. Happy Birthday to the Lazy Brewer!
2. Klassic Kölsch Tomorrow

Since Brenda was off learning new ways to teach writing to middle school students, DawBoy and I took the trolly down to the aquarium and spent four hours looking at the exhibits and taking in the presentations in the theaters. DawBoy took a bunch of pictures of fish and had a great time.

After Brenda was finished for the day, we headed down to Britannia Arms for a couple pints and dinner. I had a couple nitro Murphy’s Stout and a local Dragon Slayer IPA. All good stuff.  The ales are always properly poured at Britannia Arms.  Either a Guinness or a Murphy’s on nitro takes time to pour, so I always order my next stout when my current one is about half empty.

The food at Britannia Arms is also excellent.  I’ve tried a range of their offerings over the years and have always been pleased.  This time, Brenda and DawBoy shared a Fish ‘n Chips meal and I had beer battered prawns.

Related posts:

1. Century Post!
2. Monterey Beer Festival
3. Looking Back at Sac

One of the questions non-homebrewers always ask is how much it costs to brew a batch of beer.  Propane is one of those “extra” costs for homebrewing that you don’t really see or feel when you are putting together a batch.  I guess it needs to be accounted for…

No related posts.

Related posts:

1. Back from the 2008 California Brewers Festival!
2. California Brewers Festival
3. Teach a Friend to Brew Day 2009 A Success!

BevMo has one of my favorite IPA’s on sale right now. That’s a sure thing. $25 of music – that’s a sure thing. $25 at the movie theater – that could go either way:)

These on the other had could be worth $10 or $100 or $1000s – or nothing!

On a side note, I never seem to be able to give lottery or lotto tickets as gifts. I’m always afraid that because of the good karma thing, the tickets will be big winners and I’d miss out on the winnings:) I guess I could do like my boss does and say, “We split anything over $50!”

Given a choice, what would you go for? The sure thing or the unknown?

Related posts:

1. Leon Can Still Belt Out the Tunes!
2. The Day After…
3. Sold Out!

On a completely different note, when I woke up Saturday morning, eager to brew the Belgian Strong, I noticed that one of my eyes was red – like a small blood vessel had burst, but it didn’t look too bad. My eyes are often pretty funky looking and red after taking a shower, so I didn’t think a whole lot about it. But within an hour or so it kinda blossomed (if you look carefully at Saturday’s pictures you can see it:) and over the next day it started looking pretty bad. Brenda suggested that if it didn’t get better I ought to call the optometrist’s office and see what they had to say. By Sunday, it looked bad and I had pretty well decided to call the eye Doc on Monday morning.

I called this morning and they reassured me that the burst blood vessel wasn’t dangerous, or even that urgent, but I could come in if I was worried. A strange coincidence, I’d planned on getting an appointment for a regular check-up this week since I’m on spring break. Of course, they had no last minute appointments available, but put me on the “call list.” Well, I got a call about 3:00 p.m. today saying that they had a cancellation for 4:00 p.m., so I jumped at the opportunity:)

The doctor looked at it, laughed (he’s an old family friend:), and said I had a good one indeed!

It may take as long as a month for all the blood to drain out and make the eye look normal again. Great…

Tomorrow is a full day. We drop Brenda’s Jag off in Livermore to get worked on, I have a leather jacket to return to Wilsons in Pleasanton, then it’s off to EJ Phair (they currently have Drakes IPA and Schooners IPA as guest handles – yum!) in Concord – and a quick trip to MoreBeer. Once we pick up Brenda’s car, we’re heading down to Redwood City and the Paul Thorn show. Life is good!

Related posts:

1. Next up – Belgian Strong Golden Ale
2. Strong Golden Showers…
3. Off and Running…