Trailer Park IPA Tap Handle
I brewed Sunday. I winged it. It felt good.
Usually I spend several days getting ready for a brew session, but Sunday I played it by ear. Saturday, I went and saw Paul Thorn at the Sonora Blue Festival. He kicked ass! We saw him in an hour-long workshop, where it’s just Paul and an acoustic guitar. John went with me, and I successfully requested “Give Them Their Roses” in honor of John’s dad’s recent passing. He was touched – and now he believes in Paul Thorn. Paul Thorn is the best musical artist you’ve never heard of! We enjoyed Don Oliver’s, of Dust Bowl Brewing’s, Hops of Wrath at the festival and supported the local boys:)
I came home Saturday night, filtered and measured my brewing water, and then got up early (not Steve early:) Sunday morning and weighed and milled my malt. I used my standard single hop ale malt bill, and then just winged the hops. You may know me as the Lazy Brewer, but those close to me would probably call me the Anal Retentive Brewer. I like to know what is going on waaaaaaaay in advance, so this was a stretch for me. And I enjoyed it! I just used some of my favorite hops and matched the standard bittering levels of my single hop ales. The ale is still currently unnamed. This was my 88th batch. Here’s the recipe:
Trailer Park IPA
14-B American IPA
Author: Mark Ranes
Date: 8/09/09
Size: 10.08 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 317.28 kcal per 16.0 fl oz
Original Gravity: 1.071 (1.056 – 1.075)
Terminal Gravity: 1.018 (1.010 – 1.018)
Color: 7.27 (6.0 – 15.0)
Alcohol: 7.03% (5.5% – 7.5%)
Bitterness: 63.3 (40.0 – 60.0)
Ingredients:
20.0 lb Pale Malt(2-row)
4.0 lb Vienna Malt
10.0 oz Crystal Malt 10°L
6.0 oz Crystal Malt 40°L
1.0 lb Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt
0.5 oz Summit (17.0%) – added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
1.5 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 45.0 min
1.0 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
1.0 lb Corn Sugar
2 ea Whirlfloc – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
1.0 tsp Yeast Nutrient – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2.0 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) – added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2.0 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
2.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) – added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
2000 mL White Labs WLP002 English Ale Starter
3.0 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added dry to primary fermenter
4.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) – added dry to primary fermenter
This ale is currently cranking away in my fermentation fridge. When I open the fridge’s door, wonderful aromas escape:)
The show in Nacasio was great. Paul sang for a couple hours, and it was quite a different show than what we saw in Redwood City earlier this year. The sets were different and included a mix with older tunes, as well as a solo set with Paul on an electric guitar. This was a different crowd as well – most of the folks in Nacasio know Paul well and have seen him several times before. For some reason, Nacasio really embraces Paul and he returns the love every time he shows up.
Paul Thorn singing in Nacasio
Before the warm-up band, The California Honeydrops, came on, Paul was called to the stage and we were told that it was his birthday. The crowd sang Happy Birthday to him. Then, much to his surprise, his wife came on stage and planted a big juicy kiss on him. He was really surprised as he didn’t know she had flown in.
The temperature was in the mid-eighties and thankfully they had a pretty good brew on draft, Launitas IPA. The BBQ was excellent, also. I had tri-tip and DawBoy and Brenda shared a really nice BBQ salmon fillet.
After the show, we headed back to the Inverness cabin and spent the night. It was a great day (but not to whup sombody’s ass)!
Tomorrow we kick off our summer music tour. We are heading up to Marin county to see Paul Thorn at Rancho Nicasio. The show is a part of their BBQ on the Lawn series of events and thankfully I reserved tickets several months back, as the show is now sold out. Here’s a great video clip you can enjoy from Paul’s web site (be patient and give the video clip time to load:). Our friends, Eric and Becky, as well as the DawBoy, will join us for the show and an overnight at our friend’s cabin in Inverness.
Brenda and I will be going back to The Fillmore, in San Francisco, to see UB40 and Maxi Priest, on August 5th. We really enjoyed the Fillmore earlier this fall when we saw Jimmy Buffett there. There is no seating as The Fillmore is an old historic dance hall. We saw UB40, with Keb’ Mo’, at the Ironstone Vineyards amphitheater last summer and they put on a really great show. The surprise of the show was, Keb’ Mo’, though as I’d never heard his delta blues music before. Great stuff!
Later in August, Stephen and I will be heading up to Raley Field in Sacramento to see Dave Matthews, on the 25th. We plan on starting the evening off with a stop at Rubicon Brewing Company for dinner and ales.
Finally, Brad and John will join me at Shoreline Amphitheater for this year’s Jimmy Buffett concert on October 21. Neither of these guys have seen Buffett live before, so they are in for a real treat!
