T-minus...

One moving debacle later we have finally settled in our new place and I'm almost ready to get started! The mill and scale are in the mail, and I picked up a 2 gallon bucket and several one gallon glass jugs at a local brew store before heading out the door.

Most importantly I've located the nearest homebrew store, South Hills Brewing Supply:

http://www.southhillsbrewing.com/

The first batch is now only a 20 minute drive away...

New Stuff!

One of my favorite things about brewing is that you can always improve your set-up. I've been thinking about logistics for this project lately; trying to find the best containers to ferment in, figure out how to minimize the number of trips to the brew store, and scale down the recipes.

To do this I think I need to buy several small items:

1. A kitchen scale. To measure the small quantities of hops and grains required for these small batches.

Scale: http://www.amazon.com/Quality-Kitchen-Helper-Digital-Postal/dp/B005HZWB3W/ref=reg_hu-rd_add_1_dp

2. A mill. I don't want the grain to sit around after I mill it in a store before I use it, and again, I don't want to have to go to the homebrew store every week just to crush grain. I have seen some nice drill-powered options on-line (over $100), but I think a hand crank mill is adequate for the amount of grain I'lll be using. I'm planning on buying grain, storing it in tupperware until I need it, and then measuring it out.

http://www.amazon.com/Large-Hopper-Wheat-Grain-Grinder/dp/B004BUVPAE/ref=pd_sbs_k_10

3. Fermentation supplies. Primary fermentation will be done in a 2 gallon bucket (see link below) and then transfered to 1 gallon glass jugs for secondary fermentation / aging.

Bucket: http://www.amazon.com/Gallon-Plastic-Fermenter-drilled-lid/dp/B0064O8WWE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374166559&sr=8-1&keywords=2+gallon+brew+bucket

Glass jugs: http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-18034/Jars-Jugs-and-Bottles/1-Gallon-Glass-Jugs

Planning on starting with the lambic and the mead first. Next step. Recipe planning.

Recipe Ideas

Started some recipe planning today and below have come up with 50 different ideas. Some of these are variants of beers that I have made before, others are some that I have been planning on doing for awhile but haven't had the chance. Many of these are likely to change based on available ingredients and new directions as this process goes along.

Some of these may not work - But this is primarily about experimentation (often just changing a single variable to see how it impacts flavor), refining my brewing, and ultimately becoming better. I know that some of these have been done before (probably most - I just haven't had them yet) and others are just flavors that I like and thought would go well together. 

That being said I am expecting about a 5-10% drain pour rate.



Beers (in no particular order):

1. Pomegranate lambic
2. Cherry mead
3. BBQ porter
4. Cocoa wheat
5. Mushroom ale / lager
6. Pumpkin ale
7. Blue cheese stout
8. White chocolate stout
9. Citrus peel pale
10. Mint stout

Single hop series - Different hops, same base pale recipe
11. Cascade
12. Citra
13. Simcoe
14. Amarillo
15. Nugget
16. Warrior
17. Saaz
18. Mosaic
19. Chinook
20. Galena

21. Biere de Champagne / Biere Brut
22. High gravity champagne yeast stout
23. Smoked baltic porter
24. ESB
25. Hot pepper stout
26. Home toasted malt brown
27. Mustard ale
28. Rosemary porter
29. Gose
30. Steam ale
31. Honey tripel
32. Molasses brown sugar brown
33. Maple syrup quadrupel
34. Overly chocolate stout
35. Milk stout
36. Ginger brown
37. Barley wine with raisins
38. Carmel stout
39. Date sugar tripel
40. Oktoberfest
41. Rose hip saison with black pepper
42. Juniper / Pine ale (Sahti)
43. Max hop IPA (made with favorite hop from the IPA series)
44. Black tea ale
45. Vanilla brown
46. Grapefruit lager
47. Wheat wine
48. Corriander / Sesame wit
49. Coffee tripel
50. Rye ale

Open to suggestions and feedback as always. Fourteen days until the first and just typing all of these was slightly overwhelming.

50(1)

Welcome to my blog. The whole point of this blog is to force me to follow through with my goal - To brew 50 - one gallon batches of beer over a one year span from 8/1/13 to 8/1/14. 

Background: I have been homebrewing for about four years now and have always been bad at writing. Like many, I started like many making 5 gallon batches from kits, then my own partial mash recipes, then made the move to all grain.

There are many reasons why I want to do 50(1) gallon batches including but not limited to: space constrictions (I am moving to a smaller apartment in August), experimentation (not having to drain-pour 5 gallons is nice), and I like variety (I get tired of drinking 5 gallons of one kind of beer regardless of how good or bad it is).

The plan: BIAB (Brew in a bag) all grain beers (except in the case of some high gravity beers), ferment, drink. I will post all recipes and evaluations of the beers as I drink them. 

Feel free to follow along, ask questions, give advice, whatever.