Yeast Party

Just a reminder that we are divvying up the yeast tonight. If you want some, come and get it. If you can not make it tonight but are interested in getting some of this yeast, please let me know by sending me an email directly at randy@speeddirect.com (please do not reply to this email). I'm sure it will last a while and I can find a way to get it to you. We will have sanitized mason jars there, so you don't even need to bring anything. We'll be at the Brewery from 5:00 - 7:00pm. See you there!
 
Cheers ~
 
Randy 


On Fri, Dec 30, 2011 at 2:11 PM, Randy Schnose <randy@speeddirect.com> wrote:
Hiya HOPS Heads,
At the HOPS meeting on Tuesday we talked about brewing on Saturday and divvying up the yeast then. Well, isn't it funny what ideas you come up with when drinking? We have opted to scrap that because of all the New Years activities going on. We now plan on meeting on Tuesday, Jan 3rd at the brewery. We will be divvying up the yeast from 5-7pm. We will have sanitized mason jars available. Come one, come all and GIT SOME!
 
Randini

Remember, when you reply to this email it goes to everyone on the list!

Firkin Friday at Steamworks

FYI - For all you Lambic Lovers out there, this may be something to check out over in D-town!

Cheers ~

Randini

(Remember, replies to this email go to everyone on the list!)

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Indiana Reed indiana@indianareed.com>
To: kris@steamworksbrewing.com; 'Brian McEachron' brian@steamworksbrewing.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2011 8:27 PM
Subject: Firkin Friday at Steamworks

Hello all,
The featured firkin at Steamworks in January is a Belgian Framboise style ale. Yum. Please find information attached and below.
 
Happy New Year and thank you for your continued support of Steamworks Brewing Co.,
 
Indiana Reed
 

News     
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – December 27, 2011
For further information, contact:
Ken Martin or Spencer Roper, Steamworks Brewers 970.259.9200
Or Steamworks Co-Founder Kris Oyler, 970.769.0776
 
 
 
First 2012 Firkin Friday at Steamworks Brewing Co. on Jan. 6
A Belgian Framboise style ale is planned for the January firkin
 
DURANGO, Colo. – The monthly Firkin Fridays continues at Steamworks Brewing Co. on Friday, Jan. 6, 2012, as the Steam Team introduces a Belgian Framboise style ale. The firkin will be tapped at 3 p.m.
“A traditional Framboise or Frambozenbier is a spontaneously fermented raspberry Lambic ale specific to the region near Brussels,” said Ken Martin, Steamworks head brewer. “Our rendition can’t be quite like that because the authentic version involves open air, wild fermentation. The Lambic can trace its roots back more than 400 years. They say to drink a Lambic style beer is to take a trip back through time.”
Instead of brewing a Lambic, Steamworks’ Framboise Firkin will use a rich Belgian style brown ale as the base, re-fermented and naturally carbonated, or conditioned, in  its cask with raspberries. The yeast transforms the sugar into alcohol within the cask, and carbonation results from the trapped carbon dioxide occurring as a byproduct.
“The Belgian Framboise firkin promises to be a balance of rich chocolate and fruit, cut with tartness. Think chocolate raspberry truffles,” explained brewer Spencer Roper. “The beer will have roughly a 7.5 percent ABV, so it should be a nice warm up for these cold winter nights.”
A firkin is an old English unit of volume, typically a wooden cask equal to approximately one-quarter of a regular barrel, or nine gallons. Unlike most draft beers, firkin beer is served at about 55 degrees - cool but not cold, and is unpasteurized, unfiltered. Because it contains no preservatives, a firkin beer is designed to be consumed after tapping.
Steamworks initiated its Firkin Fridays to introduce additional and unusual specialty craft beers to its regular offerings.
The award-winning Steamworks Brewing Co., open 11 a.m. to closing seven days a week, is located at 801 E. Second. Ave., Durango (970.259.9200). For further information, visit www.steamworksbrewing.com.
#  #  #
 
 




Yeast Party

Hiya HOPS Heads,
At the HOPS meeting on Tuesday we talked about brewing on Saturday and divvying up the yeast then. Well, isn't it funny what ideas you come up with when drinking? We have opted to scrap that because of all the New Years activities going on. We now plan on meeting on Tuesday, Jan 3rd at the brewery. We will be divvying up the yeast from 5-7pm. We will have sanitized mason jars available. Come one, come all and GIT SOME!
 
Randini

Remember, when you reply to this email it goes to everyone on the list!

HOPS Brewsletter, 12-2011

HOPS – Homebrewers Of Pagosa Springs

 

Beer. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the bar-fly Randini. His five beer mission: To explore strange new breweries, to seek out new concoctions and new intoxications, to boldly brew what no man has brewed before. My new monologue kicks ass. I walk around with Bum-Bom-Bum-Bom music rockin’ me wherever I step. I will kill them with my Awesome. I’m gonna start a new YouTube series that will rival ‘Planking’, ‘Whole Foods Parking Lot’ rap videos and ‘Tebow’ spoofs. It will be all about beer and fermented fun! Picture me cruising around Uzbekistan on camel back sporting a bright yellow uni-tard onesie with a black cape and mask. A giant beer mug logo on my chest. Maybe even rocking a cowboy hat just to keep it real for Pagosa. Yeah, I can see it. Imagine the fermentable treasures you could find! The ancient recipes used to conjure spirits from another time. I could sit in on indigenous gatherings with local libations - celebratory, spiritual, social and political (who can stomach any politics without tipping a glass?). Imagine going blind while experiencing agonizing abdominal cramps with foam coming out your nostrils in a foreign desert because of some rock-badger fece-laden hooch that was bootlegged in by Nazi infidel haters? Wow…

 

Maybe the Great Randini will boldly stay home and explore strange new brews in my own kitchen brewery. At least I can still wear my Super Beer-o outfit and I won’t smell like camel.

 

Cheers, and happy fermenting ~

 

Randini the Beer Spammer

 

Tech Tip of the Day: Ever brew a beer that just wasn’t bitter enough? Sometimes hops will lose their bittering capabilities over time (The older hops get the more Alpha Acid they lose. For example, if you have Admiral hops at 15% AA and store them at room temperature in a zip lock bag you can expect to lose about 27% of the bittering capabilities after a year, bringing them down to 11%AA. You can reduce this loss by storing hops in a freezer, vacuum packing them, etc.). If your beer needs more bitterness – and yes, there are freaks like myself out there that can never have a beer like an IPA too bitter – there are different things that can be done. One is to try a product called IsoHop, an isomerized alpha acid product made just for adding extra bitterness to beer. You can get it from MoreBeer and here is the link:
http://morebeer.com/search/103693/beerwinecoffee/coffeewinebeer/Hop_Bitterness_Extract.
Another option that some people have tried is to make their own hop extract or "tea". I have not tried it, but I can image it would be quite unpredictable. From the little bit of research I have done, most people caution against it. But… for the homebrew adventurers, if you started with a small amount (a hop pellet or two maybe) and made a tea, you could add it to a measured amount of beer. If you like what you have, you could amp it up to match your remaining volume. I have talked about doing this but never tried it. Looks good on paper… er, a monitor. If anyone has any experience doing that, let me know.

 

Quote of the Day:  A drunk was in front of a judge. The judge says, "You've been brought here for drinking." The drunk says, "Okay, let's get started." 

 - Parker

 

 

HOPS Meetings:

 

  • HOPS – New Business:
    • Next Meeting: This coming Tuesday, the 27th is the next HOPS meeting, Pagosa Brewing Co at 6:00 PM. The RED COLOR GROUP is up, so if you are in the Red group, make sure you have checked your email for a reminder from your illustrious leader (Eleanor) to find out what is in the pipeline. 
    • Style of the Month: Winter Ales and Seasonals.
    • FFO (First Friday Out) – This has been changed to Friday nights for the winter season. The first Friday of January (the 6th) we will meet at the Brewery at 6:00. I know a bunch of people are traveling, so if you can make it, groovy!
    • Discussion: Some ideas we want to go over include the following:

A)      Lots of Yeast! Joseph Read with Pagosa Brewing Co gave HOPS a $212.00 gift certificate for White Labs liquid yeast. The problem is that it is only good for one (1) 7 barrel pitch. That’s enough for approx 47 five gallon brews. Sooo, that’s alodda yeast, man! Let’s talk about when the Yeast Divvying Party will be. Basically it means free yeast for the entire HOPS club, and beyond! Put your brew hats on…

B)      Upcoming events listed below, like a group brew day? Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywine Festival in January? Homebrew competitions? Yeah, we’ll cover it all.

 

 

RECAP OF PREVIOUS EVENTS:

 

  • Bulk Grain Buy – Special thanks to Tony with Pagosa Brewing for helping us out with our bulk grain buy from Colorado Malting Co. He was nice enough to store the grains for us and work with us. Now we have grain, soon we will have beer!

 

UPCOMING LOCAL NEWS & EVENTS:

 

EVENTS:

 

  • Tuesday, December 27th – HOPS Meeting: This coming Tuesday is the HOPS Meeting (normally the fourth Tuesday of the month). We will meet at Pagosa Brewing Company at 6:00 PM. This month we will be going over some of the upcoming events and agenda items above, along with the Style of the Month. This time is the Winter Ales and Seasonals. ‘Tis the season to be drinking... According the the BJCP, here is what to expect for this month’s styles: "Throughout history, beer of a somewhat higher alcohol content and richness has been enjoyed during the winter holidays, when old friends get together to enjoy the season. Many breweries produce unique seasonal offerings that may be darker, stronger, spiced, or otherwise more characterful than their normal beers. Spiced versions are an American or Belgian tradition, since English or German breweries traditionally do not use spices in their beer."

 

  • January 6th - First Friday Out – The first Friday of the month we like to drink beer. Ok, we like to drink beer more often than that, but we usually get together somewhere around town, and this time around we will meet at the Brewery. See you there at 6:00!

 

NEWS:

 

 

  • Beer at 6512 Blogspot is Back! - http://beerat6512.blogspot.com/ is a beer blog based out of Durango. Our neighbors to the West have a great beer scene, along with some great writers and this is a fun place to check up on the happninz. Erich Hennig, my brew-brotha-from-anotha-motha just joined the team. Check it out – I think you will enjoy it!

 

  • Gluten Free Homebrewing – I have had some requests on information about gluten free homebrewing. I have some information about the details on such if you are interested in locating ingredients, etc. I will bring it to the HOPS meeting on Tuesday, or email me at randy@speeddirect.com for more info (rather than replying to this email and spamming the entire universe). That’s my job! :-D

 

  • Local Beerlover Networking Website: Check out www.brewerfest.com for a social beer lover’s networking site. It works kinda like Facebook, only without all the loser teenagers counting how many totally irrelevant “friends” they can amass proving how completely lame they are. This site is actually cool! (Yes, a big fan of Facepuke here…) Joseph from Pagosa Brewing started this one up and it has some great photos of HOPS junk, plus it is free to join! Sign in and rock out with your beer out.

 

 

Pagosa Brewing Company News / Events:

 

·         Shreddin’ Red Now On Tap! - An aggressive Red IPA with big citrus hop aroma & flavors. I had some the other night and if you like hoppy, American style Red Ales, this is the one for you! It’s the one for me too…

 

·         Solstice Party December 22nd (TODAY) – I wasn’t able to get all the details, but there is a solstice party at the Brewery on the 22nd. Rumor has it they will be busting out the Wassail Ale mentioned below. Let’s hope so!

 

·         December: The long-awaited return of our Wassail Ale.  This year's version is a Brown Porter aged in a Frangelico barrel and has an amazing aromas and flavors of hazelnut and vanilla.  Special "Solstice Food Pairings" are in the works too.

And, of course, more Imperial Beers!  

FYI - By the end of December, we may perhaps have our Winter Warmer and/or a Pale Mild as well as the seasonal return of Eagle ESB.  Looks for classic "English Pub-Style Food Pairings"!

 

 

Liquor Stories:

 

      Our tribute to local liquor stores that like beer, and not just crap beer, I mean Real Beer! Not all of them are cool enough to contribute to this kick a$$ Brewsletter, so be sure to treat the ones that do with some extra business. Usually you will get a hook up too!

 

Silver Dollar Liquors:

 

New 6pks This Month:

Boulevard Brewing                   Tank 7

-Farmhouse Ale

Alaskan Brewing                      Winter

                                                -Ale brewed with Spruce tips (grab a pint of this at DSP then get some from Silver Dollar to take home!)

Ommegang Brewery                 Three Philosophers

                                                -Belgian Style Quad with Cherries Added

 

Just Got Back In Stock

Northcoast Brewing                  Old Rasputin

                                                -Russian Imperial Stout

 

New Bombers This Month:

Stone Brewing                          Double Bastard Ale

-“Ye shall know the bastard, and the bastard shall set you Free.”

Port Brewing                            High Tide

                                                -Fresh Hop IPA

 

6pk of the Month:

Alaskan Brewing                      Winter Ale

                                                -“The taste is more muted when cold; gets more interesting as it warms up: sweet fruit, spruce, other spices. Very unique.”

 

Bomber of the Month

Stone Brewing                          Double Bastard

                                                -“Alas though, this beer has flavors that build, a cloying raisin sweetness up front, and a building earthy bitterness on the back end.”

 

 

Plaza Liquors:

 

Lots of new Winter Seasonals are in, including Ebenezer Ale from Bridgeport Brewing and the Double Bastard from Stone Brewing! Many more to choose from – come in and see the selection! Mention their ad on The Wolf or this Brewsletter and get 15% off!

 

Star Liquors (Durango):

 

Winter Beer List:

 

Anderson Valley Brewing Winter Solstice 6 pk

Anchor Steam Brewing Anchor Winter 6 pk

Avery Brewing New World Porter 6 pk

Blue Moon Brewing Full Moon 6 pk

Breckenridge Brewing Breckenridge Christmas 6 pk

Deschutes Brewing Jubeale 6 pk

Durango Brewing Winter Ale 22 oz

Full Sail Brewing Full Sail LTD #2 6 pk

Great Divide Brewing Hibernation Ale 6 pk

Great DIvide Brewing Old Ruffian Barley WIne 22 oz

J.W. Dundee Festive Ale 6 pk

Lagunitas Brewing Hairy Eyeball 6 pk

New Belgium Brewing Two Below 6pk 12 pk

Sam Adams Brewing Winter Lager 6 pk

Sam Adams Brewing Winter Mix 12 pk

Sierra Nevada Brewing Celebration 6 pk

Ska Brewing Local Series 22 oz

 

More on their style of the month and specials on their website here: http://www.starliquorsdurango.com

 

 

 

FRONT RANGE & BEYOND NEWS & EVENTS:

 

  • Big Beers, Belgians & Barlywine Festival, Vail Jan 5-7: This is the event for you if you are into imperial beer, Belgians, barley wines and anything else that gets the job done in a big fat hurry. I have never been to this event but have always wanted too. It’s not cheap but you could cut the cost if several people got together on hotels, etc. Anyone in? There is sooo much to do, including beer / food pairings, seminars, a homebrew competition (anyone interested?) and so much more. Lets kick this one around at the meeting.

http://bigbeersfestival.com/

Video on the goods:

http://www.bigbeersfestival.com/big-beers-events-schedule.html

 

  • Company Looking For Homebrewer Guinea Pigs:  My name is Steve Pearson and I'm the President of QuestAT. We are a leading edge injection molding company that loves home brewing! We've been doing this for over 30 years and we understand the expense and disappointment that comes with the current home brewing solutions. We want our home brew inexpensive and fast! We have developed a low cost Unitank that will allow you to ferment, clarify, naturally carbonate and dispense your own special brand of beer all from our system, all with minimal work. If you are adventurous or would like to prove that you really can make incredible tasting beer at home, we would love to have you on our "Pre-release research team" of home brewers. – This is the opening of his letter. Basically it is a plastic tank fermenting system for all-in-one brewing. If you are interested in more info, send me a personal email (don’t reply to this Brewsletter). randy@speeddirect.com.

 

 

FOR SALE / FOR FREE / WANTED:

 

  • Free Bottles - Need bottles? We have LOTS of extra around these parts. Let me know if you need any beer or wine bottles. For you, for free. 
  • All Grain Brew Equipment Wanted – Yours truly is looking for some misc. all grain brewing equipment. If you have anything you are willing to part with, let me know and we can start bartering. ;-)

 

Anybody else have anything you want to list? Beer related or not, just lemme know and I will circulate your stuff around the universe. Well, my universe…

 

 

 

UNSUBSCRIBE – But if you do, you could be labeled a Nazi infidel beer hater. Who wants that as their title?

Yeast Party!

Hey Everyone,
As was mentioned in the last Brewsletter and at the last meeting, Joseph at Pagosa Brewing Co hooked us up with a bunch of free liquid yeast from White Labs! So, if you want free yeast (not just Pagosa Peoples, but anyone on the HOPS email list) you will need to be at the Yeast Divvying Party (YDP). The date of the YDP will be determined at the upcoming HOPS meeting on the 27th. Once we have a date selected I will send out a spamail to everyone for the heads up. The yeast will be delivered to us on 12-30, so the YDP will probably be sometime within the following week. Remember, we are getting enough yeast to brew over 200 gallons of beer or roughly 45 five-gallon brews, so there is plenty of yeast to be divvied. If you show up at the Yeast Divvying Party, plan on taking home lots of yeast. (Don't you just love the word 'divvied'? Looks like a 'w' in there, but then it would be diwied, which isn't really a word. Unless it was in a sentence like "In the library, locate your book using the diwied ecimal system." Or something like that... Aren't you glad I spam you with such nonsense? ;-) 

See you at the HOPS meeting!
  
Randini

P.S. Remember - that when you reply to this email it goes to everyone on the list, not just the Great Randini. Be sure to use enthusiasm when telling me how awesome I am.

First Friday Out

Hiya HOPS Heads ~This is the first Friday of the month, so we were planning on grabbing a beer together at the Plaza Grill at 6:00. Not sure who will be there due to the snow, but whoever shows will likely have a good time! Jason's out of town and I'm not sure if I will be able to make it either, so maybe we'll see ya, maybe we wont!

Cheers ~
 
Randini

Untitled

Randy & Eleanor are bringing a bottle of Pig's Ass Porter from Harvest Moon Brewing in Belt, Montana. Chris & I have picked up Kona Brewing's Pipeline Porter brewed with Kona coffee, Breckenridge's Vanilla Porter and Stone's Smoked Porter. Hey, Green Group members! Grab a few more flavors, please. Laura

Free Bottles for Brewing

Tony with Pagosa Brewing just told me they have a little over a case of amber 12oz bottles that are up for grabs. If you are interested in them for bottling let myself or Tony know before they get tossed! 

See you the 29th at the HOPS meeting!
 
Randini