Chamomille IPA

After a longer than expected hiatus, moving can be quite time consuming, we are brewing again. Our last two beers had been a Chamomile IPA, which is almost ready to be bottled, and an Orange Coriander American Wheat. The Chamomile IPA is a Chinook IPA from Northern Brewer with a little twist, we added half a gallon of Chamomile and half a pound of honey.

Regarding the half gallon of Chamomille, just note that what we added was a very strong half gallon, we are lucky to live close to Harvestime foods and they sell 1 oz. Chamomile bags for little more than $1.50, so we put the whole thing to boil.

The recipe:

0.75 lbs. Dingemans Caramel Pils

0.25 lbs Briess Caramel 120

6 lbs Pilsen malt syrup

1 lb dry malt extract

3 oz. Chinook (1 oz. boils for 60 mins, 1 oz. 10 mins before the end of the boil and 1 oz. finishing hops about 1 min. before the end of the boil)

1 oz. Chamomile

0.5 lbs honey

Wyeast 1056 American Ale

The original gravity is 1.054 and after two weeks we put it into secondary fermentation for about six more weeks. We want to bottle it sometime this week and will be posting a review around mid June.

Beer Review: Goose Island - 2010 Bourbon County Stout

Right before Christmas, while getting some supplies to fight the cold at West Lakeview Liquors, we also decided to get this book. The whole idea of keeping track of the beers we taste is quite appealing and I think it forces us to take some time and look for the different flavors and qualities in a beer. I also liked the way the pages in the book are designed, especially the flavor wheel and the star rating system; everything is very visual.

Anyways here is our first review: Goose Island - 2010 Bourbon County Stout.

First of all, this beer was quite a disappointment for the price. In my book, if you have to drop over $20 for a 4-pack it sucks to get a beer you dislike so much. I actually just discovered today that there is one still sitting in the back of our fridge.

Anyways ... regarding the beer, to make a long story short, it is just too sweet and the alcohol content a little too evident. Rather than being a beer aged in bourbon barrels, it tasted more like a caramelized bourbon spiked with stout.

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Disclaimer: These are just our personal opinions. We like beer. We like bourbon. We like stouts. We wanted to like the combination of all of these in this beer. Better luck next time.

La Flor Solita.

The brisk autumn air is upon us. While it doesn't make me happy that little flowers like this one are soon going to go away, I am excited about pulling out the my woolen sweaters, leather boots, scarves and hot cocoa mugs.

I'm a Northern gal, what can I say? My lovely pm reminds me of this quite often. Part of the reason he does so, I think, is because he is a southern guy. [There's a song all about people like him: Los Delinquentes, Despues. They're singing all about la gente abajito del sol :)]

Regardless of being from the north or the south, I love fall. It's something about the changing of the leaves, the air and our clothes that almost forces us to change gears. Some of these changes admittedly may be against my will (aka -- fall cleaning and closed windows), but others bring excitement. Our biggest celebration . . . the cooling of the airs means we can brew again!! We kicked off yesterday with bottling our peach american wheat. This will give a little bottle of sunshine on cold days.

We've got lots of floral and herbal teas in the cabinet. Maybe we mesh some of these flavors and aromas into our next homebrew. Hmmm....

back to the swing of things.

Why is that long weekends always go by the fastest? We were just starting to get comfortable and along comes Tuesday. Someone needs to invent a remote control for life already. Well, not really. It would sure be nice sometimes though.

This was the weekend of family & friends, projects and crossing things off the to-do list.

Projects.
Pm kept busy for most of Saturday refinishing a bench of ours. He dusted it off, sanded it down and varnished it. It looks pretty awesome, and photos will be posted once the entire project is complete. This may first require us learning how to upholster furniture. More to come on that.

Projects & Family.
Sunday we shot some engagement photos. We have yet to do some post-processing and waiting for the film to be developed, but I am hoping we'll get some goodies. We'll be back for a repeat visit with these two. It helps when it's family and they are up to putting in a few more rounds of good smiles.

Friends.

Meanwhile, while the above trunk project was happening, I caught up with some dear old pals. Nothing like being reunited with friends from yesteryears and being able to laugh about then, now and what's to come. My one pal has a way cute house. Makes me want one of my own. Patience, am, patience...

To Do List.

Restock the shelves... with beer. It has been a long, hot summer of not brewing. If you've been following the blog you know that it's because our apartment hasn't been the coolest place to hang out this summer. Heat and beer brewing don't really go hand in hand, so we decided to wait. Until... this weekend. We are brewing a Peach American Wheat. Should be ready to enjoy in a month or so. We just have to add the fresh (and now frozen) peaches. I'm thinking an IPA is next. Maybe in a couple of weeks?

And there we have it. A fun-filled weekend. It was just long enough to get refueled and re-energized, and not quite long enough to completely catch up on everything. That includes sleep. I shall do that now.

Beer Review: Great Divide Titan IPA

We enjoyed this beer while at the Yo-Yo Ma concert at the Ravinia Festival last Friday, which by the way was a really nice concert despite the rain and the fact we were both exhausted.

Coming back to the beer - it is hard to believe that this IPA (from Great Divide Brewing) has over 7% alcohol. Titan IPA is really easy to drink and I would say that even people that are not normally hoppy beers fans would enjoy it. This beer has a pretty amber color and a really nice head. It also has a slight citrus after taste and a very well balanced sweetness. Overall, it is a refreshing and ideal beer for summer.

I would say that this beer is great for a warm and humid Chicago summer afternoon, or for any warm and humid summer afternoons no matter where you are ;). It also would be a great party addition, a perfect way to introduce IPAs to folks who fear hops.

+Our next brew - of which we are waaayyy overdue, needs to be packing some hops. It also needs to be packing the fruit, since we have a freezer full of the summer reserves.

DIY: Beer Light

Do you like beer? Do you like decorations that involve beer? Yeah, I thought so.

I saw these lamps at the Leinenkugel Lodge not too long ago and thought they were interesting. I also looked at the price and realized it would be easy to do something like this on your own for much less. Lamps are an easy dig at any thrift or resale shop. Collecting beer labels to add to the lamp shade is equally easy, if not easier.

Someday when pm and I have a cabin, it will be adorned with these lamps. (I can't even write that with a straight face, but one can dream, right?). Maybe instead of the cabin a basement would work. This would be a perfect addition to when we get a tap as well. Here's to hoping!

30 Days of Creativity - Day 22: Relax, have a homebrew

We are just enjoying one of our latest beer creations. Our "White Tea Steam" beer recipe is based on the "The sun has left us on time" steam beer from "The new complete joy of Home brewing". The change we made was adding 1 gallon of steeped white tea (that looks anything but white) and 1 1/2 lbs. of honey, just to offset the bitterness of the tea.

So here is the recipe:

- 2 oz. White Tea Garden Aria from Teavana boiled in 1 Gallon of water.

- 1 1/2 Lbs. Honey

- 7 1/2 Lbs. Light Malt Extract

- 1/2 Lb. Crystal Malt

- 1 Oz. Northern Brewers Hops (added while boiling)

- 1/2 Oz. Cascade Hops (Finishing)

- Lager Yeast

The beer came out really good, it is a good summer beer, similar in taste to an Steam, but with a rather fruity aftertaste. It's also got a very fruity aroma.

We are thinking of brewing a Heffeweizen as soon as we have time. First we need to bottle our Dunkelweizen. For the Heffy we are thinking of using tea, and maybe some fruit... stay tuned ;)

30 Days of Creativity - Day 17: I Heart Beer

I heart beer. There I said it. Perhaps it has to do with the fact I grew up in the beer capital of the States. Yep, I said it again. Milwaukee is, and will forever be, the beer capital of the world. Don't hate me. I speak the truth. (Although I may admit, I am biased).

Back to our love of beer. Part of the reason I think I like is so much is because we make our own. I really enjoy the process and experimenting with different recipes and ingredients. This has kind of made us - dare I say - beer snobs. And yes, we know it.

So why beer? Well ... There is no other beverage I can think of that has so much versatility. It can be light, dark, full-bodied, fruity, potent, creamy, tart...etc. You get the point. Beer can be anything you want it to be.

We are learning this more and more as we progress through our homebrews. It is through this hobby that I have really come to appreciate microbreweries. (This is not to say that I did not value their products before.) I have learned that while it is not hard to make beer, it does take a true craftsperson to make a unique one. So cheers to all you homebrewers out there.

(I should also say that I am going to continue to experiment with homemade "print-making." It's been a fun ride thus far. Now we just need to sharpen our exacto knife blades!)

30 Days of Creativity - Day 11: Brew Day

A marvelous day. The laundry is done and a batch of beer has been brewed all before noon. Score!

We have been slacking lately on our homebrewing. Mostly because some of our gear is at my parent's house, and also because our apartment has been hot. It seemed to have cooled off in the last week, so we figured we had better take advantage of the situation before it's too late. After all, this dunkelweizen could be our last brew for the summer. (*sigh)

We are in love with the Northern Brewer kits. We got this kit at their Milwaukee location; it was affordable and an extremely easy recipe. If you are a first-timer, I would highly recommend using this kit. When we first started brewing we used some really funky kits. The beer was horrible. We've advanced since then - thank goodness!

While we admit not a whole lot of creativity went into this recipe (as we followed it verbatim), that is not normally how we roll. We've been really into doing tea beers lately, and are hoping to do one more of those before it gets too hot to turn our stove on. [Our last brew - a white tea steam beer - turned out delicious.]

So here's to homebrewing and the weekend. Prost!

Sidetracked & how to drink a beer.

I had every intention of writing something on here earlier today, but then I got sidetracked. That has been happening a lot lately. I make a "to-do" list and before I can even start it my day is booked. I guess I could be sitting around watching soaps and eating donuts, so it's not all bad. (Someday, even if it's not my style maybe I will do that :P). I just really want to finish everything on my list. Maybe tomorrow?

My plan was to post a recipe and tutorial for making Spanish tortilla today. Too bad we didn't have all the ingredients at home. (This is sad since the recipe is so basic. You'll see soon enough just how simple it is.)

As I am thinking about "to-do" lists, I got to thinking about the photo above. First off, New Belgium makes a darn good Mothership Wit. Perhaps the best part - it includes directions on how to drink the beverage. It's not just a pour, sip and enjoy. It is now a pour, swirl, pour, sip and enjoy. Is this too many steps for the thirsty? Well, it's worth it; so, just do it.

On another brewing note. I hate to confirm it, but I think it is officially too warm in our apartment to brew over the summer. That is unless we don't mind keeping a bath tub full of ice cubes through the fermentation process. Hmmm... tempting. We could always just shower at the gym, right? I am curious though - how "hot" is too hot? Obviously you run the risk of bacterias and other pesky "added flavor" components with the heat, but if you are diligent about running a clean ship does it matter? I'd love to know.

And that is all for my Wednesday ramble. Look for the recipe later this week. Cheers to beer instructables!

solace (does it = beer?)

It's a black and white kind of day. Not for any particular reason, it just is.

We've been a moving target for the past month. It almost seems like we haven't been around at all on weekends, and when we are we have to play catch up from not being around. Through it all we've managed to keep our shelves stocked with homebrews (to the tune of 200+ bottles).

We're getting nervous as the summer approaches, as our place may be too warm for brewing. We just have to wait and see. We got a Dunkelweizen kit at Northern Brewer this weekend, and are hoping to at least add that one to our collection.

Yesterday we went to the AHA Homebrew Rally at Lakefront Brewery. Not only was the beer good (as always!), but it was nice to meet other homebrewers. I was surprised by the diversity of homebrewers. Folks of all ages. So refreshing to see so many beer lovers. Perhaps the best part: Getting free wort (Riverwest Stein to be exact) from Lakefront. Woot, woot! We just paid off our membership for the year with that wort. We cannot wait to enjoy it.

All this talk about beer is making me thirsty. Cheers to the start of a new week!

mishmash

Mishmash: A confused collection or mixture; hotchpotch

Double exposures are kind of my thing. Ever since I first laid hands on the Holga, I was absolutely enchanted with the possibility of exposing two images on the same negative. If I had to stick to one "body of work", well, double exposures would be it. Couple that with expired film and I've got myself a unique niche - don't you think?

I really like how this particular photo turned out. On first blush it's hard to tell what it is and where it's from. Once to look closer and turn the image around from side to side it gets easier. (I promise!). Personally what I like best about this photo is that I do not remember turning the camera the other way for the second overlapping image. I *really like this effect though.

I am anxious to take the holga out again this summer during one of our (while still unplanned) camping trips. The holga is one of the most utilitarian cameras we own. It can withstand water, steam, overheating, spills, drops... you name it... and it still works wonders. I really want to go to the Sleepy Bear Dunes in Michigan. A place that was always on our "to-do" list when we lived there and just never got done. Can anyone else relate to the "to-do" list items that never happen. I am going to strive to start making them happen. Proud to say this blog is one of them, and I think we are doing pretty gosh darn well so far this year.

Anyway, I feel as though I need to apologize for the past week of posts. My mind, like the title of this post, has been mishmash lately. This photo seems to say better than words. I find my searching for answers when not all the pieces and details are yet in place.

On a side "Beer" note: We tried the Sam Adams new IPA - Latitute 48 - this weekend and it was good. I am anxious to brew again, but just haven't had the energy to bottle up our white tea ale. It will happen this week, because that is going to be a fabulous summer beer to drink around the campfire.

rss taste test.

Last night we decided to taste the fruit of our efforts. And by fruit, I literally mean fruit. About six weeks ago we brewed our first stout - a raspberry slow stout (aka RSS). I'll explain more about the name in a minute.

Overall, I'd say I was impressed with the body, aroma, and taste of this one. It has some very complex flavors on the front end and a very strong hint of raspberry as an afterthought. It's pretty rich and creamy, and even has some hints of coffee and chocolate. A lot going on in this small sampler glass. With that said, it needs more time to condition in the bottle. I think the flavors still need to mellow out a bit, and the carbonation isn't quite right yet. In two weeks this brew is going to be ready to drink, share, and enjoy.

The biggest problem I have about homebrewing is the wait. Whenever we try a new recipe, I always get anxious to see how the end result will be. This is also, mind you, why I will never brew wine. Beer from start to finish is ready to enjoy in under two months. I would not have the patience or will power to wait 1-2 years to sample my wine. I'll happily leave winemaking up to the Spaniards, Chileans, and Californians.

All right, back to the name: RSS. We started this brew out from a Northern Brewer kit - Sweet Stout to be exact. It was our first time using lactose in the brewing process and (gasp) our first time using wet yeast. (I don't think I am going to ever be able to go back to dry yeast). We started the brew process and gave the yeast a good 24 hours to work its magic before pitching it into the wort. [For all you brew newbies - wort is unfermented beer. It has no alcohol content yet.]

Now here is where the problem began to arise; the problem that led to the name. I wake up in the morning after brewing expecting to see the fermentation process going full steam. Wrong. Nothing was happening, at all. This has never been the case before. I waited all afternoon - still nothing. Panic began to sink in. Was the yeast expired? Was the wort too hot when we pitched the yeast? Did we forget to add something? We decided to wait until that next morning - a good 36+ hours later before really panicking.

Next morning still nothing. I consult brew forums and posts to see if this is "normal." I am just about to head out the door to get more yeast when I see a bubble! Amen! We've never had such a slow start to our fermenting process. Hence, this is why we are calling this brew the Raspberry Slow Stout. (We infused fresh Michigan raspberries during the secondary fermentation process and added a little of extract during bottling.).

Anyway, that's the history behind this one. We'd love to hear stories from other homebrewers - leave us a comment on the blog or on our Twitter @ampmcrafts. Salud!

Project Update: bits & birds

The spring breeze has brought us dozens of project ideas and new directions. We assure you that the promised tutorial will be coming shortly.

In a recent raid of the Anthropologie sale bids we came across these cute door knobs. I immediately thought of Spain and all the beautiful azulejos. It's my goal (with the help of pm & his power tools) to use these knobs for a decorative shelf/towel hanger. I've got the perfect vision of what I want in my head. Now I'll just need to find the right match of wood and trim. My eyes will be peeled for another bargain. Design on a dollar, here I come. (I'd say dime, but goodness knows the deals are never that good at Anthropologie, even in the sale bin.)

Why the birds? We were recently inspired by these origami birds at a coffee shop, and wanted to try our hand at making them. We've got a great entryway leading to our living area where I plan to use these little guys. We've got lots of folding and cutting to do until then. Again, we'll keep you posted on our progress.

So yes, it was a productive weekend. Oh, and we brewed (yes, again!). This time we tried our hand at a white tea steam beer. It's fermenting away as we speak. The brew master, pm, will be posting more on that here soon. (It may just include the secret recipe, so stayed tuned!).

A case of the Mondays...

Monday snuck up again; after all, it was a busy weekend. In fact, it was a very busy DIY (do-it-yourself; and yes, you already knew that!) weekend, as we successfully bottled two home brews: Chocolate Bock & Smashing Amber Ale.

We did the chocolate bock first, and without having done this one first our amber never would have even been named. It would have just been "amber ale." The bottling of the amber turned out to be glass shattering event.

We have a real system down with bottling. AM does the siphoning and pouring into bottles, and PM does the capping. (The capping takes more strength; the pouring more patience.) Two of the bottles must have had weak necks, otherwise the strength we gained from the chocolate bock was just too much for two said bottles. Lucky for us no one was injured. Unlucky, however, because we lost four bottles of the brew.

*s*

So hear I find myself on a Monday wondering what the next brew batch should be. Any suggestions? :)

Anyway, I have a case of the Mondays; and we have more than one case of home brews. Guess life could be worse. :)