Eighth All-Grain Brew: Scottish Heavy 70/-

A beautiful “fall day” (temperature in 80’s with low humidity) in New Orleans beckons for a brew day.  We chose Scottish Heavy 70/- from Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer.  We brewed the Scottish Light 60/- this summer and we really enjoyed it as a summer beer: light, fruity and eminently drinkable!  We…

Homebrew Cautionary Tale: English Mild Ale

We brewed an English Mild, “Through a Mild Darkly” from Palmer’s Brewing Classic Styles in mid-November to have the beer ready to drink by the holidays.  We sampled the beer a few days early to see if it was worthy of bringing along on our trip to visit Fr. Jack’s family.  It did not disappoint: like…

Seventh All-Grain Brew: Brown Porter

A warm Labor Day weekend calls for a dark beer brewday anticipating cooler days ahead.  Brewed Who’s Your Taddy Porter from Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer. Strike water to mash 12 pounds of grain at 152 degrees.  We heated strike water to 165 because the last time we brewed only using…

NOLA on Tap

City Park Festival Grounds, 24 September 2016 We went to same event two years ago.  Unfortunately we had to miss last year’s event as Fr. Jack had relatives in town.  NOLA on Tap combines two of our favorite things: beer and dogs and as an added bonus it is for the ASPCA.  Two years ago…

Sixth All-Grain Brew: Ordinary Bitter

Rainy Saturday in New Orleans = cooler than normal so we took advantage and had a combo botting and brew day. Went with No Short Measure Ordinary Bitter recipe from Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer with one big change: Fuggles instead of Kent Goldings hops as our beer supply store was out….

Homebrew ESB

Hazy amber in color with a malty nose.  Definitely the most complex and flavorful beer we have brewed thus far.  We can immediately tell the difference between extract versus all-grain brewing. For the sake of impartiality, we relied on the palate of our friend Doc Sportello for the review.  Doc said he could get in…

First All-Grain Brew: Bottling Day March 26, 2016

March 26 was bottling day for the I’m Not Bitter, I’m Thirsty ESB from John Palmer’s recipe book, Brewing Classic Styles. We used 1 oz of priming sugar (corn sugar) and got two full cases of brew! Always start by sanitizing all of your equipment, including the bottling bucket, bottles, and bottle caps. Measure out your…

First All-Grain Brew – March 5, 2016

We used the recipe for Extra Strong Bitter from John Palmer’s recipe book: Brewing Classic Styles: 80 Winning Recipes Anyone Can Brew.  I’m Not Bitter, I’m Thirsty recipe, pg. 119.   We use an 8-gallon capacity boil kettle and the Bayou Classic burner.  We get the majority of our supplies from Brewstock at 3800 Dryades St,…