Filthy Beers

A big weekend last weekend! Made another batch of filthy blonde, and it went stunningly well. No clogged pipes, no missed hop additions, no frozen hoses. Everything went as it should have and it was fantastic. Temperatures are back up in the mid 40′s during the day now, so our beers should be a little fruitier in their ale characteristics, hopefully.

The Filthy Gentleman has been put into kegs now, and is tasting fantastic. a week in kegs should take off the grain edge, leaving that wonderful grapefruit and hop hybrid bitterness that tickles the fancy and delights the tastebuds.

We’ve sent out a few feelers via the usual twitbook, but we might as well make it official here. We’re going to be having a birthday for our friend and brewer Ben on Feb 19th, and will have all three of our beers present at the party. Along with that, we have a bonus keg of DufFilthy, the first batch we ever made. It’s been sitting in a keg since September, and has turned into a nice light sour. it’s been under CO2 for the entire time, so it actually mellowed out and is pretty drinkable now. We’ll probably bring a few other things we’ve cooked up at home as well.

Some guy named Scott will be hosting the party for us (it’s his birthday as well) so shoot us a message at filthybeers@gmail.com or through facebook. We promise to actually check these things coming up to the big event this time, and will make sure you can find the place to drink our delicious beer. Bring a growler if you feel so inclined as well, we’ll be accepting donations.

Speaking of which, things are getting better for us and our beer making prospects. Thanks to wonderful support from so many of you that have gotten your hands on our beer, we can probably invest a little and make a lot more.

We have two more 30 gallon tanks sitting around, they just need stands to hold them up, and then a few more kegs to hold and store what we make. This also factors us putting in alot more work at the brewery, but working on beer is awesome.  temperatures are starting to pop back up again, and will allow us to make beer a little quicker. Then on to finding a more permanent space. As much as we love my parent’s garage, we know we can never set up permanent shop there.

make it to the party if you can! considering the great hop shortage of 11′ has already hit many favorite hops used by us and anyone who makes beer, this may be your last chance to get the gentleman for the rest of the year.

no pressure though.

hope that everyone had a great Christmas this year! Madness with family as usual, but i wouldn’t have it any other way. Going to put together an all-grain system after the new years…my awesome gift from my parents this year!

Back to the brewing board today though. Apparently these days, it’s all about citra. First a cascadian ale, then a lite pale ale, now onto a hefeweizen. I’m thinking of trying to incorporate the lemon into the hefeweien, and citra just keeps inspiring me on a weekly basis. It just sounds like something that has to be done. (http://hopville.com/recipe/452892/american-wheat-or-rye-beer-recipes/citraweizen) A fairly simple recipe, but this beer is mostly about the wheat and the citra.

Also got a wort chiller from my brother in law, it was all put together at home depot, and it looks like it was easy to put together. It’s only 10 feet of copper tubing, but it took close to 3 gallons of wort down to 70 degrees in about 10 minutes, as opposed to my normal hour of sink exchanges. From the looks of it, here’s the stuff you need to make a wort chiller:

-10 feet coiled copper 3/8 in.  (or however long you want, the coiled makes it much easier to shape)

-4-5 feet of 3/8 in tubing

-1 hose fixture to 3/8 in nozzle

-3 tube locks fitting the 3/8 in tubes

-sink adapter to hose connection (this is the only one he had to go to a plumbing specialty shop for, but i think most homebrew suppliers have this around their cleaning area)

I feel like i should post some pictures, but i wanted to throw this post out, it works great, and is great if you’re just doing 5 gallon batches. thanks, Hazen!

We finally got to spend a full day surveying all our equipment, and what a glorious day it was. The fermenters finally showed up, and it looks like all the fittings we bought and had them install work well, they just need a little teflon tape to seal up the valves.  The brewery is shaping up, and it feels great.

Inevitably though, little problems start to arise, little speed bumps to help check your speed. Only so much can be done with planning and now results from trial and error are what you need. Results you crave, actually. Some things are kinda expected.  A three dollar drill pump (see picture) that doesn’t fit a standard garden hose despite its claims can’t get any pumping action without submerging it to the point of having your electric drill a few inches from the water. I don’t think we would have wanted our beer coming in contact with that thing anyways (no sour grapes). Gravity will be our pump, it just takes a little more leg-work.

Other things just pop up. Too many holes in the sparging apparatus. It takes about a quarter of a five gallon propane tank to bring one pot of 14 gallons of water from room temp to 150 degrees. The chest freezer i bought is a lemon. These things happen though, and it’s not that big of a deal, these are great learning experiences.  We will soldier on in the effort to make better beer, and probably make a few mistakes along the way. They will be filthy mistakes, though.

Things are going well, it’s just going to take a little more time to start messing around with beer recipes. The forward motion may not be at the light speed pace i wish it could go, but the motion is there.

We also got amazing t-shirts now. Big thanks on that one, Mike.

This actually works and was free, but damn it was moldy

Drill pump, you had such potential.

Ben putting some water in a fermenter, checking the valves for leaks.

Expanding the hopper of our grain mill by fitting a homer bucket to it

Definitely a work-in-progress

This is totally not staged. It sure is a sweet shot with all of us wearing our shirts, though

If you make it this far down the post and still haven’t taken our poll: , go for it!You can take this test with any level of beer knowledge, there are no right or wrong answers here. Just delicious, delicious beer.

So it’s picture time. To avoid all the pressing engagements of state and federal hoopery, I have tried to engage in things more tangible, like retail therapy.

Some piecing things together, some home depot visitin’. Doin’ Stuff.

Tangible stuff! Not things.

Am I going to be able to post here with my writing voice?

Feel free to comment and stay tuned!

Our brewery before being cleared out

Where the pile of stuff used to be. First craig's list purchase!

Our simple, surprisingly easy assembled Mashtun