Pennant Porter

After the deluge of the past few days the sun came out here at French Street Brewery in the State of Jefferson. It was a fine day to brew. Continuing the world champions theme for the 2012 San Francisco Giants is Pennant Porter. The Giants won the National League pennant in stirring fashion by defeating the defending champions on the 22nd of October, which also happened to be my beloved bride's birthday. A fine present, indeed. Today's brew was a simple extract--8 pounds of dark syrup and an ounce of Centennial hops. I used two packs of Safale-04 so the fermentation would be vigorous and complete. The OG reading on my refractometer was 1.048 (12 ºP) so it is a little bigger than the Championship Ale which was more of a light session beer. Looking forward to quaffing many pints over the holidays!

Championship Ale, part II

The Giants emerged victorious from the League Division Series and now advance to the League Championship Series. The Ale emerged from its carboy slumber into a five-gallon keg, primed and ready. It's a light-colored session beer that I hope has a full hop flavor. I've made one or another version of Championship Ale since 1988, the year I started brewing. The Giants were the NL West champs in 1987. This one is will be ready by the time October baseball is over, and we can drink it to celebrate the exciting 2012 season. The NLCS will likely be very close--the Cardinals are, after all, last year's World Series winners. I expect the games to be close and the competition to be intense. And it starts tonight in San Francisco! Man, I'm thirsty already.


prid. Id. Oct.

Championship Ale

In celebration of my favorite ballclub winning the NL West, I cooked up a batch after a long hiatus. It was a relaxed day as I kept it simple and used malt extract. You can make excellent beer with extracts, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I haven't hopped on the homebrew hobby horse in a while, and it felt good to break out the kettle and fire up the stove. We had lovely weather in the State of Jefferson, and the Giants came from behind to beat the Padres. What could be bad?

I used six pounds of extract, two ounces of Centennial hops, a pound of 40ºL crystal, and Safale-05 yeast. I'm imagining myself drinking it now, thinking back on the wonderful 2012 baseball season. Way to go, Giants! Keep it rolling!


prid. Kal. Oct.

Geeko Sapien

This is genius:

 

I hope I'm a Geeko Sapien.

Check out the "Infographics" section of the Beer & Whiskey Brothers blog.

(And thanks to Ryan for the link.)

a.d. XIII Kal. Sep.

Comin' Up!

The hops are sprouting. The Nugget came up first and it is now showing leaves. The Magnum was next, and the Cascade finally poked through the soil earlier in the week. The longest--the Magnum--is about 9 cm (that's 3-1/2 inches for you non-metricals). The shortest--the Cascade--is about 2 cm (less than an inch). It is very exciting as all three that were planted are now growing. It has been mostly cool and rainy but we did get a stretch of sunshine and the ground has warmed up. The MCN project is off to a good start.

a.d. III Id. Apr.