Brewing Success!

I tasted one (well, I tasted several), and they taste great! The beer has a rich flavor; there is even a hint of a caramel taste to it. I had low expectations for this beer, being that it was not my preferred beer to brew, but it tastes pretty damn good. I know several of you reading this blog have asked for a sample (or two or three), and I will send them and share them with you just as soon as I get back from my business trip. I am going to Japan in a couple of days and I will return in about a week. Please sure to email me your updated addresses so I know where to send the beer. All I ask in return is an honest critque on how it tasted, what it's lacking, or maybe what new flavor you would like to see.

Support Your Local Homebrewer!

I created a quick Website where you can buy Frick Brewing Company beer steins, hats, and t-shirts. The link is here. So support your local brewer - me! It's all in good fun, but I think I'm going to order one of each!

http://www.cafepress.com/frickbrewingco

Frick Brewing Company - Amber Ale Label

I decided that I couldn't let my first batch of beer be made and not have a label to put on the bottles. They look so naked without a label So, I whipped up a quick label. What do you think? For a 15-minute job, I think it looks good! I did this in Microsoft Word, but if I have time, I'll clean it up and make it look sharper in PhotoShop when I get a chance.

My First Bottle of Beer

Here are two more pics. One is me capping my first bottle of beer. The second picture is me showing it off. Aint she a beaut?

Botlling and Aging

Well, yesteday, the secondary fermentation finished, and I finally got to bottle my beers. I am posting a few pictures of the process yesterday. The first picture is me siphoning the beer from the glass carboy to the "bottling bucket". I had to transfer it back to the bucket because I had to mis in the priming sugar which creates the carbonation the beer needs. Once the priming sugar was misxed in, I measured the specific gravity one last time to compare it to the original specific gravity. From this, I was able to calculate the alcohol content per volume. I forgot to bring the calculations with me, so I'll post them next week, along with the recipe I used. The second pictures is me siphoning the beer into the bottles. More pics to come.

Great Beer Skit on Samuel Adams Beer

I love this skit. I never get tired of it.

Second Article Published

I got a another article published today. Hey, this writing stuff is fun! This new article is titled The Legal Issues Of Engineering And Constructing A Microbrewery. The title pretty much says it all. I briefly talk about some legal issues one might have to consider when building a microbrewery. It is by no means all inclusive, and of course, I am not an attorney. So, enjoy! Here is the link: http://ezinearticles.com/?id=633598

Just Found This Online!

Why Homebrewing?

People are already asking me why I decided to start brewing my own beer. What got me started was watching a Samuel Adams commercial on TV. It was a commercial advertising their annual "Longshot American Homebrew Contest" Basically, people that make their own homebrews can send in a couple of bottles of their homebrew to the Boston Beer Company (maker of Samuel Adams) along with the recipe they used, specific gravity, etc. And if they select yours as one of the winners, they will bottle it and sell it. I don't even remember whether or not they pay you, but watching people homebrewing on that commercial got me thinking. I thought it sounded cool. Then, I went to the Samuel Adams website where they have videos of Jim Koch, founder of Samuel Adams, demonstrating all the steps to homebrewing on video. It's free on the website, so I recommend checking it out. To get to the videos. Click on the "Promotions" link, then click on the "Longshot" ad. Then look for the link that says, "Watch the Art of Homebrewing". After watching those videos, I was sold. Then I bought the book called, "Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery" It is the story of a couple of guys in Brooklyn that homebrewed for a couple of years, then decided that they could maybe make some money starting a microbrewery. This brewery became the Brooklyn Brewery. They have been in business for about 20 years now, and they are quite successful. I read that book over the course of a week, and was compelled even more to try making my own beer. So, here I am. I am excited about this first brew, but I do not have high hopes, because there is still so little I know about the art and science of brewing, but that comes with time.

Post From My Mom and Answers

"Pappy & Granny Lake decided to "try" their home brewed beer one week too early! Their Yard sod didn't fare well. Do you siphon yours? Because that is where they ran into problems! They couldn't siphon without swallowing small amounts--haha. Make a nice "Lake" Zinfandel for we wine connoisseurs...
Annie Aka Mom"

To answer Mom's question, I did siphon from one container to another. The trick is to use gravity, and my siphon came with a little tube that acts like a pump. So, basically, you put the filled container on a higher level (like a counter) and the container to be filled on the ground. Then, you place the siphon in the filled container, and lift the top part of the siphon hose pump to get the flow moving. Once the flow starts, gravity takes over.

New Back Yard Installed

This 4th of July weekend I had the new backyard installed. I had the stamped concrete patio and sprinkler and drainage infrastructure put it a couple of months ago. So, this weekend was the installation of new landscape edging, compost, and Tehachapi Turf sod. It's supposed to be good stuff. It cost about $0.33 a square foot. Unfortunately you can't see the landscape edging in the pics, as they are on the sides of the house. I plan on just putting some desert-colored rocks in there for looks. It's very low maintenance.

First Beer Batch Transfer to Carboy

After a few days of fermenting in the primary fermenter, I transfered the newborn beer to the secondary fermenter (the glass carboy). Here are some pics of my baby after the transfer. I look like the proud father of a newborn baby. At this stage it has about half of the alcohol content as it will when the entire process is completed. Also, it is supposed to lighten in color as time goes by. Since it is an amber ale and not a light beer, the color will be "amber" not "yellow". It will sit in this carboy for about a week or so, and then I will carbonate the beer and bottle it. Then, it will have to condition and age for about 2 weeks, before chilling, then drinking.

First Published Article

My first article was publshed today. It is titled Calculus Applications in Real Estate Development. It is just a quick article on how you can use Calculus to improve your profit margin in speculative real estate development projects, such as a new home community. Feel free to check out the link here: http://www.ezinearticles.com/?Calculus-Applications-in-Real-Estate-Development&id=626944

I plan on publishing a couple more articles on different topics in the very near future, so be sure to come back from time to time and look for updates to this blog.

More Pics from the Initial Brew

Here are a couple more pics from the brewing day. The first one is me boiling the wort. The bag in there is a muslin bag filled with the crushed malt grains. It's purpose is like a giant teabag. I boil this for a while, then let it steep. Then later I added the amber malt extract (6.6 lbs) and about an ounce and a half of cascade hops. The second pic is me after I had transfered everything to the primary fermentor. I was just getting ready to put the lid on and place the fermentation lock on the top.

First Homebrew (4th of July)

Today is the first day of the making of the greatest beer in the world. Frick Beer! At least that's what I say to motivate myself while I make this beer. I recently bought this beer kit because I wanted to learn what I considered the dark art of brewing beer. After reading up on it, I realized that it's not so difficult. In fact, it's quite easy and fun! This first batch that I make is going to be an amber-colored ale. Easy to make and ferment (at room temperature), as opposed to a lager which ferments at colder temperatures. As you can see, I will be making about 2 cases of beer in this first batch. This weekend I will brew it, measure the initial specific gravity, and put it in the primary fermentor (the plastic bucket). Then after a few days, I will measure the specific gravity again. If it has dropped to half of what the final specific gravity is supposed to be, I will transfer it to its secondary fermentor (the glass carboy). It will sit there for about another week, where I then add some priming sugar to the batch to give the yeast one last meal and to help in the carbonation of the beer, as I bottle it. it needs to condition and age in the bottles for about 2 weeks, then I can put it in the fridge and/or drink it. I can't wait! I have posted a couple of pics here, and I will post some more as the process progresses.