Denver Area Winter Beer Exchange

Well here it is again, the Denver area beer exchange for those who are interested. We will exchange what ever you feel like brewing or have available as a winter'ish style beer. The date of the exchange will be January 11th. At the Stapleton Taphouse (in Northfield)1:00 PM. I would like to limit this to 12 brewers again and we will exchange 3 beers (if we get 12) for each participant. The amounts of beer exchanged will vary on the number of participants that show up. If you are interested, let me know and also what kind of beer you will be brewing. I am looking forward to another successful season of exchanging. I will have more details posted soon. Participants:

1. Hernando - American Dark Ale.
2. Putorious - Wee Heavy
3. BlueHulk - Coffee Oatmeal Stout
4. Chessking - Vanilla Robust Porter
5. Harry - Winter Red Warmer Reinbeer
6. Bryan - Wheat of Pine
7. Cory - Maple Brown
8. Botigol - Christmas Saison

Sounds like fun. I'm in. I'll brew Scottish Wee Heavy. I was thinking a Biere De Garde, but not sure it would be ready (carbed) by January...

Put me down for a Vanilla Robust Porter. I will brew this weekend.

Alright, I am picking up my ingredients this week and will get to brewing this weekend. Been tweaking and playing with some recipes.

The wee heavy sounds pretty good and I am looking forward to trying that vanilla porter.
I didn't realize till today that I missed home brewers night at the Brewhut, did you guys go?

I always go. The crowd was smaller, probably due to the weather. I saw BlueHulk there and he is thinking about getting in on this swap. Not sure yet. I told him to man up.

The Wee Heavy is currently Fermenting... Hopefully it comes out good. The wort tasted fantastic. My only hope is that it carbs up in time. I don't have a system to do force carbing, so all my stuff is bottle conditioned. Provided my FG hit's where it should, I should be around 8.7% ABV, might be cutting it close for carb time (so save mine for last .

The BrewHut is quite a haul for me, so I don't make it over there that often.

putorious said:

The Wee Heavy is currently Fermenting... Hopefully it comes out good. The wort tasted fantastic. My only hope is that it carbs up in time. I don't have a system to do force carbing, so all my stuff is bottle conditioned. Provided my FG hit's where it should, I should be around 8.7% ABV, might be cutting it close for carb time (so save mine for last .

The BrewHut is quite a haul for me, so I don't make it over there that often.

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Oh, I think for the most part we are patient and can wait to let it carb. My last batch had to carb another week after the swap and I let everyone know.

putorious said:

My only hope is that it carbs up in time. I don't have a system to do force carbing, so all my stuff is bottle conditioned. Provided my FG hit's where it should, I should be around 8.7% ABV, might be cutting it close for carb time (so save mine for last .

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I still have one bottle each from last the Christmas exchange. Patience I got.

I have a few bottles left. not many though. I just finished my last Juniper Rye last weekend. It was a bittersweet day.

Vanilla Porter is in the keg and cold conditioning. Smells great.

Bottled up the Wee Heavy today, tasted fantastic (IMHO). Came out to 8.1% ABV... now just praying those little yeasties have enough left in them to carb it up in time

Awesome!

So, I updated the first thread and will also let you all know here that we are meeting January 11th at 1:00 PM at the Stapleton Taphouse. I also think we have two of the participants that will not be exchanging after all, unfortunately.

My beer is tasting and smelling great but it will need at least 1.5 weeks after the exchange to finish carbing, sorry for the delay. So we can probably do four or five beers if you all would like but let me make sure that those two are out of the exchange. I am looking forward to seeing you all. Cheers!

Hoping to brew tommorow am. Been a crazy holiday season how about a coffee oatmeal stout. How many beers should I plan on bringing.

Wow... What do you feed your yeast to get them to finish the ferment and clear everything up in 8 days?

bluehulk said:

Hoping to brew tommorow am. Been a crazy holiday season how about a coffee oatmeal stout. How many beers should I plan on bringing.

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Well we have seven participants with BlueHulk (welcome aboard, glad to see you've come to your senses ). So does 4 beers sound like a good number or 5?

putorious said:

Wow... What do you feed your yeast to get them to finish the ferment and clear everything up in 8 days?

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It will be close but if you can pull that off BlueHulk, I would be impressed.

Hernando said:

Well we have seven participants with BlueHulk (welcome aboard, glad to see you've come to your senses ). So does 4 beers sound like a good number or 5?

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I'm happy with 4, but 5 works too. I suspect y'all are probably better at brewing than I am, so I was trying to keep the disappointment to a minimum with you having to suffer through 5 of mine

I like the 4 number..

Only because mine is so good I'd hate to waste it on you Bozos. However if the consensus is 5 I can work with that.

I like the 4 number..

Only because mine is so good I'd hate to waste it on you Bozos. However if the consensus is 5 I can work with that.


Just kidding of course, I dig exchanging beers.

I like the 4 number..

Only because mine is so good I'd hate to waste it on you Bozos. However if the consensus is 5 I can work with that.


Just kidding of course, I dig exchanging beers.


Edit: Hulk! Where you been hiding?"

4 beers it is!

Brand new to brewing. My horrible first batch won't be done until February but this is a cool idea I'll pursue in the future.

Hey everybody, would you mind a last-minute entry? I have a Christmas Saison to offer up

bondra76 said:

Brand new to brewing. My horrible first batch won't be done until February but this is a cool idea I'll pursue in the future.

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Yeah, I'll shoot you a PM when we do our summer exchange.

botigol said:

Hey everybody, would you mind a last-minute entry? I have a Christmas Saison to offer up

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Not at all. Welcome to the exchange.

Since I'm kind of new to this (first exchange), how does this usually roll out? Does everyone bring all their beer into the taphouse with them, or do we just meet up, have fun and then exchange everything in the parking lot afterward?

Also, I'm pretty cheap and usually just write something on the bottle cap of my beers, vs making labels and stuff. Is that good enough, or should I make some labels for you all? Is anyone interested in getting a copy of the recipe used? I'm happy to share. No secrets here.

putorious said:

Since I'm kind of new to this (first exchange), how does this usually roll out? Does everyone bring all their beer into the taphouse with them, or do we just meet up, have fun and then exchange everything in the parking lot afterward?

Also, I'm pretty cheap and usually just write something on the bottle cap of my beers, vs making labels and stuff. Is that good enough, or should I make some labels for you all? Is anyone interested in getting a copy of the recipe used? I'm happy to share. No secrets here.

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What we usually do is take our beers into the tap house. We found that exchanging the beers before drinking makes for a smoother exchange .
We are not allowed to drink any home brews in the tap house what so ever. (just had to throw that out there)

Don't worry about labels at all, unless you feel so inclined to make them. A mark on the cap is perfect. I would like a copy and will bring copies for my beer as well but nobody needs to feel obligated to do the same, you know in case of a secret family recipe or what have you

Other than looking for a stack of boxes of beer, how should we find one another? I haven't been to the taphouse before; don't know the layout.

It's small just look for the people with boxes of delicious grain nectar. You can't miss us unless you're the first one there.

Sounds good. Thanks!

Sorry all, wife woke up with strep throat and is at urgent care. Both the 9 month old and 3 year old are due for naps at 1 and I am on daddy duty since she cannot handle the kids. I am so sorry.

I was going to have to switch to a Rocky ford Saison anyways since I was not able to perform brewer magic and have my coffee oatmeal milk stout finish fermenting although it is tasting delicious. Hope you guys have a great time and happy trading. Sorry again for the late notice. It's how she woke up.

Again so sorry, whipping up smoothies and cuddling snotty babies. Was so looking forward to the beer exchange. May you have all received excellent beers.

Thanks all for participating in the exchange. I am looking forward to trying each beer.
On a different note, my sunglasses disappeared, I'm hoping I forgot them and someone picked them up. Please let me know.

Sorry Hernando, since my glasses were on my head I didn't even check the table before I left.

The recipe (as received in the kit) and label that could/should have accompanied my Saison de Noël (Christmas Saison). There were two mistakes that I know that I made, but I will hold off revealing them until after you have tried it. This should probably be served a little on the warm side. The last bottle that I drank sat in my wine cellar (53F) for a few days before opening and I think that it would have been better even warmer.



View attachment Saison de Noel.pdf

Would someone remind us of which beers still need time to carb?

Orko american dark ale needs to sit probably till Friday.

The maple brown for two weeks

Rein beer at least two weeks.

That's all I remember. I think the rest were ready.


I will try and get that recipe on here for you guys today.

Yeah, I would say my Wee Heavy is on the low side of being appropriately carbed for the style, time will be good for this beer as well, but I drank one I chilled for a few days before the exchange, and I thought it was good. I hope you enjoy them.

here's the recipe for Orko.

Recipe: Orko American Dark Ale
Brewer: Brian Hernandez
Asst Brewer:
Style: Cascadian Dark Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.48 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.98 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.060 SG
Estimated Color: 22.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 82.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 78.4 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
10 lbs 7.9 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 86.5 %
7.5 oz Barley Flakes, Toasted (120.0 SRM) Grain 2 3.9 %
7.5 oz Rye Flakes, Toasted (50.0 SRM) Grain 3 3.9 %
5.6 oz Carafa III (525.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.9 %
5.6 oz Caramel Wheat Malt (46.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.9 %
1.00 oz Magnum [14.00 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 6 49.4 IBUs
1.22 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 20. Hop 7 33.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Aroma St Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) Yeast 11 -
1.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
1.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Dry Hop Hop 13 0.0 IBUs
1.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 14 0.0 IBUs


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 12 lbs 2.1 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 3.79 gal of water at 168.2 F 156.0 F 45 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun, , 4.44gal) of 170.0 F water
Notes:
------
To toast barley and Rye flakes, pre-heat oven 350. Place flaked barley and rye on baking sheet and toast for about 20 minutes shaking the sheet every few minutes.

dry hop for 4-7 days at 55-57 F.

Cool, then the porter and wheat are heading for the frig!

Wow, almost 10oz of hops?!?! I'm really curious about your dark ale now.

I popped a porter tonight and it wasn't carbed yet; maybe another week.