OR/WA Brew Day v2.0??

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

No probelm Don, I know you've got a little side project going on...

So to recap, this is how I see things...

kiltedbrew - ready and willing
blacklab - dropping off this weekend
explosive - maybe dropping off this weekend, maybe next
McKBrew - trying to coordinate with explosive.
evil - well, looks like your choice. If you want to drop it off at any point feel free.

I've got the bugs coming next week.
Cherries...looks like it's a little cost prohibitive
Airlock...check

Another thought I had since it looks like we're going to come in at around 40 gallons for the 55 gallon barrel, I've read that some will blend in a fresh batch closer to the end of the aging cycle. I'd be willing to put up another batch and dump it in say a month or so before the end of the year aging, thoughts?

 

[explosivebeer]

I'm planning on coming down Saturday the 25th and bringing both my and McKBrew's contributions.

As for cherries, I'll check Cash 'N Carry soon unless someone else makes it there first. I also found this site where we can get tart cherry concentrate, or tart cherries in water (scroll half way down the page) for about half the price as in the grocery stores: Montmorency Tart Cherry Juice from King Orchards

Regarding adding more base beer, I suppose we could do that any time, although it seems like the sooner the better in order to reduce head space and get more contact with the barrel. I'm not a barrel expert though so that's just my educated guess.

 

[EvilTOJ]

McKBrew - trying to coordinate with explosive.

The best way to coordinate anything :rockin: :rockin:

I'll be bringing my batches by this upcoming weekend. Since Brewtopia is a lazy git I'll make up another batch in the undetermined future to pitch into it to fill up the barrel.

 

[McKBrew]

It definately looks like all of the planning still ended up with us all not being able to do this together. We need to put the draining date on the calendar now and sign a blood oath to be there at the same time.

 

[McKBrew]

My keg has been transferred to explosivebeer. Thanks Brandon for taking time out of your day to help a brotha out.

 

[explosivebeer]

No problem Jess. I'm glad to help out.

Also, I stopped by Cash N' Carry today and the only cherries they had were maraschino cherries. I think our best bet for those would be to use the site I linked to in that previous post. We can get montemorency cherries for about $2 per 15 oz can, plus shipping. Two cases of 24 would give us 35-40 lbs of cherries for the barrel since there's 11-12 oz of cherries in each can. It'd cost $100 plus shipping. Say that's $110, that's about $2 per gallon of beer we're making. I'm definitely willing to chip in $20 for cherries for my portion of the barrel. What do you guys think?

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

At this point I'm leaning towards skipping the cherries. But if the group wants them, we'll figure it out.

I'm with Evil, and will get another small batch going in the nearish future to help get the barrel filled.

blacklab dropped off his batch today. Thank you sir!

Draining date...October 24, 2009. It's a Saturday. Put it on the calendar NOW.

 

[EvilTOJ]

Sorry, I'm busy that day *runs away gleefully*

I also stopped by Cash n Carry, but all they had were pie filling cherries in high fructose corn syrup. F that! I do want cherries though. This week I'm going to be roaming the country-side buying up various forms of cherry-like product for the barrel. It didn't help that we basically had no spring and the cherry crop suffered this year. GRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

 

[explosivebeer]

Sorry, I'm busy that day *runs away gleefully*

I also stopped by Cash n Carry, but all they had were pie filling cherries in high fructose corn syrup. F that! I do want cherries though. This week I'm going to be roaming the country-side buying up various forms of cherry-like product for the barrel. It didn't help that we basically had no spring and the cherry crop suffered this year. GRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Cool. Good luck with the cherry hunt. Let us know what you find.

 

[explosivebeer]

Hey Brian,

I'm trying to figure out my plans for Saturday. What time do you want to get together to fill the barrel? And what are the plans afterward? I have some friends down there that will probably want to do a little pub crawl and find some interesting beers on tap. Anyway, just let me know what works for you. The earlier the better for me, after about noon.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

Honestly, now that it's just down to you and Evil coming I didn't have a plan. I'm a little lost on what your saying about "earlier the better, after about noon". To me early is before noon. Does before noon work for you better? or is it after noon? I'm totally flexible. Evil, when are you available?

 

[explosivebeer]

Oh, sorry for the confusion. I'll probably be down by 11am or noon. There's a chance that I'll be heading up to Chehalis Saturday night so if we can take care of the barrel earlier in the day and still have some time for trying a few watering holes, that would be best for me. Really, any time between noon and 7pm should work for me.

 

[blacklab]

gonna need some pics of the filling ceremony!

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

Don't know that there will really be anything photo worthy, but I'll snap a few.

 

[EvilTOJ]

I get off work at 7:15 AM on Saturday, so I gotta get *some* sleep. But, I'm willing to go through some sleep deprivation for the good of the barrel so noon's fine with me.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

Why don't we give everyone a little cushion and call it 2:00? Does that work?

 

[EvilTOJ]

2 o'clock is good for me.

 

[explosivebeer]

Two o'clock sounds good to me. Just let me know where to go and I'll be there.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

I was beginning to wonder if we'd here from you today explosive. Watched you get your drink on for near 7 hours last night. I'll PM you the address.

 

[explosivebeer]

I'm glad I could be a source of amusement for everyone watching online. That was very cool that they set that up. And since I had a ride home, I was glad to support Don as much as I could.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

Just a little tease. I've been working on getting the barrel ready and moved all morning I couldn't help myself so I started transferring. Just a note, we almost didn't have a home for the barrel. Got it in the back door OK, but had some issues getting it into the basement. Hopefully SWMBO won't notice...Oh, and sorry for the crappy quality. SWMBO took her camera with her so I had to use my phone.

Anywho, Here is the stand, but no barrel:

Getting ready to transfer blacklab's:

Transferring blacklab's:

My first batch going in:

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

My second batch:

Airlocked and waiting for Evil and explosive to arrive:

I ended up getting the only 6 cans of Tart Cherries on the shelf at New Season.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

Tow more pics...

explosivebrew adding some cherries:

EvilTOJ adding some cherries:

The bugs arrived in the mail just before explosive arrived so they are still chilled. I'm letting them warm up to room temp and will dump them in at that point.

This is exciting!

 

[explosivebeer]

Thanks for the pictures Brian. It was great meeting you guys yesterday. And thanks for the taste of Dissident and your riesling wheat.

 

[thataintchicken]

I showed SWMBO this thread.
She now is convinced we need to move North.


Think happy thoughts yo!

 

[explosivebeer]

Here's a high-quality camera phone picture of Kilted_Brewer adding some cherries and EvilTOJ getting ready to do the same:

 

[EvilTOJ]

Hey, you can't see my face in any of those! Then again, would one really want to look into the face of evil?

 

[McKBrew]

Cool pics, even though I don't see my beer going in. Look forward to next year. BTW, who has my keg?

 

[explosivebeer]

Hey McKBrew, I brought it back with me. Let me know when you're in the area and we can get together. Or if you have any plans to head to Naked City, we might be able to rendezvous there.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

Keg, I don't recall a keg with your name on it McKBrew!

Kidding of course, explosive has it. Totally forgot about taking pics until we were putting the cherries in. Sorry my friend.