Paul’s Brewsletter

My efforts to homebrew beer against the clock were successful. I was able to brew, bottle and serve a batch of beer in just under two weeks! The beer is a basic pale ale and was pretty warmly received by my coworkers at my company’s annual chili cook-off. Sadly, the dish I prepared didn’t fare as well. Wonder if I can enter my beer as a dish next year? Hmmmm!

I’m planning ahead for the holidays this year. I have ordered and received the ingredients for my traditional cranberry wheat holiday brew. This is always a hit, even among people who don’t typically drink beer. The fruit flavor from the cranberries (FRESH cranberries, mind you) really adds a nice compliment to the wheat beer.

Additionally, I’m considering a Russian Imperial Stout - that one will take several months to complete, per the recipe I’m consulting. I also want to brew one further batch for my brother, who will be going overseas to Iraq in January 2009. I figure I’ll brew the beer and will hold it until he returns.

Did you see my post about the new microbrewery in the New Orleans area? I’m real excited about this, as not only it means a new variety of beer, but maybe a little jolt to the New Orleans economy…something we can all use these days. Well, I’ve outlined my beer plans that will take me through the end of the year. I’ll keep you posted on my progress!

If you would like any of these recipes I’m working on or insider tips on brewing, please sign up for my Spam-less email updates at this link.

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I’ve finished the primary fermentation for my most recent batch, so I still have a fighting chance for getting it ready by Thursday October 9th! The beer is a West Coast Pale Ale, and alcohol content by volume came out to 3.13%. This beer will be drank mostly at a chili cook-off, so I’m not looking for high alcohol since that would overpower the flavor of the food (not good!) I used two 2-liter bottles and twelve 12 ounce bottles in bottling this batch.

It is hard to say if this beer will be ready by 10/9, but I’ve been looking at the bottles periodically and notice the beer is starting to turn clear. In case you’re wondering what I’m blabbering about, one of the tell tale signs of when your beer is close to being ready is the beer in the bottle will clear up so you can see your hand clearly through the other side.

Of course, this doesn’t apply to your Hefe, or wheat beers. And the really dark stouts and porters will be tougher to tell clarity, but you should still be able to.

I’ve decided to start sending out emails with my favorite beer recipes and beer specials to anyone who is interested. If you are, click this link: beer ezine. I promise you’ll ONLY get email on beer related topics from me, so don’t worry!

I’ll be tending to the beer and let you know how it goes next week! I’m going to be brewing a bit during the fall, getting ready for the holiday season. I’ll pop in on you from time to time to let you know how it is going.

Happy brewing!
Paul

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Are you interested in home brewing? Would you like to try some of the recipes I’m going to be working on in the coming months? I invite you to sign up for my periodic updates via email by entering your information below.

I plan on including beer recipes, special beer offers and anything else I think you might be interested in as long as it is beer related. Its like that Heineken commercial said: “It’s all about the beer!”

Let me be clear on something: I despise spam and will NOT give or sell your email address to anyone! You can feel safe registering here knowing that I will only use your email to send you beer related emails.

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Hello again - it has been a hectic several months. Hurricane season has given us a few close calls and some damage in the Louisiana area. Nonetheless, I’m already working on my next batch of beer! This batch is a West Coast Pale ale. Original specific gravity is 1.035 on this batch. I’m hoping to have this ready by October 9, for my company’s annual Spanish Heritage Month chili cook off. I’m entering a dish into the cook off, and plan on adding the beer as a nice side item. That’s sure to help me get some points with the judges!

I’m doing the West Coast Pale ale because it reminds me somewhat of Dos Equis, my favorite Mexican beer.

Did you know that Mexico has been seeing several microbrew beers appear over the past decade? If you’re in the Mexico area and want to try a decent local microbrew, you might check the following out:

Cerveza Cucapá ([Chupacabras Pale Ale], Obscura, and Honey beers.)
Cervecería Minerva (Kölsch, Vienna, and Stout beers.)
Cervecería Primus (Cerveza Artesanal Tempus (Altbier Style))

Hopefully my West Coast Pale Ale will make it in time. I started primary fermentation on 9/24/08, so it is a race against time to be ready by 10/9/08. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Happy brewing

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It has been a busy spring for brewing so far. I have two beers ready to go! The first beer is called Atonement Beer. It is an ale with the added flavor of boysenberries. Alcohol content came to 4.71% by volume for this one. Also ready to go is a beer I call Black Magic (5.85% alcohol by volume). It is a variation of a recipe from the Mr. Beer website. My variation is I substituted molasses for brown sugar. This resulted in a darker color and an unusual taste. It is good, just not the typical beer taste I’ve encountered.

Currently it is Strawberry season in Louisiana, so I’m going to try and make a strawberry beer soon before the street vendors stop selling fresh strawberries. Until next time….

Happy brewing!

Wow, hard to believe it has been ten years homebrewing beer for me already! In that time I’ve…

…brewed beer through approaching hurricanes (that means more if you live in the gulf coast region, believe me)…

…made beer with ginger (not the best idea lol)…

…bottled stout beer in glass root beer bottles (that sure made an interesting impression at parties)…

…made mini kegs (kind of a neat idea but more of a hassle in the end)…

…bottled beer in used 2 liter bottles (laugh all you want, but its a lot less bottles to deal with!)

and of course, I had a great time through it all. My attitude on homebrewing beer is “even when its bad, its still kind of good.” I can’t imagine what the next ten years of homebrewing will bring - I do know that I am having a blast and plan on doing this as long as I’m able to.

Anyway, the Czech the Halls beer made a great New Years brew. I along with several other guilty parties killed off the last of that beer for New Years. Everyone loved it all around. I need to do that one again.

My next brew is going to be a recipe from Mr. Beer called Atonement Beer. I can tell you it is an ale that includes boysenberries. Should be interesting - it probably won’t be ready for the Mardi Gras season, but it should be ready soon after.

Happy brewing!
Paul

Hello and Happy Holidays! I hope you’re having a great time and are getting ready for Christmas - it is fast approaching!

Countdown to Christmas 2007:

I finished off my holiday beer for 2007: Czech the Halls…get it? It is a Czech style pilsner similar to Pilsner Urquell. The alcohol content on this batch came out at 3.89% by volume, which is just fine for me. I typically don’t like to overload on the alcohol content with beer.

Are you still shopping for gifts? I created a page on Paul’s Brewsletter to give you some ideas. Take a look:

http://www.prhsolutions.com/brewsletter/beer-gifts/

You might find that beer related item you’ve been looking for that beer nut in your life…or maybe for yourself!

I’ve also added a Beer search engine on the brewsletter homepage. Check it out!

I haven’t tasted the Czech the Halls yet…will probably do so Christmas Day for my family’s huge get together. Will let you know how it goes!

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Find a wide selection of beer gifts at http://www.prhsolutions.com/brewsletter/beer-gifts/

I’ve been lagering the Red Ale I brewed in October, and I’ll probably unveil that at the New Orleans Concert Band Christmas Concert after party. I just love seeing the looks on people’s faces when I pull out 2 liter bottles (with the original soft drink labels on them, mind you) full of my own beer and start serving my beer from 2 liter bottles. Are they clean? Yes, in fact all the bottles I use for my beer have been sanitized using One-Step Sanitizer. Is this beer competition worthy? Probably not, but I’m brewing beer to make beer I like and beer that my friends like.

I am going to start primary fermentation on my Christmas Beer this weekend. Primary Fermentation just means that I’m mixing the beer extract with water, yeast and the corn sugar to put in the barrel for several days. Once this is done, I will bottle the beer for another week or two until it is carbonated and ready to rock. This beer is a Czech style pilsner. Did you know that the Czechs invented the pilsner style of beer? In fact, the name pilsner comes from a town in the Czech republic called Pilsen. So it’s not just a clever name

Since this is my holiday beer, I’m calling it “Czech the Halls”. Get it?

This probably won’t be the highest alcohol content beer I’ve done, but it’s not always about the alcohol. Besides, you can drink more of them to get the desired effect

Remember to shop for beer gifts for yourself and your friends at http://www.prhsolutions.com/brewsletter/beer-gifts/

I’m going to tell you something a little shocking - beer makes a great gift. Whoa! Did that stun you? Okay, maybe that statement is just a tad obvious. I have recently used beer, specifically homebrewed beer, as a thank you gift for a neighbor and let me tell you, that goes a long way.

My wife and I took a trip out of town over the summer. We asked this particular neighbor of ours to keep an eye on things while we were gone. You’ve probably done something similar time and time again. While you’re away, the neighbor collects the newspapers, mail, etc., that arrives at your house and gives it to you upon your return. Many times as thanks or repayment, you offer the same service to your neighbor when they leave town. After all, that’s what neighbors do, right?

That’s correct, and it should be that way. But how about going an extra step in saying thanks?

For under $50, you can get a kit to make good beer in your home that you can:

a) enjoy yourself
b) share with neighbors as thank you gifts or just gifts in general

This kit comes with simple to follow instructions, and all the ingredients you need except for water and maybe a few extra bottles (used beer bottles or soft drink bottles will do). It doesn’t get much easier than that!

The look in my neighbor’s face when I handed them a six pack of beer that I made for them to enjoy said it all. Do something nice like this for your neighbor and yourself, you’ll both benefit.

Keep this in mind too for the Holiday Season: giving someone a unique gift that you personally made, like homebrew beer, is a really nice touch that shows you went the extra mile and didn’t just get something quick and easy from the store.

Get yourself started at http://prhsolutions.com/thankyoubeer

Today, I write this post not as your friendly musician or home brewer, but as a concerned individual.

The Deutsches Haus, a New Orleans based German social hall and gathering place open since 1928, is in danger of being closed down due to a recent designation of the tract of land on which it sits to a medical center to be built by LSU.

http://www.savethehaus.org/

The Deutsches Haus is a great place to go for German food, beer and music. I’ve been going to the Deutsches Haus for several years now and I always have a lot of fun there. They have great get-togethers every weekend during the month of October, with live Oktoberfest music, plenty of German food and of course the best German beer money can buy: Warsteiner, Paulaner, Beck, etc.

Here’s the website for the Deutsches Haus: http://www.deutscheshaus.org/ I’ve been fortunate enough to play in bands at the Deutsches Haus for different events like their Oktoberfest Parade, Big Band Swing Night and their Quarterly Membership meetings. While they do have a membership system, access to the Deutsches Haus is not limited to members. Their Oktoberfest parties are open to the public for a nominal entrance fee.

In New Orleans, you’re not going to get much more German than the Deutsches Haus. A petition has been created as part of the “Save the Haus” movement, and I invite you to sign it and help the efforts to preserve this important part of New Orleans History.

You can find the petition to Save the Haus here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/savethehaus

Tags

german
new orleans
oktoberfest
beer
deutsches haus