Rain and Bourbon and Mini-Kegs

Recently Chicago has been looking more like Seattle, with rain happening more days than not.  Today's Cubs game was postponed until June, and my softball games have been cancelled for two weeks in a row.  This has given me ample opportunity to drink both Bourbon and Beer.

Being both a lover of Bourbon and lover of Chicago, it was only natural that I would get my hands on the first whiskey distilled in Chicago since prohibition.  While technically a Bourbon, we will let it slide for the sake of this post.  Sitting on my liquor shelf has been a bottle of Lion's Pride Organic Rye whiskey.  Let me tell you, this stuff is quite delicious.  The initial sip has a slight oak flavor, followed by hints of vanilla on the way down.  This stuff is smooth. Lion's Pride offers both light and dark whiskeys in a variety of grains from wheat to rye to millet.  More information can be found on their site here.

On the home-brewing front the Duck Fart Single Hop Ale seems to be about ready for consumption. With this brew, I tried something new re-using a Coors Light Home Keg.  This made bottling much quicker and easier. I am going to try tapping the keg tonight and will update this post with the results.  The first tastings of the beer showed promise, although I still thought it need a few more days to bottle condition.

Stay posted for my first in a series about MLB teams and beer sponsorship.

Duck Farts, OG, and Cubs win

Today was brewing day for the Seal Ale (see my previous post to learn more) and the actually brewing part went off without a hitch.  My brother Greg helped out and things went very smoothly.  However, when it came time to measure my OG (original gravity, not gangster) it was quite a bit lower than my target.  The target was 1.048-1.052 and I measured 1.034. Ouch.  I think the cause may be the low amount of water I used for my mash in, which was 3.25 gallons.  I think I needed maybe 4 or 5.  This was calculated using this mash calculator.  I am worried this beer will have a significant lack of body, but maybe I will just end up with a low alcohol "near beer".

Here are a few pics of my brewing setup during the mashing process:

Today I also tried a single hop pale ale I brewed a few weeks ago. It was brewed using Centennial Hops for both bittering and aroma additions.  This was the first time I have tried it since it was bottled.  I think it needs another week but has a great hop flavor.  I also decided to name it Duck Fart. Look for a label in the future.

Finally, today was a big win for the Cubbies.  A come from behind victory against the Dodgers.  Starlin Castro and Darwin Barney are providing this team with much needed offense, and its great to see young, farm system players tearing it up.  Ryan Dempster still does not look that great out there, but today his offense picked him up.

Stay tuned for history of MLB teams and the breweries and beers associated with them starting this week.

California Common (Steam) Beer and the San Francisco Seals

For my first legitimate post and next batch of home-brew, I am brewing a California Common style of beer, popularized by Anchor brewing with their Steam beer.  This type of beer is an pale ale, but it utilizes a bottom fermenting lager yeast as opposed to top fermenting ale yeast.  Originating in San Francisco, Steam beer has been brewed since the late 19th century, and is as old as baseball.

One of the earliest professional baseball teams in San Francisco was the Seals, a minor league team and  charter member of the Pacific Coast League. The Seals once played 230 games in a season, a minor league (and probably major league) record.  The Seals played until 1957, when the Giants came to town and were forced to move to Arizona.  Notable alumni include pitcher Harry Feldman and Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio.

The recipe for my "Seal Ale" will be as follows:

• 8.5 lbs 2-row Base Malt
• 0.75 lbs Crystal Malt 40L
• 0.5 lbs Dextrin Malt
• 1 oz Northern Brewer Hops for 60 min
• 1 oz Northern Brewer Hops for 15 min

The OG target is 1.048-1.054 and the target FG is 1.011-1.014 with an IBU range of 30-45.  I hope to post a post-brewing update after I brew.

Also a Cubs update, they lost today 12-2 to the Dodgers on a rainy April afternoon.

Baseball, Beer, Brewing and Blogging

So this is pretty exciting. My first blog ever.  Hopefully you can get as much out of reading my posts as I will writing them.  To elaborate slightly on my intent, I hope to share my limited knowledge and insights into all things starting with B, especially Baseball, Beer, Bourbon and Brewing.  Maybe you find a cool little nugget of baseball facts, or maybe find your new favorite beer.  Or maybe you become inspired to brew your own special beer.  Lets see if we can make some goals shall we....

• Bring interesting or offbeat insights to baseball to your knowledge, including but not limited to sabermetrics, ball-parks, baseball history, how the Cubs are doing, etc
• Introduce you to some new beer brands or styles, and somehow tie that into the baseball theme (or not)
• Show you some delicious bourbons
• Share my homebrewing experiences, recipes, and beers with you.

I have no idea how all this will fit together, but who knows maybe we can make it work.  So sit back, crack a beer, turn on the game and enjoy. 

Darren

PS: First legit post to come this weekend.

EDIT: I decided to add bourbon as a killer B