Bottle day.

Bottling the raspberry, new brix is exactly the same as the previous brix, 10.1. So final ABV on this bad boy is 8.65%. Yowza. Party time! note: brix on batch from last week was 15, this week it's 8.5. This gives us an ABV of 5.9%.

transfer day

holy moly. new brix on the raspberry is 10.1 this puts us at an 8.65% ABV. criminy. this is the highest we've hit yet. that secret ingredient is doing its job apparently. cant wait to try this brew.

brrreeww day

Wow. It's a been minute! Whats up internets?! We're brewing again. Finally. Maybe it's something to do with the changing of the leaves? Or maybe it's because the fall Beer as Art is just around the freaking corner and we haven't started yet! Yeah, that's probably it.

But wait! We're starting now! Brewing a raspberry amber for the show (the one you love, but with a little secret twist that you'll have to come to the show to try) as well as a cascadian dark ale. The names for each are The Stache' Comber and Mustache Rider. You have to guess which is which! ;)

Not going to bother posting the recipe because we have in the past and you can search for it if you so please.

The house smells DELISH! and will holla at you latah! e&p note: brix 19.4. OG 1.081.

IPA feedback

So far... so good! Everyone seems to be loving the new IPA! It's very well balanced, got a great mild bite, a super silky ness in the mouth, and an almost floral aroma. It's realllly good and we are really happy with it :) We are also very excited to see how it turns out next time! Till then :)

bottling day!

bottling the ipa, total bottle count: 24.5 22oz bottles. final brix is 6.5 which puts us at a fg of 1.008 and a final abv of 5.9% (so, no change from last time).

we have also been sipping on a bottle of the ballistic baltic 2 (from beer as art, the one with less honey). it has aged nicely! we are both very happy with it. the hopps are very evenly balanced with the honey, giving it a full front and a smooth finish. you also really get a sense for the honey on the nose. this beer smells like summer in a glass.

we are in the midst of devising out next brew. we have a name: negro chihuahua. its time we made a beer after e's dog. you knew it was going to happen. the style? you'll find that out next week.
::cough cough::
because we're still working on it ::cough cough::


till next time!

e&p

Transfer day!

Transferring the ipa today into 2ndary. New brix: 6.5. Which gives us a FG of 1.008. Still technically a little low, but we were low on the initial as well, so nbd. Current ABV 5.9%. Not too bad. The color is dead on perfect. Kind of an ambery-yellow. You can really smell the hops. This beer is not lacking in aroma. Doing high kicks over here. Till later. e&p

Brew day! FINALLY!!

yay, so so stoked for the smell of a fresh brew!! tonight we are brewing an IPA!

recipe:
0.5 lbs crystal 20
0.5 lbs maris otter
0.29 lbs vienna
7 lbs light malt extract
1 oz magnum (60 minutes)(16.7 AA)
1 oz mt hood (45 minutes) (6.1 AA)
.5 oz glacier (15 minutes) (5.6 AA)
wyeast 1275 Thames Valley
1 tsp irish moss


notes:
brix= 13.2 original gravity= 1.054
the original gravity was a little bit lower than what we were shooting for (1.067 was the goal), a brix of 14 or higher would put us in the proper range, but eh, we'll see what happens :)


in other news, we opened a bottle of the BB1 (the ballistic baltic w/more honey). it has aged very strangely... however, not in a bad way. we think? you can really taste the honey, and it gives it a super silky mouth feel. it's got great head retention throughout a pint. the honey is very noticeable in the aroma, it smells like summer. in a glass. but more honey-y. that was not a type.
next week we will likely sample the BB2.
also! we recently came across some of the ESB that we brewed last fall. it has aged nicely and is super delish.


till next week :)
e&p

Bottling Round 2!

Bottling the 2nd batch of "Ballistic Baltic."
Brix going into bottles is 8.1. This beer is driving me crazy. We must have messed up on the initial reading because this just doesn't make any sense. It still looks and smells totally normal. I guess we'll see :P Total bottle count: 31 22oz.


The first batch is really damn good. Figured we should taste it since it's going to be at Beer as Art in two weeks. It is way better than I (erin) was expecting. The honey is the only thing I would change (and luckily exactly what we changed on round 2). I'm really excited to see how the 2nd batch comes out.
For our record, out of the bottle brix: 10.1. It was 10.8 when it was bottled. Final abv of 5.7%.

Beer as Art is in less than two weeks!! eeeeeeee! Don't know if the second batch will be totally ready but c'est la vie! We'll see you on April 1!


e&p

xfer day

so this beer is boggling. like extremely. argh boggling. we are now thinking that our initial brix reading must have been inaccurate, because the reading we got tonight it 7.5. that makes absolutely zero sense. everything looks totally normal. it smells amazing. tiny taste test is right where we want it to be. what the heck is going on with this beer?

#PerplexityCity

Brew day! Bottle day! It's a holiday!

no work for either of us today so we decided to do beer related things. oh so much better than work. re-brewing the BP, with a few changes. also going to bottle the previous batch of BP.

New BP:
1/4 lb black patent
1/4 lb crystal 40L
1/4 lb chocolate
1/4 lb honey
6 lbs pale malt
2 lbs dry amber malt
.05 oz Willamette hops 60 min (4.7% AA)
1 oz Nugget hops 30 min (11% AA)
Wyeast 1469 W. Yorkshire

heating the honey up this time. still gonna add it to the wort. we'll add it when its time for the wort to cool.

brix: 11.3. Which gives us an initial gravity of 1.046. Brew pal predicted 1.074, sooooooooooooooo, yeah. Guess we'll see what happens :)

Total bottles from the previous batch = 23.5 22oz bottles.

BP

So our final brix is 10.8 which gives us a final gravity of 1.028. Still too high, technically, but we're going to re-brew this one next week. We are thinking that the honey is likely the culprit and we plan to play around with it a little next week. We will likely try to heat the honey up before adding it to the wort and possibly use less (a small taste test revealed that this beer is sweet, more so than we want). Thinking maybe 25 % less honey, heated up, and this should be one damn amazing beer. If you are at Beer as Art on Sunday April 1st you will get to taste it ;)




so, as previously mentioned, Beer as Art is coming up!!! Yay!!! I know you're just as excited as we are, or maybe close :) if you would like to come please continue reading!

This is an event where local home brewers celebrate their art, that of which is fantastic and marvelous beer!

Location: Viking Fire Foundry in Ballard, 4710 Ballard Ave NW

This event is 21+ only, must have valid ID.

This event is RSVP only.

This event is entry on a suggested donation (last year 10$). Very suggested. We don't get paid for this. You can help pay to keep this thing going!


VERY IMPORTANT!!

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY IF YOU PLAN ON ATTENDING:

1) you MUST rsvp to raincitybrew@yahoo.com and CC erin@mtolympusbrewing.com. If you do not rsvp, you will not get in. If you do not rsvp EARLY, you may not get in. This event sells out every time. AN RSVP VIA THIS FACEBOOK EVENTS PAGE IS NOT AN RSVP!

2) if you are unsure of going, PLEASE DO NOT rsvp. This takes away a spot for someone who really wants to go. My own mother was not able to get in last year.

3) if you are coming, PLEASE have a designated driver or plan for getting home. We all get pretty tipsy here, let's not forget.

4) if you rsvp with the purest intentions of coming and find yourself unable to come, PLEASE UN-rsvp so that someone on the waiting list can take your spot.



Are you an artist? Are you interested in making art inspired by beer to be on display at this event? Email erin@mtolympusbrewing.com for details.

Are you a DJ? Do you have your own gear? Are you interested in dj'ing this event? Email erin@mtolympusbrewing.com for details.

xferring

transferring the B.P. into 2ndary today. New brix is 11.5. Totally not where we were hoping (thats a f.g. of 1.047 and we were shooting for 1.027) bah!
oh well. we'll see what happens in a couple weeks. perhaps we will have a session ale. har har.


e&p

first brew of the new year!!!

holy oh my, its been awhile since we posted! We have brewed since sept., although not much. just another batch of our pale, and we forgot to take any measurements so we never bothered to post about it. but! we're brewing right now and posting about it!
here ya go:

Baltic Porter:
.25 lb black patent
.25 lb chocolate
.25 lb crytal 10L
12 oz honey (roughly .5 lb, slightly over)
6 lbs malt - light
1 lb malt - light (dry)
.5 oz glacier hops (60 min) (AA 5.6%)
1 oz galena hops (30 min) (AA 13.4%)
wyeast 1338 - european ale

we are shooting for a 6.0% ABV, a dark and creamy color, and a sharp, but not punch-you-in-the-face sharp, hoppy-ness.

A note about the honey:
We bought a local wildflower honey and we added it to the wort after the boil, while the wort was still cooling (~125 degrees).

inital brix: 16.2
orignal gravity: 1.067 (right on target!!)

damn it feels good to be a gangsta.