Well, this could very well be the last log for 2005. Not too much to say, the new Pike tap handles have not arrived yet. I finished off the pumpkin, so now there will be room in the kegerator for the stout. I do not plan to tap it until I got back from Minnesota. My CO2 was leaking, I found a pretty bad leak and fixed it, but it still seems to be leaking. I have been closing the valve on the tank when I am not pouring beers. I hope to get a chance to look at it and try to figure out where it is leaking. I suspect it might be the metal on metal flare fittings. I plan to order some washers/gaskets for them after the holiday season is over.

We transfered the stout to secondaries way back on the 9th, and kegged it last Thursday (the 1st. We also kegged the cider on Thursday. I tapped the cider the next day, and Danika tried it and said it was pretty good. It does not carbonate nearly as well as our ales do. I have turned the pressure on the CO2 way up and shaken the keg a few times now and there is pretty much no head when you pour a glass. The cider ended up having a higher alcohol content than our stout, the stout did not turn out very imperial this time, but it will still be quite good. My keg of pumpkin is almost gone and has aged very well and I like it much more then I did when I first tapped it. Once the pumpkin is gone I am going to put my keg of stout in the kegerator. I will be putting it on N2 and plan to shake it every day for the first week to see if that helps it pour better than last time. We hope to brew one more time this year, but it is getting close to the end so it may not happen. I got a couple more tap handles off eBay, Pike Kilt Lifter and Naughty Nellie. The mapling is not going so well, Marc checked the buckets a couple weeks after we put them up, they were pretty much full, but of water, the rain and the snow filled the buckets, so he created some roofs and put them over the buckets to try to keep the water out.

We kegged the pale on the 16th and Marc tapped his shortly there after. It turned out pretty good, I think it could still use a bit more hops. I still have the Maritime keg in my kegerator, so my keg of pale has not been tapped yet. We tried the pumpkin on the 19th and it wasn't too bad, so we kegged it. Marc tapped his, and after chilling and carbonating, it was a bit better. Definitely not our best beer, but it isn't too bad. I think if we do it again we will use way less pumpkin (or none) and a bit more spices. We also transferred the cider to secondaries on the 19th. We will probably let it settle for a few more weeks before we keg it. I ordered some maple taps, to tap the Big Leaf Maples that grow out here in the pacific northwest. They arrived a while back and Marc and I tapped some of the maple trees on his property up in the mountains last weekend (the 22nd). We hope to get enough sap to use it instead of water for a batch of maple porter. If things go well, next year we may try to tap a few more trees. We brewed the imperial stout again yesterday (the 30th), exactly a year since the last time.

We started a cider yesterday. No brewing involved really, just dump the cider in the fermenter with some champagne yeast and yeast nutrient. We also tried the pumpkin, it did not have much flavor, and the flavor it had was a bit vegetable-ly, so we boiled some more pumpkin pie spices and added some malt extract, and dumped it into the fermenters. We plan to try it again in a week or so, and if the flavor is still lacking, add some more spices.

We transferred the pumpkin and the pale ale last night. I think the pale ale is going to turn out pretty well, but I am not so sure about the pumpkin. The pumpkin had a bit of an odd flavor to it, but I am hopeful it will be better after being the secondary, carbonated and chilled. Time will tell.

Well, we went three months without brewing, much too long, but summer has been very hectic for both Marc and me. The rye turned out pretty well, it was better when it was fresh, as it aged there was a bit too much rye flavor, the next time we brew it in the summer we will cut the grain back some more and cut the percentage of rye down. My Summit handle arrived quite a while back, it was bent some due to poor packaging, so I got all my money back, and I got to keep the handle. I bought a Maritime Navigator Dark Ale handle off of eBay last week. It is in very nice condition, so now I have three of my Seattle handles on the kegerator. We had a party last Saturday (the 17th), I was almost out of rye, and had no other homebrew, so we got a keg of Maritime Flagship Red, and that is what is on tap now. Marc and I finally brewed again on Sunday (the 20th). We brewed the Pris Barbie Pale Ale again, this time we added a bit more boiling hops, and we also brewed a pumpkin ale.

We brewed a double batch of the rye on Sunday (the 19th). We cut back on the grain some to make it a bit more summer-ish. It got dubbed Summer Solstice Rye, since we brewed so close to the solstice. My Summit handle has shipped, but I have yet to receive it.

We kegged the IPA and the remaining oatmeal stout on Thursday (the 16th). I got my N2 equipment set up and used it to infuse the oatmeal stout. Shortly after I got it all set up, I knocked the tank over and one of the gauges on the regulator got bent. I was able to fix it, and it appears to be working again. We used the kegs I just got off eBay to keg the IPA and stout. In the process of kegging, I stripped the threads on one of them and wrecked the keg, I guess I am glad I did not pay too much for it. Two new tap handles arrived, a Hale's Cream Ale handle and a Chinook (RedHook, I assume) handle. I have them on the kegerator now. I am hoping to tap the stout and the IPA tonight. I cannot wait to try our first beer on N2. We are planning on brewing the rye again tomorrow, perhaps a double batch if the weather looks good.

Well I got back from MN earlier this week. It was a good trip, besides all the family stuff that happened, a number of beer related things happened as well. I took some bottles of beer home in my suitcase, none of them broke, but one did open so my clothes were beer soaked. The bottles that survived were well received by everyone except my dad, he did not care for any of them. I got to visit with the brew table, the thing kicks ass, I cannot wait to get it out here. We fired up one of the burners and it shoots a flame about a foot and a half tall. I think it will heat up water pretty quickly. Marc transfered the IPA while I was away (the 5th). My three faucet tower, drip tray, N2 tank and regulator arrived while I was in MN. I got them all set up on Wednesday (the 8th). I now have three beers on tap, the maple porter, the ESB and the pilsner. The three kegs I ordered from eBay arrived. Two are in pretty good shape one is a bit dented, but should suffice. No plans to brew currently, but that should change.

We kegged one of the oatmeal stouts last night, and are waiting to keg the other one once I get the nitro equipment. It tasted a little off, but I think it will be better once it is cold and carbonated. We also kegged the pilsner. It tasted like a pilsner. I leave for MN in a couple days, I will be taking four different beers back with me for my family and friends to try.

We brewed yesterday, The Big Sieradski IPA again. We did not get a chance to get the grain the day before, so we started a bit late, since we had to go to the store to get the supplies the day of. We cut back on just a bit of the grain this time (in an attempt to lighten it a bit), but still managed to increase the original gravity. I think it will turn out as good as the first. I also (finally) received my Hamm's tap handle yesterday. It is pretty sweet, of course, being from MN (the land of sky blue waters) certainly helps. We will not get a chance to brew again for a few weeks, I will be in MN the next two weekends. I will get a chance to see the brew table, and then probably really want to figure out a way to get it back to WA. I got the recipe and specs pages up back on the 16th.

We had a marathon night on the 11th. We kegged the ESB, and transferred both the stout and the pilsner to secondaries. The stout is going to be a great beer, I may even have the equipment to try it on N2 by the time we keg it. The ESB is good, I think I like the previous one we made better, we will see after I have some from the keg. Ask any of my friends, and they will tell you that I am not really one for pilsners, but I have to say ours is drinkable, I think Raquel will be pleased, and that is really all I wanted out of it. I called the TSA and they said I can not take growlers as carry-on luggage when I go to MN, but I can take them as checked. They are a bit big to check, so I found some Grolsch style bottles and am going to do some testing to see if beer will stay good for at least a week in them. Marc and I have decided to get a few more kegs, now we just need to figure out how many to get. No brewing this weekend, but probably next.

We brewed an oatmeal stout on 05/01, and it was the nicest day we had for brewing in quite a while, so it was named Out & About Oatmeal Stout. We plan to transfer it to the secondaries tonight. We also plan to transfer the pilsner to secondaries tonight. Since we only have four secondary carboys, we will have to transfer the ESB to kegs too. The ESB was transfered to secondaries on 04/25. We brought the fridge we were using (that was staying too cold) over to Marc's. I wrote a program that monitors two switches (via the parallel port) and turns the fridge on when one is tripped and off when the other is tripped. We will hook the switches up to a thermometer, and when the temperature gets too low the fridge will be turned off, and when the temperature gets too high the fridge will be turned on. Right now Marc is doing the same thing manually. I am working on pages that have the recipes, brew schedule and information for all the beer we have brewed so far. I should be able to get them up this week. I won a couple more tap handles off of eBay (I need to stop for a while), a Hamm's 60's or 70's style handle and couple of small Leinie's canoe shaped handles. I gave one of the Leinie's handles to Marc, since he won a three faucet tower off of eBay and will need a couple more handles now. The Maritime Nightwatch that was in my kegerator ran out on Cinco de Mayo, so now I finally have one of our brews (the maple) in the kegerator. I figured it was a good choice to have as the first kegerator homebrew. I bought tickets to go to MN in a few weeks, so I will get to see the brew table. I am very interested to see the work my dad did. I am going to talk to Marc about brewing this weekend, it may be the last chance we have to brew until June.

We transfered the IPA to secondaries back on 04/03 and kegged the maple porter as well. The porter turned out great. The keg got tapped a day or two after we kegged it, it was still a little raw then, but after a week of being in the keg it really matured and tasted great. It has a nice maple flavor, not overwhelming, but enough to give it some maple character. When Marc got back from Hawaii (04/16), we kegged the IPA in the morning and took it to a party in the evening. It got rave reviews from the party goers, it was so good, in fact, that it only lasted an hour before the keg was dry. The day after party (4/17) we did a double brew day. We brewed two batches in one day, the ESB again (for Tina's birthday) and now that the fridge was ready, we brewed the pilsner. After a day in the fridge the temperature was staying around 45°, which was too cold, so we had to figure out what to do with it. The fridge was set as warm as it could go, and it was still too cold, it never occurred to us that it would be a problem, oh well, yet another reason to not brew another lager. We decided to put it in the corner in Marc's basement, and it looks to be staying around 54° or so, so if it can stay at that temperature for about three months we should be all set. In non-brewing news, I got a black Pike Pub tap handle off of eBay for less than $13. So, now I have three handles I just need to order that three faucet tower. I talked to my dad a few weeks back, he has the brew table all ready to go, we just need to figure out a way to get it from MN to here.

We brewed the IPA last Sunday (03/27), I think it is going to turn out great. We discussed brewing this weekend, but Marc and his family are leaving for Hawaii this week, so it was better he have some time to get ready for that instead of brewing. We will probably transfer the IPA to secondaries tomorrow as well as keg the maple porter.

The ESB was a big hit at the party, I even had a couple people ask we brew beer for our friends. We transferred the maple porter on Monday (03/21), and sampled a bit, it is pretty good, I didn't taste the maple in it too much, but I think the maple flavor will come out more once the rawness of it settles down. We were going to brew today, but the weather sucks, and I was not feeling that great, so we put it off until tomorrow. We will be doing an IPA, which will probably turn out to be our lightest (in color, not flavor or alcohol content) beer yet. We still plan to do a pilsner (which will probably be even lighter than the IPA), but the fridge situation was not worked out, so we thought it was best to wait. Tina requested an ESB for her b-day, which is in May, so we may do an ESB before the Pilsner too. It seems like we may be brewing a lot over the next few weeks.

Way too long again, so much has happened since the list time. I got my kegs converted into kettles, they turned out very nice (see the equipment page for some photos). Also I made a new sparger (which is also on the equipment page), based on a photo I saw of another one on the web. My dad just about has the brew table completed. I will put some plans up once I see what modifications he made to my original drawings. It is a three tiered system made almost entirely out of steel, and should work very well with the equipment we have. I got three 185k BTU burners from Ace Hardware Outlet online to supply the heat for the system. I will get photos of it up once it is completed, and I have some. The Rainy Day Rye was a big hit at the Pisces Party, I think I take back my other statement about it being a bit light, after having some more of it, I would say it is not that light, and we will probably cut down on the malt a fair amount if we make it this summer. We racked the ESB to the secondary back on 02/24, and dry hopped one of them. We kegged it last week Thursday (03/10), and tapped it a couple days later. It is pretty good, I think I like the dry hopped one better, perhaps more hops altogether the next time. We are having a party on Friday and the ESB will be present, I think it will be a crowd pleaser. We brewed a Maple Porter, Pisces Porter (since we are still in Pisces) on Saturday (03/12), I cannot wait to try it. I have only had a couple maple beers before and they have all been great. We finished brewing in record time, we started a bit past 9am and got done with everything cleaned and put away by 2pm. It was the first time we used all the new equipment which I think helped cut down on the time, the brew table may help to cut down the time a bit more, but mostly it will make the process a bit easier. Our next beer may be a lager, a pilsner, it depends on whether we can find a fridge to store it whilst it ferments. Finally, I finished the second keg of Hazelnut a couple weeks ago (03/02), and now have Maritime's Nightwatch back on tap. Marc and I are going to return the empty Hazelnut kegs tonight. That is it for now.

We brewed today, for the first time in the new year. The weather really sucked, it was about 40° and raining, but other than that the brew session went pretty well. We used the new wort chiller (photos on the brew page) and the thing really worked well. We were not keeping track of the time to chill, but we estimate that it only took about fifteen minutes, and we used about twenty gallons of water, much less than all of our last brew sessions. It was so fast in fact, that Marc and I had barely enough time to get everything in place before the fermenters were ready to be air locked. Since the chill happened so fast the the beer got dubbed Five Minute Chill ESB. The hydrometer broke after Marc took the reading, so we did not get a chance to taste it. After we got done brewing, we racked the Rainy Day Rye to kegs. We did get a chance to try it, and it was very good, some might say it is little light for a winter beer, it will definitely make a great summer beer.

After another long period of no updates, I have a few things to report. First off, I finished my keg of Rouge Hazelnut, and as a reward I get to drink Marc's now. He discovered that he is probably allergic to it and asked if I wanted his once mine was gone. I converted the other keg I had into a brew pot. I just cut an eleven inch hole in the top of it, that is all I will do with this one for now. I am going to have a homebrew store do the rest of the conversion including adding a false bottom, a spigot and a thermometer. Way back when, on the 5th of January we transfered the winter ale to kegs and the rye to the secondary fermenters. A couple days later we tapped the winter ale, it turned out pretty well, probably my least favorite of all the beers we have brewed so far, but still pretty good. We tried the rye when we transfered it, I think it will turn out well. Current plans are to keg the rye sometime this week. Photos from the transfer have been added. Marc and I hope to start brewing again, my schedule has slowed down some, so I should have some time again, maybe Marc will too. With some of the holiday money I received as gift I bought a wort chiller and thermometer. They appear to be very well engineered you can take a look at them here. The products I got are the ThruMeter and the Therminator. We will see how well they work the next time we brew. It looks like I forgot to mention last time that I bought a gas blender to mix CO2 and N2 at 30% and 70%. The blender is actually to blend air and CO2, but I think it should work with N2 as well. I still need to get a N2 regulator and tank, but now that I have the blender I can get the tanked filled with just N2 which should be much easier to find places that can do that instead of places the will mix it in the tank.