Beer was not brewed in 2024!  Some things were brewed, mainly Kombucha, but 2024 was a year for vacations, a cruise to the Mexican riviera, Europe for 10 days (See picture from Pula Croatia), and a week in Cancun, where my cousin and her husband graciously invited us to their place on the beach.  2025 is shaping up to be busy!  We have a family reunion in August, and Gary and I will be brewing beer for that.  I’ll likely due my SNPA (Sierra Nevada Clone) and he’s been talking about an american wheat.  This server has been down for quite some time, I dont check on it often.  Apparently when there was a power outage, the backup battery was dead and it lost its brains.  A replacement battery fixed that.  Take care!

What a year… COVID sucks!  Rest in peace Rick.  Rick was a good friend.

Beer brewing was light this year, only four batches total, but I did try kveik yeast!  I love the stuff!  It’s the perfect summer yeast!   I made a nice pale ale and fermented it at 85f, and that was on the cold end!

The final year end brew will be a 16 gallon batch of Snagtooth Pale Ale, which I’ll brew a few days after Christmas.  I’m going to try using Marris Otter two row for the first time, and I make make a Sam Adams clone for the first brew of 2022.  Lagers are easier to ferment during the cold winter months.

Russ

It’s been a pretty boring year….

Continue reading Looking Back on 2017 →

Continue reading Boston Lager Clone Tasting – The report →

What a mess!  My first decoction brew is a success!

Continue reading Triple Decoction Lager Part Zwei →

I havent brewed a lager in nearly 20 years and I’ve NEVER done a decoction mash.   Continue reading A triple decoction lager? →

I was over at Ron’s place a few months back and he had some 10 Barrel “Joe” IPA.  I’ve always liked brews from 10 Barrel in Bend Oregon, and decided to see if I could clone it.  I’m not one to reinvent the wheel, so the first place I started was the internet and a search with Google.

Continue reading Samm I Am →

It’s been a busy summer, filled with Alaskan and Washington salt water fishing, so I’ve been quite busy with boats and fishing gear and haven’t had the time to write much. I’m not much of a writer and owning my own blog has been at times difficult. But the fishing was good, and the brew days were plentiful.

Continue reading The end of the summer of 2015 →

I brewed a new-to-me recipe a few weeks ago, a Blonde Ale called Centennial Blonde.  It’s now sitting in the fermenter waiting for me to fine and prime it.  It had a low OG and didnt take much grain to make but I have a feeling it will be a favorite on a hot summer day.  Tasting it from the test tube, it’s not highly bittered, very light and malty tasting.

Continue reading New recipes, new yeast, new new new…. →

I’ll be brewing a my favorite pale ale this weekend, a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone I call “Snagtooth Pale Ale”. I typically use White Labs WLP-001 yeast on this beer but this time I’ve decided to try a cheaper alternative, Fermentis Safale US-05, which has good reviews and is supposed to be the same yeast.

Continue reading Snagtooth Pale Ale →