Batch #61

After a morning of cleaning the chimneys and the gutters, I dove into making an IPA for Claire. Since it has been a pretty busy summer at the shop, I hadn't made beer for quite a while. A good customer of ours at the shop brought me some Cascade hops he had grown himself. After drying them, I ended up with 8 ounces. I used it all. Using fresh hops is always a little bit of a chore since you end up with "volleyball" size bags of hops floating around in your beer.

Beer # 61
Date Oct 14, 2014

Description A good old fashioned IPA using the Cascade hops from Craig.


Yeast White Labs #001 California Ale (with yeast starter)

Grain Bill Quantity Grain
28 lbs Northwest 2-row
1 lbs Caramel malt (20L)
1 lbs Carapils
1 lbs Corn sugar

Hop Schedule Quantity Hop Schedule
2 oz Magnum Mashout
2 oz Magnum 60 min
3 oz Cascade 45 min
2 oz Cascade 30 min
3 oz Cascade 10 min
2 oz Simcoe 10 min
4 oz Dry hop

- Posted by Chaz

Fresh Hops

Thanks again to Craig who brought by some of his Cascade hops that he had just picked the day before. I was hoping to do a beer with the "wet" hops, but since I won't be brewing for at least a week, I have them drying in the basement.


- Posted by Chaz

2014 Giant Link

Well, Claire and I have spent the last three days down in Southern California checking out the new 2015 line of Giant Bicycles and gear. It is always an exciting time of the year for us. Even though it is hard to get away from the shop during this busy time, it does give us a little boost and a chance to demo some incredible bikes.

The first evening Claire and I both chose to take out Giant's newest carbon endurance bike. I was on a Defy Advanced and Claire was on the Avail Advanced. Both bikes were equipped with hydraulic road brakes from Shimano. We did a challenging ride out to the beach for a BBQ set up by the folks at Giant.

Later in the evening I got a little crazy on a Giant Reign.


- Posted by Chaz

Location:Southern California

Old Caz Loop

I hadn't posted anything in ages, so I thought I would just post a random ride. This is one of our favorites. We parked at the bakery in Cazadaro and took Austin Creek Road out to the highway. We then headed towards Guerneville and made our way over Duncan Road. The pictures are of the top of Old Cazadaro Road and of the descent into Cazadaro. Here is the link to the Garmin Map.





- Posted by Chaz

Beer making day, finally

It has been a busy couple of months with the move of the bike shop, so I have not had the chance to make any beer since September.  In fact, except for some chocolate stout, we have run out of beer for the first time in 4 years.  Since Monday and Tuesday were our first multi-days off since the middle of November, I dedicated Monday to making two batches of IPA.

For the most part it went very smoothly.  I did have to chase down a Fed Ex driver who had driven over the top of my wort cooler.  That caused a little excitement during the second batch.

Checking the mash temp

Where it all happens

Chasing the FedEx Van

Beer #	52
Date	Jan 12, 2014
Description	Just a good solid IPA with the Magnum hops doing the bittering work and some "citrus" hops for the aroma.
Yeast	WLP #001 CA Ale Yeast
Grain Bill	Quantity	Grain
	28 lbs	2-row pale malt		12.7 kg
	2 lbs	Caramel Malt (40L)
	1 lbs	Carapils
Hop Schedule	Quantity	Hop		Schedule
	2 oz	Magnum		Mashout
	2 oz	Magnum		1h
	1 oz	Cascade		15m
	2 oz	Crystal		15m
	2 oz	Citra		5m
	2 oz	Citra		Dry hop
Alcohol %	OG	FG	%
	1.064
Notes	Everything went pretty smoothly. I had the mash at exactly 154 degrees, but I may not have had my water temp up high enough during the lautering.

Beer #	53
Date	Jan 12, 2013
Description	Racer 5 Clone with some extra hops here and there
Yeast	WLP #001 CA Ale Yeast
Grain Bill	Quantity	Grain
	26 lbs	2 row
	4 lbs	American Wheat
	2 lbs	Caramel Malt (20l)
	1 lbs	Carapils
Alcohol	OG	FG	%
	1.060
Hop Schedule	Quantity	Hop		Schedule
	1 oz	Columbus		1h
	2 oz	Columbus		20m
	2 oz	Cascade		20m
	1 oz	Columbus		10m
	2 oz	Cascade		10m
	2 oz	Amarillo		Dry Hop
	2 oz	Columbus		Dry Hop
	2 oz	Centennial		Dry Hop
Notes	I haven’t made this one in a long time.  I was a little low on the mash temperature, but that was the least of my problems.  Just before mashout, the Fed Ex driver drove over the top of my wort cooler.  I only noticed it when I walked out to check some temperatures and I saw it smashed in the driveway.  I ran down the street and chased her for about 4 blocks before catching up with her.  Luckily she was lost.  I confronted her and she said that I should not be leaving it in the road and that she was concentrating on street numbers and not what was in the road.  Anyway, she was not to sorry about the situation.  We called Fed Ex and lodged a complaint.  Anyway, when I got back after the chase, the sparge water was way too hot, I had to add some cold water to cool it down.  The mash was also at the end of its time, so I had to rush.  I think it is okay.  I was able to straighten out the wort cooler, but it has some extra leaks and some of the tubing is on the verge of cracking.