Living the dream....sort of

I left the glamorous life of a DoD contractor 2 years ago to become a full-time, stay-at-home dad which has been, without a doubt, the most rewarding experience of my life. If you get a chance to do this, don't hesitate, do it. In the last 2 years I've seen first-hand the miraculous transformation we all go through from slobbering poop machine to walking, talking, miniature person. The only down-side to the whole adventure was that the only conversation I've had for a majority of my waking hours has been with a slobbering poop machine, now miniature person. So, to those of you I've cornered and rambled at, sometimes on and on and on, I'm sorry, I was starving for talk about something other than what color everything is.

To remedy my problem I decided I had to get more interaction with other grown-ups. I had to return to the workforce. The thought of returning to the life of Defense work I had previously known was enough to make me ill. The money was good, but there is something to be said for wanting to go to work in the morning. I was standing in the tasting room at the Tröegs Brewing Company when it hit me: I needed to work in a brewery. What more noble employment than that in a place where they make beer? None, I say. After a brief conversation with head brewer, John Trogner, during which he encouraged me to apply, I thought "why not?" I love beer. Even more, I love making beer. The combining of water, grains, flowers, and fungus to end up with something so delicious is magical. I had to be part of it.

After several weeks and a couple of interviews, I'm now a full-time employee of the Tröegs Brewing Company in Harrisburg, PA. I'd love to say that I'm brewing, but I'm working in the packaging side of the house. The work can be physically demanding, but I'm loving it. The employees all seem to share a love of good beer and good music. A couple of them even mountain bike. I've only been there a week, but so far, so good.

Cheers

Leap of Faith

In the weeks leading up to February 29th, I saw various posts on the brewing boards about folks planning to brew something special on the extra day of this intercalary year. Most folks were simpling planning to commemorate the day by brewing. I hadn't planned to do anything, but then had an idea: could I brew something big and let it age until the next leap year in 2012?

Aging for four years. That's a long time to not drink my beer. To date my longest aging was a single bottle of a Belgian-style dark strong ale that I lost track of in my basement. When I finally found it, it was 16-months old...and delicious. :)

After a couple beers I figured "what the hell" and started looking at the logistics of brewing an English-style Barley Wine.

"229"
20 lbs Maris Otter Pale Malt
9 oz Crystal Malt (120L)
9 oz Caramunich malt
Target hops - 57 IBUs (60 mins)
0.5 oz E. Kent Goldings (20 mins)
0.5 oz E. Kent Goldings (flameout)
London Ale yeast (WLP013)

Est. OG: 1.100

Brewing this presented some unique problems. The grain bill was easily twice the size of anything I had brewed before. There was no way I could brew this recipe without substituting in some extract in place of grain, which I really didn't want to do. I finally resolved to cut the batch size in half and be done with it.

When I went to pick up the ingredients, one of the shop guys suggested brewing half one day, pitch the yeast and let fermentation start, then brew the other half the next day and add it to fermenter. Brilliant.

By the time I finished up day two, the first day's work was just shy of high kraeusen. Adding more wort to it was the equivalent of adding a 3 gallon starter to a 3 gallon batch. Within 4 hours the foam was pushing in to the blow-off hose that I thankfully remembered to affix.

Check back in four years to see how this one turned out.



Maybe I'll check on it around Christmas...you know, to make sure everything is working out alright. ;)