Monday Night recap: “Nothing to do” edition

Usually we’re pretty busy on Monday nights, what with the brewing, kegging, and carrying on. We were supposed to be busy this Monday as well, bottling. But someone (I’m not going to say who, but his name rhymes with Neff Neck) carbonated the wrong keg in preparation.

Since all we had to do was keg our Blind Pirate, a deliciously impaired double IPA, there was only about half an hour worth of work to do. Which Jeff and Joel conveniently left to me. Thanks guys.

We had a good crowd. It’s good to know people didn’t forget about Monday Night even though we took two consecutive weeks off. I was a little afraid the weekends were going to make another comeback. Let’s keep those weekends where they belong, folks.

In AMAZING news, who has two thumbs and is excited about sunlight past 7pm?! THIS GUY. Brewing in the summer in the South is so much better than brewing in Craptown, USA.

Monday Night recap: “Puppy fight” edition

Last night we shattered the record for the number of puppies attending Monday Night Brewing. Yes, that’s right. We had not one, but TWO puppies in attendance. After a brief sniffing and licking debacle (I’ll spare you the details), the puppies became BFF’s. There are even rumors that they Facebooked each other this morning. While this was arguably the biggest news of the evening, we also had some other stuff going on. We brewed another batch of our Belgian wit. Despite the absence of Brewmaster Jeff, Joel and I managed to hit an original gravity of 1.052 on our projected 1.053. As we all know, you are supposed to round up your gravity readings, so we actually hit our target on the nose. Plus, the fresh grated ginger threw us off by .001, as it will often do.

I made an important discovery last night. It is entirely too easy to sound like you know what you’re talking about with hops if you throw out words like “alpha acid,” “lupulin,” and “rhizome.” Seriously. It should be illegal for me to use those words without passing some sort of test.

Meanwhile, back at the bat cave, Joel kept on trucking with our chilling setup. We got the wort down from boiling to 78 degrees in around 13 minutes. In 90 degree weather. Lesser brewers take note, Joel is a master of ice and copper. That’s why we call him the Ice Queen. Thanks to everyone who came last night, and a special thanks to the puppy owners out there. Monday Night salutes you!

Monday Night recap: “Cool that wort” edition

Despite a 2.5 hour long sparging debacle (our first attempt at a mashout), we ended the night at about 10pm. Thanks to Melvin. Melvin, avid homebrewer and self-proclaimed super genius, was kind enough to let us demo his chilling system as we think about upgrading our current setup. Blah blah blah, submersion pump in ice water, blah blah blah, recirculating wort over immersion chiller, blah blah blah. Let’s skip to the good stuff. From boiling wort to 70 degrees in 12 minutes.

That. Just. Happened. In case you’re interested in the details, the setup is essentially this. Thanks again to Melvin for the link.

We brewed an original India Brown Ale recipe (not a clone like some other brewers we know and do not respect). This was a first for us, so we’re excited to see how it turns out. Heavy on the hops and medium-bodied. (Don’t tell Jeff, but even though the recipe called for .15 lbs of Chocolate Malt, I added .18 lbs).

In other, perhaps more important news, Joel revealed his true colors last night after Andrew brought him one of his favorite adult beverages, Bacardi Silver Mojito. Witness the presentation ceremony. Note: No Bacardi Silver Mojitos were harmed in the making of this blog post.

We build a new hop trellis. And no one notices.

We got fewer compliments than expected on Monday on our brand-spankin’-new hop trellis. Which leads me to believe that beer lovers are insensitive and/or unobservant. Here she is, compliments of Jeanine and her camera:

We built it last Sunday, just in time for our hops to join in the race to the moon. They’re competing against some lesser known Soviet hops, but will probably win considering how fast they are growing.

If you want to build your own hop trellis, it’s surprisingly easy. All you need is a Joel to tell you exactly what to do. Joel is pretty handy with this kind of stuff, which is why we keep him around after outsourcing his primary job functions.

But seriously, we dug some holes and put in the posts with Quikrete. Jigsawed the top boards and screwed them in. Cut the crossbeams with a 45° miter saw and drilled them in. It’s all very manly.

Check these Cascade bines out. They make some lesser brewer’s hops look positively adorable in comparison.

MNB gets a new stalker

Well, well, well. Now we know what Britney Spears feels like. Because it’s only when you’re truly popular that you get the weirdest of all stalkers.

Yesterday I was alerted to the fact that there is now a @FakeMondayNight on Twitter. Whoever is behind the account not only took our Twitter background and icon, but he/she also took my NAME. Not cool. Thus far they’ve only tweeted relatively tame things. But who knows when they’ll turn. Here’s an example:

So here’s what we’ve got on them:

• They know beer. (Who else would talk about a Sinebryoff Porter?)
• It’s not Joel. He’s not smart enough.
• It’s not Jeff. He doesn’t know how to use the internet.
• It might be Travis. Oooooh, Travis.

First person to leave the comment, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” gets a kick in the pants. Because I’m officially re-writing the phrase: “Imitation is the sincerest form of oh HELLLL no.”

Come forward, @FakeMondayNight. Let’s talk this out. If you have any information leading to the unveiling of this imposter, please let us know. Free beer and a pint glass goes to the informant.

Beer wars: Travis gets a new website. It sucks.

A little while ago our mortal enemy Travis got himself a brand new website. I know what you’re thinking: But isn’t that like putting lip stick on a dead possum? Yes. A dead possum that can’t brew a decent beer.

And we’ll be the first to admit: we’ve given Travis and his merry crew of misfits a little too much leeway lately. Frankly, I think it was our pity that led us to leave him alone. Brewing crappy beer up in St. Buttcrack, New York in the dead of winter. It’s a sad story. We actually tried to send him a care package, but the post office wouldn’t deliver that far north. Next step is to hire an eskimo and a moose to make the trek for us.

It’s easy to forget about him. I mean, our beer is pretty awesome. And we don’t waste our time with Bud Light clones. So Travis, we raise a glass of quality beer to you. I hope things pick up for you soon. May your new website not suck as bad as the old one.

Note: our war with Travis is an ongoing saga of good over evil. See past battles here (or his versions here).

Breckenridge Vanilla Porter, come on down!

There are some weeks that leave you craving a particular beer. The frigid Atlanta winter is upon us, and while it’s not as cold as the homes and hearts of some people, it’s still too dern cold for me. The temperature, plus the busier-than-usual work week, has put a craving in my belly. A craving that can be satiated only by Breckenridge Vanilla Porter.

If you haven’t had this beer, you’ve probably got some reservations. Vanilla is a touchy ingredient, and can overpower a beer with ease. But this beer does it right, and is perfect for the winter months. If you see it on the shelf, pick up a 6-pack and let us know what you think.

But seriously, it’s like drinking candy from a glass. Mmmmm. And as the marketing dork, I’m also a huge fan of their label and 6-pack carrier. It may not stand out as much as some of the others, but it’s got a nice subtley about it. It reminds me of those old snake oil medicine ads.