No brewing tonight

No brewing tonight, folks. Look our for a HOToberFest update post later this week, however. Enjoy the cool weather, break out the cardigan!

And don’t forget to get your Monday Night discount at Hop City ? simply mention Monday Night Brewing at Hop City to get a discount on your entire purchase of craft beer.

Monday Night recap: “3 Days Late” edition

Oops. It’s Friday. Better late than on the weekend, that’s my motto.

We brewed up some Drafty Kilt Scotch Ale on Monday. Which would have been fine, except we ended up boiling off over 20% of our initial volume. Which is far more than normal. What does this mean? We won’t end up with the 1.070 OG beer we were targeting, but a 1.078 OG beer. We shall see how it drinks!

Also, the weather. It rained for probably half of the time. Fortunately Joel brought a cute little rain slicker. I wish I had taken a picture. It was A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E. One thing I did take a picture of was this:

This is a close-up of our fermentation chamber, which is currently cobbled together from 2 chest freezers, some duct tape, wood, and insulation. Methinks the “Energy Star” rating might now be a bit ambitious. Enjoy your weekend (like THAT’S possible). We’ll see you on the other side, basking in the glorious weekday sun.

Monday Night recap: “Workhorse” edition

This special edition of “Monday Night recap” is dedicated to Scott Williams, showing his best side in the above picture. Scott does the work of three Joels combined (which isn’t saying a ton), freeing up the rest of us to do things like drink beer and talk to newcomers. Thanks for hopping, cleaning, popping, and locking.

We brewed a roasty toasty IPA last night ? a little bit of an experiment, and a tweak on a toasty IPA that will be served in coming weeks. There was some Drafty Kilt Scotch Ale on tap, though it went super fast. Which we take as a good sign. We also sold some t-shirts. They’re selling out, folks, so bring a crisp $10 bill next time you come. We also accept other denominations of bills, checks, and trades for web developing services.

OH OBLIGATORY ARTSY SHOT BOO YA. Consider yourself cultured. You’re welcome.

Monday Night recap: “T-shirt heaven” edition

We brewed another experimental IPA last night, this one with just a hint of rye malt. Our last experimental IPA had just a hint of kilned coffee malt and turned out pretty delicious. It’s a roasty toasty IPA. Look for that on tap in 2-3 weeks. We are still dry hopping it. Also we are apparently on a “just a hint” kick. I blame Jeff.

Despite the oppressive heat, we had a great time last night. This marked the first Monday that we were selling our new t-shirts. So that was nice. They’re going quick ? we are already out of one size/color combo. Make sure you come soon if you want one! The ginger wheat beer was a huge hit (pictured above in appropriate glassware).

Last, I want to give a shout-out to Joel. He had a baby last week and was still able to come to brewing and not contribute in the same way that he usually doesn’t contribute. It was touching. And not at all helpful. Per usual.

Monday Night recap: “How to take forever to fix a hose” edition

We experimented with our signature Eye Patch Ale last night. We’re hoping these few tweaks (including both malts and hops) will get this beer to where we want it before we pull the trigger on launching. We’re adding a new hop, Amarillo, and getting rid of the Simcoe. Jeff was busy “working,” so Joel and I handled brewing operations on our own. Joel, in addition to being incredibly handsome, is also incredibly cheap. Instead of buying a new hose when ours sprung a leak, he opted for the hose repair kit. Which added approximately 20 hours to our brew day.

It’s reverse thread, you idiot! (not really)

Since Jeff was absent, his wife Hannah made the right decision and entrusted me with the baby monitor. You can see it in the following picture. Yep, monitoring babies and draining yeast. It’s how I do.

I don’t know if anyone noticed but it was hot as a chili cook-off in the Sahara last night [trying a new phrase ? yes or no?]. Thanks to all who came in spite of the heat and lack of beer. We love you, no matter what Joel says about your personal hygiene behind your back.

Monday Night recap: “When it rains, we pour” edition

First, I must attribute our post title to Monday Night first timer Jeff. We have been accused of many things (extreme handsomeness, delightfully balanced beers), but copyright infringement is not one of them.

We had some early showers last night, but that didn’t deter us from brewing a batch of Drafty Kilt. Funny story about last week. Apparently Jeff added the wrong yeast to our wit, rendering it less of a “Belgian” wheat beer and more of an “American” wheat beer. While this is a travesty in and of itself, it also meant that we needed to repitch last week’s yeast in this week’s beer. So I will merely ask the question: Is Jeff the new Joel?

Fortunately I think our mistake of a wheat beer will actually taste pretty nice. You can judge for yourself.

Thanks to everyone who came out last night. Stay tuned. We should be brewing an IPA soon. And we want you to be a part of it.

Monday Night recap: “The wit with no name” edition

We brewed our Belgian-style wit last night, complete with fresh-grated ginger. Things went well. That’s all you need to know. But here’s something else you need to know.

We need a name for this wit of ours. It will almost certainly be our 3rd beer, and it still has no name. So here are the parameters:

• Must be centered on an interesting “character” (our beers are always a take on the gentleman in the suit on our logo, see here and here for examples)
• Must be short
• Must not be the name of another beer or energy drink already (we can’t afford any legal fees)
• Witty is good (see what I did there), but not required if the character is interesting enough
• Ginger is an ingredient in the beer but we don’t want to highlight it in the name

So. Any ideas? Leave them as comments. Feel free to add new ones or build on existing. OK GO.