A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

beer

Next up in the brew list…

I have two more beers bottled. Now it’s time to wait it out.

One of them — the White House Honey Porter — is one I’ve really been waiting to try. That will reach the two-week mark tomorrow and I plan on getting one in the fridge quickly. That one is named ObamaBrew and has an ABV of 6%.

The newest — Blueberry Red Ale — fermenting.

Then there’s the Chocolate Maple Porter (named Giddy Up — ABV 5.6%), which will reach the one-week mark this weekend. I let that one go a little longer in the fermenter, so hopefully it comes out well.

This past Sunday, I brewed another beer. This one is interesting and I’m truly excited about it.

The recipe was from the Brooklyn Brew Shop’s book (which is set for one-gallon batches, something I fully appreciate!) and it’s a blackberry red ale (not yet named). Alas, I decided to substitute blueberries for blackberries.

Yum.

Well, in theory.

I’m a fan of blueberry beers and when I started brewing, one of my goals was to brew a good blueberry ale. So I’m looking forward to seeing how this comes out.

But I’ll be waiting at least another three weeks!

This one was also my second all-grain recipe and first where I didn’t use a kit. I thought it went well, but I truly decided I need to learn more about brewing in a bag. Though I’m happy I’ve done things in the progression I have, I’ve also realized when doing a one-gallon batch, going through every step is tedious.

So if I can make it a little easier, I’d like to do that.

Brewing in a bag seems to be that way. Basically, it helps you skip a little bit of time with the sparging and all, if I am reading it all right. In the end, the real reason I’d like to do this is to make it a little more easy with the grain.

I’ve also been reading recently about using the spent grains in recipes. I’m definitely going to go that route to see what I can come up with.

Mashing away.

With this last set, I decided to make some spent grains dog treats. Now, I don’t have a pooch. But each of my brothers do. So I have some for them. It was quite easy to do.

The ingredients were the grain, flour, two eggs and peanut butter. Then, using the oven, dry them out completely. Simple, right? The recipe I looked at said it would take about 7 1/2 hours in the oven (on 200 or so) to get them set, though some ovens are quicker, especially if making them thinner. The treats I made were done in about 3 1/2 hours. The first part of it is when you do the initial cooking, with the oven up around 325. After like 30 minutes or so, you pull them out, cut them up and then back into the oven at the lower temp for another 3-7 hours.

I couldn’t figure out what I’d like to do with the rest of the grain at this point and didn’t want to double the batches of dog treats until I found out if their dogs liked them, so I pitched the rest of it. There will be plenty more batches of beer and I’ll be trying other recipes out.

In the end, it’s a lot of fun figuring out what to do with these beers and with the ingredients after. I’ve also ready one can re-use the yeast, but I’m not that far along yet. So I’ll keep going with how I am doing it.

I have several more beers in the wings and waiting to be brewed.

Next up (maybe today if I get up the energy to brew) is the Caribou Slobber brown ale. After that, I have all-grain recipes for two Dry Black Stouts (think somewhat of a Guinness), a Smoked Cherry (requires six months in the bottles!), my own concoction (2.5 gallons) and a peanut butter porter.

This has been a fun journey so far and I look forward to continued learning to hopefully keep making my beers taste better!

Though I won’t be likely making labels for each beer (tough to get the labels back off. I plan on doing small ones to identify each beer), I will still make them for use on Untappd and Facebook. I wanted to share the most recent ones here, too.

ObamaBrew

Giddy Up

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Notes from my noodle: Apr. 17

A missed day yesterday, but I haven’t had much to say recently.

Well, I always have something to say. I just didn’t have much when it comes to the blog. So, today, I’m hitting up a good fallback posting idea — Notes from my noodle!

The beauty of this is I only have a few ideas as I start and we’ll see where it leads.

So, let’s get it underway.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner

If you are a blogger, odds are you’ve entered giveaways before. It’s a big thing in the blogging world. I wish I could do more of them here, but I have to keep them a little spread out at this point in time. Plus, when dealing with personal blogs, you have to make sure you give things away that are aimed a bit at a larger audience, not just a certain niche etc.

When I read and follow blogs, I’ll often enter. I never expect to win, especially as many are for some big things and attract thousands upon thousands of entries.

Finding blogs recently through the North East Bloggers Network led me to a giveaway. And it only had a few days left. So, of course, I opted to enter. Basically, you earn entries by following, tweeting, liking, commenting etc. So I went through and did things, found a few new blogs to read and so forth. and that was it.

Until yesterday afternoon, when the site’s owner sent me an e-mail entitled “You’re a winner!”

This, of course, I already knew.

But Rachel apparently meant for the giveaway! Out of 3,692 entries, my name was drawn.

Score!

What did I win? A $50 Target card and a $10 Starbucks card, as well as one month’s worth of ad space on four blogs. I’ve never done blog ads and was curious about them, so hopefully this will help me understand it a bit more. Thanks to Krystal, Courtney, Jamie and Rachel for giving ad space as part of the giveaway!

Either way, I’m obviously quite excited about winning the contest. It’s pretty cool to get notifications like that out of the blue saying you’ve won something.

Brewing, brewing, brewing

If you remember a post I did a week or so ago talking about my next plans in homebrewing, I’ve completed two.

The White House Honey Porter and the Chocolate Maple Porter are now fermenting!

Two beers, fermenting away.

The Honey Porter is the one I brewed first. It was a Northern Brewer kit, so pretty straight forward. In the end, it took about an hour and a half and I had it in the jug and going to town.

The Chocolate Maple Porter, well, that was my first foray into doing things a little more in depth. See, this was a full all-grain setup. The mash, the sparge, the whole nine yards. All told, it was a bit more than three hours to pull this one off. But I liked the process. I liked doing it as the kit, one from Brooklyn Brew Shop, said to do.

This one also has a little local flavor.

At the end of the brew, I needed to add maple syrup to the wort. The syrup is some that was just made this year by Gid, a local and friend. I’m super stoked to see how this one tastes. I have to use more maple syrup when bottling, too, so I’m excited to see what the taste is like.

Speaking of brewing and such, I’ve decided to abandon the labels. I’m going to put smaller labels on the bottles to show what the brews are, but I’ll save the bigger, more elaborate ones for online use on Facebook or Untappd. It’s really just a pain to try and get it all set and everything and then have to worry about getting them all cleaned up and such. I think I also might have to start posting here when new ones are done and ready so I can keep track of them.

But these two fermenting now… I’m really excited for.

Bark, bark, bark

I have no true issues with dogs. But man, why do owners have to allow dogs to stay out when they constantly bark. As I write this, some neighborhood pooch (not sure where as there are many) is out — or at least close to a window/door and has been non-stop barking for a good hour. At least. It’s an ankle-biting dog, too, so it’s that yap, yap, yap bark.

Ugh.

I know I am not the only one who thinks this is annoying. I have a few neighbors with these dogs and most of the time, they are all good about it and make sure the dog is in or something if it barks too much. But this dog has not stopped.

Have some control. Train your dog. My lord. When it starts to annoy people all the time, it’s time to realize your dog needs some training. Enough.

OK, I’ve barked about that long enough…

iMessage

If you don’t have an iPhone or iPad or something, iMessage is probably something you wouldn’t care about.

Alas, for those who do…

For some reason, lately, I’ve been having  hard time with it. Sometimes, iMessage works. Other times it doesn’t. At the same time, it will work for one person and not for another.

Annoying.

52-week project

Fifteen weeks are done of this year’s 52-week photo project — the HooHaa 52.

One of my favorite shots so far from the HooHaa 52 — Week 3, Night.

It’s been a fun group so far this year. There have been some fun themes and some really good images. And, for the most part, those who started with us are still going strong. And that’s a good thing.

I’ve been pretty solid so far, but a few weeks gave me fits and I had a hard time figuring what I wanted to do.

We still have a long way to go, but it’s nice to know that people have seemingly made their way through some of the colder months and we are now moving to the warmer months, which hopefully means some more great themes and images.

I know when I see weather like this, I feel like there is more to take photos of and it’s more fun to go out with the camera.

I’m involved with a couple of other photo challenges and I look forward to seeing where they all lead this spring and summer.

Relay fundraiser reminder

I am a little more than a week from the Relay For Life and there’s still time for you to enter the fundraiser for the lap quilt. Don’t miss your chance — this thing is truly amazing!

For the information on how to enter, click here.

Fundraiser: I am, again, trying to raise money for the Relay For Life. If you donate to me — a minimum of $5– you will be entered to win a super-sweet quilted lap quilt or pillow. Click here for all the information!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

A good start with brewing will hopefully keep getting better

I figured I was about due for a homebrewing update.

At this moment, I don’t have anything fermenting. However, I have some things ready and am hoping to start one or two brews this week. I have the ingredients and such for a bunch. Some are easier than others and some are so I can take the next step in brewing.

That being said, I’m sticking with the one-gallon batches. Though it yields just 10 beers, I truly do like the smaller batches. It gives a bit , more freedom, I think, when doing the brews. And I’ve also found a semi-local (about 1:15 away) brew shop that will give me all the ingredients to the correct measurement and everything, so that’s nice. That way I don’t have to worry about screwing that up myself.

The Irish Red.

There is another, closer, place that has ingredients, too, in case I need something quicker.

For the record, I’ve finished four brews. I’m going to list them here with my quick thoughts. Several people have tried each and there’s been different reactions. I don’t think any of them have been bad, so I’m happy about that. They do seem to be getting slightly better as I go along though, which is good.

Please note the names below are what I give the beers. I think it’s fun to try and be clever with them. I also attempt to make labels for the bottles, though I’m probably going to stop that and just use small labels for the name as the bigger ones are a pain.

1. Pee Light (Mr. Beer kit, American Classic Light)

Not too bad, especially for my first one. I enjoyed it. I got pretty solid reviews from friends, but I think we all realized it was just the fact that it was homemade beer that really gave it a good taste!

2. Kiss Me Arse Irish Stout (Mr. Beer kit)

I really liked this one. I still have some left, so that’s nice. We found that drinking it while eating tootsie rolls worked wonders, too. It made it interesting, so say the least. Pretty good overall reviews. I’d make it again. I’d probably switch things up and add a chocolate malt, though.

3. Sláinte! (Northern Brewer Irish Red kit)

Not bad, but wasn’t my favorite. My brother loved it. Others enjoyed. It was my first one-gallon kit. I have two left and they are aging a bit and I hope to see if the taste changes a bit more to my liking. I think I had higher hopes for this one and they didn’t match my original hope.

4. TFTB – Thanks for the Beer (Mr. Beer kit – West Coast Pale Ale)

Named after my love of geocaching (TFTC!), this is a really solid beer. I tweaked the kit a bit and used some Amber malt with it. Has a bit of a fruity taste to it and it’s quite smooth. Probably a perfect summer beer, to be honest. It’s likely my favorite so far of the ones I’ve made.

Those are what I’ve done and I’ve liked the process so far.

The Irish Stout.

I always worry when I start a new hobby how far I’ll go with it. I’m really enjoying this so far and have liked the steady progress. I’m not sure, to be honest, if I’ll jump to the five-gallon kits because that’s a lot of beer. I kind of dig the smaller batches as if there’s a crap batch, there’s not as many to get rid of. Plus, having 50 or so bottles ready to go would be a pain!

Anyway, the future is looking good and I have a bunch in the pipeline.

These are probably in the order I will be making these brews. I have two one-gallon jugs now, so I can basically have two fermenting at a time. I like that because it’s pretty cool to see it all work. I also think I can use my Mr. Beer jugs for this, so I might be able to do more than two at a time if I am really up for it. But, for now, I think having two going at a time is enough!

1. White House Honey Porter (Northern Brewer kit)

The story goes that a few years ago, President Obama bought a homebrew kit for his chef. They came up with a few beers, including a Honey Ale and a Honey Porter. The honey is from bees Michelle Obama has on the premises, too. Anyway, some homebrewers filed a freedom of information act for the recipes, the White House listened, had some fun with it and released it. I’ve wanted to try it and Northern Brewer had one-gallon kits, so I got the porter to start.

2. Chocolate Maple Porter (Brooklyn Brew Shop kit)

I’m excited for this one. Not just for what it is, but because I’ll be using local maple syrup for the beer. One of my friends, Gid, makes maple syrup each year. He traded off a pint of his good stuff for some beer. Fair trade to me. Hopefully the beer lives up to how excellent his syrup is.

3. Peanut Butter Porter (BBS recipe, I got all the ingredients from brew shops)

Yeah, you read right. This has an ABV of like 7%, so I’m really looking forward to it. Plus, peanut butter? Um, yes please.

4. Caribou Slobber (Northern Brewer kit)

One of the originals I bought, too. So it’s time to give this one a go and see what it’s all about.

A future beer…

5. Black Dry Stout (BBS kit)

There’s never anything wrong with a good Irish stout! These were on sale for St. Patrick’s Day, so I purchased two of them. One I’ll brew as the recipe says. The second… I’ll have to see if I’m feeling crazy.

6. Smoked Cherry (BBS recipe, I got the ingredients from brew shops)

This one intrigues me. They say you should age it for six months. It might be tough, but I’m going to see what I can do. I might have to crack one or two along the way. For research purposes, of course. I’m debating getting a second set of ingredients and do two batches when I do this.

7. Blackberry Red Ale (BBS recipe, I got the ingredients from brew shops)

OK, first, this will be blueberry. I’m going to switch the fruit. But it sounds really food and I’m excited to give it a go.

Beyond this, I’m not sure. I’d like to mess around and come up with my own recipe. I don’t know what to do there, but I’m reading about it. So maybe something will come to me.

When I got the ingredients for one of the beers at a local place, I got some “replacement” items. In other words, ones that would work to fill in what they didn’t have. But I went to another place and they had what I needed, so now I have some “leftover.”

That includes:

  • A 1 oz. package of Nugget hops
  • A 1-pound bag of Munton’s Chocolate malt
  • A 1-pound bag of Weyerman Carabell malt

For those of you who brew, any ideas on what to do with these? Maybe the start of some wacky recipe? I’m doing 1-gallon brews, so keep that in mind if you have any ideas. I’d love to mess around and find something out there, so if you have ideas, please let me know! I want this to be my first recipe I’ve just concocted for no reason other than to try and see what I come with.

This has been a fun journey so far and I hope it continues.

I’ve also taken my beer to social media some. Check it out:

If you have Untappd (smartphone app — way cool if you are a beer person. I plan on reviewing it on this blog soon), I made a “brewery” on there where you can see all the beers and such. And for those of you who get to test the beer, I hope you’ll sign up and rate the beer!

I also made a page on Facebook, so feel free to like it. I update it with photos and updates and such.

Fundraiser: I am, again, trying to raise money for the Relay For Life. If you donate to me — a minimum of $5– you will be entered to win a super-sweet quilted lap quilt or pillow. Click here for all the information!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Soundless Sunday: March 17

“You can get some terrible offerings of Guinness if you don’t get it poured properly.”

— Noel Kingston

A Guinness… poured correctly!

Soundless Sunday is a weekly feature where I’ll try and feature a favorite quote and a photo that I’ve taken. Enjoy life — it’s the only way to go!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Notes from my noodle: Mar. 15

It’s been quite a while since I did one of these, so it seemed like a good as time as any.

To lead off, this weekend is St. Patrick’s Day. On that beautiful day, I’ll travel down to New Jersey to hit up a disc golf tournament. This is a tournament I look forward to every year because of how clean it’s run and how fun it is.

I’m ready for some disc golf this weekend!

The March O’ St. Pat’s Madness is likely one of only two or three PDGA tournaments I’ll play in this year, so I’m excited to see the weather should at least be decent.

The other blog I run, RattlingChains.com, is also taking part as a sponsor of the event. So it’s neat to have that be part of it as well.

I’ve actually had the chance to get out and throw a few times, lately, too. I think if I can just kind of plug along and stay calm and have fun, I have a chance — to not place last!

In the end, it’s my hope this is a sign spring really is coming. Hopefully, anyway.

****

Last weekend, I was contacted by a newspaper to cover a basketball game.

I won’t lie — basketball is one of my least-favorite sports to cover. It’s probably because I’ve never been a huge fan of the game. I don’t hate basketball, but I’d rather cover other sports.

Still, when money is calling…

It’s still fun to see a byline on a story I’ve written.

So I covered a sectional championship girls game. It was a sloppy game, but the end result was pretty exciting. The final four minutes really made the game something to remember. One of the teams scored on a three-pointer to tie it with under a minute to play. Moments later, the other team came down and responded with a wide-open three to take the lead for good.

And the best part about small-school basketball? The crowds were huge. And loud. And exciting.

After the game, I did my interviews and and soon after wrote the story. It was kind of nice tapping away at a story. I sent it in and all was good. But the next day, when this paper came out (a Sunday paper), I won’t lie — it was still quite a cool rush to see a byline on a story.

Even after my last stop at a newspaper — despite a sour ending — I still get a kick out of bylines. It’s a nice feeling to see your name on something done, so I’m glad I had the chance. And I’ll appreciate the check even more!

****

OK, people, I try — note try — to eat as healthy as I can. And, for the most part, I avoid fast food.

But this time of year is hard.

Shamrock shakes rule!

Why, you may ask?

The Shamrock Shake! I absolutely love this time of year at McDonald’s when they bring these bad boys out. I’ve been a fan of Shamrock Shakes for years and I usually limit myself to two or so a year. They are, after all, filled with sugar!

I’m at three this year. I know, bad me.

But they are so damn good.

I do wish they’d go back to the old-school way of doing things — in the paper cups with the shake already mixed. It’s not the same in these plastic cups and adding the mint mix.

It’s still pretty good though.

This year, I’ve also resorted to having them done without the whipped cream and cherry, which cuts out some calories and sugar.

Anyway, the ones I’ve had this year have been fantastic. I figure on one more this year and then I’ll let them go away for another year. If you haven’t had one, I’d encourage you to get one before they are gone for the year!

****

I’ll finish this post talking about beer.

As many of you may know, I’m learning how to homebrew. I have an Irish Stout finished and I think it came out really well. And with St. Patrick’s Day coming up…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoohaaphotos/8560117238/in/photostream

I’ve truly enjoyed my Kiss Me Arse Irish Stout.

I’ve had some luck so far. The three that have been bottled and tried already have done really well. They’ve each received pretty good and honest reviews from friends. Nothing over the top, yet, but all pretty decent.

I also have an Irish Red bottled. As of today, it’s gone through that cycle and I can put one in the fridge to try it. Maybe that will be the beer to try when I get back from Jersey on Sunday?

It’s Irish, after all.

It’s been a fun process and I’ve slowly been stepping up from the easy process to a little harder. It’s been a heap of fun and I hope it continues.

Only time will tell.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend and if you are out celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, remember to have a driver and be careful out there!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!