A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

hoohaa brewing company

Back at it — brewing some beer for the first time in a while

It’s been a while since I brewed a beer.

So, I took advantage of a snow day to get a couple done up. And it was nice to get back to brewing. That being said, I hit up a couple of easy kits, but to me that’s fine as it got me liking things again. Which means I now need to start brewing more.

Two beers a fermentin'!

Two beers a fermentin’!

I have a bunch of things that I had gotten a while back — so I hope none of the ingredients have gone bad. I’m honestly not sure how that all works, but I’ll find out in a few weeks as these two beers start to take shape.

And then I’ll start brewing all the others.

I think what I’d like to do for the next couple of months is try to get some of these beers rotating and brewed. I only do the one-gallon batches, so it’s not too bad. This might mean a trip to a brew shop to get a couple of one-gallon jugs so I can have 3-4 fermenting at once. And I might need to get some new bottles to have them handy. The beauty of the one-gallon batch is that you only get like 9-12 beers out of it.

The initial reading off the first beer.

The initial reading off the first beer.

On the other hand, I do have a couple of two-gallon batches, so I can use the old Mr. Beer kegs for those.

I’m excited for these because I haven’t brewed in a long time. The smell on each was good and I had a slight taste of each, and liked the flavors. I’ll be excited to see how it moves along with the yeast and all the good stuff. Bring on the beer!

I’ll also have to think of the name for these beers as I like to keep the beers in my “brewery” on Untappd.

By this point, I had expected to be way further along in my brewing. I still have a lot to learn and looking at several feeds on Instagram makes me realize that. It’s amazing some of the things people know and can do when it comes to brewing.

For now, I just keep it simple.

And in about a month, I’ll get to see what these two beers taste like. Hopefully pretty tasty!

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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!

Getting more in-depth with the homebrewing process

By the time this actually posts, I’ll hopefully have three — maybe four beers — bottled and maybe a couple tested.

I was stoked when I successfully brewed, bottled and tasted my first homebrew, titled “Pee Light.” It’s not something you’ll see on shelves anytime soon, but I’m pretty happy about seeing it through and working on the process.

The reviews from friends weren’t bad. I enjoyed it, too. So hopefully that’s a good sign.

The best part about this is knowing I made beer.

The first beer from the HooHaa Brewing Company! Pee Light.

I. Made. Beer.

Awesome.

Alas, the road is still long.

Since my initial Mr. Beer batch of the Pee Light, I have brewed and bottled the Irish Stout via Mr. Beer. Currently, I have an Irish Red in a one-gallon carboy, fermenting up and getting ready for bottling. By the time this publishes, I’ll have already bottled it and hopefully started at least two more beers.

Since I started, I’ve done quite a bit of reading on the brewing world. I’m learning more and more about homebrewing and I can’t wait to keep moving forward in this process.

While I still plan on using the Mr. Beer system, I’m also going to start working with grain brewing. To do that, I’ve stepped up to the one-gallon setup, which I got through Northern Brewer. There are good and bad points to this.

The good is that it’s a smaller batch. For me, that’s nice because I don’t drink a whole heap of beer. I like to savor and enjoy. A one-gallon batch hooks me up with about 8-10 bottles, all pending.

Another positive? If the beer stinks, I don’t have to figure a way to get rid of five gallons worth (if I had gone the full brew route).

There are some negatives, however.

For one, I like to make sure people get a chance to taste the brew. But 8-10 beers can go quickly. And if I truly enjoy it myself, well, it stinks if I only get one. So I’m coming up with a different way to do “tastings.” The other negative — if you brew a really good beer, you only have 8-10! That’s OK though, because you can always make more!

But one thing I’ve realized is how much I love this hobby.

Like I needed another hobby, right?

Geocaching, playing disc golf, playing softball, running two blogs and photography isn’t enough?

Apparently not.

The best part about brewing is outside of the brewing day, the hobby is more of a patience game. I have gotten into full brewing yet, so I’m sure once I do that it becomes more time-consuming. Still, there’s a lot of waiting.

Readying the first one-gallon batch — an Irish Red Ale.

Plus, in the end, what a great payoff?

Eventually, I’m sure I’ll want to step up to the five-gallon setup. For now, I love the idea of one gallon. I have a few beers I want to make and I have a one-gallon recipe book that has me stoked to try some interesting recipes (and, to be honest, probably wouldn’t be a beer I’d want to have two cases worth!)

I also decided I want to make some brewing goals. These have no timelines, but are things I’d like to do.

  • Brew both White House beers (I have the porter set to be made, will need to get the ale)
  • Brew a full blueberry beer
  • Create my own beer (using no kits, through research, trial and error etc.)
  • Enter a beer in a competition (I realize to do this, I’m going to need to dive in much deeper and see how to develop my own!)
  • Step up to five-gallon batches

I’m sure there will be more goals I’ll eventually add. For now, these are the major ones.

This process, thus far, has been fun and I’m learning more each batch. The Irish Red was fun because I had to do more in-depth things, such as steep grains and add the hops and such. Some of the other recipes I’ve seen are going to require me to do more, such as longer boils etc. And I like that as it gives me things to learn each time, thus making it so I can ease my way into the brewing world a little more each time.

The best part is how fun it is. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of beers I can brew and, one day, develop!

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

Homebrewing update: One bottled, another fermenting

The first batch is bottled and in the carbonation process.

I’m digging this homebrewing stuff.

In between applying and searching for jobs, it’s made for a great way for me to dive into something and learn. Who knew it was so in-depth, this homebrewing stuff?

Now, I’m currently using Mr. Beer. For my first two batches, I haven’t done anything more than the basics.

Right now, I have my first (American Classic Light) in the bottles. They’ve been in there a week and I’m going to give them another week or so before putting them in the fridge. I’m going with the two-week period many seem to say you should do for the bottling stage. I’ve kept them in a cooler, which has allowed me to keep a constant temperature.

The wort of the Irish Stout.

On the same day I bottled, I also started my second brew — St. Patrick’s Irish Stout.

The future is also going to hold a West Coast Pale Ale and a blueberry beer.

But, let’s go over what I have learned before moving to the next things.

One thing I’ve discovered is I’m really interested in the process. I’ve always paid attention on brewery tours I’ve taken, but all that talk — wort, mash, this that and the other — always meshed together. Now I have to actually understand this stuff.

With Mr. Beer, it’s a pretty basic thing (though, by reading several forums, there are ways to make it way more in-depth), which is good for now. From beginning to end, it takes me about 45 minutes to do a brew.

That includes sanitation, making the wort and getting it all ready.

But if I’m going to wait 5-6 weeks to drink this beer, I need to have more time invested in making it. That is coming, for sure.

There’s one thing I’ve realized with the first batch, which I bottled in the Mr. Beer plastic bottled — two gallons is a lot of beer. I have eight 1-liter bottles all set, which appears to be about a case of beer.

I used a hydrometer for the first time with my second batch.

As somebody who drinks maybe two or three beers a week, that’s a lot. And I want to brew beer to keep it running so I can continually try something new. With case after case, that’s going to be tough. Sure, I can bring them to people’s houses, but what if I get a crap batch? That’s a lot of bad beer to stomach!

So, I’m investing in a smaller item through Northern Brewer, a homebrewer supply company. They have it set up for one-gallon batches, which will apparently yield be 10-12 beers.

Not only that, I’m going to have to do more in-depth brewing, which is something I’d really like to do. You have to worry about hops and all that and when to put things in.

With my second batch of Mr. Beer (the stout), I used a hydrometer, which should tell me the estimated alcohol content when all is said and done. So I’m taking steps with each beer.

The West Coast Pale Ale has a booster to add to it. The blueberry will make me work with fruit. And when I advance to the one-gallon batches, I’m going to have to do a lot more.

But that’s OK because, in the end, hopefully I’ll have a nice brew or two that is worth sitting back and enjoying.

The ultimate goal here is to get a pipeline going so I’ll have different beers in different stages at all times. That way, there will be something different to taste every once in a while, which is nice. And the smaller batches will hopefully help me in keeping a steady flow of bottles so I can make sure I have enough to bottle the brews!

And, I hope the beer tastes good. I would like this to be something I do for a long time and maybe understand things more so I can come up with my own beers. I have some goals I have in brewing my own beer, which I’ll share in another post at a later date.

For now, I’ll keep waiting!

(Side note — if you are interested in seeing the process or more photos as I go along — more than what I do here — I made a Facebook page for “HooHaa Brewing Company.” Obviously it’s more for fun. If you want, feel free and like it!)

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