#KnoxBeerCrew #GABF beercation day 2 recap

October 12, 2012
Friday morning started off with a couple of the crew nursing hangovers, but myself feeling completely refreshed. I got up and immediately started uploading pictures and updating this site while everyone got their things together. Eventually we got everyone motivated, hopped in the jeep and headed out on our adventure.

Denver!

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Hey Broncos, when you’re done can we have Peyton back?

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2 of my favorite things, Hops and Pie

First food of the day after a quick stop at Mile High Wine and Spirits for more bottle shopping.

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Big Magic caught me updating this website while waiting for Hops & Pie to open.

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Draft list at Hops and Pie. Started the day off with a sample pour of DogFish Head Bitches Brew. It’s the first time I’ve had it on draft.
I wish I would have taken more pictures there. We ate and shared samples of all kinds of super great beer. The next batch of pictures is our trip over to Crooked Stave.

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Crooked Stave is located in a little warehouse area. A lot of their beers are sours, wild yeast and barrel aged.

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The list at Crooked Stave.

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Big Magic strike a pose in front of a massive barrel

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Barrel room at Crooked Stave

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Matt and Jason chilling.

The next thing we did was drive to Downtown Denver and stash the car in a parking garage. We’re leaving it and taking a can home tonight. Then we walked a few blocks away to go somewhere I’ve wanted to visit for years, Great Divide Brewing Company in Denver Colorado.

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Yes!!

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The entrance & outside fermenters

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The tap list at Great Divide.

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The inside bar. This place was packed with people in town for GABF.

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Drinking outside in the fermenter farm. Must take a lot of glycol to keep these cool in the sun.

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One of the grain augers attached to the silos

Inside brewing equipment at Great Divide

The bottling area at Great Divide

Another view of the boil kettles and mash tun inside Great Divide

The Line was way too long, so we just walked on by

Freshcraft, where we we’re able to slip in for a quick drink

The Bar at Freshcraft

I know you can’t see it in this blury picture, the the beer menu at Freshcraft is on video screens. What an awesome idea.

Flight at Freshcraft, from right to left: Oskar Blues Richard Lifter, Ska Brewing’s Hoperation Ivy, Denver Beer Company’s Pueblo Chile, Great Divide Espresso Yeti.

We were slowly making our way towards the Convention Center for the Friday Night GABF session, so we didn’t stay at any one place for long. After sharing my sample size beers, we headed off to the next stop.

Task master Matt keeping us on track. He said “no pictures.” so I snapped one because my phone was in my hand and I could.

The last place we stopped at before going to the convention center was Euclid Hall. We had one more beer because we all knew we’d have a long wait to get in to GABF.

Euclid Hall. Someone in our crew remarked “It’s the Suttree’s of Denver.”

Inside walking into Euclid Hall

The upstairs bar at Euclid Hall

The Road to GABF poster at Euclid Hall

It was time to get in line. The closer we got to the convention center, the craziier the energy got. People were trying to scalp tickets, and there was a big crowd forming. The air was thick with anticipation. At this point, the battery for my iPhone was almost dead, so I didn’t take a lot of pictures. Here’s a few.

The member entrance line

They came through the Members line, scanned our tickets and gave us our wristbands! Time to drink!

Well they let the Members line go in 15 minutes early. They wouldn’t pour beer for that time. It was such a tease. Instead I sought out the superstar booths to get some pictures.

Myself with the world famous Greg Koch of Stone Brewing Company. The first real beer celebrity I met.

Well, at this point I looked all around the convention center for a backpack to purchase to carry all my stuff. I was upset that they didn’t allow outside bags. Seemed like a stupid rule to me. I finally bought a cool bottle opener for $5 just so I could get the canvas bag to carry stuff in. I also found a a place to charge my phone and left it there for almost the whole event. Most of the following pictures are from near the end. I plan on taking more on Saturday.

Myself and Billy, one of the owners of Catabwa Brewing Company. He’s a really nice guy and we chatted for a few minutes near the end of the session.

Myself with my buddy and fellow TN Valley Homebrew club member Paul Hethmon. Paul is pouring his Pro-am entry at The Smoky Mountain brewery booth. Here’s to wishing they get a medal.

Giant banner

This is one of the booths I drank the most at.
NOT.

Random guy pouring beer photo

Great slogan that I can get behind

shut up and take my money

“We want you to leave here broke”

Well this is all for now. Hopefully I’ll get better pictures Saturday.

Remember you can follow along on twitter and untappd.

-Ratchet

1 Comment | #GABF, #knoxbeer, Beer, Beer Festival, beer travel, Craft Beer, drinking, home brew, Knox Beer Crew, Knoxville Beer, Knoxville beer bars, Knoxville beer blog, party, Ratchet, seasonal | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by jasonknowsbeer

Let the drinking begin!!! Brewers Jam weekend, it’s better then Christmas! @knoxbrewjam

October 5, 2012

So here I am sitting at my desk at work, waiting for 4 pm so I can go start my weekend. The weekend of Brewers Jam is more exciting to me then any other holiday. Christmas always seems like a let down, New Years is meh and I don’t want to celebrate my birthday anymore because getting old kinda sucks. But BREWERS JAM is the day I wait for and anticipate every year. This year’s event is going to be especially fun for yours truly.

Last night the homebrew club I am a member of met for our annual “pretzel jam” where we get together to make pretzel necklaces to sell at Brewers Jam. This year’s Pretzel Jam was right down the block from my house. I walked there so I could imbibe and not worry about getting a ride home. It was a very short walk. At our yearly Pretzel Jam, we hang out, drink homebrew, eat pizza and pick up our shirts and passes for Saturday. We stand around and share information and tell stories of our homebrewing. Our membership has different levels of experience from the just starting out with extract, brew-in-a-bucket beers to the “I’ve been doing it for 30 years” to multiple award winners and all the way to the truly obsessed OMG I gotta start a brew pub members like myself.

Tonight is going to be incredibly fun, and I will be all over the place. I am going to try to duck out of work early if I can, and head over to World’s Fair Park to help load the cold truck. It’s the drop off point for the brewers when they come into town. My work will consist of sitting around, sipping some brewski’s and waiting for brewers to arrive. When they do, I’ll get off my ass and with help from many of the other club members, move kegs from the brewer’s vehicles to the truck. Then I’ll sit back down and shoot the breeze and sip more beer. It’s a hard duty, but someone has to do it. About 5:45 I’ll head home to grab a few things and then I’m heading to Adam & Shellie Palmer’s wedding reception at SawWorks. Adam is the owner of SawWorks and a good friend. They got married in a private ceremony in Providencials in the Turk and Caicos Islands. The reception tonight is small informal gathering for friends and family. I am bringing a couple of bottles of my homemade mead for the newly weds to enjoy. I can’t stay long, because I have 2 other parties to attend this evening.

Hopefully y’all know and aware of another downtown beer blogger and my good friend, the Knoxville Beer Dinosaur, Sacchromyces Rex. Ol’ Saccy is throwing a pre-Brewers Jam beer party in his building on Gay Street. I see Saccy all the time when I am downtown. When he first approached me months ago about throwing a party, I was all about it. When he finally picked a date, it turned out to be perfect. I agreed to bring some of my homebrew. I actually kegged up 3 gallons of a special rum barrel edition of my Butternut Squash Ale for the party. At the same time I’ll be drinking with my Dino friend, the Brewer’s reception is taking place pretty much across the street. Dinner is at 8, so it looks like I’ll be doing a lot of walking back and forth so I can attend both parties.

I know that I’ll want to, but can’t, stay out all night. I have to be at the World’s Fair Park Saturday morning bright and early to help set up. Once the gates open, I will be pouring beer at the homebrewer’s tent. I have 2 kegs of mine, an Oktoberfest and my famous Butternut Squash Ale. I don’t know when they will be tapped, but when they are, I’ll tweet it. These are only 5 gallon kegs, and they tend to get drained within 15 minutes. The afternoon I am responsibility free and will be able to cut loose and have some fun. This is what I am most excited about. Drinking good beer, hanging with friends. Hell I might even be inebriated enough to get my groove on to some music from the fine bands playing. After the Jam ends, who knows where I’ll end up? I know there is an after party at Market Square and I would be down for seeing friends at The Casual Pint, Suttree’s and going to my new favorite speakeasy, the Peter Kern Library. Like I said, who knows?

I can’t wait to see my friends and meet some new ones. If you recognize me, or read my blog, say hi. Let’s raise a toast, throw back a few cold ones together and celebrate this greatest Knoxville holiday.

Brewers Jam, aaaaaaaaaahh.

–Ratchet
4:15 pm:

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1 Comment | #knoxbeer, Beer, Beer Festival, beer travel, Brewers Jam, Butternut Squash beer, Casual Pint, Craft Beer, drinking, home brew, home brewing, Knox Beer Crew, Knox Brew Fest, Knoxville bars, Knoxville Beer, Knoxville beer bars, Knoxville beer blog, Oktoberfest, party, Pumpkin beer, Saw Works Brewing, Seasonal Beer, suttree's high gravity, Tennessee Beer Festival | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by jasonknowsbeer

Getting ready for a big brew day on Sunday 8/12

August 7, 2012

I haven’t been able to brew in awhile. Not that I haven’t wanted to, just that my schedule (and finances) haven’t allowed it. I’ve been working weekends at The Casual Pint downtown, which is a second job that I love dearly. I know that the fall beer festival season is coming up, and I have to get ready. I asked for and got a Sunday off work to brew beer. I know I needed to maximize my brew time, so I borrowed the big equipment that is owned by the Tennessee Valley Homebrewers club and has been in the use and care of my friend Tyrone “Chris” Harris of Secret City Brews.  I’ll be brewing 20 gallons of my beloved Rauchbier and 15 gallons of an Oktoberfest Marzen. It’s going to be so good to see all my carboys full again.

I’m inviting friends to come hang out and help if they are so inclined. I forsee this brew day being a combination workshop, tasting, cookout and party. I already have a few people confirmed that they’re coming.  If you ever wanted to see what it’s like from start to finish to brew a batch using all grains, this is your chance. I’ll be starting at the ridiculously early time of 6 am. The brewing schedule (if according to plan) goes a little something like this:

6 am: Get up, stumble downstairs to start the water going.
7 am: Strike grains with water, mash for an hour.
8 am: Start vorlauf.
8:30 Start sparge.
9:30 Finish sparge.
10 Hopefully at boil at this point, 1st hop addition.
11 End of boil and whirlpool.
11:30 End whirlpool, begin cool down.
12:45-1pm Hopefully carboys are full and cool down to yeast pitching temperature.
1:30 Brew pot is cleaned and refilled with water, mash tun cleaned and restocked with grains.
2:15-2:30 Strike 2nd batch of grains with water, mash for an hour.
3:30 Start vorlauf.
4pm Start sparge.
5 Finish sparge.
5:30 Hopefully to boil.
6:30 End boil, whirlpool.
7 End Whirlpool, begin cool down.
8 Hopefully carboys are full, yeast is pitched and equipment cleaned.
8-9ish Rest, drink heavily.
9 ish Thank remaining guest for coming, then pass out from exhaustion.

This is hard work but you don’t have to lift a finger if you just want to come chill. I may (hopefully) fire up the grill (depends on how much help I have). There will be beer to sample, but it’s limited so BYOB is encouraged. For those who do help, I will be breaking out some rarities from my secret stash to share. I’ll also make sure to give you some of the finished product (it’s a lager, so you’ll have to wait 2 months). I also plan on live blogging with picture this brewday on my website for those of you who can’t make it. If you do plan on coming, please email me at jasoncarpenter1974@gmail.com for directions and to let me know what time you think you’ll arrive. You’re welcome to coffee & breakfast if you plan on helping at the start. Everyone is welcome to come whenever and stay until 9ish, when I anticipate being so tired I involuntarily pass out.

Cheers,

Ratchet

Leave a Comment » | #knoxbeer, Beer, Beer Recipe, Casual Pint, Craft Beer, Drinking, home brew, home brewing, Knox Beer Crew, Knoxville Beer, Knoxville beer blog, Oktoberfest, party, Ratchet, seasonal, The Casual Pint | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by jasonknowsbeer

A Great Weekend for #KnoxBeer

October 25, 2011

The liver is evil and must be punished. Saw this on a shirt the other day, and it (almost) sums up my weekend. I don’t think I’ll make this post really long. The Knox Beer Snobs have posted a great review of all the Knoxville Beer events this weekend, so I’ll refer you to them. I will tell you that I had a great and memorable weekend.

Every year the Homebrew Club does a lot of the beer related grunt work and preparation for Brewers Jam. My weekend pretty much kicked off on Thursday night. The homebrew club does what we call  “Pretzel Jam” where we drink beer and make pretzel necklaces to sell at the event. I had a ride, so I was able to partake in the “leftover” entries from the TN Valley Fair’s Homebrew competition.

Friday I worked a short half day and then headed down to World’s Fair Park to help load the cold truck. The brewers show up, unload the kegs from their vehicles and we move the kegs to cold storage. It was mostly sitting around drinking beer with the occasional heavy lifting. I took a break from that for a few hours and headed over to the grand opening of Marble City Brewing Company’s tasting room, The Quarry. Knoxville really came out to show support for the hometown brewery. The place was packed! The owners even had authentic deep dish pizza flown in for the event. After a few beers, a slice of pizza and some great conversation with fellow craft beer enthusiast, I headed back to World’s Fair Park.  When that was over, it was time for the brewer’s reception in a top secret location. Most of the brewers both local and out of area were treated to beer, cigars, food, and a live bluegrass jam. There was even free jars of locally produced salsa, courtesy of Big S Farms. Pretty much every one of my beer friends were there. I remember looking around at the crowd and thinking if a bomb went off in that room, there wouldn’t be anyone left in the Knoxville craft beer scene. That reception went on long into the night. I left around 11 pm since I was hosting out of town guests and we all had to be up early to work the morning shift.

Saturday morning I made coffee and my guest (fellow homebrewers Shanezilla and Pam) and I headed out. We stopped by Just Ripe on Union Avenue in downtown for a quick breakfast. Then it was on to Brewers’ Jam. There was a whole heck of a lot of work to do before the gates opened at 1pm. We had to deliver the kegs to the brewers, along with Ice. There was also our booth to set up and a few other details to attend to. About 30 minutes or so before kick off, we were pretty much done. This is my favorite time of of the Knoxville Brewer Jam. All the brewers are set up, and everyone has a chance to socialize and try one another’s beers before it gets hectic. Before they opened the gates, we had our customary speech given by Knoxville Police Department, as seen in the following video:

Then the fun begins. It is amazing to see a wave of people pour in when they open the gates. The lines were as far as the eye could see. My 1st keg of Butternut Squash Ale was on tap, and I happily doled out samples to thirsty drinkers. It made me feel like I really know what I’m doing as a beer brewer when people would tell me how much they enjoyed it. I even had some of the most critical members of the homebrew club come back for seconds and thirds. Whenever my 1st keg blew out, I let someone else take a turn pouring while I happily went in search of other tasty beverages to imbide. I saw many of my fellow Knox Craft beer friends and walked around drinking and enjoying their company. Later on in the afternoon, I came back and put on my second keg of Butternut Squash Ale and poured that as well. Near the end of the event, I went and filled several growlers of beer to take home for later. I ran into Mike from Asheville Brewing Company who gave me a really cool Moog filtered Ale shirt.

Well, I went and caught the rest of Cutthroat Shamrock’s show at the end. The jam closed down, the beer stopped flowing, and I started packing out. I finally got my vehicle packed with everything I brought, along with a cooler full of growlers, bottles of beer, merchandise and other stuff I scored at the Jam. I walked over to my office where I spent a few hours drinking water and listening to the Vols football game on the radio. I ended the night eating pizza and thinking how I am already looking forward to next year’s Brewers Jam.

Enjoy the pictures below, click to make big.

Cheers,

Ratchet

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Posted by jasonknowsbeer

Ich hatte so eine tolle Zeit in Asheville Oktoberfest!

October 10, 2011
When I  got back from Asheville I rushed over to my buddy’s work (Comics Exchange) to use the wifi. I wanted to work on this post while everything was still fresh in my mind and my heart was still full of Asheville’s energy. I love Asheville. I freakin’ LOVE it. I haven’t fell so hard for a city since those few summers long ago that I spent tramping around Boulder, CO.   Though as much as I swoon over Asheville, I’m happy and grateful for what I have here in good ol’ Knox-Vegas.

Asheville Oktoberfest was a mostly solo affair for me. I drove up early Saturday, checked in to my room which was literally 1 block away from Wall Street, and got my wrist band. With only 6 local breweries providing approximately 3 beers each, this wasn’t a “tasting”. This was full pour, let’s get drunk and have a blast. Which I did. I used twitter as a quick way to keep tabs on how much I’ve had. After my 5th or 6 full cup, I took a break. Since my hotel was so close, I took 30 minutes to relax in an air conditioned room and drink water. Once recharged, I headed back. Oh and let me say this. Sloppy Joe’s are NOT an appropriate beer street festival food. Please, don’t do this. I knew I had to eat, and should have went with a bratwurst, but I had serious doubts I could fit one of those monster’s in my belly and continue to drink. I got the sloppy joe ’cause it was the only vegetarian choice. Seriously Laughing Seed Cafe, next time veggie brats, or something similar. You’ll sell more food, I promise.

Well, I didn’t really meet any new people at the fest, but luckily I knew some people who were there. My ex-neighbors and friends Brad and Trish and L.C. and Pod. Also Chris and Lindey from the homebrew club. Later on I met up with Aaron and his crew the organizers of the Kingsport Oktoberfest. L.C. and Pod drank fast and crashed early. I spent most of the rest of the festival drinking, wandering and drunkenly dancing to the Stratton Mountain Boys by the stage. The band is great German drinking music, they led the crowd in drunken chants. A friend of mine later remarked on my facebook page in response to a video I posted that German accents cover up slurred speech every time. I found that to be more and more true as Oktoberfest progressed. The fest went from 12-6pm. Around 6:15 I got my last beer. The band was breaking down and most everyone was wandering off. I returned to my room, drink in hand. Crossing the street in front of the hotel, a cop asked me to pour out my full beer. I did so without regret since I was feeling pretty good by then.

My friends stayed in the same hotel as I did, the Downtown Inn and Suites. I went to their room and watched the 1st quarter or so of the Vols game. Knowing that Brusin Ales closed at 9, I walked over there and stocked up on rare beers and stuff you just can’t find in Knoxville. I had a sample of what they had on tap, and talked beer with one of the shop owners for awhile. She hooked me up with a free Asheville Brewing Alliance shirt, which was nice of her. She also gave me a shout on the http://twitter.com/brusinales which was pretty cool. The owners of Brusin Ales are good people, who know their beer. The store is recognized as one of the world’s best bottle shops in several beer magazines. I made my bank account smaller, took my loot and stashed it back in the room. Then I headed to Wedge Brewery which was a short 1 mile walk down the block. I got there real close to closing time, just long enought to have a “Derailed” hemp seed ale. I’ve been wanting to go to The Wedge for awhile. It seems like a great place to spend an afternoon drinking and I look forward to going back again one day.

I ended up the night at Lexington Avenue Brewery. I sat at the bar and ordered one of their amazing local cheese plates and their American Pale Ale. After I ate it became apparent to me that I was done. Like, get-my-ass-back-to-the-hotel-before-I-pass-out done. I payed my tab and shamefully left half of a really great beer behind.

The next day I got up and met with my friends at the hotel’s dining room to enjoy the free breakfast and hang out. I showed them their pictures on the Asheville newspaper’s (the Citizen Times) website. My friend Brad is on the front cover of the physical paper in a crowd shot. It was funny seeing him search for himself like he was playing Where’s Waldo.

Since I’m a complete coffee snob and don’t drink free hotel coffee, I went off in search of a cup of wake up juice. I found it at Wall Street Coffee house. With cup in hand I walked several miles through downtown taking in the sites. This is how I soak up the ambience of a place. I was also on a mission to find a place that was open that had an Oktoberfest poster in the window. I was going to ask for it to bring it back for the wall of my beer room. I didn’t have any luck, but made a mental note to come back after lunch when a printing shop that had one displayed opened. Unfortunately I did forget, so if any Asheville people see this blog, if you send me one, I’ll send you a pint glass in return. I met up with my friends for lunch at Plant, which is a vegan restaurant on Merrimon Avenue. It was a nice brunch, throughly enjoyable even though I’m not vegan. I then proceeded back to Brusin Ales to get a 4 pack of Dogfish Head’s Punkin Ale since TN no longer gets Dogfish Head shipments. I also stopped at Earth Fare on my way out of town to get a few Asheville Brewing Company bombers. I got Ninja Porter and Moog Ale. Picked up a few actual brats I plan on cooking next weekend when I brew again.

I have a great time whenever I visit Asheville. I know that for the next few months I’ll be squirreling away money for a return trip. I’m already thinking of the Winter Warmer festival in January. I know for certain that next Oktoberfest, I’ll be there as well. Maybe I’ll have a travel companion for these, or maybe they will once again be solo affairs. Either way, I’m sure to enjoy tasty beers and the great vibe of Beer City USA.

-Cheers,

Ratchet

 

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Posted by jasonknowsbeer

Quick update before the weekend.

October 5, 2011

Hey y’all. I figured I post something to keep the ol’ blog alive and to let you know about some beer related events that have happened or are happening soon. Last night I went to Woodruff’s third cask night at the Downtown Grill and Brewery. Brewer Dave Ohmer dry hopped 15 gallons of their White Mule Pale Ale and naturally carbonated it for 3 weeks. Poured with an authentic hand pumped beer engine, the brew was smooth, creamy and very hoppy. There weren’t as many people in attendance as the 1st cask night, but it was good to see my friends the Knox Beer Snobs in the house. I also got to kick it with a few of homebrew club members as well as some other great folks. I’m greatful for the Brewery’s cask night and hope that it continues to florish. 

Speaking of breweries, Marble City Brewing Company’s tap room, The Quarry, is open. They are open Wednesday through Friday from 4-8 pm, Saturday 2 to 8. If you find yourself out and about in Knoxville, I suggest you check it out. I went on opening day. It’s a nicely redone room, very comfortable.  It’s a small scene there and everyone knows almost everyone. I met a few new friends that night including a fellow homebrewer. I also went and hung out a little bit with Brewmaster Jen who has a wealth of brewing knowledge. It seems like everytime I have a beercentric conversation with her, I learn something new.  The Quarry is having it’s “official” grand opening on Friday October 21 from 4-9 pm. I have volunteered to work the brewer’s keg check in at World’s Fair Park for the Knoxville Brewers Jam that night, but I might have to push that back a bit so I can at least make an appearance.

OH, and speaking of Brewer’s Jam, LAST CHANCE TO BUY TICKETS. I hear that there are less than 100 left and they expect it to sell out by Friday evening. Get them now, or miss out entirely.

Oh Saturday, how I look forward to thee. I plan on getting up bright and early to head to Asheville for their small but fun Oktoberfest celebration downtown. Six great Asheville breweries, games, the music of  Stratton Mountain Boys, the food, the dirndls, a hotel within stumbling distance and a planned trip afterwards to The Wedge Brewery? OH HELL YES!!!! This is one of the events I planned to go to since last year. The hotel was booked months ago and I made sure to get my ticket way before any chance the event would sell out. I’ll make sure to take plenty of pictures and video and write up a nice long post afterwards. I’m still traveling solo, so if anyone wants to go, give me a shout. 

Well I’m kicking myself for not going to the homebrew shop yesterday. I meant to get a new bottling bucket so I could sanitize it with the bottles for my last 10 gallons of my Butternut Squash ale that I plan on bottling tomorrow. Wednesday is the only day that Harry closes shop, so I guess I’ll use my old worn out bottling bucket that needed to be replaced along time ago. I still need to work on my next recipe for chocolate pepper stout. Must order ingredients next week. I have to get at least one more brew day in this month.

Ok, well, I’ll be tweeting live from Oktoberfest this weekend, so for drunken hilarity, check back and read the twitter side bar on this page. Should be entertaining….

Until then,

Cheers,

Ratchet

GO TO THIS!!!

Come drink in the streets of Asheville, Beer City USA

 

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Posted by jasonknowsbeer

An in depth look at making my fall seasonal: Butternut Squash Ale

September 21, 2011

Hello my 1 or 2 readers. You still checking out my blog? Good, because this time I have a special VIDEO blog for you. I filmed myself every step of the way when it comes to making my delicious Butternut Squash Ale. This is a behind the scenes look at my brew day.

Enjoy

Part 1:

Part 2:

Ingredients for 10 gallons
12 lbs butternut squash (processed weight)
18 pounds pale ale malt
1 lb carapils malt
2 lb Vienna malt
1 lb 75L dark crystal grain
2 lb light Munich malt
2.5 oz williamette whole leaf hops (60 minute boil)

1 .2 oz of williamette whole leaf hops (last 15 minutes)
1 oz saaz hop pellets (last 5 minutes)
2 cup brown sugar
1 lb flaked oatmeal
2/3 lb Ginger root peeled & chunked (1/2 at 6o minutes boil, 1/2 at 15 minutes)
2 Whirlfloc Tablets (last 15 minutes of boil)
2 1/3 tsp nutmeg
4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp crushed coriander seed
1 tsp yeast nutrient
4 packages of Whitbread dry yeast
Directions:
Peel butternut squash & bake it until caramelized on the outside
Mash crushed grains at 152 degrees for 60 minutes in 8 gallons of water (put Flaked oats in a mesh bag)
Sparge with 7 gallons 170 water. Add squash, gypsum, 2.5 oz
of Williamette hops & 1/2 the ginger.  IMPORTANT: Squash and Ginger Must be in fine mesh bags, or clogging will occur.
Bring to a boil for 40 minutes. Add the brown sugar, whirlfloc Tablets, coriander seed, 1 oz of Saaz hops & rest of ginger boil 20 minutes. At 5 minutes add remaining 1 oz of saaz & 1 tsp of yeast nutrient & remaining spices. Cool rapidly to 70 degrees pitch yeast. After a 2 weeks rack to secondary.

On another note, I am SUPER EXCITED about the KINGSPORT OKTOBERFEST this Saturday!!! I’m like a kid on Christmas, I can’t wait! I’ll be in charge of setting up the randal (that’s an infuser, for all those not down with the beer lingo) on to various microbrews around the festival. We’ll be infusing a porter with coca nibs (raw chocolate), a kolsh with fresh strawberrys and other yummy beers with other yummy stuff. If you want to know when and where each infusion will take place, make sure to follow both myself ( @RatchetBrews ) and @KPTOktoberfest  on twitter. We’ll announce each one there. Plus I’m sure the tweets will get more entertaining as the day progresses and more beer is drank.

You are a sucka if you miss this.

You are a sucka if you miss this.

-CHEERS,

Ratchet

5 Comments | Beer, Brewing beer with squash, Butternut Squash beer, home brewing, Oktoberfest, party, seasonal | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by jasonknowsbeer

Oktoberfest and upcoming beer events

September 2, 2011

    Over the last month or so I have anticipated being busy with brewing and beer related events between now and November. It seems my weekends are booked until then. I wanted to post a list of some of the beer festivals taking place in the region, along with my thoughts on them and if I plan on attending or not. I’m sure there will be a few that I have missed. I’m just posting the ones I know about.

The first one I want to mention is one that I’ve already booked my hotel for. I am really looking forward to the first ever Kingsport, TN Oktoberfest. This takes place on Saturday September 24th in Downtown Kingsport. You should definitely consider going to this one. What sets this one apart from some of the others is what is being billed as “Beer University”.   This educational aspect will provide the opportunity to learn about all aspects of brewing.  Consider it a ‘Growing to Glass’ education that will bring a full appreciation of craft beer. Some of the topics and speakers lined up for this are simply incredible. Check out the website for more details. There is so much going on at this event. It’s family friendly, with an area for the kids. I’m looking forward to the Black Forest Brew Off. This invitation only homebrew competition takes place in the hours before the bier garden opens. I will have a keg of my Butternut Squash Ale and a keg of my ESB. The judging is done by professional brewers and VIPs. There are several prizes and the overall winning brewer will have their recipe upscaled and brewed by Wolf Hills Brewing Company of Abingdon, VA.  Wish me luck! If  anyone wants to go or is already planning on going to this, let me know.

 September 17th is Asheville’s Brewgrass Festival. Everyone tells me how awesome this is. Unfortunately I have yet to make it. I can’t go to everything, but hopefully I can check this out next year since this year’s event sold out weeks ago. I will be brewing beer at home this weekend. If anyone is going, please report back on how it was.

October 8th is the Asheville, NC Oktoberfest. This is another event I am really looking forward to. I got me a hotel booked 1 block away from the festivities. I went last year and had the time of my life. It’s all Asheville beer, it takes place on Wall Street in the middle of downtown. Seriously, I can’t remember when I had more fun. Asheville is a special place. So far I am going solo, so if you want to go or already plan on going, contact me.

October 22nd is the big show. For me it’s the creme de le creme of beer festivals. Of course, I am talking about Knoxville’s BREWERS JAM!!! Seriously, THIS is the event that people around here talk about all year round. Lot’s of beer, great bands and food. The Tennessee Valley Homebrewers set up a tent and dole out unique and delicious brews that you can only try there. I am providing 20 gallons of my Butternut Squash Ale. Last year I brought out 5 gallons and it was gone in 15 minutes. People really enjoyed it. Brewer’s Jam tickets are on sale and like every year it will sell out early. If you are going, buy your tickets now.

There are a lot more beer festivals within a few hours drive, but I only listed the ones I am interested in.  The weekends that I am not going to them, I am brewing beer.

One more thing before I end this post. Woodruff Brewing Company is having yet another Cask Night. This one is taking place at Hard Knox Pizza on Tuesday September 13th starting at 6pm. What are they tapping? Check out this post by Knox Beer Snobs for more details.

Cheers,

Ratchet

 

1 Comment | Beer, home brewing, Oktoberfest | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by jasonknowsbeer

Another reason to homebrew: sharing w/ friends.

August 21, 2011

My last post I put in the title a great problem to have. I never touched on that, so I thought I would do so now. The problem I was going to mention isn’t really a problem, more like a storage issue. I had too much beer. Now wait a minute you say. To much beer? There’s no such thing. Well, as inclined I am to agree with you, there is only so much square feet of space in my house.

Before I go any farther, let me talk about proper beer storage. Good beer and homebrew in particular is very sensitive to temperature. Ideally (and depending on style) beer should be stored between 38 to 55 degrees. I try to keep all my beers stored in my beer fridges. If I don’t have room, I store them in coolers placed on top of air conditioner vents. This typically keeps them cool, but as I rotate through them, I move them to the fridges as soon as I can.

My main beer fridge is a chest freezer that I placed a thermostat control to keep it around 40 degrees. I had boxed of bottles stacked on one another. When I recently kegged some beer, I had to remove them to make room. Kegs have to be kept cold for the CO2 to absorb into the beer for carbonation. My other fridge is just my standard kitchen fridge with food in it. It has always had and will continue to have more beer then food in it. So until a week or 2 ago, I ran out of cold storage space for beer. I did what any self respecting homebrewer should do in my position. I called a few friends over for a party. After a night 0f hanging out with buddies, my cold storage issue was a little less of an issue. I am working on clearing out a few more kegs that I anticipate needing soon. I brought 2 of them to a camping party last night. We didn’t finish them, but we made a pretty good dent. I should have no problem finishing them off by the time I need them.

Imperial Stout and Citra Pale Ale

Which brings me to my main point. If you find yourself running out of room for beer storage because you brew every chance you get, well it’s a good thing. It’s a problem people are more then happy helping you out with. Just be careful who you share with. I had to cut a few people off last night because they were drinking a 8.5% Imperial Stout like it was chocolate milk and getting more then a little swilly. There were a few younger looking people (it’s so funny how 20 somethings look so young to me now) that I felt like carding just to make sure they were legal. Friends assured me that they were, and seriously, I wasn’t trying to be “that guy” at the party.

Ok, Reminder to myself. This weeks beer chores: Bottle ESB on Thursday. Clean sanitize, etc all week to get ready. Saturday is the Judging for the Tennessee Valley Fair’s Homebrew competition. I’ll be at Downtown Grill & Brewery all day, helping stewart the event. I have 5 beers I entered. I have zero expectations of winning, I am really looking forward to honest feedback that will help me become a better brewer. Some of the judges are guys who make excellent beer. Beer I find to be far superior to what I brew.

Sunday I am going to brew 10 gallons of Butternut Squash Ale for Brewer’s Jam. So all week I need to clean/ sanitize equipment, and process the squash. Anyone out there reading this that I can bribe with beer to come help me with this?

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Posted by jasonknowsbeer