Comments for Out Of Key Brewing

Comment on Greek Berliner Weisse by Nate

Nate — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:41:02 +0000

I thought the Berliner was great, although you know I wouldn’t have objected to more sour…
Additionally, I really liked the beer with the woodruff. I thought the herbal character actually accentuated the hint of sour, while adding just a touch of sweetness.

Can’t wait to try your next effort!

Comment on Promash File Converter by Rob

Rob — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:17:31 +0000

Comment on First Thursday February Edition by Nate

Nate — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:50:29 +0000

Congrats on the feedback man! I still can’t believe that going to a clubmeeting for you means Mosher is there! Can’t wait to try them in March.

Comment on Doppelbock / DoppelSticke Brew by Out Of Key Brewing » Blog Archive » First Thursday February Edition

Out Of Key Brewing » Blog Archive » First Thursday February Edition — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:09:34 +0000

[...] night was the Chicago Beer Societies First Thursday meeting for February. I brought my doppelbock, Low Brass, Lost in the Woods Tripel, and the Dr. Jekyll Mild. After my last tasting with The [...]

Comment on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Out Of Key Brewing » Blog Archive » First Thursday February Edition

Out Of Key Brewing » Blog Archive » First Thursday February Edition — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:05:15 +0000

[...] meeting for February. I brought my doppelbock, Low Brass, Lost in the Woods Tripel, and the Dr. Jekyll Mild. After my last tasting with The Mosher, my confidence was shaken, however I brought the [...]

Comment on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Brian

Brian — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:45:44 +0000

Shhhh. Its a secret.

Nothing to see here.

Comment on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Nate

Nate — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:42:14 +0000

Ah! The seccrt to bourbon flavor is as simple as adding bourbon…

Comment on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Brian

Brian — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:41:29 +0000

Probably from the 8 oz of makers that I added at kegging time. I neglected to mention that so it probably wouldn’t be obvious. I dosed it at about half the rate that I normally would the Bourbon Vanilla Porter. It is really subtle. This is really my take on Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout. Trying to get some of that oak aged character without the extended aging period.

Comment on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Nate

Nate — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:31:07 +0000

Man those both sound nice! Can’t wait to gove them a try. Where do you think the bourbon character is coming from? Obviously the vanilla, but do you think it is just a combination of that and the residual sugars?

Comment on Winter Brewing by Nate

Nate — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:46:46 +0000

Nice! Not rain nor snow, nor dark of night shall keep the brewer from his appointed rounds…

Brewed in the aftermath of the ice storm down here myself! Not often that we have to worry about snow on a brew day!

Comment on Fifteen more in the fermenters by Brian

Brian — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:58:44 +0000

Im feeling pretty good about it as well. The hydro sample sure as hell looked like a porter but when sampled it was not roasty at all. Here is hoping that it turns out.
-
The Harry Knuckle Rye Ale has already fermented down to 1012 and was dryhopped with 2.5 oz of Simcoe on Tuesday.

Comment on Fifteen more in the fermenters by Nate

Nate — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:52:29 +0000

Schwartzbeir sounds nice! Really like the idea of capping the mash with the carafe for color. I might give this a shot with the next batch of Old Black Dog. Due to be brewed early in the new year.

Comment on The Brettanomyces Blog by Chad

Chad — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:58:38 +0000

Glad you find the blog interesting. The practical research with barrel aging at Odell has been great as it allows the research to be used in a way that showcases the ability of the yeasts…and drinking the beer is always nice too! If you have any question feel free to drop me a line.

Chad

Comment on First Thursday December by Doug

Doug — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:07:07 +0000

First Thursday may be a tough place to judge a session beer fairly. If you’re drinking strong heavy beers all night, a mild will taste like water.

Comment on First Thursday December by Brian

Brian — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:43:11 +0000

Thanks Nate.
–
You are exactly correct in putting the brew club in quotes. That term should definitely be used loosely. Its really more of a drinking meeting. Although last night they did have a tasting of every Anchor Christmas beer going back to 1990.
–
The only real problem with entering all the categories is that I have a limited number of bottles. I think I may have to have Jon bring me some more in a growler so I can recarb and bottle another six.
–

Comment on First Thursday December by Nate

Nate — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:52:23 +0000

Congrats of the positive feedback! (’course we all knew you could brew)
-
I love the fact that you can go to a “brew club” meeting and someone like Mosher is there. Nothing like that down here.
-
RE: the BVP and BJCP.
I think you will get dinged in 12b because of the added flavors. 22 or 24 will probably be the best fit. But you can just enter it in both/all three right? Just see where it does best.

Comment on Swine Flu Mild by Out Of Key Brewing » Blog Archive » First Thrusday December

Out Of Key Brewing » Blog Archive » First Thrusday December — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:24:57 +0000

[...] The Dark mild is a good beer but of a totally different character. I think a couple people were disappointed when it did not exhibit the same strong flavors that the porter did. I think this is akin to saying that the chicken is awful because it tastes nothing like steak. I did have Randy Mosher try the beer and the first thing he asked me was if it was an extract beer. Not exactly off to a rousing start here. He admitted that he was not an expert at the style but from what he knew of it, he thought it was spot on. Another homebrewer thought that perhaps it was too clean. That there were not enough residual sugars remaining and that it was not fruity enough. Perhaps fermenting a touch higher and under pitching will resolve this. [...]

Comment on Doppelbock / DoppelSticke Brew by Out Of Key Brewing » Blog Archive » Doppel Beer Followup

Out Of Key Brewing » Blog Archive » Doppel Beer Followup — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:26:39 +0000

[...] over 40 days of fermentation the sticke bock nuts (thanks again for the name Nate N) seems to finally be approaching it’s terminal gravity. When I checked the gravity last [...]

Comment on Brewmaster’s Warehouse by Nate

Nate — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:28:52 +0000

Just placed an order myself. 2 of the new Perlick 525ss and all the trimmings. Plus a bunch of brewing salts…guess I’m going to get on that water kick too…

Comment on Russian River Fermentation Schedule by Brian

Brian — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:24:30 +0000

Gary – Let me know what recipe you go with, I am interested in brewing it myself.

Comment on Using Slacked Lime to Reduce Water Alkalinity by Gary Gulley

Gary Gulley — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:19:33 +0000

This is absolutely fantastic! I’m going to be using this as part of my water regimen from now on. Thanks for the info!

Comment on Russian River Fermentation Schedule by Gary Gulley

Gary Gulley — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:18:39 +0000

I will definitely listen to this. I just had my first Pliny about a month ago. I’m getting ready to make a clone of it very, very soon.

Comment on Swine Flu Mild by Gary Gulley

Gary Gulley — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:17:30 +0000

Glad your family is feeling better. My wife and kids just got their H1N1 shots.

Comment on Russian River Fermentation Schedule by Brian

Brian — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:33:57 +0000

Ya totally agree. He did say that this was their schedule for all their beers except for the Belgians. Another interesting thing that came out of the show was talking about hop blending. Not a ton of specifics but he did mention that he loves the combo of Willamette and Centenial in a 1 to 3 ratio. He said that if he brews a pale ale again that he would use that ratio to brew it.

Comment on Russian River Fermentation Schedule by Nate

Nate — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:28:30 +0000

I’ve listened to that show and Vinnie is always a good time. It is also a good trip in the “way back” machine as RR was brewing mostly American styles then, so Cal Ale was mostly what he was using then. He has much more “interesting” fermentaions on some of the later shows when he is discussing some of the Belgian styles he is brewing now…

Comment on Promash File Converter by Bryan Peretto

Bryan Peretto — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:40:11 +0000

Brian, this is exactly the app we’ve been looking for.

I’ve modified my program, Brewthology, to get around some limitations (Mostly ProMash’s fault).

However, there’s a few additional things I’m having an issue with. Could you drop me a line (bperetto@kotmf.com) and we can chat about it? The main things I’m having a problem with can be fixed in about 2 minutes.

Comment on Doppelbock / DoppelSticke Brew by Brian

Brian — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:19:24 +0000

Ahh yes I like it.
-
Going to keg 5 of this and the remainder will be something special for the spring and beyond.
-
Now that I have you locked in for St. Pats I can tell you that I have a couple surprises up my sleeve.

Comment on Doppelbock / DoppelSticke Brew by Nate

Nate — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:15:48 +0000

Cool! Now you just need to come up with a design for the bock. Here’s some inspiration:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/norelevance/sets/72157622266250471/show/

Comment on Doppelbock / DoppelSticke Brew by Brian

Brian — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:14:31 +0000

I haven’t computed the efficiency yet but am pretty sure I was in the low 80s, which for a beer of that size is very solid. I used a hybrid sparging approach where I continually pumped water onto the bed, while keeping the water level above the grain bed. It seemed to work pretty well. The only tough bits were figuring out how much more I needed to add.
-
Its been cold here. Cold enough to keep the water bath @ like 48 during the day. Of course now they are forecasting 70s tomorrow. What can you do?
-
I am hoping that the heater is not needed, more of a proof of concept than anything else. If this works I will definitely use the fermentation chamber…I mean garage, more this winter.

Comment on Doppelbock / DoppelSticke Brew by Nate

Nate — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:03:02 +0000

Man that is alot of high grav wort! I also can’t believe you need to use a heater to ferment a lager…We’re just hitting the sweet spot where I don’t have to work to keep the ales cool enough…

Doppel Sticke = Double Secret (like double secret probation?)

Comment on Promash File Converter by Brian

Brian — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:08:06 +0000

Thanks Rob.

Glad that it worked for you.

Comment on Promash File Converter by Rob Hart

Rob Hart — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:23:52 +0000

Hey Mate,

This is one tidy piece of work, downloaded the program into my recipe folder and double clicked on it, 2 seconds later i had over 70 of my promash recipes converted to BeerXML.

Cheers Rob.

Comment on Thoughts From the 2009 Great Taste of the Midwest by Brian

Brian — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:13:48 +0000

All very good points.

I had forgotten about the Lemongrass Weizen Bam. That was very very nice.

Comment on Thoughts From the 2009 Great Taste of the Midwest by Nate

Nate — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:01:13 +0000

I whole heartedly agree on Shoreline. Also thoght the various versions of “Curse the Goat”.

While I don’t have enamel to spare, you need to practice more if the Kombucha was too sour. (In many ways thiswas my favorite beer of the day)

Regarding Jolly Pumpkin; the Lemongrass Weizen Bam must also be mentioned. So green and grassy to go with the sour.

Also of note was Founder’s Devil Dancer Triple IPA. You’d never know it was that strong. (not that I would go back 4 times…)

Comment on Watermelon Wheat Recipe by Out Of Key Brewing » Blog Archive » Watermelon Wit

Out Of Key Brewing » Blog Archive » Watermelon Wit — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 20:47:11 +0000

[...] year I brewed up a watermelon wheat beer which turned out great. Being who I am, I cant leave well enough alone (well that plus I [...]

Comment on My Thoughts on Sam Calagione by Brian

Brian — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:30:54 +0000

Well, I sent him a note today basically saying that I was wrong about him and that I appreciated his beers and his passion. He replied today with:

Wow Brian. Thanks for the kind words and support. And thanks for taking the time to see the movie. Keep drinking, and brewing, the good stuff! Cheers, Sam

–
Sam Calagione
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats
http://www.dogfish.com

Maps props on taking the time to reply to what was probably a fairly common note that he gets. That goes along way with me.

Comment on My Thoughts on Sam Calagione by Nate

Nate — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:19:04 +0000

Yeah I’m always up in the air on Dogfish Head and Calagione. I respect what they’re trying to do, but I just never like the beer that much (outside 60 and 90 minute). Like I just had Aprihop last night and ok fine, good idea, but I’ll never have another. I have a Red & White in the cellar, but I’m not sure if I’m excited.

All that said there ws a great article in The New Yorker last fall. Definatly the guy throws his heart and soul into the beer.

Comment on Is Guinness an extract beer? by Brian

Brian — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:11:27 +0000

The truth hurts.

You have to admit though that if you had a quarter for everytime someone said how the Guinness in Ireland is so much better or so different or so much stronger, you would have at least 50 cents.

Comment on Is Guinness an extract beer? by Nate

Nate — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:23:16 +0000

Oh man…you are going to outrage some Irishmen…

Comment on Gas In Vs Beverage Out by Out Of Key Brewing » Blog Archive » Watermelon Wit

Out Of Key Brewing » Blog Archive » Watermelon Wit — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:34:09 +0000

[...] wheat beer which turned out great. Being who I am, I cant leave well enough alone (well that plus I pumped my normal summer wit all over the basement floor), so decided to mix up the recipe a bit by taking my standard wit recipe and spiking it with [...]

Comment on Watermelon Wheat Recipe by Todd

Todd — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:00:19 +0000

Cheers, Brian. I ended up hitting the chunks in the blender and then strained it through a fine strainer to get roughly 3 cups of “juice” into 5 gallons (that amount was based on some other recipes I’ve run across). This was about 1/3 of a reasonably sized melon. I went ahead with blending for two reasons – ease of insertion into the carboy and freezing/thawing time (which I usually do with fruit for beer, it’s just that I was in a bit of a rush to get this beer done and carbed for a party). I put in the juice once the yeast dropped and left it for about 4 days before kegging. There was some additional fermentation of the juice but not much from what I could tell. The beer is still carbing but on first taste it is a nice subtle watermelon flavor (somewhat Jolly Rancher-y to my surprise) that hits right in the middle and lingers slightly to the end. I think it’s probably the right amount and would expect that the flavors will meld a little with time. I might make another batch with a little more juice depending on how it ultimately finishes. Thanks for your advice!

Comment on What was the first beer you ever had? by Brian

Brian — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:35:13 +0000

Im 90% sure it was with Dan and Dave G “camping” out in his large backyard. I’m pretty sure there were BB guns involved as well.

Comment on Watermelon Wheat Recipe by Brian

Brian — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:33:53 +0000

Todd – You can probably count on another week to ten days of fermentation. I think that amount of time allow most of the sugars to ferment out plus for the beer to build on the watermelon aroma.

Regarding puree vs chunks. I think that pureeing it is probably not going to be necessary. Once you freeze and thaw the stuff the resulting fruit is pretty much a liquid. If anything take a sanitized potato masher to the melon once you have it carved out in a large bowl. The resulting mix will be anything but chunks. One other thing to consider is if you decide to puree it you will need to seed the entire thing. Trust me there will be plenty of watermelon flavor/aroma without pureeing it.

Thanks for reading! Its nice to know that I am not the only one reading it. Let me know how it turns out.

Comment on Watermelon Wheat Recipe by Todd

Todd — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:06:50 +0000

Nice work on the recipe. How long was the extra fermentation due to the watermelon? I was thinking of pureeing the watermelon versus the chunks. Thanks for the blog, enjoy your posts.

Comment on What was the first beer you ever had? by Nate

Nate — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:11:13 +0000

Damn! are you sure it wasn’t a Blue? Pretty sure mine was a Weidemann’s longneck I stole from my Dad…

As we are sans children, I’m not really qualified to aswer your 2nd question…

Comment on Promash File Converter by Out Of Key Brewing » Blog Archive » Promash Recipe File Converter

Out Of Key Brewing » Blog Archive » Promash Recipe File Converter — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:37:45 +0000

[...] Promash File Converter [...]

Comment on Water Chemistry Calculator by Larry

Larry — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:38:03 +0000

Glad you like it! If you have any suggestions, let me know.

Comment on Chicago Water Analysis by Brian

Brian — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 22:29:46 +0000

I’m pretty sure that the the number that matters is the outlet number, which for me is 7.58. The range you refer to is the allowable limits I believe.

Comment on Chicago Water Analysis by Colin Brietzke

Colin Brietzke — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:33:03 +0000

So, what do you make of the wide range of ph levels posted on the site. Not helpful at all ofr brewers to know that the ph ranges from 6.5 to 8.5.

Comment on Very Harry Knuckle by Out Of Key Brewing » Blog Archive » Very Harry Knuckle Followup

Out Of Key Brewing » Blog Archive » Very Harry Knuckle Followup — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:05:53 +0000

[...] beer finished at 1020 which puts it at about 9.3%. I kegged it with 1.6 oz corn sugar and pitched [...]

Comment on Very Harry Knuckle by Brian

Brian — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:21:22 +0000

This beer fermented down to 1020 in less than a week. Total ABV = 9.3%. Dry hopped the beer with a 3 oz blend of warrior, Amarillo, Centennial and Columbus for four days at 67 degrees.

Comment on Popskull Review by Brian

Brian — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:34:04 +0000

Ahh, but only the finest of beers are triple hopped or so the folks over at Miller tell me.

Sadly they probably quadruple hopped it, which we all know ruins it.

Comment on Popskull Review by HopGod

HopGod — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 01:24:28 +0000

Was it triple hopped?

Comment on Night of the Living Ales Report by Out Of Key Brewing » Blog Archive » Popskull Review

Out Of Key Brewing » Blog Archive » Popskull Review — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:00:40 +0000

[...] Saturday night I had a chance to taste popskull from the [...]

Comment on Free Beer Alliance Expands Its Empire by dr.spinnerfall

dr.spinnerfall — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:02:32 +0000

Damn dude. I guess I am not up to date on terminology but it sounds pretty impressive.

Comment on Promash Recipe File Converter by Out Of Key Brewing » Blog Archive » Free Beer Alliance Expands Its Empire

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:25:57 +0000

[...] seems that the some faction of the free beer alliance has struck again. The Promash To BeerXml file converter, has been included in another application to convert beer recipes into other text based formats. [...]

Comment on Promash Recipe File Converter by Matt

Matt — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 03:24:54 +0000

Brian,

first of all, thanks for the great little app. I’ve taken it a bit further… I wrote a little .net windows app to wrap the converter in a frontend. It gives the user the ability to convert the .rec to code that’s postable to forums, HTML, or plain text. That way I can convert my .rec files to be easily postable without loading them into promash.

you can d/l it at http://beerconverter.codeplex.com

Again, thanks for doing all of the heavy lifting on the converter, it made my life a lot easier!

Matt

Comment on Saison de Truite Update by Jon

Jon — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:30:16 +0000

That label is great. It makes me want to retire.

So did you build it? because if so… we really need to talk about my website.

Comment on Saison de Truite Update by Dryfly.org » Blog Archive » Saison Inspiration

Dryfly.org » Blog Archive » Saison Inspiration — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:12:01 +0000

[...] That night Matt and I found a bottle of Saison de Truite that I evidently had bottled off the keg last spring and left at my parents place. This bottle came from the batch that I had blended with a batch of 100% Brett C. It had been sitting in a bottle in my parents back room at about 70 degrees for about nine months. To be totally honest I had totally forgotten about the bottle. I believe I had brought it up there for Matt and I to sample in a lead up to our fishing trip. [...]

Comment on Promash Recipe File Converter by AndyW

AndyW — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:27:40 +0000

Hi Brian,
Nice work on the Promash Converter. that is a handy tool.
I am working on a bit of PHP that I hope to have import beerxml recipes into a mysql db, for use in a homebrew community webpage (For my local brew club). It would allow for easy recipe sharing, and a central club recipe repository.
I am hoping that you could shed some light on your .rec conversion process. Right now my biggest hangup is that I need to be able to convert .rec files before I can even think of importing them (silly ProMash).
This is all for fun, no profit, and I will sing your praises to the masses if you can provide even a hint… I will anyway, because of the converter, but still…

Thanks in advance.

-AndyW

Comment on Session Updates by Brian

Brian — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 13:17:32 +0000

I love the stuff as well. Made an extract batch last year(steeped) and it was really good. I am looking forward to doing the the real deal this year. I am planning on doing 10 gallons and Oaking half of it.

Comment on Session Updates by Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 19:53:18 +0000

BVIP is the best. It’s nice and roasty and leaves you with warm fuzzies.

Comment on Goose Island is not a Anheuser Busch product by I did it at ionia ales

I did it at ionia ales — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:04:51 +0000

[...] CORRECTION: DRYFLY put me as the first of many, links regarding a popular mis-conception. AB doesn’t directly own G.Island. But does own distributing rights, and widmer did buy a portion of GI, and AB owns some of Widmer, who owns some of GI. [...]

Comment on Goose Island is not a Anheuser Busch product by Brendan

Brendan — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:52:50 +0000

MR. DRYFLY

thanks to technology, I noticed your link to my blog. Your references are very helpful, and thanks for the info! I will correct both my brain and my blog. Two things, 1. How did you come across my blog, and 2. Did you try to comment? if not, Would you? – I am trying to see if I can have comments/discussion on my site, with out insane amts of spam.
Thanks.

Comment on Saison de Truite Update by sean

sean — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 17:03:04 +0000

Brian, that is one awesome label. Did you make it yourself? I love that black background and then the trout on the line. Perfect.

Comment on Tis Hop Season by sean

sean — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 17:48:31 +0000

B, it looks like you have a lot to do this spring and summer. Good luck on the Hops and may they be fruitfull.

Comment on Saison de truite by Brian

Brian — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 17:12:38 +0000

Brewing can be as simple as you want to make it or as complex as you want to make it. In this case it is complex, hopefully the end result is worth it. By the way, translated it means “Trout Season”.

Comment on Saison de truite by sean

sean — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 17:10:15 +0000

Dude taht sound s great. i see it is very complex to make a brew with the variables being what they could be.

Comment on Larger Fermenter by Dryfly.org » Blog Archive » Enis Update

Dryfly.org » Blog Archive » Enis Update — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 15:03:35 +0000

[...] Here are some photos from the transfer to the larger fermenter last night. I think this beer is going to turn out quite good. [...]

Comment on Lost in the Woods by Jon

Jon — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 21:22:21 +0000

I believe tomorrow will be all about the ball valves

Comment on The Ole Oil by Brian

Brian — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 17:28:12 +0000

This is a work in progress, so you may find bugs but I am working on writing a brewlog plugin. You can see it here: http://dryfly.org/?a=brewlogger&showdetail&brewlog.

I am going to put the gravity readings in the notes.

Comment on The Ole Oil by Matt

Matt — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 17:24:51 +0000

So how is the fermentation process coming along? Have you taken a gravity reading lately?

Comment on Kegging Info by Test User

Test User — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 14:57:52 +0000

Just a test test comment. Is this thing working