Big Update for Natsmile Ales

Whew. A lot has been happening at the brewery since I last logged in. Right now we have a Bell's Best Brown clone and something we call 'Little Brother Brown', which was created from the second runnings of the Bell's clone. We added a bit of brown sugar to kick it up and it turned into a great session brown ale. The first All-Grain, Ken's Pale Ale, is almost gone, and the Pumpkin Ale was a big hit as well.

Just today we created an Anchor Steam clone, bottled a Sweet Stout, and moved a Rye Pale Ale to the secondary fermenter. We also tapped the first bottle of Bourbon Barrel Old Ale, brewed in February, and it was coming along nicely. Another two months in the bottle and it should be real nice. At 9.58% ABV, it's no joke.

Next week we're going to brew a Chocolate Raspberry Stout for the Christmas Season. Cheers!

Natsmile Ales

Take a tour of Natsmile Ales!

These pics are not in order and are a long time in coming since I'm drinking the batch you're seeing in these pictures six weeks later, but it's my all-grain brewery up and running. These are by far the best beers I have made in the year and a half that I've been brewing. I've brewed a Black and Blueberry Wheat since then that turned out pretty well and a Bell's Best Brown clone as well as something I call 'Little Brother Brown Ale" (A Northern English Ale) from the second runnings of the Bell's clone that registers at 4.2%. It's got brown sugar as a key ingredient along with DME, so we'll see how that works.

I've been up all night; I might sleep all day (The Dunes)

October 3, 2007 - Wednesday

If you never have; stay up all night at least once Current mood: cynical Category: Jobs, Work, Careers I vividly remember the last time I stayed up all night. I was at the tail-end of grad school and didn't have anything better to do so I thought it would be fun to see the sun come up. I called a friend and drank my way through two-thirds of a case of low alcohol beer while shooting the shit (ah, free nights and weekends) and just watched the sky turn colors. It was fun. When you have to work from dusk 'til dawn, though, it loses some of the quaintness. A few days ago I spent the night with my boss watching over 1000 bicyclists spending the night at our park while working their way from one end of NC to the other (hell of a vacation, eh?) This time around it was much less spectacular. I tried to sleep in my desk chair at one point and failed miserably; I grew strangly itchy all over my body, and I was expected to be uber-cheery at 6 am when the bikers wanted breakfast. It was not fun. Do I recommend staying up all night and watching the sky go from midnight to rose to bright as day? Yes; at least once a decade. It's a beautiful and rare thing that should be treated with as much reverence and intoxication as plausible and not bastardized by work requirements. If you haven't, do; If you haven't in a while, plan to, and to those of you recent revelers, cheers! Currently listening : Language. Sex. Violence. Other? By Stereophonics Release date: 29 March, 2005 9:02 PM - 0 Comments

Beers On Tap

Beers on Tap
Current mood: awake

I've been asked recently what beers I have available and have taken stock. Here are the results:

Juniper Red- Lil' bit

Apricot Wheat - Shit-ton

Make Mine a Double IPA- Lil' bit

Bell's Two-Hearted- Private Stock

Garden Wedding Cream Ale- A Good Amount

Sweet Wheat - Shit-ton

Ken's Pale Ale- Shit-ton

Red Headed Ale- Shit-ton

Bourbon Barrel Old Ale - Ready in December

Pumpkin Ale - Ready in two weeks

Black and Blue Wheat - Ready in three weeks

Bell's Best Brown and Little Brother Brown are fermenting now; a stout and/or Barleywine is on-deck!!!

Currently listening : Shine: The Best of the Early Years By David Gray Release date: 03 April, 2007

Chugging along in All-Grain Land

I just made my third (and consequentially fourth) all-grain batch and I am loving this method. I made a Bell's Best Brown Clone and had such a thick wort going even after I got my 6.5 gallons for the boil I decided to keep three gallons of it and boil up a second batch (called Little Brother Brown; a Northern Brown Ale) on the stove while the original beer cooled. Long story short, I now have ten gallons of beer fermenting in my beer fridge, a 5.9% American Brown Ale and a 4.2% Northern Brown Ale. It only took an extra hour (out of an already 6 hour day) to make a weaker, session beer at the same time as my original recipe. I will probably do this a lot more when making barleywines or Imperial anything. I still have a ton of beer left over from the wedding, but I can't stop brewing. My Pumpkin Ale will be bottled on Sunday and a Black and Blue Berry wheat the next week. My Porter is at its peak flavor and in another week my first all-grain, the American Pale Ale, will be fully carbonated. That beer is by far the most commercial tasting beer I've ever made, so if it's any indication of what All grain can do, I can't wait to have a few batches to let people try!!!