Sunday, September 28, 2008

Final Gravity Strong Beer Competition

This is a notice for the 1st Final Gravity Strong Beer Competition (SBC) to be held on Saturday, October 25th, 2008 in Atlanta GA. Please share with your club members. The SBC is an AHA / BJCP sanctioned competition in which all entries must be in one of 23 BJCP categories that cross the line of 8% ABV. Thus, the name Strong Beer Competition! See the website below for specific styles.

Awards will be given to the top three beers for each flight and Best of Show, and prizes will be given to the top entry in each. Entries will be accepted between September 29th and October 11th.

Please go to www.FinalGravityBrewing.com/strong for more details and to complete the entry forms. We look forward to receiving your strong beer entries!

Bud Huddleston
2008 SBC Competition Organizer Assistant
huddlbud@yahoo.com

Monday, September 22, 2008

Friday, September 5, 2008

Fall's coming we gotta get ready!

Hello All,

Your V.P. here.

First of all, my apologies for not keeping up with this blog. We have had so many things going on, but no camera for posterity.

Spring came and went. Summer came and it is now near the end.
But now with Fall coming soon, I felt an overwhelming urge to write and to brew.

These last two weeks, even in a 110 F weather I brewed two pale ales and an amber ale.
As of today, with my weekend cleared up, I plan to brew a simple IPA.

Come over Saturday afternoon to the Bermuda Dunes Country Club and ask for Albert Fernandez at the gate.

Everyone and anyone is welcome to come and observe or help.
Just let me know through our club e-mail:

cvhomebrewers@yahoo.com


Here is my system and a typical brew day for me.

Enjoy the pictorial. If you have any questions or want more specific details or pictures e-mail me:

gfernandez4875@yahoo.com






Here is my three-tier gravity-fed propane gas system.


The Coachella Valley Brewing Company













In the desert, we don't have to heat our mash water.
The temperature right out of the tap measured 140 F.














I did heat the sparge water a little.

Here you see a copper sparge arm showering the mash as I drain the sweet wort from the mash tun into the boil kettle.











The boil kettle has a homemade bazooka screen to filter the wort after the boil.














During the last 15 minutes of the boil, I placed my homemade immersion wort chiller into the boil kettle to sanitize it and then to cool down the wort.

Construction of the chiller is described in my previous blog.









Finally, I drain the wort into "Corney" kegs and place them into my temperature controlled fridge.

I don't use carboys, because I have broken so many. Metal from now on.

Oh, and I stopped aerating the wort as well. A tiny drop of olive oil does the trick.

Look it up, it works!