Home Brew Mart News Letter – July 22, 1997
Hello All,
Well I am back and rested after a brief vacation up to No. Cal. I’ve got
some Ballast Point and class updates along with some new product info and
recipes. This week Lucky’s has a whole bunch of fruit on sale at 5 for $1.
Its one of the best fruit deals all year, so if you want to brew some
fruit beers or fruit meads, now is the time. If you want frozen fruit
Trader Joes has a great selection at very good prices. Price club is a
good place for bulk fruit, but their selection is somewhat limited.
Just FYI: The Ocean Beach Homebrew supply shop is now out of business, not
that many of you go there, just wanted all to be aware. The owner is
supposedly taking a sailing trip around the world, so he’s not to bad off.
The Solana Beach store is now out of used carboys, but we do still have
some used bottles, including champagne bottles, down at Linda Vista. The
15 gallon all-grain system has been sold as well, though we do have a new
one built at the North store.
And last thing–if you want to brew a barleywine or strong ale for
Christmas, now is the time to get it going so it is perfect for the
holidays. And several of the brewing clubs will be holding competitions in
September and October.
Cheers
Tom
CONTENTS:
BALLAST POINT
DEL MAR FAIR
NEW FILTERS
PUB UPDATES
CLASS INFO
RECIPES
BEER HUMOR
BALLAST POINT
This week we should have our Kolsch back on tap at the tasting bar. There
is still a little bit of the barleywine left, though we are going to set
some of it aside to age.
Our cask-conditioned Copper ale might still be on tap at San Diego Brewing
Co., though I’m not sure.
The big news in tap accounts is the Del Mar Racetrack! So now there is one
more excuse to go where the Turf meets the Surf. Our Copper Ale should be
available throughout the racing complex.
And if you didn’t make it by our booth at the Del Mar Fair, come in and
check out our new selection of T-shirts and Hats. We have one color and
full color logo shirts in S-XXL in 5 different colors!
We also have cleaned up a number of 5 gallon soda kegs for the brewery so
if anyone with a kegging system wants to pick up beer from the brewery we
can have it in a soda or sanke keg now.
And coming up in a few weeks will be a pint-night at Pitcher’s Sports Bar
in Rancho Penasquitos on Friday August 1st. Buy a beer and keep the glass
for $3.75 and refill it for $2.25! See you there.
DEL MAR FAIR
Congrats to all who won prizes and ribbons at the Del Mar Fair. I have a
list of all the winners, though it is stupidly sitting at home today. I
will try to get it typed up and in next weeks newsletter.
NEW FILTERS
Yuseff has ordered some new filters and gave me this write-up on them, but
I have not used themself so I know very little about them.
I have recently received the new 10 inch coton .5 micron filter cartriges.
They will retail for $7.95 and anyone buying 6 or more will receive 15% off
the total price. This is not in addition to any club discount! These
filters are cotton so you can sanitize them by boiling. The core is
stainless steel and will also withstand boiling temperatures. As far as
reusing them I am not quite sure, but I imagine if you back flush them
right after use with boiling water you could reuse them. They should not
be sanitized with chemicals! These will get absorbed by the cotton. Boil
them for 10 minutes then flush with plenty of water, hook up to your beer
line and filter from one keg to another…and NO you can not use these
filters without a kegging sytem. The housing is the standard home depot
water filter housing, so I have not bothered stocking them. If people can’t
find them I might get some to sell at the store. Mainly I got these for
people who allready have filter housings but can not find the 1/2 micron
size cartriges.
PUB UPDATES
Pizza Port in Carlsbad is now open in the old Carlsbad Brewery Building off
Carlsbad Village Drive. Like Pizza Port they have a selection of their own
beers as well as guest beers (including our Copper Ale). Vince, one of the
owners, is handling the brewing and introducing some new ales including an
Oatmeal Stout. I haven’t been up there yet, but hopefully will have a
report soon.
If you ever find yourself in the Lower Haight up in San Francisco check out
a bar called the Toronado on Haight street. Perhaps the most interesting
draught menu I have ever seen. Its not the biggest but they just have so
many good beers. Don’t look for a big sign because there isn’t one. Look
for sign with a hand raising a pint glass on the south side of the street.
This bar was so good I went back again the same day after dinner.
CLASS INFO
The long awaited All-Grain brewing class will be happening this coming
Sunday, July 27th from 12-4pm at the Linda Vista store. If you would like
to attend, please RSVP by email. I won’t probably do another one until
late September.
I am hoping to do a mead class in the near future, but I don’t know when.
I will keep you all posted.
RECIPES
Nectarine Mead
Last Summer, and again last night, I made a nectarine mead. It is a mild
flavored fruit, but it blends wonderfully with our Orange Blossom honey.
It was ready to drink at about 4-5 months, so it is also good young.
14# Orange Blossom honey
7-8# Nectarines (try Lucky’s or a friends back yard tree.)
Cote Des Blancs Yeast
I cut the nectarines and removed the pits and placed them in a pot of
water. I boiled the water first and then turned off the heat. I steeped
the fruit in there for about 20 minutes while mashing it up and stirring it
around. During that time I boiled more water and added the honey to that
and boiled it briefly. I used a wort chiller to cool the honey/water must
and added it to my fermentor. I poured the nectarine juice into the
fermentor through a strainer to remove the fruit. I topped it off with
cold water and pitched my yeast. My O.G. was about 1.106.
Fruit Beer Base
Wheat is a good base for any fruit beer. So here is a basic recipe that
just about any fruit can be added to (No grain needed):
6.5# Wheat Malt Extract
1# Honey
1.25 oz Crystal Hops — 3.2% AA — Boil
.75 oz Crystal Hops — Finish
AmericanWheat Yeast
(For a more distinct yeast charachter try the Hefe-Weizen or Wit yeast)
And this week I have a guest recipe that was sent in:
EXPRESSO STOUT
4# amber malt extract
4# dark malt extract
1# 80L crystal malt
.5# roasted barley
.25# chocolate malt
.25# black patent malt
1 oz. norther brewer (6.9%AA)
1 oz.Irish northdown (9.4%AA)
1 oz. cascade (5.0%AA)
(Use .5 oz each in boil and finish)
add 4 cups black coffee after boil.
(No yeast specified, though I would use the Irish Stout Pitchable Yeast)
It is dark and tastes great. Hope you like it.