Random Hot Sauce Note

I want to take a moment to point out how much I enjoy this sauce. To give you perspective, I use Sri Racha like ketchup (buy it by the case). I'm impervious to Tabasco and anything less than a habanero is mild at best. So back to this sauce. It has great flavor and nice heat. My current favorite is a toss up between this and Dave's insanity sauce. This once is not as hot as Dave's according to my perception (I haven't checked the Scoville units). As of a few minutes ago when I finished lunch both bottles are now empty. I'm in a dire situation right now where the hottest sauce in the house is Yucatan Sunshine... I'm thinking about ordering some sauce from PuckerButt (http://store.puckerbuttpeppercompany.com/). After reading that the Carolina Reaper was confirmed as the worlds hottest pepper and hearing the back story (see said website or wikipedia) I want to try some of the sauces Ed makes (and support his business).

How I Brew Kombucha

After dangling the teaser that I'm a Kombucha brewer I had follow up with a view into my methods. Today I brewed up 2 gallons of Kombucha. I started brewing about 4 years ago after I took a class in a southeast Portland home. The husband and wife duo are now proud owner of Lion Heart Kombucha (http://www.lionheartkombucha.com/)

Over the years my method has evolved to my taste and convenience. The first thing you will notice is that I have enlisted tea jars with spigots to make dispensing and sampling much simpler. I also tend to use plain white sugar, although I prefer evaporated organic cane juice.

My method is fairly simple.

• Boil one-half gallon of filtered water with 3/4 cup of sugar
• remove the boiling pot and steep the tea for about to minutes
• fill the jar will one-half gallon of filtered water (cold)
• remove tea bags from steeping water and carefully pour the hot, sweet tea into the partially filled jars
• drink down until no more Kombucha will flow from the container
• Repeat, removing excessive layers of SCOBYs as needed

A few technical details:

• I do measure pH. The pH on this batch was 2.8 before fermenting
• The specific gravity before fermenting was 1.020
• I typically use 6 tea bags per gallon (pictures above reflect 2 x 1 gallon batches)
• I sometimes use as much as 1 cup of sugar
• I ferment in a cool basement (~53 degrees in the cold of winter) which is why you see a seed heating mat under the containers. I target high 60s to low 70s for fermentation temperature.
• The coarse cloths on top of containers are needed to allow airflow without allowing contaminants in

Sneak Peak: Golden Rod Brewing

Here is a behind the scenes look at the newest brewery in Omaha. It's so new it hasn't even opened yet.

They just took delivery of their brewing equipment and plan to open in about two months. You week notice that they had to knock out part of a wall just to get the equipment into this room.

The fermentation and brewing space is actually located below the bar and restaurant. So we're standing in sorry of a cellar basement. The business front is on one street level and the back is a losing dock which is a level lower.

The pictures are a little dark since construction is in progress and lighting is minimal. We've had the pleasure to taste a number of their beers that will go into production including a kettle soured cherry and a Keller. I'm anxiously awaiting for this brewery to open.

Brewing with Nick

I stopped in on Nick's double batch brew day last night. He was making a Scottish for the Empyrian Beer Quest competition and a blonde for himself.

For the Scottish he pulled done of the running from the mash and boiled then separately to caramelized before adding it to the rest of the wort. Unfortunately a tough lesson in scorching using a non-clad pot was learned abd the process was started over. Well it was started over after putting done serious elbow grease into chiseling of the burnt ring of sugar. The batch went on otherwise without a hitch.

The second batch was mashed in around 11:30 pm. Yes, this is how it goes when you do a Friday night double batch after work.

Here's a few pictures of Nick's setup. Notice the hammer drill which allows site rpm crushing and provides for an excellent crush.

Whirlpooling

Here's a look at the new copper plumbed and pump assisted brew stand getting it's whirlpool on.

 

Cognac Stout II

Here is a sneak peak of the Cognac stout wood chips we are preparing. In about a week we will add threes chips into secondary fermentation. Then we will sample the beer frequent as data pass until it tastes perfect. We are using 1 ounce of light American oak chips with a bottle of Cognac. The Cognac and chips will be separated before addition. This is the sequel to DeJuan's original that took 3rd place at the Benson Homebrew festival in October of 2013.

Kombucha & Kvass

I have never disclosed on here that I new Kombucha, but it's true. Today I was in a natural food store and couldn't resist browsing the selection of fine fermented and low alcohol drinks. Now, I thought Kvass was made from old bread... what is this stuff?

Update [1/17/14] : The store I was at is on Dodge street in Omaha near 80th on the south side of the street. Follow this link to learn more. I highly recommend this store. They have an incredible selection of all things wonderful. I walked out with a bottle, an organic apple and some organic tahini.