FOOLCiRCLE

What we have here is a second batch of the Honey Pale Ale, my first batch of hard Cider made with Linvilla fresh cider and my first batch of Mead made with all Tupelo honey.

First is the Honey Pale Ale. This beer is a second attept at this beer. This beer was already popular, inparticularly with Karen Mom’s Cindy. So when she requested I make a second batch and bought the honey for it, what could I say? I “switched” a few things this time from last time, hopefully for the better. This time I am using equal proportions of liquid malt extract to honey, Wampler’s Clover Honey. Last time it leaned toward the malt side. This could officially be labeled a Braggot. Also, I doubled the amount of Honey Malt and Cascade Hops. The other “trick” I learned from Garrett, he’s the guy I brewed the Fool’s Initiation with. Anyway, when he brewed his Black Honey Ale last time he added the honey on the second day of primary fermentation. I tried this beer and it was very “honey-licious”, so I thought I had to give it a shot. I waited more like 24 hours after the onset of fermentation. Here is a nice article Garrett wrote on Honey in Homebrewing for the First State Brewers.

Next is Linvilla Hard Cider. I must say, making Cider has GOT to be the easiest fermented beverage I have made to date. Plus, while it is fermenting, the room it is in smells great! Anyway, this is a very simple Cider recipe, to hopefully create a very simple straight forward Hard Cider. Basically, I wanted to know that I could do it before I got all funky with it. Literally, this recipe is fresh pressed, no preservatives, no sugar added 100% Apple Cider juice from fresh apples, plus yeast nutrients and yeast. Seriously, that’s it. I still have my doubts only because I have never made it before, but it’s chugging away as we speak, so I figured it’s doing something. One hint for anyone who is interested in making Cider: allow plenty of time for your 5 gallons of cider to come up to room temperature. I pulled the jugs of cider out of the refrigerator at 10:15AM. I had to run around all day before they came up to temp. I didn’t pour them into the carboy until 12:15AM, 14 hours later! Like I said, just a hint to go by for next time.

And finally is the every mysterious, thought provoking, late-night interpretting Mead! Mead is definetly a new one for me. There is a lot of different information available, but I suppose the best source on line is probably Got Mead? I’ve read that it should age between 4 months and 4 years, so there really is no idea when this will be “ready” let alone served, but I thought I’d give it a shot anyway. Mead itself is broken down ito three main categories; dry, sem-sweet and sweet. This all has to do with the amout of residual sugar left that the yeast did not ferment (your FG). All three of these styles fall into three sub-categories also; hydromel, standard and sack. This has to do with the amount of sugar the yeast had available to begin with (your OG). And yet again there is one more sub-category which all mead fall into; still, petillant (lightly carbonated) and sparkling. This has to do with the amount of carbonation that the mead will be served with. All of this is described in much more detail in this Introduction to Mead Guidlines. Anyway, I know my mead will be a standard based on my OG of 1.081. As of yet, I have absolutely no clue what my FG will be. I’m assuming it’ll fall in the dry or semi-sweet area and I’m guessing I will lightly carbonate some and serve some still.

Briefly, mead has many different names depending on what “extra” ingredients are added to it, here is a “short” break-down: a Melomel is a fruit mead, a Cyser is a apple Melomel, a Pyment is a Grape Melomel, a Omphacomel is a Pyment using only unripe grapes, a Morat is a mulberry Melomel, a Metheglin is a herbed or spiced mead, a Hippocras is herbed or spiced Pyment, an Oxymel is a wine vinegar mead, a Rhodomel is a mead with roses, a Capsicumel is a chili pepper mead, a Braggot is a blend of beer and mead, and a T’ej is honey, water and hops. It is the national drink of Ethiopia, and has a unique taste. Dogfish Head actually currently has just brewed a T’ej and also has available their Midas Touch Golden Elixer which has won awards for being both a mead/braggot/and beer.

This is my new car. A 1995 Oldsmobile 88 Royale. Yes, I finally have a car in the 90’s. Yes, it has air conditioning – that works. This is a nice, clean ride, it runs like a champ. But, I honestly think Mista Chuck says it best – holla’!

Your Gonna Get Yours – Public Enemy (1987)
Suckers to tha side – I know you hate my 88 – You gonna get yours!
My 88 Oldsmobile is…
My 88 Oldsmobile’s so…
My 88 Oldsmobile is…
My 88 Oldsmobile’s like…
Suckers to tha side – I know you hate my 88 – You gonna get yours!

Yesterday was the 8th Annual Kennett Square Brewfest, what a great time! It rained alot yesterday, but they were lucky enough to have tents this year. The tents kept us dry, but they also really trapped in the humidity. I think they also compacted the crowd making it feel much busier than previous years. Or, maybe it was much busier than previous years!

The beers were great. My inparticular favorite was the Oaked Arrogant Bastard from Stone, the Old Percolator from Stewart’s, and the Triple H from . . . Cricket Hill, I think. After the fest we went to eat dinner at the Half Moon Saloon. What a great little beer bar/restaurant. Unfortunetly, I wasn’t drinking anymore beer at this point and the service was horribly slow last night. But, we did have good company – it was myself, Karen, Jody, Dave, Richard, Ann, Robert & Heather.

Can’t wait till next year!

Well, here they are in all their hoppy glory. This is WAY more hops then I harvested last year. I know, first year hops are establishing a root bed. I think I wound up with a total of 6-8oz. of hops total, I really don’t remember. I guess it’s time to start brewing and see what happens!

Margaret Lucas passed away early this morning in her sleep at the graceful age of 91.

We love you and will miss you, Gram.

On Sunday, I harvested my second round of hops for the year. Last year I only had one harvest, but this year it looks like I may have three or more with the third being as large as the first. Here is a multi-picture of my newest Cascade hops.

DUDE!! Check out that sick ALBINO HOP! I have never seen anything like that before, and HELL YEAH I’m gonna use it. I pulled back some of the “petals” to look towards the core to see if it had still developed lupilin glands and booyakasha it was loaded! So be ready for an Albino Extra Pale Ale, or some craziness after all the hops have been harvested early this autumn.

On Monday, I harvested my first round of hops for the year. Last year I only had one harvest, but this year it looks like I may have two, or three with the third being much smaller. Here is a multi-picture of my newest Cascade hops.

The first picture (in the upper left hand corner) is a bowl full of 5 oz. of fresh (not dry yet) hops. The second picture is of the hops drying in the dehydrator. There were almost three full trays this year, and they dryed in about five hours. The third picture is weighing the dried hops, they came in about an ounce and a half. And the final picture is a quart (32 oz.) mason jar filled to almost bursting to be stuck in the back of the dark cold freezer until it is time to brew. Hopefully, if the other two harvests go so well, I’ll be able to brew a single batch with all homegrown hops.

Check out last years hoppiness here: Hops 2004

OOOPPS! Well, It looks like I made a small mistake. Looks like I will NOT be invited to the 2005 MCAB, BUT that I WILL be invited to the 2006 MCAB. Why, you may ask? Well, unbeknownst to me, the year you qualify qualifies you for the FOLLOWING year. Fortunetly, I decided to write to Mr. David Houseman, who is basically in charge of the BUZZ group and he informed me of the following:

“When was it that you won a first in the Buzz Off, which is a qualifying event? Remember that the MCAB competition held each year allows entries from the qualifying events the prior year. The Buzz Off organizer for 2004 did not identify you as a first place winner. If you won a 1st place this year then you’d be invited for next year’s MCAB. Dave”

I see said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw! Obla Di – Life goes on!

Pictures from the 2005 Tasting

Well, it’s that time of the year again when the Annual Fool Circle Beer Tasting goes down. This year all of the players were able to bat: Dave, Todd, Richard, Karen, Robert and myself. Things got started roughly around 6:00 at the Ol’ Tupelo Pub. Todd was a little early and Dave was a little late, but otherwise we started right on time.

This year I decided to change the order a little bit. In previous years it appears as if people either came unprepared, hadn’t eaten all day and became “drunk” during the tasting; or overprepared, ate right before we started and couldn’t enjoy all the hard work of the food. So this year we grilled and then tasted, and relayed this bit of information early enough so people could plan accordingly. We had birds and brauts again this year. I cooked two traditional Beer-Can Chickens and 12 grilled and beer-bathed brauts. There was also coleslaw, potato salad, garlic green beans, lamb testicals, a green salad with homemade dressing, homemade pasta salad and brownies with fudgie icing and fresh berries. Basically, we all had to pace ourselves as to not over eat all the delicious food to try and save room for the beer during the tasting.

The tasting went well. This year I poured while the other 5 guessed which beer was which. We only had 10 beers this year. The first beer was the Summer Ale from 2004 and the last was the Honey Pale Ale from 2005. In the group were one specialty ale, one wedding ale, three beers that had previosly been brewed and three multi-award winning beers. It was actually a pretty good number of beers to try and taste fairly. This year the placing went like this: Todd with 0, Richard with 3, Robert with 3, Karen with 4 and Dave with 6! Watch out Dave, I think Karen and Robert both had fire in their eyes and want that fez! So, with Dave being the one who guessed the most, he won this years trophy. We had a new trophy this year, a perpetual trophy that will cover until 2014. The trophy is a little wooded square base with 3 small brass plates on each side. Sitting on top of the base is a sturdy 20oz. pub glass with the Fool Circle logo sand blasted into it. Under the logo it says, “Anuual Fool Circle Beer Tasting Grand Pooh-Bah.” And, on top of the logo rests a fez with the words “Grand Pooh-Bah” on it. So, for the next year Dave will have the “honor” of using the Grand Pooh-Bah glass whenever he so chooses.

After the grillin’ and the tastin’ came the chillin’! I gathered 42 bottles of homebrew for the evening so people could drink whatever and how many ever they so chose. Richard had given me an R2-D2 cooler maybe a month before hand so I finally got to put him to use. He held all the beer and about 60 pounds of ice with room to spare, this cooler is BIG. We hung a little in the dining room, a lot in the basement playing darts, pool and bullshitting and a little on the golf course. Around 12:30ish Dave took Karen up on her offer to “shuttle” people home if they needed a ride. Fortunetly he was going to Newark and not Landsdale! As people started to leave, I suggested that they would be more than welcome to take mixed Fool Circle six pack with them, Dave, Richard and Robert happily accepted. When Dave and Karen left so did Robert, he had his hands full with poker equipment that we unfortunetly never got around to playing. That sounds like the perfect opportunity for a Fool Circle (Strip) Poker Night! Richard and Todd both decided to crash. Richard was up-and-at-them before I even knew he was gone, and Todd chilled a little longer in the morning but had to head back home to see the family.

Also, as always, here are a few select quotes from the evening:

• 
  
  “Wait . . . Bitch . . . NO!”
  
  
• 
  
  “… It’s like three monkeys trying to fuck a football.”
  
  
• 
  
  “I thought we already established that; boobs.”
  
  
• 
  
  “I’m about to crap out my lungs.”
  
  
• 
  
  “This beer has tongue-coating action.”
  
  
• 
  
  “It is sweet and sour and fuck you all at once.”
  
  
• 
  
  “That was a drive by breading.”
  
  
• 
  
  “Can I reference your notes for number four?”
  
  
• 
  
  “Hey, Fuck-Ass, get me a beer.”

On the whole I would say that the 3rd Annual Fool Circle Beer Tasting was probably the best so far, hopefully it will only get better. I can’t wait for next year!

The Village Idiot – June 2005 edition is now available for your bathroom reading material pleasure.

Check it out here at the Village Idiot archives if you haven’t recieved it already. If you like what you read, feel free to sign-up for the next newsletter at the top of that page.