Christ is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed!
Easter Monday found us a day off of school and at another brew session in the BMC (see previous posts). What better way to culminate the events of Holy Week than to celebrate our Risen Savior with Christian fellowship and frivolity. (Just to be sure, Pastoral supervision was an integral part of the day’s activities. Thanks Pastor R for keeping the rebel rousers at bay.)
The attendance at this session was better than at previous sessions. I’m not sure what the difference was this time. All I can guess is that Mark did a better job of “talking it up” than he has in the past. That, or people just didn’t have a lot going on. Probably more of that scenario. Anyway, as previously mentioned, Pastor R attended to keep the lid on the project and Dave stopped in to score a free Pseudo Sue – which had been absent for some time – from Mark’s beer stock. (Truth be told, I nabbed one as well – just because I could.) Pastor had to be there for supervision purposes only because he is on some allergenic awareness program (he has a color coded card so it must be legit) where yeast and barley products are flagged items. (Good thing hops and water are still golden.) So, he could not / would not partake in the offerings presented. He lamented that he could not participate at this time but is holding out hope that he will soon misplace the card. He had his own undercover secret elixir and a can with a cashew label on it but who knows what was actually in it. He could be just messing with us. Mark did offer him some seasoned grass clippings from last fall but Pastor declined. Go figure. All in all, it was great that he stopped by.
Other than the free beer, the jury is still out as to why Dave stopped by. Just kidding Dave. You don’t need to take this so seriously. Actually, Dave had some body work that needed to be done (you need to guess where) which he wasn’t really looking forward to. Go figure. As someone once said, “It is good for us to be here.” And it certainly was that both Pastor and Dave attended. I didn’t have to spend all the time alone with Mark.
In addition to the Pseudo Sue, Mark had leftover Stone and Odell Brewing beverages in his beloved beer fridge. Speaking of his beer fridge: He gets a little concerned when we brew because his future coffin needs to be taken off of life support (unplugged) so as to not trip the circuit breaker that operates just about every electrical appliance in the BMC. However, this ever wise one finally observed that there are in fact two circuit breakers marked as basement in the junction box AND discovered that quite possibly an adjacent outlet might be on the second breaker. Low and behold – success! In electric basement brewing there are two apparatus that are simultaneously sucking (sorry – pulling) the electrical lifeblood from Mark’s residence. In the past, this procedure would have been met with rejection and the result being left in total darkness in the cave – which is not out of the natural way of things concerning caves. But not anymore! Both units happily chugged the maximum 1,500 watts (1.5Kw) each with no objections from the circuitry. Fantastic! This operation works because the afore mentioned beer fridge is temporarily removed from the equation. Although it is a temporary disconnect, Mark still gets his knickers in a twist because he is afraid that he won’t remember to plug it back in later. No surprise there. No worries, Mark. I do the thinking for you and have your beloved covered. I am there to help – because I care – more than you..
To show my appreciation for Mark hosting these brew sessions, I am trying to bring a special libation to SHARE. This time I brought a bottle of quite possibly my most favorite brew: Goulden Carolus Cuvee Van De Keizer Imperial Dark. Webnet: goudencarolus.be I stumble upon this once in a great while on my beer runs. It is a hit or miss item – mostly miss but when I find it I score myself a few bottles. The last discovery was at Timers Beverage in Racine. I got my hands on three bottles. Apparently, I’m not the only one who enjoys this number as I had to use my imagination as to what this particular bottle tasted like. By the time I got around to lifting the bottle, it was very light in the heft – consisting internally of nothing but air. Thanks buddy. I did encourage him to partake so it’s on me, I guess. As it worked out, Mark’s wife had prepared some good eats for the Easter dinner the day before and an abundance was shared with me. This was mighty fine with me so I did not object too much about the sudden bottle evaporation. By the way, I got the last bottle of this off the shelf at Timers yesterday so now I have two in my solitary possession.
Yes, the beer brewed was a simple House Ale. Since Mark’s residence has a structure on top of ts foundation, it qualifies as a house and so works. Actually, this is a very close rendition of the first beer I ever brewed back in 1998. That beer consisted of a can of liquid malt extract (John Bull), a pound or two of dry malt extract and an ounce or two of about the only hop available at the time: Cascade. I remember sharing that inaugural brew with my dad who told me that it was good. I thought so too and thus my brewing hobby commenced.
A house ale typically is a beer that an establishment brews on a regular basis to offer its patrons. Obviously, it has to be something that is good and people desire. No, I don’t brew this regularly but if I did, it would be my house ale. My commercial house ale is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I try to keep some of it on hand at all times. During the summer months, I also like to have some Bell’s Two Hearted Ale available. (It probably is about time to pick some of this up again. The weather will eventually get warm?) Drinking either / both at the fire pit after the Friday evening pizza is enjoyable. I’m a friend of fair weather and so far this summer routine is still in hibernation.
As it goes, this brew is a conversion to an all grain recipe with a few more ounces of hops than the original. It is not an IPA but rather a more robust pale ale that fits in the afore mentioned Sierra Nevada and Bell’s family of similar offerings. It definitely would be / is my House Ale. Here is how it looks:
Grains
- 2 Row Pale Malt – 10 lb
- 60° Crystal Malt – 0.75 lb
- Dextrin Malt (Carapils) – 0.5 lb
Hops
- Cascade (1 oz) – 60 min
- Cascade (1 oz) – 30 min
- Cascade (1 oz) – 15 min
- Cascade (1 oz) – flameout
Yeast
- Fermentis US-05
Anticipated Analysis
- OG – 1.062
- FG – 1.017
- IBU – 44.4
- SRM – 8.6°
- Attenuation – 72%
- ABV – 6.15%
Here’s hoping that Mark can share some of this with me in the future.
Easter Blessings to you all. He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!