Category: August 2025

Hard to believe that today is the last Friday of summer. Seems it was just a short while ago that we were wrapping up the school year and looking forward to summer break. Guess what they say is correct – all good things must come to an end. For most things this is correct – like summer break. But God gave us the seasons to enjoy in their due time and I actually am looking forward to the new school year because that means Fall and Football are almost here! Fall is such a wonderful transition from the dog days of summer to the wonderland of winter. And football is, well, football!

So how to spend the last Free Friday of summer? How about NOT doing any schoolwork OR homework! I’m in for that. What to do? Brew beer of course! Since the electric system has been the workhorse at Fieldpointe South, the old propane systems has been collecting dust at Fieldpointe North for a good long while. Today that is changing and Old Faithful is currently back in action. Kinda windy but the weather is great and so far it has been a fantastic way to spend today.

But wait! School starts in a few days. Where is your dedication to the future of our society? My dedication today is to the brew pot. Monday the focus will be Back to the Future. Ha!

You see, the brewing at Fieldpointe South mostly stays at Fieldpointe South. That’s the tradeoff of being able to brew regularly and use Mark’s home and utilities. He gets to keep the finished product in return for brewing, the BM bar, snacks, a meal, beer and more! It works for the both of us. This leads to the question that all Brothers of the Lutheran Persuasion ask:

What does this mean?

This means that Fieldpointe North needs to occasionally brew to keep the 4 tap keezer stocked. Not that there is a lack of brew. There always seems to be random open cases and kegs strewn around the man cave. It’s the principle of the thing. Couldn’t tell you the last time a brew session took place here. I know it wasn’t last summer or winter or spring. So I’m back at it and NEED to plan for a winter brew over Christmas Break – the next opportunity.

Readership will note that brewing at Fieldpointe North is not as informative as Fieldpointe South. There could be a BM Bar but that didn’t happen today. It was closed. There are no Dorothy Doors to open. If there were, they would be open. The keezer contents will wait until later this evening for the Featured Friday Pizza and Beer pairing. The most “interesting” thing that occurred so far is that the wind extinguished my burner once. Don’t know how long it was out but that situation was corrected easily. Otherwise, all is going as it should.

Just did a quick look and all is well. 5 minutes remaining in the boil and then free-fall cool down. The “no chill” method is still in use here. For basic review: At flameout the boil kettle is allowed to cool naturally. In this case with the temp being 81° F it will be a slow process. It will sit out back for a number of hours before the flameout hops are added around 170° F, then racked into a container, carried inside down to the man cave and transferred to the fermenter. There it will cool all night and by morning the temp should be good for pitching the yeast. BTW there is a yeast starter of Fermentis SafAle US-05 underway at this time. That should be good to go tomorrow morning as well.

Time to go kill the burner and do some cleanup and prep work.

This beer should be listed somewhere on the site as a previous brew. To make it easier for all and just in case modifications to the recipe have been made, here are the makings of 1.21 Gigahops – Doc Brown’s Double:

Grains

• 10# – 2 Row Brewers Malt
• 0.5# – Maris Otter
• 0.25# – Vienna Malt
• 0.25# – Crystal 20°

Hops

• 1 oz – Magnum @ 60 minutes
• 1 oz – Simcoe @ 30 minutes
• 1 oz – Centennial @ 15 minutes
• 1 oz – Cascade @ flameout
• 1 oz – Amarillo @ flameout
• 2 oz – Cascade: Dry hop in the serving keg

Adjuncts

• 1# – Corn Sugar @ 15 minutes

Yeast

• Fermentis SalAle US-05 (starter)

As an aside, some weeks back I attended the air show at the EAA in Oshkosh, WI for Teacher Day. While perusing the grounds, what should I stumble upon?

Projected Analysis

• OG – 1.063
• FG – 1.012
• Color – 5.2 SRM
• ABV – 6.7%
• Bitterness – 111 IBU

Almost 2 weeks ago (seems a pattern has developed here) the Fieldpointe Brew Crew gathered for a New Teacher Welcome at Casa de Blauert (aka Fieldpointe South). This was a chance for the WLS faculty & staff to get acquainted with some new faces (newbies) and reacquainted with old faces (returning) in a festive light-hearted jovial setting. Actually, it was an opportunity for the Blauerts’ to show off their newly installed flooring – which looks very nice! The area rug makes in look magazine quality!

Lakeshore Commons (LC) was intended to be brewed at home (Fieldpointe North) before the new school year got underway (August 19). However, Supervisor Mark kept me too busy with menial school related tasks so this intention did not take place.

Eventually, this did work out as intended. LC was brewed before the new school year but the brew session took place at the traditional Fieldpointe South (aka Casa de Blauert) location instead. Supervisor Mark made amends by hosting AND providing his World Famous Blauertcraut with Mark-B-Q sauce – which I learned is of the Carolina style. Perhaps I had already been educated on this by Mark. If so, it didn’t stick.

Because I wanted to squeeze this brew session in a limited timeframe, Lakeshore Commons was designed as a partial mash / extract brew (PME). PME brews produce quality on par with the all grain (AG) brews. The benefit of the PME over the AG is the time / effort reduction. So why not brew PMEs regularly? That’s a great question and probably should have been asked as a FAQ. I’ll tolerate it here and give a plausible response. PME beers cost a bit more (actually noticeably) due to the extract part of it and as previously stated, shortens the brewing schedule. More often than not the time restraint isn’t a concern so extended Brew Fellowship (BF) is not hindered with AG brewing. There you go.

A staple ingredient of Blauertcraut is its liquid lubricant: Hamm’s. Why? Not again! You are killing me Smalls! FAQ! Because it is “The beer…refreshing!” and it is “From the land of sky blue waters.” Duh! (Suggestion: think these things through before asking.)

Yes, there may have been one or two of these “lubricants” consumed as is – following the Bloody Mary Bar (BMB). Now that I think about it, Supervisor Mark offered these chasers during the BMB. Not disappointed as BMs and Hamm’s work well together.

At some point I decided to raid Mark’s dedicated beer fridge and found the last of this number:

It had bee a good while since Toppling Goliath’s “Sue” of any variety had entered the gates of paradise so I was glad to have discovered it. Do I feel bad for taking his last one? Goodness – FAQ please! Answer: Not in the least bit. Done and done.

There is a code of conduct – that is policy and procedure that needs to be loosely followed at Fieldpointe. The following rule may or may not have been followed during the brewing of Lakeshore Commons:

I would be amiss if I excluded the Dorothy Door (DD) report for the occasion. You will need to take my word for it as I neglected to take evidence, the DDs were in full open status. Good thing too with the number of individuals making use of the direct access to Mark’s Mac Cave and Depository (MMC&D).

Here are the “Before” and “After ” images of the two main events at Fieldpointe South:

This was a lot of work for the Blauerts and they are sincerely thanked for their generosity and hospitality. God blessed us all with fantastic weather and Christian fellowship. Thank you!

Interested in brewing Lakeshore Common – a California Common style ale? (My question so it can be here.) You are in luck!

Grains

• 1# – Crystal 40°
• 0.5# – Special Roast

Extract

• 5# – Light DME (or 7# LME)

Hops

• 1 oz – Norther Brewer @ 60 minutes
• 1 oz – Northern Brewer @ 20 minutes
• 1 0z – Northern Brewer @ flameout

Yeast

• Fermentis SafAle US-05

Projected Analysis

• OG – 1.051
• FG – 1.013
• Color – 13 SRM
• ABV – 5%
• Bitterness – 47 IBU

Thanks Mr & Mrs Blauert for hosting this event and God’s Blessings to all on the New School Year!