Friday, December 26 marked the half-way(ish) point of the 2 week Christmas / New Year winter break. To commemorate the occasion the brew crew gathered at Fieldpointe South to try another rendition of Flex Coconut Porter in case Jolly ol’ St. Nick should happen to stop by on his way to recovery time in the South Pacific.
Supervisor Mark decided to go with this one again reminiscing the local Hula Chaser from Racine Brewing Company. RBC has been gone from Racine’s Main Street but its memory lives on by those who fondly remember quaffing mugs of Hula Chaser. For some of us, that was at weekly Wednesday Sheephead gatherings.
The first run of FCP was OK but not quite what the desired outcome should be. Toasted coconut was added to the finished keg but didn’t impart that classic Hula Chaser coconut porter taste. It also turned into a gooey mush being in the keg for the extended time during serving. In this rendition the Supervisor decided to add the coconut straight to the fermenter. Yup – just dumped it in. The plan is to give the fermentation process the typical couple of weeks to complete; then move the fermenter to the keezer for a week or two so everything settles followed by the transfer to the keg. Time will tell if this procedure produces the intended desired results.
Present to this event were representatives from Fieldpointe North & South as well as head brewmaster Jerome of C.F.W. Malther Brewing Company of Racine.
Despite being “under the weather”, Mark’s wife Helen graciously endured our presence provided we kept our shenanigans contained to the Man Cave – and kept a lid on it. Let’s see… the Man Cave is where the brewing gear and beer are located, so… no problem!
Mark was a gracious host (as always) and went all out to keep his guests feeling jolly and well fed. In addition to beer (duh) Mark had procured these holiday treats: smoked salmon, port wine cheese spread and herring. In addition there was sushi which always should accompany a Bloody Mary – as it did following the standard procedure for kick starting each brew session at Fieldpointe South.
The Ghost of Christmas Present moved Supervisor Mark to open the Bloody Mary Bar 20 to 30 minutes earlier than the usual 10 AM. This suited the attendees just fine as the one guest arrived on the early side of 10 AM – apparently to get situated before all the good seats were gone. As Jerome soon realized, this really wasn’t a concern as there was plenty of personal space available to mill about as one pleased.
While the brew session was under way, Mark thought it a good opportunity to give the keezer a good interior cleaning. This included removing the kegs and wiping the keezer floor. The motivation for this activity was actually initiated by the Lakeshore Common keg. When this beer was kegged, it was noticed that the beer out post was leaking. A new “o” ring was procured and replaced. Thinking this solved the problem, not much additional thought was given to the situation. However, Mark discovered that the kegs were doing the backstroke in the keezer. Mark and Jerome soon had the cleanup completed and lamented briefly over the few pints that were lost. Since the one replacement “o” ring didn’t fix the problem the first time, another was added to the beer dip tube. Following testing and close observation, the keg was cleared to reenter the keezer and as far as this author is aware, is behaving as it should.
As a departing gift, the Supervisor gave each attendee a can of 3 Sheeps – The Wolf which is an Imperial Stout aged in Bourbon Barrels. It is very good – one of my most favorite things not in brown paper packages tied up with strings. You may learn more about it here. I do like the quote from 3 Sheeps, “The liquid equivalent of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Yes, it will sneak up and “bite” you if not careful.
Since this beer recipe has been previously posted, I will refrain from reentering it here – unless there is a request for me to do so.
With that, may your 2025 have been great and your 2026 even better.
