No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
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Got a Xmas ale in the fermentor currently....did a semi-clone of Great Lakes Brew Co. Xmas Ale, which I like a lot. I tweaked it a bit so I'm sure it'll be different, but hopefully close. I'm supposed to be brewing this Sun, but now we have another "perfect storm" apparently going to destroy the East Coast so I don't know if it's going to happen.
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lol... jackalope. Did you get your new fermentors today? Mine showed up... helluva deal!

Is 635 still all jammed up? You should take than on over to 35 and shoot right up to Minneapolis in May! It can be any more than a two hour drive!:-)
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Haven't received the fermenters yet.

Two hour! HA!
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Just thought I would post up my initial findings on the Belma hops. I went from the primary to the keg after 2 weeks in the fermenter @65 deg and can see how these hops compair to citra. They are less in your face and I don't really get the orange taste that is in the description on hops direct website...what I do taste is a nice change of pace citrus based hop that seems to be a bit better at bittering than citra/simco....that pine is there in the finish along with the citrus.

I did float an extra oz of Belma in the keg for a dry hop so that will help amplify this new hops T F S profile. Will post back after it is carbed with more.

Brewing up a Falconers Flight IIPA tonight and a Galaxy Pale Ale tomorrow. ;o)
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Falconer's Flight is a great hop.
Belma reminds me of a more tropical/mango citrus Aussie hop.
Both should be good stuff.
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Just got back from a run to Northern Brewer for some supplies. 2 batches of Dry Irish, one EPA and one Two Hearted clone with a slight twist are on deck. I suppose if it is a clone with a twist, it isn't a clone at all.
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5.5 gallons of Saison du Noel is bubbling away, just added D-90 and 16oz of wildflower honey last night. Smells great, should be ready to drink by Christmas.

Will be bottling up my holiday ale this weekend: an American Imperial Chocolate Cherry Stout, fermented with Duvel's Belgian strong ale yeast that I harvested from a bottle of Blue Mountain Brewery's Dark Hollow.
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I'm hoping someone could help me out! I know nothing about home brewing but my dad keeps expressing interest but won't pull the trigger.. So I'm thinking for xmas I'll give him a little nudge down the slope.

I was just wondering if I were to make him a "starter kit" what are the things I would need? Doesn't have to be anything to make mass amounts all at once or anything like that. Something simple to get him started. Thanks in advance!
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Some folks express interest but aren't really interested. There are forums for such things.
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Northern Brewer now has 1gallon brewing starter kits

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/b...arter-kit.html
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I think I could handle it on this scale. :-)
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Basement is finally cool enough for lagering! Just put in an order for grains to make a German Pils and a Vienna lager.
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Got a few things going:

Dark American Lager fermenting
Cascadian Dark Ale fermenting

Munich Helles in Lagering Mode
Maibock in Lagering Mode

American Amber carbing in the keg

On Tap:

Extra Pale Ale (OG 1.056, FG 1.008, 75 IBUs)

Sweet Coffee Stout

Cream Ale

German Pils

Aging:

Baltic Porter

Wines:

Cab Sauv and White Zin are in clearning mode

Mead:

Blackberry Mead in aging mode (OG 1.115 FG LOW!)
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Brewed a 10.50 gal batch of Tim's Cleveland Steam. Fermenting now at 58 degrees. I pitched at hybrid rates to ensure that the yeast will perform at the low end of the temperature scale. I will probably hold this temp for 10-14 days and then ramp up to 64 for a couple days.
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Cooking some Happy Camp Hellesbock from a local store.
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Wait... you still get to brew? AND wine AND mead?
Snap, I'm doing something wrong!

How's it? Should be close to done, no?

I'm bummed... done brewing for a while.
I've got 3 weeks off work, but our water has turned to ****. River levels are so low that it smells like dirt... even after filtering.

Found out last Saturday that I was named St. Louis Homebrewer of the Year.
Pretty cool, but I have no clue what's going on... I was not able to attend the awards ceremony. :-)
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Sucks about the water, but congrats on the prize!
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My Fiance got me a home brewing kit from Brooklyn brewing company for xmas, and I'm going to break it out this weekend. I've thumbed through the posts here, and watched all the videos on their site, I'm hoping to turn out some good brew!
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Had to start the new year off right, even though the weather was not cooperative for an outdoor brew session. Good thing I cobbled together a 3-tier from scrap back in the fall, for just such an occasion:

Image

I have 5 gallons of "3 Crops, 3 Hops" cream ale bubbling away this morning, hope to be ready in time for the Superbowl
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