tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56766648321765879762012-02-17T08:34:10.935-08:00news and notes from my Los Angeles, California, home breweryCalifornia Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.comBlogger211100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-7570574330355345422010-01-18T09:59:00.000-08:002010-01-18T10:06:06.657-08:00

Under gray skies and light rain in the back yard yesterday, I squeezed in my first brew of 2010. On a purely trivial note, this is the 54th all-grain batch of my brewing life. Somewhat less trivial (at least to me) it was really now or never if I want to make a run at besting last year's personal best of 16 batches, considering the relentless train of winter storms now aimed at Southern

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-11070618808773256472009-12-23T22:53:00.001-08:002009-12-23T23:07:57.972-08:00

It's about halftime in the cool-temperature brewing season, as well as the end of another calendar year. I've managed to complete two full cycles of three beers each since the beginning of September, bringing my total for 2009 to 16 batches. That's still a few batches shy of our household's legally allowed maximum (200 gallons, if anyone is keeping track), but is nonetheless a new personal

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-78293007129812822612009-09-26T09:35:00.001-07:002009-09-26T09:40:58.003-07:00

Since the middle sixteenth century, the official Bavarian brewing season has begun on St. Michael's Day (September 29), which is effectively Germanic Catholicism's celebration of the autumnal equinox. With the emergence of Munich's Oktoberfest celebrations three centuries later, and the Great American Beer Festival three decades ago, the arrival of Fall has taken on even greater significance in

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-17863146947501030822009-07-31T13:54:00.000-07:002009-07-31T14:12:49.219-07:00

Yesterday was the ballyhooed "Beer Summit" between President Obama, Professor Gates, and Officer Crowley. Vice President Joe Biden also joined the party to presumably balance the Biertisch, 2v2, between elite Black men on one side and "working class" white men on the other, but also to add a lifelong teetotaler who reportedly drank a non-alcoholic brew. Whatever the event did or did not mean to

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-11005054714912730352009-07-29T14:22:00.000-07:002009-07-29T14:30:05.266-07:00

I hesitated before buying Randy Mosher's new book, Tasting Beer: An Insider's Guide to the World's Greatest Drink. After all, I'm a relatively veteran homebrewer, as well as an officially recognized BJCP beer judge. Plus, just about every other book or article I read these days has something to do with beer. So really, what else is there for me to learn? Since my thirst for beer information

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-67952532377425643712009-07-28T12:23:00.001-07:002009-07-28T12:23:48.092-07:00

The kegerator has been up and running for about six months now. Here are a couple pictures. There's nothing particularly innovative here, but perhaps I'll add a more complete description later. One quick note on the tap handles: rather than my favorite beers--although Black Butte Porter from Deschutes is certainly on my short list--these simply are attractive handles I found on eBay that fit

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-82805796405970886092009-07-28T10:50:00.000-07:002009-07-28T12:05:37.386-07:00

I brewed ten gallons of Beach Cruiser Blonde ale, yesterday. This is my first go-round with this beer, one I'd named long before I had fully conceived what it would be like. The blonde ale style never has been a personal favorite, and I usually turn to a crisp pale lager or spicy wheat beer when looking for a summer thirst quencher. But a recent family trip to North County San Diego led us,

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-24013935256482007572009-07-27T08:55:00.001-07:002009-07-27T09:03:13.744-07:00

Work and play. Action and rest. Winter and Summer. Night and day. Yin and yang. Red and blue. Bitter and sweet. Hops and malt. Bicycles and beer.

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-51947371575926031362009-01-25T18:06:00.000-08:002009-07-27T09:03:32.951-07:00

My robust porter is nearing the end of its ferment. All appears to have gone well, but I don't have a good way of checking gravity so I won't know for sure until kegging in a few days. But this weekend was still an eventful one for the Bicycle home Brewery. I successfully converted by beer fridge into a 4-tap kegerator. Sometime soon, I'll post some pictures and my story (rather uneventful, I'm

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-65592819008311199182009-01-17T18:45:00.001-08:002009-01-17T18:50:45.184-08:00

With my recent resolutions in mind, I not only knocked out a new batch of beer yesterday, but I am writing about it here. I'm also compiling tonight a parts list for my kegerator. My last brew of 2008 was a batch of my Century IPA, and it left me with a nice supply of "California Ale" yeast, the clean-fermenting workhorse of today's craft- and home-brewers alike. I also have a fair amount of

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-75072846084975215532009-01-10T15:50:00.000-08:002009-01-10T16:03:17.956-08:00

New Year's Day has come and gone, as has the ridiculously strung out college football bowl season, but it's still the first half of January, so I figure it's not too late to for my annual resolutions. Perhaps the only New Year's resolution I've ever kept was the one I made a handful of years ago to brew--and to drink--more beer! Hoping for similar success this year, here are my Brew Year's

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-22425363855208385932008-06-22T17:51:00.001-07:002008-06-22T18:30:46.492-07:00

I recently completed the Beer Judge Certification Program's exam for the first time. I've judged a handful of local competitions in the past, but studying for and taking the three-hour essay exam has provided a lot more formality to by brewing studies. I won't learn my results for several more weeks, but I'm hopeful (and reasonably confident) that I'll earn at least a passing score high enough to

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-19578203924189881992008-02-01T09:16:00.001-08:002008-02-01T09:21:22.353-08:00

Bikes and Beer. Besides starting with the same letter (at least in English), what is it that connects these two most fantastic of human inventions? When I've got nothing else to write about, I'll periodically reflect on that question here. One quick answer, though, is calories. As the name and theme of my home brewery suggests, I'm a bicycle nut as well as a beer nut. One of the benefits of

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-45618869377344342942007-12-09T15:16:00.000-08:002007-12-09T15:33:44.268-08:00

With a packed schedule of classes, committee meetings, and soccer coaching, my brewing schedule the last couple of months has been sadly sparse. But I did manage to get another batch of my award-winning American Wheat brewed last weekend, and it has been fermenting nicely ever since. With a mix of American Mt. Hood and Crystal hops, and some home-grown coriander, gently spicing a clean mix of

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-19031073914531683352007-11-11T09:03:00.001-08:002007-11-11T09:16:38.542-08:00

Clearly, my preceding post celebrating the dream-like September enjoyed by the Cal football team created some pretty bad karma, as the Bears followed up their 5-0 start with a 1-4 second act to the season. The only good news, I suppose, is that there's now a decent chance that I'll be able to see the Bears play in San Francisco's Emerald Bowl over the winter break, with pre- and post-game

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-84870354165570881162007-10-12T15:47:00.000-07:002008-06-22T09:43:43.697-07:00

We here at Bicycle Brewing look forward to the month of October as an opportunity to celebrate two of our favorite things: (1) Bears ... Thanks to our savior Jeff Tedford, we Cal folk revel in the still-hard-for-us-to-fully-believe feats of our Golden football team each fall. And October is usually the month--this year being no exception--when early season success revives perennial dreams of

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-74596219860929518532007-07-28T15:44:00.000-07:002007-07-28T16:45:17.337-07:00

When you've got a pair of active young sons at home, the livin' is never truly "easy", not even in the Summertime. But having a cushy teaching job which affords a couple of months away from the office, if never truly off work, certainly helps. Historically, the warm temps of summer meant a brewer's holiday--hence styles such as Franco-Belgian Saison or Austro-German Märzen/Oktoberfest that were

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-67992960968805519532007-05-28T21:34:00.000-07:002007-06-08T23:02:14.919-07:00

This news is rather late, as the competition was held more than a month ago. But it is still the month of May, and there's never a bad time to report happy results. The Maltose Falcons of Los Angeles are widely recognized as the USA's oldest homebrew club, and their annual Mayfaire is one of the country's most prestigious regional competitions, attracting more than 350 entries this year. I'm very

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-16105485408458719492007-05-28T21:23:00.000-07:002007-05-28T21:51:37.690-07:00

... things start smelling to you like Pacific Northwest hops, rather than citrus. I have an orange-scented reed diffuser in my office, to help cut down on the locker-room odor that would otherwise build up given my habit of laying sweating cycling clothes out to dry--one of the hazards of being a bike commuter. The diffuser works great, so well that there are days when I walk into my office and

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-18297848854476890572007-04-09T11:20:00.000-07:002007-04-09T11:24:48.023-07:00

Cascade buds Originally uploaded by petemorris. Spring has been very much in the air for the last week at the Bicycle Brewery, and Southern California's famous sun has even made a welcome appearance today after several days of "May Gray" and "June Gloom". As if on cue, breaking through for the first time yesterday were a trio of buds from my newly planted cutting of Cascade hops. It was the

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676664832176587976.post-65192159517151014412007-03-31T22:39:00.000-07:002007-04-10T12:25:48.697-07:00

OK, so it's just one tap, and a simple cobra tap at that. But the purchase of a devoted beer refrigerator and the filling it with a new keg of my own beer (my dry-hopped Century IPA) is a big milestone in any home brewery. Add in the fact that I also planted my first hop rhizomes this same week--Cascade, Challenger, Hallertauer, and Sterling--and it sounds like the perfect time to initiate a new

California Petehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00637419302696764492noreply@blogger.com0