How to Make a Halloween Pumpkin Keg

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Melissa Klein, the editor of Celebrations.com, figured out an awesome way to serve beer at a Halloween party. If you’re a brewer, you probably already have all the supplies needed to make this awesome, functional, beer serving “pumpkin keg.” Melissa serves Samuel Adams Octoberfest in her video, but I’m thinking that a good solid pumpkin ale would be much more appropriate. I would suggest some Flat 12 Flat Jack Pumpkin Ale or even Samuel Adam’s Pumpkin Ale. Either way, make sure to leave a comment if you end up trying this cool trick.

First Annual Beers Across the Wabash

The first annual “Beers Across the Wabash” craft beer tasting will be taking place on Saturday August 25th from noon to 4pm. The event will be held on the John T. Meyers Pedestrian Bridge in Lafayette, IN (which means that you will literally be sampling beers across the Wabash river). Sounds pretty amazing if you ask me. So who will be there? Over 30 crafter brewers including:

Back Road Brewery
Barley Island Brewing
Black Swan Brewpub
Bloomington Brewing Co.
Broad Ripple Brewpub
Brugge Brasserie
Cutters Brewing Co.
Figure Ei8ht Brewing
Flat 12 Bierworks
Fountain Square Brewing
Lafayette Brewing Co.
Mad Anthony Brewing
New Albanian Brewing
Oaken Barrel Brewing Company
People’s Brewing Co.
Rock Bottom Brewing
Sun King Brewing
Three Pints Brewpub
Triton Brewing
Upland Brewing Co.

I myself will be hitting up the Dylan concert, but I’d love to hear any feedback on what looks to be an awesome time. Pick up your tickets here!

Wonderful Beer Paintings for Beer Lovers

So I came across a really great blog tonight as I searching for brewing art. Beer Paintings – Original Art for Beer Lovers By Beer Lovers is a blog showcasing some fantastic oil paintings that integrate bottle caps, hops, and other beer odds and ends. I’m really impressed with these paintings! They even have an Etsy page where you can order custom oil paintings of your favorite brewery bottle caps! Please take some time to drop by their site (beerpaintings.blogspot.com) as they do an excellent job. Much respect!

Why Use A Counter Flow Wort Chiller?

The faster you cool your wort off after your boil, the less likely are are going to bump into issues with off flavors from oxidation and bacteria contamination. Wort chillers are also used as a way to cold shock free floating proteins in your beer that will later cause “chill haze.” A good “Cold Break” increases the clarity of your finished beer by causing these proteins to drop out into your trub. There are two types of wort chillers: immersion and counterflow. An Immersion Wort Chiller is a coil of copper tubing (usually between 25′ and 50′) that connects to a hose attachment.

Immersion wort chillers are usually made with 25′ or 50′ coils of copper. This one is a 50′ chiller.

This is a Counterflow Wort Chiller. Beer is pumped through one direction, and cold water is pumped the opposite direction for maximum cooling.

This type of chiller is placed in your brew kettle after your boil and cold water is pumped through the tubing. The wort heats up the water as it leaves the system and quickly chills your wort. Depending on the temperature of the water you are pumping through your system, your beer will cool below 80˚ F in 30-45 minutes (and sometimes longer if you don’t also use an ice bath).

A Counterflow Wort Chiller is much more efficient. Wort is pumped through copper tubing that is housed inside a hose or larger copper tube. The hose/larger copper tubing allows for cold water to be pumped in the opposite direction of the wort. In some builds (Chillzilla), the inner tube carrying the wort is spiraled which creates turbulence in the water hose. This increases surface area of copper containing hot wort that is exposed to cold water, and maximizes the chillers ability to cool your wort. A counterflow wort chiller can bring the temperature of your hot wort down below 80˚ F in under 10 minutes. This is a HUGE deal! Not only do you save time, but you also decrease your beers chances of oxidation/bacterial infection. Counterflow wort chillers can also be used in conjunction with an immersion wort chiller. Connect your chillers together with your immersion wort chiller closes in a bucket of ice water, and you’ll be ready to pitch your yeast in record time! Purchasing a counterflow wort chiller is definitely not cheap, but there are some great homemade builds out there. If your game check out the builds on Ronblog or Tiber_Brew’s thread on Homebrewtalk, otherwise support your local brewshop!

Bowser Beer For Dogs!

Finally a brew for man’s best friend! Bowser Beer is a safe brew for dogs that contains no hops or alcohol, but is brewed with chicken or beef broth, and barley. The idea came to Seattle based owner and creator Jenny Brown, after she started making pretzel treats for dogs coated in peanut butter and molasses for the state fair. The beers are flat (because apparently the dog focus group preferred no bubbles) and include vitamins like glucosamine for healthy joints. For those dog owners interested in trying the beer themselves, you can choose from Beefy Brown ale and Cock-a-Doodle-Brew, which are described by Brown as “like drinking sweetish broth.” There is also an option to print your own personalized beer label with your purchase. You had me at Cock-a-Doodle-Brew. Hmmm… I wonder if she used Papazian’s legendary Cock Ale from “The Joy of Homebrewing“? Here’s the recipe:

COCK ALE (circa the 1500’s) A real recipe from some obscure text found in the Scottish Highlands… Enjoy….

Procedure:
“Take 10 gallons of ale and a large cock, the older the better; parboil the cock, flay him, and stamp him in a stone mortar until his bones are broken (you must gut him when you flaw him). Then, put the cock into two quarts of sack, and put to it five pounds of raisins of the sun – stoned; some blades of mace, and a few cloves. Put all these into a canvas bag, and a little before you find the ale has been working, put the bag and ale together in vessel.
In a week or nine days bottle it up, fill the bottle just above the neck and give it the same time to ripen as other ale.”

Read more about this story in Minnesota’s Twin Cities Pioneer Press article.

Bottle Cap Blues

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Bottle Cap Blues is a short film created by Adam Young for a solo Art Show at Common House Gallery. More of his art can be found at common-house.com. It’s an awesome video showing the various ways you can MacGyver open a bottle of beer. I’ve tried a few of these, but I’m thinking that opening a bottle of beer off of a pizza crust is pretty impressive!