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B-52 Brewing - Houston

30,103 Views | 394 Replies | Last: 8 yr ago by jock itch
Inspector Spacetime
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AG
oh AWESOME.

I saw that picture earlier today and didn't know what it was they were about to put out.

This makes me very excited
jetch17
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AG
Theyve also got barn burner in wine barrels for bomber release later this year
jock itch
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Oh man I love saison. Definitely gonna have to try out Karbach's ASAP.

And just to brag, there's a Texas Craft Brewer's meeting tonight and the host brewery is St Arnold. Supposedly there's some Bishop's Barrel #2 for us to try, so will have to report back if true.
TxKng82
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AG
Definitely need to report back if you try the Bishop's Barrel #2...Curious if its worth the try.
jetch17
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AG
BB#2 gets released city-wide tonight, I know downtown saucer & petrol have starting at 5, other places like BRC & hay merchant have it tomorrow ... FYI
jock itch
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Damn. And I thought I was special.
tfishtex
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Not sure if already suggested, but you could name one of your beers the b52 bomber (or stratofortress), sell it in bombers of course, and throw one of these on the lable

Not sure of copyright/trademark whatever but I'm sure there is some way to go about it
AggieOO
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mmmmmm...Saison. probably my favorite style right now. mine is damn good...might have to have one now.

i'm always up for trying new saisons. been excited about karbach's for a while.
Inspector Spacetime
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AG
My favorite current style is rauchbier, especially with the weather warming up and getting back out on the grill more often. Probably will be my next homebrew, just need need to find a friend with a smoker to borrow.
jock itch
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quote:
My favorite current style is rauchbier


Carbing up ours right now. We used 97% traditional German Rauch malt w/ a little Cara-Pils for head retention.

It came out fantastic IMO, and the low SRM really throws a lot of people since they aren't expecting so much smoke flavor.
jock itch
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quote:
Not sure if already suggested, but you could name one of your beers the b52 bomber (or stratofortress), sell it in bombers of course, and throw one of these on the lable


Yep, bombers are pretty much a requirement.
Elmo Lincoln
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AG
Pacifist IPA (or whatever type of beer you want)

jock itch
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Ended up pushing our brew day back a day, but finally got some pics.

The recipe is a fairly standard German Weizenbock:

- 50% Munich Malt
- 50% Wheat
- Spalt Hops
- Wyeast 3068 (Weihenstephan)

Since the style is not hop-forward, we decided on a single bittering addition @ 60 min for ~20 IBU's. Final gravity came out just over 1.070, so we should end up right around 7% ABV.

Pictures to come.
TxKng82
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AG
Looking forward to the pics...
TX AG 88
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AG
I remember the thread where you asked for naming suggestions. Did you post anywhere the story behind what your leading contenders were and how you decided on B-52 Brewing? I think that woudl be interesting if you haven't already posted it.
jock itch
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Our 1/2 BBL pilot system cleaned (the fun part) and ready to go.



Milling the grain. Fortunately we'll have slightly more sophisticated grain handling equipment for the big brewery.



Mashing in. Ended up being 40 lbs of grain.



[This message has been edited by jock itch (edited 2/20/2013 10:45a).]
jock itch
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All mashed in @ 149F. Perfect. Now time to start the re-circulation and wait for about an hour.



Almost finished running off to the kettle. Collecting ~18-19g that will boil down to our final batch size.



Using my trusty refractometer to check our pre-boil specific gravity. Ended up dead on at ~80% extraction efficiency. Always nice when things actually go as planned!

jock itch
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For some reason I forgot to get a picture of the boil, but after an hour of boiling, we chill the hot wort to ~60F and rack off to the fermentor. We will be fermenting at 64F, but I like to pitch the yeast low and let their natural heat production bring us up to temperature.



The delicious workhorses sitting in waiting. This is the first time I've had a yeast starter blow-off the top. Sometimes fermentation isn't pretty.



Yeast is pitched, blow-off tube is setup, temperature controller is set, and now the hard part...waiting. Since this is a reasonably big beer, I'm expecting 3-4 weeks.

jock itch
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And just for fun/experimentation purposes...going to throw 3g into one of these bad boys.

jetch17
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AG
jock itch
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quote:
I remember the thread where you asked for naming suggestions. Did you post anywhere the story behind what your leading contenders were and how you decided on B-52 Brewing? I think that woudl be interesting if you haven't already posted it.


Our majority investor visited a restaurant in Costa Rica that had the nose of a B-52 as a seating area. After mulling over names for months (seriously...it was driving us nuts), B-52 was just thrown out mostly as a joke. Honestly, at first most of us didn't really like it, but it grew on us as we started to think about all the branding opportunities such as using bombers, theming our tastings, making big/strong beers, etc.
jock itch
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Almost spit up my coffee Jetch.
62strat
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i recognize that brew stand jock
My uncle has the more beer tippy model, though his is just 10 gal model





[This message has been edited by 62strat (edited 2/20/2013 1:27p).]
jock itch
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Yes sir, that's the one!

I definitely have my issues w/ it now that I've put a through batches through it, but overall it's a really solid system.
Jock 07
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My personal favorite styles in no particular order are ipas, dipas, barley wines, dopplebocks, and kolschs
Jock 07
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AG
I know it doesn't really rhyme with anything but maybe a purp drank barleywine or something. I also think the idea of getting into the sour market could be profitable. I had my first sour (new belgium) 2 Christmas ago and couldn't even get through the bottle. Really turned me off of the style but then I tried rrbc's offerings when I drove up there last month and actually really liked Em.

Anyhow congrats on the operation and I look forward to a tour during one of my trips back to Texas.

[This message has been edited by Jock 07 (edited 2/20/2013 8:43p).]
62strat
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Sours are a pretty advanced beer. Probably not the first offering you should put out unless you've really nailed it down.
jock itch
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Yeah, the biggest thing w/ sours is time and getting a consistent product. This is where patience and batch blending come in handy.

I feel completely comfortable brewing them, but it will be months/years before something's ready to release. Still definitely something we'll be doing at some point!
Inspector Spacetime
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quote:
quote:
My favorite current style is rauchbier


Carbing up ours right now. We used 97% traditional German Rauch malt w/ a little Cara-Pils for head retention.

It came out fantastic IMO, and the low SRM really throws a lot of people since they aren't expecting so much smoke flavor.



aaaaawesome... I want to taste y'alls if it's ever possible.

The only Rauchbiers I've found with any consistency are from Southern Star and Cedar Creek's smoked alt, but the latter not so much anymore.
JFrench
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AG
any leanings on what the IPA recipe will be? i'll drink a lot of them.
LCE
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Real Ale puts out some nice barrel aged beer.

Mysterium..imp stout aged in Four Roses barrels.

Scots Gone Wild and WT3F? were nice sours.

The Highlander and The Kraken also barrel aged.

jh0400
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AG
Empire was by far the best thing Real Ale has ever produced.
Quantum ace
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AG
quote:
Definitely need to report back if you try the Bishop's Barrel #2...Curious if its worth the try.


I had a bottle last Sunday, and I enjoyed it. It had a touch more cherry than I would have preferred, but it wasn't overwhelming. It was a nice refreshing beer, and doesn't reflect it Christmas Ale roots very much.
jock itch
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quote:
any leanings on what the IPA recipe will be? i'll drink a lot of them.


I have a lot of ideas I'd love to bounce by you guys, but one of my biggest concerns is making sure whatever hops we go w/ are actually available. A lot of the more popular/scarce varieties like Amarillo/Simcoe don't have contracts available until 2014 (and sometimes even longer)...so I'd hate to pilot the perfect IPA and not be able to get hops.

What do you guys generally prefer in your IPAs?
BSD
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AG
Simcoe, Simcoe, and more Simcoe.
 
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