Champagne Cider 2010

This is an even-numbered year, which for me means there are no apples on our local trees.  How is that?  Old apple trees without much human attention will grow into an every-other-year fruiting strategy.  In a given year, there may be a hard frost right in the middle of blossom stage, and all the buds will die off, leaving few, if any, apples on the tree.  This generally affects all the apple trees in an area, at the same time.  That summer, with no pollinated fruits to pump full of juice, the roots of the old apple will have plenty of energy to create more fruit buds for the following year.  As the next spring arrives, the old tree will have a brilliant display of blossoms, which the bees will be very happy to have.  If the attending human fails to climb up in the tree and knock off half of the blossoms, or to knock off half of the tiny fruits soon after pollination, then the tree will have a full load of fruits to inflate that summer, and will have little energy left to create fruit buds for the following year, when there will be few, if any blossoms at all.
Since I have been brewing champagne cider, this pattern has been the norm for all the old apple trees in our valley, which are now on an odd-numbered-year fruiting cycle.  When I can get to a tree in time and thin the blossoms or the fruit, then I get an every-year crop of fewer, but larger apples.
This year, there was too little fruit to bother picking, so I bought cider wholesale from Big B's Cider Mill in Hotchkiss CO.  After offering the discount to the Homebrewers Club, I bought 60 gallons for 12 brewers, including me, and we'll all compare results this winter, as our brewing efforts bear fruit.
MT

Batch #109 - Winter Porter

He's BACK!  Our Angel of Snow Removal has returned to help keep the Skinner Hut outhouse clear, for our New Years Eve Hut Trip.  Earning his Wings, always earning his Wings.
After the smoked porter had me worried that I might not have much to give away (picture me, taking all winter to sheepishly consume the bacon-beer, not wanting anyone else to taste my mistake!), I decided to brew another winter porter, in a far less adventurous manner.  Now this is a porter!
MT

Batch #108 - Flying Pig Smoked Porter

Trying to imitate the wonderful flavor of the HAMs Team Brew, "Whiskey Barrel Baltic Porter", I brewed a 10-gallon batch of Smoked Porter, using 2.5# of smoked barley malt grains, in addition to 18# of 2-row malt and 1.5# of pale chocolate malt.  Upon first taste, I was frankly appalled - my porter tasted like . . . like . . . well, like BACON!!  Oh no!  How could I expect my friends to enjoy drinking liquid bacon, unless I promote it as a breakfast beer?!  I was so embarrassed that I declined to bring a two week old bottle to the November Homebrewers Club meeting, offering instead a half-dozen bottles of previous batches.  When I explained my reluctance to the members, Ken Jones, master brewer at the Glenwood Canyon Brew Pub, soothed my fears by suggesting that I just let the bottles age, and that in a couple of months, the smokiness would probably subside a bit.  Well, we'll see, but for the time being, I'm labeling the beer and hoping for the best.  If Ken's right, it will be drinkable, but I still fear that my friends will like it, if only pigs could fly.
MT

Batch #107 - Fresh Hops Ale

Late August was the perfect time this year for harvesting fresh hops, and I gathered these from a couple of my favorite patches along the Rio Grande bike path, then I brewed with them the following day.  I hope you like the way they flavored this late summer ale.  Tastes as fresh as new January snow!

MT

Batch #106 - Apricot Summer Ale

A secondary fermentation with 1/2 gallon of organic apricot mash directly into the carboy set our Strong Ale Yeasties off for another week of party time, and a final week to calm the heck down for bottling.  Definite fruity background, and crisp tasting like a summer ale should be.  This one will celebrate "Indian Summer" because it won't be naturally carbonated until after August 31.  I hope it will be worth the wait!

Batch #105 - Electric Dawn Copper Ale

I slipped in a batch of Ale made with liquid malt extract, because of a sale at Midwest Homebrewers Supply, and a desire to brew quickly.  With all the other projects going on that week, particularly the tasks around completing the Roaring Fork High School Growing Dome, I couldn't spare a whole day for an all-grain batch, so here you go, a 5-gallon batch of Copper Ale, made with Sterling Leaf Hops and my American Ale Yeast.
The label for this Ale celebrates the dawn of a new energy era, or perhaps just my deep longing for an era of energy production that is clean, and that doesn't destroy ecosystems nor contribute to the alteration of our planet's climate patterns.  Now that the BP Deepwater Horizon well leak has finally been capped, experts estimate that 5 million gallons of oil was released into the Gulf of Mexico, and widely distributed throughout the mile-deep water column, so that it is irretrievable, and must be absorbed by the ocean ecosystem.  It will be many years before we understand much of the effects this spill will have, but we can be assured it will be responsible for severe losses in marine life, and very likely further species extinctions.
For those of my friends who believe that human activities have little or no effect on climate change, who believe that climate change is a hoax, I must point out that 5 million gallons of crude oil disbursed in the ocean is a mere 25% of the daily oil consumption in the USA, and a mere 6% of the oil consumed by the entire world in a single day.  This means that the global human population daily spews the carbon from combustion of 85 million barrels of oil into our atmosphere - that's 17 times the amount of oil spilled into the ocean by BP's carelessness, daily!  How can this possibly have no effect on climate change??
We must get this right: Quit Oil, Coal and Natural Gas, and Embrace Clean, Renewable Energy - STARTING NOW!

Batch #104 - American Strong Ale

Okay, perhaps I'm over-simplifying things a bit, by brewing with simple grains, just half a 50# sack of two-row malted barley, with a pile of Sterling leaf hops, and a strong American Ale Yeast, for a 10-gallon batch of beer.  Sort of like making Big Music with a three piece band.  My starting gravity came in at 1.078 for this ale, and the finish gravity at bottling time was 1.010, which resulted in an alcohol by volume of over 10%.

Well, here's a toast to my hero, Lance Armstrong, inspiration to athletes and cancer patients all over the world, as he rides in the Tour de France this July.  Ride safely, and we'll all look forward to seeing you on the podium in Paris.  Go Lance!

84 bottles, 1 mini-keg minted Saturday, June 26.

Postscript, Sunday July 11: Lance Armstrong had a very bad day riding Stage 8, suffering three crashes and falling back to 13 minutes behind the leader.  Lance told the press today that this tour is finished for him, but that he will continue to ride for his team.  My admiration for the man gets stronger still.

batch #103 - Heather Ale

Here's to SPRING, and the happy appearance of flowers everywhere!  This batch of my Heather Ale landed 78 bottles and one 5-liter keg in my cellar, all best tasted after May 25.

Due to Noah's request, I am beginning with this batch, to post my recipes in the messages area below each post.  Let me know how it turns out, if you brew a batch yourself, and please save me a bottle!

MT

HAMs Team Brew: Whiskey Barrel Baltic Porter

Seven homebrewers in the Roaring Fork HAM's Homebrewers Club got together and brewed a 55-gallon batch of Baltic Porter, and aged it for a couple of months in a decommisioned barrel from Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey.  I helped them to create a nice label for the bottles they planned to put away, and even labels for the kegs they planned to fill.  Homebrewer Tony May created the "pigman in a barrel" club logo for the label.
I can't wait to taste their work at the next Club meeting, May 10!

batch #102: Mountain Winter Trappist Ale

A new Trappist Ale Yeast has come to live in my carboys, and I'm feeding them some wonderful barley, hops, and mountain water.  I keep them happy, and yes, they will keep me and my friends very happy also!
Cheers!

53 bottles

batch #101: Holy Habanero, THEY'RE BACK!!

Yes, the rollercoaster monks are back, this time cruising in to visit Pandora, the magical planet in the recent blockbuster movie, "AVATAR". I wonder where they'll be heading next?

Cheers!

40 bottles

BATCH #100! - Yak Porter

Here's to the end of a long winter drought in my homebrewing practice. This Porter has a rich nutty flavor, and a significant kick, at 8.3% abv. Have yourself a nice, cool water chaser! I borrowed this Yak porter photo from JKirby's Travelpod.com blog. This label is in honor of a local Yak herd at Sustainable Settings Ranch in Carbondale, CO.

38 bottles