A Good Rats Spring Fling

Friday, a few Good Rats dusted off their ratting around clothing and made way for Portland. Before the day even got started however, I received an email announcing the launching of the Good Rats Facebook page. So we've gone public. Or more public. Or publicer.

Good Rat Todd picked me up and with him was a new GR recruit, Brady. We gathered GR Darren up and off we went.

When we first talked about this trip we thought about doing an east side adventure. But when the weather forcast called for no rain and mild temperatures we opted to head downtown. The first stop was the Deschutes Brewery. My personal agenda was to try a variety of IPA's so Hop Henge IPA it was. I could tell you about it's biscuity charachteristic etc. but I'm not. What I will say is the aroma was nice and hoppy and so was the taste and I liked it a lot.

The rest of our stops are not necessarily listed in the order we went to them.

As members of the Rogue Nation we headed over to the Rogue Brewery. Everyone decided to try the Mogul Madness Ale which was recommended by our server. It may not be a true IPA but it was plenty hoppy with a distinct mocha finish. It too was very good.

We headed for McMenamins Ringlers Annex. We wanted to show GR Brady a cozy corner (literaly) pub but when we got there we found it wouldn't open for an hour or so. We walked a little further to McMenamins Crystal Ballroom. By the time we left the Ballroom the Annex was open and we did a quick walk through for GR Brady's sake.

At Rock Bottom honestly, I don't remember what I had here.

At Kells Irish Pub Smithwicks was the beer of choice... of course.

At Henry's 12th Street Tavern Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA was my choice. It was a pleasure to have some Firestone because several years ago GR Fred and I discovered it on a business trip to SLO, CA.

Heading towards home we stopped at the Hazel Dell Brewpub where GR Jason met us. I call him a GR although he has yet to go ratting around with us. He told us we should head over to The Rock Wood Fired Pizza and Spirits for some great pizza in Vancouver which we did. Great pizza indeed.

I Thought Of A Cute Title For This But I Forgot It

Back from a trip to the drier side. Marie and I took the boys to look at CWU and had a nice relaxing weekend. Before we left I did a little research for brew pubs. You'd think a college town would have a few but I only found one. I guess starving college students can only afford Bud. The one I found was quite small but nice. It was tucked away in kind of an industrial part of town. They only have seating for about 20 people. It's very informal and there's a sliding door that was open for viewing of the actual brewery. The name is Iron Horse Brewing. They had six beers on tap. I tried the Black IPA first. I'd never had this style of beer before so I was curious. It was okay but I don't think I'd try it again. The Iron Horse IPA on the other hand was delicious. Most of the time I was there, if someone wasn't sitting and drinking like I was, they were coming in to have growlers filed. Apparently demand for their beer is greater than their supply because I was told they were going to have to out source the making of some of their brews. The next time I go there I think I'll try their sampler. If you're ever in Ellensburg this brewery is worth looking for.

Next door to Iron Horse is The Ellensburg Distillary. I planned to go inside but they had just closed as I was leaving the pub. I was told by the bartender they make whisky and liqueur. Their premier whisky is "Gold Buckle Club Frontier Whisky". It's a single malt, single barrel, cask strength whisky.

AHHHHH

Need I say more?

Glorious

This morning I decided to rack the IPA. The final gravity hadn't changed since I dry hopped. I am really excited about this beer. The color is wonderful and very clear. The aroma and taste seem to be just what I was after. It's cooling now and tomorrow I'll carbonate. I don't think Darren would mind if I take a couple 2 liter bottles to his party on Friday.

Kelly asked if our friend Jason (from the other end of our building) could be inducted into the Good Rats. Jason doesn't drink. What's with that? My first thought was how could we have a GR that won't drink with us. Then the light went on... DD! Not to take away from GR Delany but having another DD would allow GR Delany to imbibe with us. I think this could work. Welcome aboard Good Rat Jason.

PS. Jason is engaged to a very nice school teacher, a profession that's near and dear to my heart.

Back to the IPA. This morning while I was cleaning, sanatizing, tasting etc. my lower back started hurting again. This means only one thing. A call to Kaiser and I got into their emergency clinic. Standing, sitting and pacing did no good but finally after seeing a PA, DR and a nurse I walked out of there with Percocet. I couldn't get home fast enough to get some pain relief from yes, kidney stones. Again! It took two hours for it to kick in but I feel so much better at the moment. All that to say, it doesn't matter when the IPA is ready to drink because until I'm off the meds no beer will cross these lips. Because if it did "nothing good could come of that". So I hope this thing passes quickly.

And to Good Rat Ron. You may be retired from work but you are not retired from being a Good Rat. Next time you're over this way we need to plan a day to do some rattin' around.

Secondary Fermintation

Well, the primary fermination finished and it was time to transfer the beer (yes, it's beer now not wort) to another carboy. Before I did though I checked the gravity and it's coming down very nicely. Better yet I tasted it. The hop flavor was very evident but there's more where that came from. After it was siphoned I added 3, yes count them, 3 ounces of hop pellets. A couple more weeks of conditioning and we'll see just what happened. If you don't like hops... stay away.

Hopworks IPA Clone

Just the right temperature to add the grain.


Adding the grain.


After 30 minutes of steeping the grain comes out.




Adding the dry malt extract.

After coming to a boil the hops are added. Some for 60, some 15 and some 5 minutes of boil.

After the hour long boil the wort is quickly cooled by running cold water through a copper coil.

Once it's cooled sufficiently the wort is transfered to a glass carboy and more water is added.

The yeast was pitched and the carboy was placed in a good place awaiting fermintation.

More hops will be added in a few days.

This will be a happy hoppy beer indeed!

I Was Just Kidding

Wow, the response to my last post was almost deafening. I was only kidding. Of course I finished high school. For crying out loud. Not only did I finish high school but I'm an MIT grad and I've designed and built my own home brewery.

Many thanks to Assistant Brewmaster Ben Love of Hopworks Urban Brewery in Portland for sharing their Hopworks Organic IPA receipe. My thanks to J.P. Blount as well at Bader Brewing in Vancouver for helping me make a few adjustments for home brewing a five gallon batch.

I'm thinking sometime in the next month I'll be giving it a go but in the mean time either visit HUB or someplace that serves it like the Kelso Theater Pub. I'm telling you, if you like happy hoppy bear, this is the one!