Lagunitas Hop Stoopid

So I have been traveling quite a bit this weekend, so when I finally got back home I wanted to sit down and crack open a beer. The first one in my fridge was a Lagunitas Hop Stoopid Ale. I'm not sure when I bought it but I cracked it open anyways.

This beer has a nice, golden clear color to it. For IPA's, this tends to be my color of choice. I like to be able to see through them a little bit. This beer is one of the more bitter beers, so I suggest if you are drinking a lot of them you probably want to have burger or something of substance to go with it. Overall, this is a great beer and I suggest you give it a try. Is this one of your favorite beers? Let us know on Facebook & twitter.

Bucket vs. Carboy

When home brewing there are two kinds of fermenters that are commonly used. They are food grade bucket and glass carboys. Every person has their own opinion on which one is better, but for this post I thought I would cover some of the advantages and disadvantages of both.

Buckets:

Advantages

• Cheap & light, and usually has an attached handle
• Has option to be fitted with a spigot to make bottling easy
• Easy to clean

Disadvantages

• Never gets completely air-tight with lid
• Unable to watch the fermentation
• If the plastic gets scratched, bacteria can build up and ruin future batches

Carboys:

Advantages

• Air-tight
• Can watch fermentation 
• Lasts Forever

Disadvantages

• Very Heavy
• Difficult to clean
• If dropped it will shatter and could cause serious injury

These are just some of the pro and cons but like mentioned before it is all on your personal preference. I choose to use buckets because of how easy it is to bottle when fermentation is done. What is your preferred way to ferment? Let us know on Facebook and twitter.

More Beer - Concord, CA

I want to talk about something every home brewer should know about and that is where the closest brewing store is to you. For me, it just happens to be about 10 miles down the road at a place called More Beer in Concord, CA.

This place has everything you could need to make the best possible beer. They have ready-made recipes with all the ingredients if you just want to try your hand at making a clone brew. Plus, it has all the equipment you need, from starter kits to the high-end expensive home brewery set-ups.

Their staff is there willing to help customers with whatever they need. Plus, most of them are home brewers themselves and they talk with you about the beer you're attempting to make and offer advice on what could make your brew even better. If you live in the East Bay, you should really check this place out.

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Creek Monkey Tap House

Well I recently visited the Creek Monkey Tap House in Martinez, CA. This is a place I have been meaning to hit up for a while but I haven't. It is a pretty decent size and from the looks of it they just took an old house from the area and turned it into a bar which is pretty cool in my opinion. They carry almost 20 beers on tap. My favorite thing about this place is that they carry Stone Brewing Company limited releases on draft. Stone is from San Diego and it is really hard to find their "Enjoy by IPA" in stores in the Bay Area, yet they had it on tap. Their food was pretty good as well, mostly burgers and other sandwiches. The side order of onion rings they have is amazing, probably the best I have had in a long time. If you're in the area check this place out.

IPA is Done

Well, my IPA just finished carbonating and I have to say it turned out pretty decent. The color is a little darker than I was hoping for but it still has the "IPA-ish" look to it. The ABV is coming in just above 6%. So it has some decent kick to it, without making sure the first of the night will also be the last of the night. Overall, this brew took under 2 months to make and was about 4.5 gallons (should have been 5 but I spilt some during the bottling process). My fridge needs to make these cold so then I can really enjoy.

Russian River & Lagunitas Brewery

I recently made a trip over to the Petaluma area to visit the Russian River & Lagunitas Breweries. The first place I visited was Russian River. At first glance I expected a little bit more. It seemed very small and for some reason I thought it would be a little more opened up. Once inside I found that assuming, in fact, did make an a** out of me. I was caught off guard with how large it was inside. Two giant chalk boards were placed above the bar with a list of what beers were on tap. I happened to eat lunch here too and the food was very tasty. Because my preference happens to be with IPA's, I stuck with what I like, Blind Pig & Pliny the Elder. Blind Pig IPA pours a nice gold-copper color with minimal head. The bitterness was just right for me. Overall, I believe it's very delicious and well-balanced. Pliny The Elder is not for the faint of heart. This delicious double IPA packs a high ABV with a nice yellow-gold color. Overall it is a very flavorful brew.

I hit Lagunitas later the same day and this place did give me a nice first impression. They have a nice open layout with plenty of outside space. The bar was right in front and had a good amount of seating. After eating at Russian River I was a little to full to sample the menu here so I cannot comment on the food. The first beer I had here was the classic Lagunitas IPA which happens to be one of my favorites. This brew has a nice gold color to it and a taste that makes it very easy to drink. I then decided to sample Olde Gnarly Wine. This is a very strong beer. It has a nice reddish color, but a taste that may not appeal to some people if they haven't had a barley wine before. While some of the visit has become a little hazy, one thing I know for sure is that the beer at both locations is awesome.  Check out the table below to see the brews I sampled and the ABV in each of them.

Name	Brewery	Type	ABV
Blind Pig IPA	Russian River	IPA	6.10%
Pliny the Elder	Russian River	Double IPA	8.00%
Lagunitas IPA	Lagunitas	IPA	6.20%
Olde Gnarly Wine	Lagunitas	Barley Wine	10.6%

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Just Bottled an IPA

I just finished dry hopping my latest IPA brew. This particular batch happened to be a clone recipe of Drakes Brewing Company's IPA. If you haven't had this before I suggest you grab some if your into hoppy beers. This batch I fermented for 2 week before putting it in a secondary and adding more Cascade hops for dry hoping. It will now sit for two more weeks to carbonate. Once it's done I will post if it is a success or failure.