Monthly Brewsletter	January 2012
Featured Products/Services For those of you wondering, we do have an in-store barley crusher, and we do offer grain milling as a service. If you purchase the grain from us we will crush it at no charge. If you have grain that you need milled, bring it in and we will charge you $.25 per pound. We also have beer smith on one of our systems and are happy to help you develop a recipe, or maybe tweak one you already have.   Click on either of our suppliers logo (above) to view their site. If there is any product you would like a price on please let us know. We gladly do special orders. If there is a product that you use, and we do not stock it, let us know as well. We will definitely consider stocking it for you.		"Buy a man a beer and he wastes an hour. Teach a man to brew and he wastes a lifetime." -Gordy form ABC Warehouse-
		Good Friends....... This months included recipe was an inspired by a very, very unlikely source. I am close to someone who tragically lost her best friend, and I witnessed first hand how very good friends came and supported her in her time need. This made me start thinking about how valuable good friends are, whether they are close by or not. Or whether they are out of touch for periods of time, or always around. Absent Friends Burton Ale is just like a good friendship. Initially it takes some investment of time, (with a 90 min boil), not unlike the time invested into a friendship. It also takes time to mature and develop to its full potential, with a recommended year of storage. Not unlike the time needed to be invested into a friendship to develop. With an estimated 6.84% ABV it will leave you with a good feeling equal to laughing and have a good time with a friend. So go ahead and give this recipe a try, and in a year if your friends are truly absent go ahead and give me a call, I'll be glad to sit in for them.........
		Featured Recipe Absent Friends Burton Ale (recipe from Jan/Feb 2011 Zymyrgy) Recipe for 5 gallons OG = 1.070 FG = 1.017 IBU = High SRM = 6.9 ABV = 6.84% Ingredients 12.7 lbs pale malt 4.4 oz chocolate malt 8.80 oz East Kent Goldings 4.50% alpha acid (90 min) 1.75 oz East Kent Goldings 4.50% alpha acid (dry hop) Windsor Ale Yeast 0.75 cup of corn sugar for priming if bottling Step by Step Reduce your water's total alkalinity to 100-120 ppm (as CaCO3). adjust calcium content to 180-220 ppm using calcium sulfate. Mash in at 150°F and hold to starch conversion. Mash-out at 169°F. Boil for 90 minutes. Ferment at around 64°F. Rack into maturation tanks and mature for a year. Rack into dispensing tanks/casks and dry hop. Give it two weeks before serving for dry hop character to develop, with the kegs/casks given a good roll around the yard daily for the first few days. Bottle or keg as you normally would. Extract Version Substitute 10lbs of liquid malt extract for the Pale malt. Steep the chocolate malt in the brewing liquor for 30 minutes at 158°F, strain, add malt extract, bring to a boil, and proceed with recipe as stated.
		News After a few month hiatus we are back, we apoligize for the missed issues. We are now set up to buy from Fermentap! Check out their products here!

Template and Content ©2012 Jason Sportum

As a continually self-educating home brewer, one of the lessons that I have tried to learn is to be able to plan a brew schedule. Most people prefer certain styles of beer at specific times of the year. The most common pattern is the darker, heavier beers, and sipping beers are consumed in the winter months. These beers will include your stouts, porters, barley wines, and scotch ales to name a few. Wheat beer, IPA, bock, and Belgian wit are examples great for spring. Pilsner, cream ale, bavarian weizen, and saison are styles great for the summer months. Marzen, brown ale, harvest ale, and dunkelweizen are all styles great for consumption in the fall.

Now there are no ‘beer police’ that says these styles have to be consumed as listed. I started brewing beer to make beer that I like, beer that is tailored to my particular tastes. That is how I look at my brewing by season, because I know that I will pretty much want to drink an IPA all the time. Also, come September/October I will be looking for a Marzen, sometimes I am even craving a pilsner or a cream ale in the winter.

I break my year schedule into quarters, and compile a list of beer that I would like to have on hand to drink at a certain time of year. This gives a 3 month window to gather ingredients, and get the beer brewed, and to properly age it. Now I would be lying if I were to say you can open my brew log and see a 12 month brewing schedule all spelled out. I am definitely not that organized to have that done. But I have learned to think in terms of a schedule when I do try to plan my brewing. As I do know which beers I will be looking for at what time of the year.

I admit that early on in my ‘beer career,’ I was a mass media educated type of beer drinker. Everything the media said I should be drinking bud light, and that was the beer that was available – so that is what I drank. I had always wanted to try my hand at making my own beer, but I was lazy about it and never really tried to find any info on it. That was until one Christmas, I was given a beer equipment kit, and an ingredient kit. The day I brewed that first kit was the day that my eyes were opened to all the complexities and various styles and flavors that could be had in a beer.
As I started experimenting with commercially available beers, I discovered how much of a hop head I am. I am a self proclaimed hop head. I love hops. Give me a beer with a copious amount of hops and I will be a happy man. Give me an over the top American IPA, give me a hoppy amber, I don’t care what it is – as long as it is bitter, and has a great hop aroma I’m there! I do sometimes waiver away from the hoppy beers, as I get the urge to try something a little different – a good porter or stout, or a really good hefeweizen.
The beers that I continually try, and expect to like are the Belgians. I have tried various Belgian beers several times, and had come to the conclusion that I just do not like Belgian style beers. That was until I received a bottle of chimay grand reserve blue for Christmas this year. Chimay blue is a Belgian strong dark ale with an ABV of 9.00%, brewed by the Trappist monks. This beer is very easy drinking for a 9.00% ABV, with tastes of raisins, plums, a touch of chocolate, and a smooth peppery spiciness. It does have a slight alcohol warmth, but is very smooth – careful, this one sneaks up on you. I liked this beer so much that I immediately started to try to find a clone recipe. This is definitely next on my ‘to brew’ list. So the next time you are cruzin down your local beer isle, slow down and take a look at their selection. Try something that you would normally not buy. You may find that surprise beer that you just have to make next!

If you do not have a fridge to lager in, this is the perfect time of year to try your hand at brewing a lager. It is still not too late to take advantage of this cold winter we are having. If you have a basement or crawl space I bet you can find a corner that is perfect to put your primary in. I put my glass carboy, equipped with a fermometer (adhesive thermometer), in my crawlspace for about one month. Over that month the temperature reading stayed at a constant 50 degrees F. (10 degrees C.).

There are two different ways (temperature ranges) to pitch the lager yeast. You can pitch the yeast when the wort is at lager temperatures – 45-55 degrees F. (7-12 degrees C.) They say doing this is optimal for the yeast. I have used the other method because of my equipment/space/time. I have pitched the yeast when the wort is 70 degrees F. (21 degrees C.) or less. Then I move my primary to the crawl space and let nature cool it the rest of the way. The only issue with this ‘warm’ start to primary fermentation is that at those temps the yeast will produce more diacetyl (buttery/butterscotch) flavors in the wort. This flavor is not a typical flavor desired in a lager.

Because of the diacetyl flavors produced, you need to perform a diacetyl rest when primary fermentation is almost complete. This involves raising the temperature of the beer to 55-60 degrees F. (13-16 degrees C.) for 24-48 hours. The optimal time to actually perform the diacetyl rest is when primary fermentation is about 75% done. Once primary fermentation is complete, you can rack into your secondary and commence with the lagering.

To quote John Palmer:

“1> Check the yeast package information for recommended fermentation temperature(s).
2> The temperature difference between the primary phase and the lager phase should be roughly 10°F.
3> Nominal lagering times are 3 – 4 weeks at 45°F, 5 – 6 weeks at 40°F, or 7 – 8 weeks at 35°F.
4> Stronger beers need to be lagered longer.
5> Nothing is absolute. Brewing is both a science and an art.”

Integrity by Marvin

All Ultrex

$1302.00 Retail

$900.00 NET Final Sale

The Specs

ROUGH OPENING 53 1/4″ X 63 1/2″ – 2-WIDE 1-HIGH**A1INTEGRITY FIBERGLASS CASEMENT – OPERATES LEFT HANDALL ULTREX SERIESROUGH OPENING 26 5/8″ X 63 1/2″INSULATED GLASS – 1 LITELOW E II WITH ARGONWHITE HARDWAREINTERIOR SCREENSTONE WHITE SURROUNDCHARCOAL FIBERGLASS MESH**A2INTEGRITY FIBERGLASS CASEMENT – OPERATES RIGHT HANDALL ULTREX SERIESROUGH OPENING 26 5/8″ X 63 1/2″INSULATED GLASS – 1 LITELOW E II WITH ARGONWHITE HARDWAREINTERIOR SCREENSTONE WHITE SURROUNDCHARCOAL FIBERGLASS MESH**VERTICAL MULL1/2″ VERTICAL SPACE MULLNAIL FIN & INT STRL BRKT-4″2″ JAMBSSTONE WHITE INTERIORBRONZE EXTERIOR

We are sponsoring the “First Annual”  Sliver Lake Home Center Ice Fishing Derby. It is all to benefit the “Madison Church Caring Kids” program. It will take place Saturday February 19th, Sunrise to 2:30pm. $10 per ticket and under 12 free with an ticketed adult. For more information please call the store.

It’s that time of year again.  The weather has turned cold, the malls are packed, and the stockings are hung by the fire with care:

IT’S ICE FISHING SEASON!!!!

We have bait!

We have all you need to start landing the big ones.  Our new bait tanks are up and running and full of shiners.

New products and innovations are coming from Marvin Windows

Now is the time to start thinking about indoor hobbies.  If you have always wondered about crafting your own beer, come down and see us at Silver Lake Home Center.  We are having a special to get you set up and brewing your own beer.  Right now purchase a beer equipment kit (everything needed to brew a batch of beer), and choose one of our True Brew Beer Ingredient Kits for only $79.00!!!! (normally $114.92)  That’s over 30% savings!!!!

Choose from our in stock ingredient kits:

This is everything you need to brew 5 gallons of beer for only $79.00!!!

Autumn may be beginning, but it is not too late to design your outdoor low maintenance deck and take advantage of the cool autumn nights.  The deck below was built using Timbertech Black Radiance Rail, and Timbertech Mountain Cedar Decking.  The homeowners now do not have to worry about paint or stain that chips, or needs to be re-coated.  They can now sit back and relax on their low maintenance deck.