The Long Wait

The day is almost upon us.  Labor of Love is 4 days away!  Four days until the rest of the world (or at least 1000+ people who attend a homebrew festival in Dallas) is introduced to the epic wonderfulness that is Steel Rain Brewing!  I cracked open one of the last two bottles of Killer Junior last night, and it’s fantastic.  I’ve sampled both it and Fiddler’s Green from the kegs, and they’re both really damn good and ready for Sunday.  I’m getting pretty excited about it.  Between the wait for this, and the wait for the start of college football on Saturday, this has already been the LONGEST. WEEK. EVER!

I’m also looking forward to meeting other DFW-area homebrewers, and sampling some of their wares.  Homebrewers are a very experimental lot, I so expect some wacky stuff to be out there.  If you’re out there to come support me and taste my beer, be sure to stop by and check out New Main Brewing as well.  He always has good stuff on tap, and has a great blog worth checking out.

I’ve been thinking about how I want to keep my beer cold out in the September heat.  The ideal way would be a jockey box.  Those are pretty pricy, though.  The low end ones are $250 to $300 for a double tap system.  Or, I can just pick up a big trashcan at Lowe’s and pack that sucker with ice around the two kegs, and serve from picnic taps, which I already have.  Yeah, I think I’ll go that route.  If it turns out that other people actually like my beer, then maybe I’ll think about a jockey box for future events.

So, if you’re bored and have nothing to do on Sunday evening (and remember, Monday is a holiday!), come on out to Labor of Love 4 at Deep Ellum Brewing Company in Dallas.  Tickets (they call them memberships in order to be legal with the Gestapo TABC) are $35 and can be purchased at http://www.lolhomebrew.com.  You need to pick your affiliated homebrew club.  I can be found under Steel Rain Brewing (duh).

Next up on the brewing schedule is a simple Blonde Ale for my brother and sister-in-law’s baby shower that we’re hosting at the end of October.  I took a popular recipe from the HomeBrewTalk forums that has a bunch of good reviews and went with it.

7lbs 2-row

¾ lb Carapils

½ lb Crystal 20L (recipe called for 10L, but Dallas Homebrew was out, at only ½ lb, shouldn’t change the recipe all that much)

½ lb Vienna

½ oz Centennial @ 60

½ oz Cascade @ 15

½ oz Cascade @ 5

Danstar Nottingham ale yeast

See everyone on Sunday!