Whole Hog Brew Meets South Park

Yes it's true, I enjoy the crude humor of South Park. Check out the link below to catch up on missed episodes, play South Park games, or even create your own avatar.

Goin’ Down to South Park to Meet Some Friends of Mine

The Reverend Scores 3 6-packs of Divine Reserve No. 6

The Reverend Jeff Chou informed me Friday night that he had scoured the lands in search of St. Arnold's new Divine Reserve No. 6 and has successfully secured three 6-packs of the highly regarded American Barleywine. For those of you not familiar with St. Arnold's Divine Reserve series, it is a small batch specialty (reads highly potent) brew release periodically by St. Arnold's in the local Houston area. Securing a six pack is akin to getting tickets to a Duke home basketball game. Many times greedy store managers hord the brew for themselves or hide 6-packs behind other beers. To be able to aquire three 6-packs is a true "blessing."

Miraculously, Dave and I had the good fortune to try a glass of Divine Reserve No. 6 at our favorite watering hole, The Flying Saucer, that same night. Regrettably, the consumption of such a strong brew put an early end to our festive night and prompted a ride in the mythical chariot, known by commoners as a TAXI.

Divine Reserve

Reserve No. 6: American Barleywine
Cases Made: 1,172
Kegs Made: 24 half-barrel kegs
Date Brewed: April 21, 2008
Date Bottled: June 4, 2008
Original Gravity: 1.094
Final Gravity: 1.019
Alcohol: 10% ABV

Description: This is a big, malty, hoppy barleywine. Yet with all of the intense flavors, they meld together to create a well-balanced big beer. The nose has a strong resiny hop note. The taste starts with a combination of the malty sweetness and spicy hops with both flavors magnified by the high alcohol level. The spiciness carries through the middle and finishes with a satisfyingly dry bitter. It was brewed with 2 row pale, Caramunich and Special B malts with brown sugar added in the kettle and hopped with 225 lbs of Columbus hops including 44 lbs that were dry hopped. We used our Saint Arnold yeast strain which gives a rich, creamy mouthfeel to the brew. It is unfiltered and will clarify with aging. Enjoy at 45°F or warmer. This beer will age well.

14. Take it Easy and Take a Chill Pils

Style = Domestic Pilsner
Method = All-Grain Single Infusion
Brew Date = June 1, 2008
Drink Date = July 4, 2008
Base Grain = 1.0 lbs Domestic Pilsner (1.5 L)
Base Grain = 6 lbs Domestic Two Row (2 L)
Bittering Hops = 1.0 oz Hallertau [5.7% AA] hops (boil 60 min)
Flavoring Hops = 1.0 oz Tettnang [4.8% AA] hops (boil 30 min)
Flavoring Hops = 0.5 oz Hallertau [5.7% AA] hops (boil 30 min)
Dry Hops = 0.5 oz Hallertau [5.7% AA] hops (Secondary)
Dry Hops = 0.5 oz Czech Saaz [5.0% AA] (Secondary)
Yeast = Wyeast #2121 (Pilsner)
Primary = 13 days at 50 F
Secondary = 17 days at 35 F
Keg Conditioning = Store at 38 F for 3 days under 10 psig

Whole Hog Scores Very Good

Our first ever beer competition was a success, however my abilities to embed the pdf files of the results was not. To our surprise, the judges scored 11 O'Clock Bock (34.5) higher than Rock Chalk Weizenbock (31). Highest possible score is 50, and we learned that honorable mention scored a 39. Lots of good and accurate comments from the judges. Rock Chalk Weizenbock seemed to suffer from the addition of clove infused scotch. Apparently, although Weizenbocks are suppose to have a slight clove aroma from the type of yeast used, accenting the clove flavor is not desirable. Rock Chalk also was only keg conditioned for 4 days prior to bottling, and could have benefited from addition conditioning. It was amazing how much detail and accuracy was contained the comments.

Beside drinking nearly free beer ($5 for a St. Arnold's pint glass with free refills all day long), the Whole Hog Brewery members racked up the raffle prizes. We won many glassware, used homebrewing items such as airlocks and bottle capper, a Sapporo hat, a Samuel Adams bar towel, and best of all...an inflatable Warstiener intertube for floating down the Guadalupe.

Check out the pictures below:

Beer Bottling Made Easy

In preparation of our first entry into competitive brewing, WHB invested in a cool bottling gadget...the Beer Gun® by Blichmann Engineering. This contraption makes bottling beer easy, and dare I say, fun. Check out the pictures below.


Filling Bottles . . . . . . . . . . . . Capping Bottles


Dave not wanting to waste a drop

If It's Not Scottish, It's Crap

Our second ever all-grain brew and our first Scotch Ale. We definately learned a lot from our previous all-grain session. Just transferred this brew to secondary fermentation and it tasted great. I think this one is going to be a crowd favorite.

13. If It's Not Scottish, It's Crap!
Style = Scottish Strong Ale
Method = All-Grain Single Infusion
Brew Date = May 4, 2008
Drink Date = June 20, 2008
Specialty Grain = 15.0 lbs Golden Promise Pale Malt (2 L)
Specialty Grain = 0.25 lbs Roasted Barely (300 L)
Bittering Hops = 1.5 oz UK Goldings [5.5% AA] hops (90 min)
Flavoring Hops = 0.5 oz UK Goldings [5.5% AA] hops (30 min)
Flavoring Hops = 1.0 oz US Golding [3.0% AA] hops (30 min)
Yeast = Wyeast #1275 (Thames Valley)
Yeast = Wyeast #1728 (Scottish Ale)
Primary = 9 days at 65 F
Secondary = 19 days at 50 F
Secondary Additional = 6 days at 38 F to drop yeast out of supension
Keg Conditioning = Store at 38 F for 13 days under 10 psig

Rock Chalk Weizenbock

Rock Chalk Weizenbock is our first attempt to make an all-grain brew and will be entered into the St. Arnold's Big Batch Bash as our second weizenbock entry. This beer celebrates the incredible, some would even say unbelievable run of the Kansas Jayhawks on the way to capturing the 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball championship. Our good friend and Assistant Brewmaster, David "OH" T.V. was unable to attend this brewing session as he was faithfully cheering for a Jayhawk victory in San Antonio.


12. Rock Chalk Weizenbock
Style = Weizenbock
Method = All-Grain Single Infusion
Brew Date = April 5, 2008
Drink Date = May 8, 2008
Liquid Malt Extract = 2.5 lbs of Munich Malt Extract
Specialty Grain = 6.25 lbs German Wheat Malt (2 L)
Specialty Grain = 2.375 lbs of Domestic Wheat Malt (3 L)
Specialty Grain = 1.5 lbs of Dark Munich Malt (33 L)
Specialty Grain = 1.0 lbs Domestic 2-Row Malt (2 L)
Specialty Grain = 1.0 lbs of German Pils Malt (1 L)
Specialty Grain = 0.75 lbs of German Crystal Malt (130 L)
Specialty Grain = 0.5 Cara Wheat Malt (53 L)
Specialty Grain = 0.5 Rice Hulls
Specialty Grain = 0.25 lbs of Domestic Cyrstal Malt (40 L)
Bittering Hops = 1.0 oz Czech Saaz [3.6% AA] hops (boil 60 min)
Flavoring Hops = 1.0 oz French Strisselspalt [2.5% AA] hops (boil 30 min)
Additional Ingrediants = 0.75 oz Macallan 15yr Single Malt Scotch added to Secondary Fermenter, infused with 10 whole cloves.
Yeast = Wyeast #3068 (Weihenstephan Weizen)
Primary = 5 days at 68 F
Secondary = 24 days at 68 F
Keg Conditioning = Store at 38 F for 4 days under 10 psig

O.G = 1060 I.G.= 1018 F.G = 1016 ABV = 5.9

Southern Star Brewing Company

Conroe now has its very own brewery, Southern Star Brewing Company, and I am excited to taste their first batch of beer Pine Belt Pale. Southern Star is hosting their grand opening on Saturday April 5th from 3 to 6 pm, complete with samples from their first batch. Be on the look out for Southern Star beers at your neighborhood liquor store, and support local businesses. Congratualtions guys on the start of something big. Best of luck on your venture.

Click on title for link to their website.

Competition Batch #1

Well as you can see, our first batch of Weizenbock is called 11 O'Clock Bock to emphasize that this is only the 11th batch created by Whole Hog Brewery. It also happens to be the time we started the brew (and it rhymes too). Things went pretty smooth today as we wrapped up by about 3 pm. The orginal gansta...I mean gravity (O.G.) was only 1.050. We were expecting an O.G. of about 1.065. How could it be that we were off by 15 points! Especially with all that grain. Well looking back over the steps, it looks like we added too much water. I think we ended up with about 6.5 gallons in the primary fermenter instead of the 5 gallons used in creating the recipe. We need to scale up the grains by about 30% for the next batch. Also, we might try adding a pH adjustor, as the optimal pH for starch conversion is 5.0 to 5.5.

11. Eleven O'Clock Bock

Style = Weizenbock
Brew Date = March 16, 2008
Drink Date = April 19, 2008
Liquid Malt Extract = 7.0 lbs Wheat Malt Extract
Specialty Grain = 2.5 lbs German Wheat Malt
Specialty Grain = 1.0 lbs of German Crystal Malt (130 L)
Specialty Grain = 1.0 lbs of Light Munich Malt (6 L)
Bittering Hops = 2.0 oz German Spaltz [3.5% AA] hops (boil 60 min)
Flavoring Hops = 0.5 oz French Strisselspalt [2.5% AA] hops (boil 30 min)
Additional Sugars = 0.5 lb Brown Sugar (late addition)
Yeast = Wyeast #3068 (Weihenstephan Weizen)
Primary = 7 days at 68 F
Secondary = 21 days at 68 F
Secondary Additional = 3 days at 34 F to drop yeast out of supension
Keg Conditioning = Store at 38 F for 3 days under 20 psig

10. Dave's Groelsch

Style = German Pilsner
Brew Date = February 23, 2008
Drink Date = March 22, 2008
Dry Malt Extract = 6 lbs Briess Extra Light Dried Malt Extract
Specialty Grain = 0.25 lbs German Light Crystal Malt
Specialty Grain = 0.125 lbs German Light Munich Malt
Bittering Hops = 0.5 oz UK Magnum [12.6% AA] hops (boil 60 min)
Bittering Hops = 0.4 oz Czech Saaz [5.0% AA] hops (boil 30 min)
Flavoring Hops = 0.2 oz Domestic Perle [7.6% AA] hops (boil 10 min)
Yeast = Wyeast #2042 (Danish Lager)
Primary = 11 days at 54 F
Diacetyl Rest = 1 day at 60 F
Secondary = 13 days at 54 to 36 F
Keg Conditioning = Store at 38 F for 3 days under 20 psig

Acapulco Nights

Brewing has resumed at Whole Hog Brewery following a much needed retreat to sunny Acapulo to celebrate Kev-E-Kev's bachelor party. Many cervezas were consumed while playing Beruit (a verson of beer pong). Needless to say, WHB will not be brewing a clone of Corona or Dos Equis anytime soon. Check out these pictures of the trip...at least the ones tame enough to post. Next time we're definately going to Brazil. And yes Kevin, that was an earthquake!

Big Batch Brew Bash

ATTENTION WHB MEMBERS

Saint Arnolds will be holding their 13th annual Big Batch Brew Bash. This year's feature beer is a Weizenboch (15C). I figure it's time to test the waters and enter a Homebrew competition.

Entries must be submitted to Brew-It-Yourself no later than May 11th. We will need to refine our brewing skills, so I suggest we brew two batches of Weizenbock. Tentatively mark your calanders to brew on Sunday March 16th and Sunday March 30th. This will give us plenty of time to ferment and carbonate both batches berfore the entry dealine.

Each entry must submit three (3) bottles of the brew in a non-descript brown or green bottle. I will purchase a coutner-pressure bottle filler so we can load stright from the keg.

Since we are entering a competition, we will create our own recipe based on the typical characteristics describe in the above link.

Latest Addition to WHB

Many thanks to Roberto de Blanco for the awesome new brew table. Now everyone can see what's going on inside the brewpot.

The Setting Sun

The sun has set on another Whole Hog Brewery favorite, as earlier this week the last of the Mulvarian Sunset was consumed. The keg was tapped to celebrate Sunny and Mel’s visit to H-Town. The call of fresh beer, or maybe the arrival the newest member of the WHB family, Alan Wyn Miller, brought together many friends. A good time was had by all.

One Dynamo of a Beer Fridge

Well the votes were tallied and Dynamo Orange just nudged out Jayhawk Blue. Thanks to all who voted. Here are some pictures of the nearly complete beer fridge. Awaiting 4 circular Whole Hog Brewery magnetic logos and the company sticker in white for the door. The replacement thermostat should be in by this Friday, just in time for serving the Mulvarian Sunshine Ale, which by the way, tastes great. Special thanks to Assistant Brewmaster Double Dave for all the hard work with the tower installation.

R.I.P. Chiller of Beer

Whole Hog Brewery began it's kegging operation with the purchase of a early 80's model GE Refrigerator. After countless hours of cutting, modifying, and painting, we finally had a beer fridge we could be proud of. Recently however, the fridge began to leak oil and freon. The compressor is knocking loudly and it was only a matter of time before WHB would have to put the fridge to rest. We will never forget the brews you chilled to the optimum server temperature. Rest In Peace.

Stay tuned for the unveiling of WHB's newest Beer Fridge!

GH3 vs WHB

Could it be that Guitar Hero III may spell the downfall of Whole Hog Brewery?














Members of the Whole Hog Brewery enjoy a little Guitar Hero III:Legends of Rock while the water boils.

Pictures from the Mulvarian Sunshine

Dave and the Revend hard at work cleaning the beer fridge.

Jeff Chou stirring the mash (I think he needs a step ladder).Whole Hog brewers crafting another fine beer.

Roberto deBlanco satisfied with Quality Control.

The hops are a steeping.

Mulvarian Sunshine Pale Ale

To commemorate the upcomming visit of our close freinds Melinda and Suneel Tummala, Whole Hog Brewery is proud to introduce the Mulvarian Sunshine Pale Ale, a brew that resembles Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. This beer was crafted on January 6th, 2008, the first brew for WHB in 2008. It is currently in the primary fermentation stage.

9. Mulvarian Sunshine Pale Ale
Style = Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Clone
Brew Date = January 6th, 2008
Drink Date = February 8th, 2008
Liquid Malt Extract = 4.0 lbs unhopped Pale Malt Extract
Dry Malt Extract = 2 lbs Munton's Light Dried Malt Extract
Specialty Grain = 1.4 lbsDomestic 2-Row Malt
Specialty Grain = 0.75 lbs British Crystal Malt (55 L)
Bittering Hops = 0.3 oz UK Magnum hops (boil 60 min)
Bittering Hops = 0.75 oz Domestic Perle hops (boil 60 min)
Flavoring Hops = 1.0 oz Cascade hops (boil 15 min)
Finishing Hops = 1.0 oz Cascade hops (boil 0 min)
Dry Hops = 0.75 oz Cascade hops (Secondary Fermentation)
Yeast = Wyeast #1056 (American Ale)
Primary = 10 days at 70 F
Secondary = 18 days at 70 F
Secondary Additional = 2 days at 38 F to drop yeast out of supension
Keg Conditioning = Store at 38 F for 3 days under 20 psig