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