Well it is finished and I had planned on putting more info with each picture but maybe down the road. For now I put them on flickr and everyone can peruse them there. I would have more final pictures but my camera has taken a crap apparently. Click on the picture below for all the pics.

Because I've been wanting to make a fresh hop beer and because it is cool, I decided to grown my own . . . . hops. I've included some pictures and the last picture shows how I plan on training them to grow across the top of the fence. I ran some twine along the green line in the picture.

Well I dropped all my entries off for the 2008 bluebonnet. I had a total of 13 entries in 11 different categories.

Here is the list

• Belgian Dubbel
  
• Schwartz
  
• Quad w/Bret
  
• Eisbock
  
• Oat Stout x 2
  
• Scottish 70s
  
• American Brown
  
• Kolsch x 2
  
• American Rye
  
• American Pale

Btw it hurts the pocket book to have that many entries at $7 each.

Here is a list of what I've brewed so far for these two events. I started with lagers to give them plenty of time to age.

• Schwartz Beer
  
• EisBock ( Have not iced it yet.)
  
• Rauch Beer (Tried my first Decoction with this)

I made the executive decision (with SWMBOS consent) to go to NHC 2008 this year. I figured if I am going to be present at the nationals it would be awesome if I wont some sort of medal. I know I could be dreaming but it is worth a shot. I have come up with a brew schedule to have plenty of beers ready for the NHC and the Bluebonnet. Also if you want to find out more about NHC you can go to www.beertown.org

A buddy of mine has a pear tree in his backyard and this year it has gone crazy in producing pears. Mostly due to all the rain in Texas this year. So we had the bright idea of making some perry (Pear Cider) from the pears. So he collects some of the pears from the tree and stores them so they can ripen for a week or so. To make a long story short we spend about 5 horrible hours chopping up pears and feeding them to a new garbage disposal to pulp them and then we pressed them to get all the juice we could out of them.

I just posted version 1.1 of my grain bill % to pounds calculator. It not takes into account that sugars can be 100% fermentable and therefore not affected by your mash efficiency. Click the Brewing Spreadsheets on the left to download the newest version.

After much thought I decided my next beer would be something I could age for a bit. I've made 3 Sasions and a wit so far this spring and its time to plan for the winter :) Of course in Texas that means January. After browsing through Brew Like a Monk again. I deiced to try the one of the Dubbel recipes featured in the book. I went to the LHBS and purchased the grains on my shopping list that I printed from Beer Smith. One this I noticed after I mixed all the grains into one bag and I got home that somehow Crystal 20 and 40 ended up on the list even though they are not part of the recipe. Luckily they are only .5 Lbs each but thats still not part of the plan. I decided to give it a try anyways and will just lower the mash temp and lengthen the itme I mash to 90 min to try to thin the beer out a bit to compensate. We will see how things turn out.

I know it has been awhile since I posted any updates to the site. I've been busy preparing for what I am going to call the summer of beer. I've been trying to work out a plan for what beer I will be brewing and when. My goal is to have all my fridges full of beer and to get things rolloing I did a 10 gallon batch that I split with Sasion and Wit yeast. We will see how it turns out.

Here is the recipe I used.

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BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: BB- Wit
Brewer: Damon Lewis

It looks like I will be attending this fine event on March 23rd & 24th. I can not wait for the room crawl. The North Texas Homebrewers Association will be opening the O'blivions pub and it is aptly name. You can get more info at http://www.bluebonnetbrewoff.com/. I have reserved a room to prevent any unsafe driving situations and will be entering three beers.

1. Scottish 70s
2. Sasion
3. Strong Golden Belgian Ale (11.5%)

I don't know if any of them will win any awards but I definitely look forward to the feedback.