TyPA

Hey there!

Yesterday I brewed Pillbox's new TyPA, a beer designed for Tyler, one of our premium members!! Tyler asked for something like the 90 minute IPA by Dogfish Head brewery, so I tried my best. I tried a few new things:

1. whole leaf hops. Usually, hops come in pellet form. This time I used try whole leaf hops - pretty cool

2. 90 minute boil. Usually, I boil the wort for 60 minutes with 2-3 hop additions. In this recipe, I boiled the wort for 90 minutes with 12 hop additions! 

3. Wort chiller. This helped cool the wort quickly, which improves taste and clarity.

4. WyYeast instead of White Labs. Pretty cool yeast product. I love it!

I'm really excited about this one. I can't wait for you to try it.

There's still some Snoring Puppy if anyone wants to come over for a pint!

-Brendan

Snoring Puppy Pale Ale Party!

Last night, about 12 of the members got together to try the new brew from Pillbox: Snoring Puppy Pale Ale!

We began the night with pizza, hot wings, chips and salsa, and crackers and cheese while admiring the sunset

Jamie tastes the first beer of the night: Laura the Wise (n bock), a dark german wheat beer. Really sweet and delicious!

We all enjoyed the weizenbock together. Tyler noted flavors of honey and belgian yeast.

We moved inside where the Brewmaster explained his unique process of brewing plus some really interesting facts about homebrew

Everyone was served a glass of the new Snoring Puppy Pale Ale. Big hit!

We all got a chance to evaluate the beer based on color, bitterness and body. Some flavors noted were caramel flowers, lemon, tropical fruit, grapefruit, citrus bouquet, a stampede of horses, and puppy scents!

I will definitely throw another one of these tasting parties this summer. Hope you can join us!!

-Brendan the Brewmaster

New Brew: the TyPA

Our new member, Tyler Allred, has designed Pillboxes upcoming beer after Dogfish Head Brewery's 90-minute IPA! I'm going to do my best to try to live up to their infamy, but while I can't promise that it will be identical (and I know identical), I know it will be delicious!! It will involve a unique hop schedule where you combine all hops and add them .25 oz every 8 minutes over 90 minutes! On top of that, there are 2 additional ounces of dry hops! Crazy!!

In other news, "Laura the Wise (n bock)" is ready for your consumption! It is super strong and almost tastes like a Trappist ale. I would love to hear what YOU think of it though. Laura loves it :)

Just a reminder, the Pale Ale Party is coming up on Sunday night! Hope you can come!!!

-Brendan the Brewmaster

Keg, Puppy, Party

Just last week, Jeff Busby, my homebrewing hero, generously loaned me his kegging system. Every October, Jeff brews and kegs 25 gallons of beer and hosts his own Oktoberfest at his house. The rest of the year, he lets his equipment sit in his garage. This year, he said, "Brendan, you can use my kegging system whenever you like!" So I called him up! He gave me 5 5-gallon kegs, a CO2 tank, and taps!

What's more, I just kegged Pillbox's brand new ale: Snoring Puppy Pale Ale!! It's delicious. Super aromatic, slightly bitter, light in color, rich, very sweet, you can almost smell/taste cotton candy or something like it. I can't wait for you to try it...

SO, I will be hosting a tasting of Snoring Puppy in the near future (date, time, and place TBA)! I will invite all Pillbox members and their friends and family and you can have as much ale as you want! Of course I'll be keeping track so each beer comes out of your yearly total :).

Weizen-bottled!!!!

"Laura the Wise (n bock)" (Pillbox's newest weizenbock ale) is now available for your enjoyment!!!

I bottled it last night and was very pleased. You see, every time I move beer from one location to the next (i.e. siphoning from the carboy to the bottling bucket and from the bottling bucket to bottles) some beer manages to spill into a glass and I hate to put it to waste. I tasted the flat weizenbock and was very excited about its flavor. I offered my roommate some, and after joking "what, is it sweet tea?" he sipped it and said, "it tastes like sweet tea!!" It does, kinda. Very sweet, strong, and pleasantly pungent from the german barley and hops.

Pillbox members can pick this one up any time. It will be ready to drink in 2 weeks!

Please take your time to thank Laura for designing this delicious ale, modestly titled "Laura the Wise (n bock)"

Pillbox Brewery "My Cherry Valentine" Wins Competition

Great news, Pillbox fans!!

Pillbox Brewery's "My Cherry Valentine" just won Pizza Port's First Annual Homebrew Competition!!! I submitted 6 bottles of the February ale in the category "american pale" and won first place based on color, mouth feel, style, and originality. This means in May I will get to team up with the brewers at Port Brewing to enter the Pro-Am American Beer Festival, a national contest where microbreweries team up with homebrewers to compete for an award together. I entered the beer (the same beer many of you enjoyed) at the end of February and found out today, April first.

Foolishly Happy,
Brendan

Brewing tomorrow night!

Tomorrow I am utilizing:

6.5 pounds of wheat malt extract
3 pounds of malted barley from Germany
2 ounces of tettnang german hops
1 vial of hefeweizen ale yeast

in order to make a WEIZENBOCK, designed by Laura!

I'll be brewing at 7PM if you want to join me!

The weizenbock awaits a name and should be ready by mid-April. Continue enjoying the Chocolburn until then and let me know how you like it!

Guest Review: Chocolburn

Pours a thick dark liquid - almost seems slimy.  I can instantly smell the malts and hints of chocolate.  It has a bit of a smoky smell to it, almost as if it were oaked.  The chocolate scent comes at the end.  It's very smooth and creamy, and the taste is great!  I can't even taste the alcohol.   I taste malt, caramel, a bit of coffee and some chocolate.  Although the chocolate doesn't seem to stand out, this is a very enjoyable stout.  The flavors blend together nicely and it's very easy to drink.  A great stout from Pillbox Brewery.


Calvin
La Mirada, CA
Porter Member
Guest Blogger

New Stuff

I like being the author of a blog because of all the cool toys google gives you to try out.

Check out the survey over to your right! Pretty cool, huh?

Also to your right is a "follow via email" thingy. Type in your email address and it will update you automatically when I post new stuff. Neato. I'm not sure exactly what it does so I subscribed and this blog post will be my first updated email notification (it's actually the real reason why I'm writing this post at all - to see if it works).

And if you didn't know, these check boxes below the text are for your responses to the post in case you don't want to leave a full comment. I appreciate all participation! See the thing is with blogs is that you will read them if I keep writing new stuff for you to read that is interesting. But I loose the drive to write new stuff if I don't think anyone will read it. So help me out, leave a comment even if it's stupid. At least I know you're still alive.

Love,
Brendan

Chocolburn Ready for Pick-Up!

Hey Brew Members!

You may be wondering, "when is the next ale from Pillbox coming out?"

Well I will tell you: Right Now.

The Chocolburn Chocolate stout is ready to be picked up now and will be ready to drink on March 23rd! I will carry some around in my trunk or you can pick up some at my apartment if I'm around.

This is a very chocolatey stout and I'm excited to hear how you all like it! Once you taste it, please write a review with tasting notes! I would love to post it on the blog.

Happily,
Your Brewmaster

Bottling the Chocolburn in a custom Pillbox bottle

Very dark in color, super chocolatey!

My Cherry Valentine Ready to Drink!

Well the title of this post pretty much says it all. My Cherry Valentine (inspired by Josh) is ready to drink. It should be pretty delicious! The cherry flavor is very hard to find but it's there - at least it doesn't taste like cough syrup! Also you should notice a significant honey flavor and a malty sweetness. Not too bitter either. Also, this is the first Pillbox ale in which I have used Irish Moss as a clarifier, so admire the clear and bright color of this one! Please enjoy and write back with some comments on this blog.

Video Blog: Racking Chocolburn on Chocolate

Racking is when you transfer beer from one fermentor to another fermentor. This helps the beer stay in a fresh fermenting environment and allows me to add a little more chocolate to the batch!
-Brendan

New Chocolate Stout

Yesterday I brewed the Colburn's chocolate stout! Notice the lowercase "chocolate stout". It does not have a name yet. I am not usually a fan of stouts, but this one is looking really tasty. It's about 50 SRM (the color black) and has a very rich chocolate flavor from the roasted barley and wheat. I put in some wheat so it has a nice head to it. Get ready for this one! It will be ready at the end of February!

In the meantime, My Cherry Valentine is just about ready for bottling! Anyone want to join me? I'm thinking I'll do it Friday morning. After that it will need about 2 weeks in the bottle - just in time for Valentine's Day. Here are the stats:

Brew No. 13: My Cherry Valentine

brewed: January, 2011

4.5lb Light DME

0.5lb Wheat DME

2.75lb honey malt

2oz cascade hops @ 55mins

1oz cascade hops @ 15mins

IRISH MOSS for clarity

White Labs California Ale Yeast

4oz Cherry extract and 3oz clover honey added after primary fermentation

OG 1.060

FG 1.014

IBU 42

SRM 14

ABV 6%

For your information, I am planning on entering Pizza Port's Homebrewing Competition next week! I will be submitting My Cherry Valentine and maybe some of Jim Whitaker's Bittakers. We'll see how it goes! Root for me, will ya?

In other news, a video camera has been anonymously donated to Pillbox Brewery so be expecting some amazing video blogs in the future!

(choose a reaction below - come on people! you can do it...)

Brewing Tomorrow, New Order

1. I am brewing My Cherry Valentine tomorrow with Josh at 8AM. You're welcome to join! Let me know if you want to come participate or learn.

2. Today I ordered ingredients for our next batch ... keep posted. It's going to be a sweet chocolate stout.

over and out.

A Taste of RICK'S RED (guest review)

When you pour this bad boy, the strong head and the rich color draws you in.  One taste, and "Ahhhhhhh". The latest creation from up-and-coming Pillbox Brewery, Encinitas, California is a treat for all of the senses.  Strong in malt flavors, slightly bitter, slightly opaque, I can attest that 'Rick's Red' is the perfect complement to a Bellisario's Chicken Bowl (another local favorite).  Brewmeister Brendan McClenahan has scored on this one.  Strictly in terms of 'Reds' I would not say this is directly comparable to the Ragtop Red, maybe closer to the Firehouse Ale (this might be my messed up taste buds).  However, you can't go wrong with this one. Stock up!


-Rick Lieber
Guest Blogger
Pillbox Brewery Stout Member
...yes, the Rick of Rick's Red

Brew No. 13: My Cherry Valentine

Happy New Year!

Rick's Red is delicious. Jono and I just tasted it yesterday and were extremely pleased. Check out "Past Brews" to see the recipe, stats and notes! If you're a member, the beer is ready for your consumption!

With the new year comes a new beer: My Cherry Valentine, designed by Josh. I just ordered the ingredients a few minutes ago and will be brewing sometime next week, possibly on Monday. My goal is to have this ready for Valentine's Day 2011.

My Cherry Valentine will be a california honey pale ale with real cherry. It will be golden in color, medium in hops, about 6% alcohol, and laced with cherry to celebrate Valentines Day.

If you'd like to help brew this one next Monday, comment on this blog and we can set it up!

Happily,
Brendan McClenahan, Brewmaster