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Friday, July 30, 2010

Beer Festival This Weekend



St. Francis Brewery is proud to be a part of a second "First-Annual" beer event this Saturday.

The Milwaukee Brewfest takes place this Saturday.  Details can be found here.

Bring 3 cans of food with you and take $10 off your ticket!  Dig in that pantry and find those lima beans. 

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Givum Helles!

If you've been following my blog, you may remember this post

Well, I kegged and carbonated the Helles and it was excellent.  I served it at a surprise birthday party for my wife and five gallons was gone in about 1 1/2 hours.

I decided this will be the St. Francis Seasonal for the month of August.  Additionally, the yeast I'm using will be the same one I'll use for the Oktoberfest, so I'll have plenty of yeast when I brew it later this month.

Helles (pronounced Hell-us) is a German Light Lager--similar to a Pilsener, but not nearly as hoppy.  It's a clean, malty beer.  In fact, the Germans were getting nervous with the popularity of the Czech Pilsener style so they came up with this as a competitor.

This beer will debut for the Mug Club on August 11.

Speaking of Oktoberfest, this year's Oktoberfest will be an all-out celebration.  We're talking tents, dirndl-wearing wenches, polka bands, sausages, and lots of delicious Oktoberfest bier to wet your whistles.  More on this will follow, but mark your calendars for September 25th!!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

"Test Brewing" this week.

When I first interviewed for a Brewer's Assistant internship years back, the Brewmaster had a lot of questions for me.  Finally, he asked if I had any questions and I had one.  "Do you still homebrew?"

The answer was, "no".

That answer always bothered me.  I liken it to the cab driver who hates to drive, or the professional chef who hates cooking at home.  I don't understand it.

I still homebrew.  I also get the opportunity to test brew batches of beer to see if they will be commercially viable.  We're talking very small batches--5 to 10 gallons.  Will the results be the same as a commercial size?  Not exactly, but pretty darn close. 

Though I've never been a huge fan of stouts, I really like a good porter.  Therefore, I'm going to test brew a molasses porter this week.  The recipe is a tweaking of a brown porter I found, but I am going to include a new seasonal malt from Briess called Carabrown--it adds a toasty, graham cracker taste to the beer.  It will also include molasses which I've never used in brewing, but I'm interested in trying it out. 

If it's decent, you may see it on the beer board down the road.

In the meantime, stop on in for a Saison.  Next week I'll brew next month's seasonal--"Givum Helles".  More on that later.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Happy Birthday, America!

The brewery is closed today, so that our staff can enjoy Independence Day with their families.  My hat is off to those who keep us safe and secure.  Thank you.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Tapping this Wednesday, July 7th

Belgium.  Great beer comes from here.


This Wednesday, I will tap the Summer Night Saison.

7:30 pm for all of you Mug Clubbers.

I'll have some out on the patio, weather permitting.

Not a Mug Clubber?  No problem.  You are welcome to stop in on Thursday for yours.