Don't Criticize me Bro! (Guilty Pleasure Milk Stout)

There is no right way to drink a beer. Some people chug their beer, some people nurse their beer. Others spill it on ping pong tables while listening to the newest music from Mumford & Sons. That is the true definition of alcohol abuse!


I used an eCard in the blog.. All time low!

When people are trying our homebrew for the first time, I like to be there to walk that person step by step of how they "should" drink the beer. It's almost like my baby that I don't want to be mistreated. Sam and I have referred to our beer as "our baby" while it ferments in the closet. I don't want to dictate how to drink our beer, I just want people to get a full appreciation for it. I am sorry to anyone who I have annoyed for doing this to you.

Here is what I look like when someone tries our beer for the first time, and likes it:



A "Friends" GIF... this is going downhill fast

Sam and I recently submitted our Guilty Pleasure Milk Stout to a homebrewing competition in Lafayette, LA. This means that our beer will be critiqued and criticized (constructively, of course). Here is what I look like waiting for the homebrew competition results:


SpongeBob is a little better...

  Hopefully we get some positive reviews, but the best part is that we will get a some great tips on improving this brew. It turned out to be a huge hit this winter, so improving it will be an exciting project. I will say that I did not expect people to be open to such a dark, thick beer. It turns out, people were more intrigued by the complex flavors of chocolate and coffee in a drink that was still considered beer. Whether it is chocolate, beer, or both, everyone has a Guilty Pleasure.

Keg Stands are for Poor College Kids

I love talking to people about my hobby of homebrewing. Usually the first question is "Is it any good?" or "How much does it cost?" To these I always say that it is easy to make beer, but it takes some effort to make good beer. The cost is much cheaper than your average night at the bar. On average, a 5 gallon batch costs just under $1 per 12 oz. beer. One time I was even asked "Can you make _____ Lite?" To respond, I turned to the water faucet and filled an empty pint glass. I handed it to that former friend and said "Here you go". I say 'former' in the nicest way possible.

 



Won't see this in our hallway

Sam and I finally took the plunge and dug deeper into our homebrewing hobby. Part of me was tired of manually capping 50 bottles of beer at a time, and part of me was tired waiting 2 weeks for the beer to carbonate. So instead of bottling, now it's time to start kegging. Now I know what some of you are thinking...

But you won't find any red Solo cups in this house. Sam and I recently purchased a three tap keezer with three 5 gallon kegs. Keezer is how us beer people lazily say "keg freezer". It's essentially an old box freezer with an external temperature control attached, to regulate the temperature. It can hold all three kegs at once.

 

And we still call this room "the office"

With this kegging system, we carbonate the beer inside of the kegs using a CO2 tank. The process is called "forced carbonation" The CO2 is pumped into the keg to pressurize it. Using this method, the beer can be carbonated and ready to pour anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks. This means the process can be much faster than carbonating in individual bottles.



It has been fun making labels for all of the beer bottles, but we plan on still designing labels. It gives us something to do in our spare time, and gives me something to post other than pictures of ourselves. (Although I don't hear anyone complaining about that).

 

Sam and I have two homebrew competitions coming up in January/February. We will be entering two beers in these competitions. First is Guilty Pleasure, our milk stout, or sweet stout. It is flavored with unsweetened cocoa, and fermented lactose sugar. Second, is Double Fault, an American Pale Ale. You can see the label for this beer on our last post. This will probably be the lightest beer in color we have brewed to date, but by far the hoppiest.

 

With most of our beer being kegged now, I guess that means more people will have to come to visit us in Baton Rouge to drink our beer. Be sure to leave a comment if you want to try some of our brews, exchange recipes, or just have something important to say. Next scheduled brew will be an Irish Red Ale. We will keep brewing, so I hope you keep following.

Cheers!

Authors Note: To any college kids, keg stand lovers, or the easily offended: Please do not be offended by the title of this post. If you are, just relax and enjoy a homebrew. Don't have any homebrew? Enjoy a local craft beer.