Growing, Growing, Gone! (Hops Update)

Posting some pictures of the hop progress. The 4th years have reached the top of the trellis and beyond. The first years have taken off in the last 3 days. Pictures go from Oldest (top pic) to newest (bottom pic). I've made the first year trellis much smaller than the fourth years. Next season we will bump it up in size.

Brew day was pushed from last Saturday to this weekend sometime. Transfering Hoppy as Hell IPA to secondary before Friday.

The Masters

No, not brew masters. I was lucky enough to attend the Masters this past April with my father. It had always been a dream to go. To this brewer, The Masters is bigger than the Super bowl, NCAA Championship, and all other major sporting events combined. During the practice rounds you are allowed to bring a camera. I have posted some of the pictures I took. It’s a little change from the normal topics, but I had such a great time that I wanted to share it with you all.

The place is beyond perfect. Not a single blade of grass that isn’t supposed to be there. Not a bad spot anywhere. The skills of the guys playing is beyond imagination. I've been "playing" golf for over half my life. If I could just have one shot per round that’s on the levels as almost every one of theirs, I'd be thrilled. Food was incredibly affordable. Sandwiches were $1.50, most expensive import beer was $3 for 16oz. Not bad at all. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Brew day this weekend. Post will follow immediately after. CHEERS!

Crooked Donkey Brew Day

This past Sunday saw the first ever Crooked Oak and Atomic Donkey Brewery collaboration. We moved our equipment into the new brewery and went from there. The move went without incident. With all the equipment I wasn’t sure if it would all get there in one piece. Somehow we managed. Next was getting it through the door. A few hinge removals later and we fit through no problem. Some adjustments had to be made once we were inside. After roughly an hour or so the brew day began.

Things at Crooked Oak are very accessible and well placed. It was very nice. Very few hiccups along the way. Our brew this day was an IPA. Recipe will be posted shortly after this article is complete. It was a 5 gallon batch. Didn’t want to tackle much more on our first day in the brewery. Be on the lookout for some 10 and 15 gallon batches very soon. While things were mashing and boiling we did some work along the outside of the brewery. Some hop trellises were hung and hop vines wrapped. It was a nice day for all things beer related.

Big thanks to Carl at Crooked Oak. Good people, good brewing, and good beer.

Recipe:
Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Safale US-05
Yeast Starter: NO
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.074
Final Gravity: 1.011
IBU: 140
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90
Color: 8 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 21 days @ 68F
Tasting Notes: Mash 152F for 60min

13.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 86.67 %
1.00 lb Munich Malt (7.0 SRM) Grain 6.67 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 3.33 %
0.50 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 3.33 %
2.00 oz Warrior [15.00 %] (60 min) Hops 95.5 IBU
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (20 min) Hops 9.6 IBU
0.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (20 min) Hops 12.5 IBU
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (10 min) Hops 5.8 IBU
0.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (10 min) Hops 7.5 IBU
1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops -
2.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops -

My Hops Bring All the Beer Drinkers to the Yard

Trellis is up and the Cascades and Willamette are coming in fast. We have just planted Chinooks and N. Brewers. They would have been in the ground sooner but there was a mix up at the USPS. Freshops.com was beyond great throughout the ordeal. Sent me a new order at no extra charge. We cannot recommend them enough.

Apologize for the grass not being cut. The mower is down and out at the moment. There are now 9 plants in the ground. As soon as the new rhizomes sprout we will be putting up 2 more trellises.

You Say You Want a Revolution

Well, here it is.

Hip Hop the Hippie the Hippie / To the Hip Hip Hops

It’s that time of year again and the hops are coming up fast. Up until maybe a week ago it had been a much cooler than average Spring. The hops are playing catch up, and they are playing it well. We are adding some new varieties this year. We will now be growing Cascades, Willamette, Chinook, and Northern Brewer. I've posted a pic from yesterday and today. In just that short period they have grown about a foot. It’s going to be a great season! CHEERS!

20,000 Views!

While we were away at The Masters this week the blog crossed the 20,000 view line. We want to thank everyone who has come to the blog to see what we are up to at Atomic Donkey Brewing. It means a lot to us that people read or take a look at the thing that we are so passionate about. We will keep updating as the brewing progresses. There is some exciting news from this past weekend as well as some more news about upcoming events. A post will follow sometime this week outlining the latest happenings.

Thank you again to everyone that is tagging along on this journey with us. Stay tuned, it’s all uphill from here. CHEERS!

Birth of a Label

Obviously we cannot be in the mind of someone as talented as James. But what we decided to do was share with you the progression from his first drawing to the finished label. I wish I had a spec of the talent he does.






As usual, Mr. James Ball comes up with something incredible. This is for our Zapow brew. The Hazelnut, Vanilla, Espresso Porter. We will be printing these off tomorrow and have them on bottles this weekend.

Feel free to drop him a message. Amazing artist.. https://m.facebook.com/?refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F&_rdr#!/darkergreen?__user=40505797

The Yohimbe Search Continues

So the problem of getting the yohimbe to break down still persists. I am now in the process of ordering a liquid extract. I am looking for the purest form I can find. I do not want any chemical stimulants besides the yohimbe. I want this brew to be delicious and exciting, but more importantly it needs to be safe. So while I search the stores and interwebs for the perfect extract, feel free to make some suggestions. I plan to bottle the porter in the next week to two weeks max. The search will conclude asap. And we will have in our hands the perfect match for this delicious porter.

As soon as we find what we are looking for, we will let you know. Till then, CHEERS from Atomic Donkey Brewing..

Wantin Some "AvLov"

It’s a clear day, the temperature is a very nice 64 degrees, and things just seem to be right with the world. Only one thing could make this great day even better. That would be brewing up a delicious smooth porter that will soon become known as AvLov.

The brewing of the porter was simple. Nothing too fancy. Everything went off without a hitch. We started around 1pm and were all done and cleaned up by 6. The OG measured a nice 1.069. After we aerated for 10 minutes or so we pitched our yeast. When I woke up bright and early at 6 am the airlock was going strong. As of today there is still some activity in the airlock. We will be testing the gravity tonight to see how everything is going.

We have been experimenting with different ways to break down the yohimbe powder. Through these tests we have found it is not water soluble. So we have poured some fine vodka over it and will see where it stands when we return to the brewery this evening. The actually taking of the yohimbe has gone well. We have tried it a few times with no incidence of ill effects. We have drunk a few beers on top of it and again, no nasty effects, just a nice feeling. Can’t wait to get this into the brew and give it a try. We will be updating everyone as time progresses.

Recipe for porter will follow sometime this evening. CHEERS!