graybeard-blog

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Hop plant starting to climb. The other one didn't survive.

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Puppy power.

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Cascade hops breaking through.

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All grain finally.

I finally took the next step in home brewing. After using malt extract the last two years, I decided it was time to take the training wheels off. Over the winter I collected all the appropriate equipment and on the first nice weekend of the spring I brewed my first batch.

I chose to brew a Fat Tire clone, and by clone, I mean I went to New Belgium's website and wrote down the ingredients they use to make their flagship beer. I took that information and cross referenced it with articles online of people who have tried to brew this particular type of beer. I got the percentages of grains I thought were right for 10 gallons and ordered all my ingredients from northernbrewer.com.

How did I do? It was pretty difficult keeping the temperature of the mash level. Doing 10 gallons right off the bat may have been a little too aggressive for my first all grain attempt. But in the end, it turned out pretty good. This is definitely the best beer I've made so far. The beer came out buttery and sweet with a solid bitterness throughout. It didn't turn out exactly like a Fat Tire, but it was close enough for me.

Next time, (in addition to doing better with the mash temps) I'll probably move 1oz of willamette to the 15 min mark to lower the bitterness slightly and raise the hop flavor slightly. The difference in the two yeasts I tried came out negligible.

I bottled 7 usable gallons and kegged 2 gallons. The kegged version, using forced carbonation came out tasting better than the bottled version with corn sugar carbonation.

Here's the recipe for my 10 gallon batch:

INGREDIENTS

grains 18 lbs 2 row base 2 lbs munich 1 lb crystal 1 lb victory

hops 2 oz willamette 1 oz goldings (kent)

yeast (I split the batch into two, to sample two yeasts) 1056 american ale (5 gallons) 1272 american ale II (5 gallons)

additions 2 tsp irish moss 1 tsp yeast nutrient

RECIPE mash @ 158° 60 minutes sparge @ 175° boil @ 11.7 gallons 2oz willamette @ 60 minutes irish moss @ 15 minutes yeast nutrient @ 10 minutes 1oz goldings @ 1 minutes original gravity @ 1.060 final gravity @ 1.015 alcohol (by volume) 5.9%

20lbs of grain from northernbrewer.com.

Mashing out. Yes, that's a ruler and a spoon holding everything up.

My apprentice.

Made my own wort chiller, saved 40 bucks.

Filling up the fermenters.

Secondary fermentation is a lot cleaner looking.

7 gallons of beer.

Even instagram couldn't make this photo look good.

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Dualing leprechauns.

Check out Urban Outfitter's leprechaun shirt! It looks strangely familiar to me. That's because I created one just like it for Bennigan's in 2008...

The idea originated from a project our team was assigned in 2007. The project was to create a leprechaun character for Bennigan's advertising campaign. We decided the best way to do this was to hire a comic book illustrator to bring our 3 concepts to life, pick our favorite one, then create an advertising campaign around him.

We contacted Steven Sanders, an illustrator based in Kansas City and hired him to illustrate three different leprechauns; one weird, one similar to Bad Santa and one classic leprechaun. Below are the results.

The traditional leprechaun on the right was chosen for the advertising, but we loved the sloppy guy in the middle so much, we put him on the St. Pat's day t-shirt. I couldn't get the belly shirt past the client, but otherwise, the illustration was used as is.

The shirt was given out at all the Bennigan's St. Patrick's Day parties, worn by the employees and sold online. My version of the shirt is out of print, but if you like the idea, you know where you can get one just like it.

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Bavarian Hefeweizen

I first tried Weihenstephan Hefe Weiss Bier at the strong recommendation of a pushy fellow customer at the Liquor World in Fayetteville, Arkansas last year. The floating yeast particles in the bottle turned me off at first, especially when the label claims it was made by the oldest brewery in the world, which is nearly 1000 years old.

But after having a coworker try it first and not die, I was ready to try it. It tasted really really good. So this summer, I made a batch of my own. I used the Bavarian Wheat kit from northernbrewer.com and used Weihenstephan yeast.

German wheat beer is known for it's unique banana and clove flavor that stems from a particular German strain of yeast. It's one of the more popular beers in Germany.

My attempt at recreating this style of beer came out perfect. It fermented in the basement at a nice cool 62 degrees. Below are some photos of the process.

Yeasty.

Brew Kit

US Tettnang Hop Pellets

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Renegade Restaurant Group Logo

This is a logo I created using spray paint and handmade stencils. See more below.

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Brown Ale

Introducing my second home brew creation, a brown ale. It turned out very well, definitely better than my first attempt at home brewing. This ale has a hint of caramel sweetness and a nice undertone of bitterness. The only downfall is that the carbonation is a little too strong. Oops. The alcohol by volume ended up at a solid 4.6%. Details below.

Yeast starter. I created this concoction a couple of days in advance so the yeast was strong and healthy for brewing day. For this particular recipe, I used 1099 Wyeast Whitbread Ale.

Brew kit instructions. I purchased the Nukey Brown Ale extract kit from Northern Brewer. A good beginner's recipe.

Steeping the grain. This is like making a pot of tea, except the tea bag is as big as your head and filled with specialty grains (CaraRed, Chocolate and Dark Crystal). Luckily I found a 4 gallon stainless steel pot at Big Lots for just $17.

Fuggle hops waiting to be boiled.

Grain steeping is done.

After removing the grain bag, I added 6 lbs of gold liquid malt extract, 1 lb of light dry malt extract and the fuggle hops. Then boiled for an hour. This liquid is now called wort.

After the boil, the goal is to get the wort down to room temperature as fast as possible.

After the wort cools down, I poured it into the carboy while straining the hops out. I aerated it by giving it a good shake, then added the yeast. Fermentation now begins.

Fermentation isn't pretty.

Racking the beer. After two weeks of primary fermentation, I moved the beer to a second carboy and left behind all of the sediment that formed from the yeast. This makes for a clearer beer.

Gravity Reading. This instrument, called a "hydrometer", measures the gravity of beer. This let's you know that your fermentation is complete and how much alcohol was created.

After 2 weeks in secondary fermentation, I added priming sugar to the beer, then bottled the beer. Priming sugar creates the carbonation. I ended up with 42 - 16oz. bottles.

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der Weltbühne = the world stage

Around this time four years ago I designed the official beer cup for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. What's the official beer cup you ask? If you went to the World Cup and ordered a beer, your beer would have been served in this shiny collectible chalice.

I have blurry proof. Watch the video below, 35 seconds in.

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Cheers @ at the 35 second mark.

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So long winter.

One last french onion soup night before winter's end. Recipe after the jump.

Ingredients:

2 large onions, sliced thin salt pepper 2 cans of beef broth 1/2 can or chicken broth 1/2 cup of dry red wine 3 tbsp butter 1 tsp smoke paprika 1 tsp flour 1 tsp thyme 1 tsp parsley 1 bay leaf 1 cup shredded gruyere 2 tbsp grated parmesan 1 tbsp olive oil french baguette - cut into 1" squares

DIrections:

1. In a large pot, combine butter, olive oil, sliced onions and a pinch of salt. Cook on low-med heat for 1 hour.

2. Add flour, paprika, red wine, beef broth, chicken broth, bay leaf, thyme, parsley and simmer 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Sprinkle parmesan and olive oil on french baguette cubes. Toast in the oven.

4. Put soup in broiler-safe bowl, top with toast cubes, then a heaping amount of cheese and put in the broiler until it's golden brown. Sprinkle parsley on top for color.

5. Done. This is rich soup, all you'll need is a glass of beer and you'll be set for the evening.

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Escape plan. Evolved.

This is the first piece of a new branding project we've been working on for Essex Industries. The product, Last Chance Rescue Filter, is a filter that snaps onto a firefighter's SCBA (self contained breathing apparatus) in the event of an out-of-air emergency.

For the product relaunch, we created a new logo, brochure (pictured), dvd training materials and had an amazing photoshoot at Bruton Stroube in St. Louis.

Credits: Jessen Wabeke (writer/partner) and Brandon Voges (photographer/retoucher)

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Fuel for thought.

In the next few weeks you may notice a new beverage at your local grocery store or pharmacy. It's called Nawgan® and it was formulated by Robb Paul, a brain scientist. Recently featured on a Times Square digital press release, Nawgan has a patent-pending blend of ingredients combined and specially formulated to help support memory and cognitive skills. I helped create the logo and packaging for Nawgan at Propaganda, the design firm I work for. In addition to the final designs, after the jump I've included some of the rejects/legwork that helped guide me to the final piece.

The chosen logo.

Some of the original concepts, you'll notice the other logo options.

Times Square press release on February 1, 2010.

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Creative dexterity.

Welcome. This blog will chronicle my adventures as a creative person who can't seem to settle on one craft. Therefore, I will be sharing some of the pieces I produce as a Creative Director at an advertising agency as well as some of the things I attempt to make when I'm away from my computer. Hopefully my postings will entertain, teach or inspire you to be more creative in your life.