Colorado Kitchen Brew

My Cream Ale was ready just in time for my big 24 Hours of LeMons race. I'm sorry that I'm just now getting around to writing about it. My first thought is that the beer fills its role well. It's light and slightly spritzy. The perfect lawnmower beer (not that I actually have a lawn). Everyone on the LeMons team enjoyed it. One of them even suggested I start a brewery, but I'm pretty sure he was delirious from a day of racing. My fiance says she enjoys the beer's lightness and easy-drinking nature. My friend Matt went around telling anyone who'd listen to try it. My thoughts are a bit mixed. The beer is definitely more of a Blonde Ale than a Cream. Although the bitterness level is low, the Willamette hops bring a flowery essence that really seems to define the beer. If I were truly brewing to style, I'd get knocked pretty hard for that one. Thankfully, I wasn't. Malt flavors are subdued, while the body has a bit more heft than I was hoping for. 

I liked my original Kölsch so much that I decided to take a shot at a more traditional version. I went SMaSH (Single Malt, Single Hop) style this time around and brewed a 2.5 gallon batch using just Kölsch Malt and German Smaragd hops. Here's the recipe rounded up for 5 gallons: Grains: 8 lbs GlobalMalt Kölsch Malt Hops: 1 oz Smaragd (4.4% a.a.): 60 min 1 oz Smaragd (4.4% a.a.): 5 min Total Boil Time: 90 min Yeast: Wyeast 2565 - Kölsch Mash Schedule: Protein Rest: 122F for 20 min Saccharification Rest: 149F for 60min Mashout: 168F for 15 min Original Gravity: 1.046 Estimated Final Gravity: 1.008 IBU: 22 SRM Color: 7 Fermentation Schedule: 2 Weeks Primary 2 Weeks Secondary 4 Weeks Cold Bottle Conditioning Cost: $14 per case Commercial Equivalent: Twisted Pine Blonde Ale : $32 Savings: $18

It's been awhile since my last Saison , so I'm taking a stab at a new one. The beer below is a fairly straightforward take on the style. However, like I did with my Abbey Blonde a few months back, this beer is serving as a base for another beer that I'll be writing about in a few weeks. Let's take a quick look at the recipe. The beer's grain-bill is nice and simple: Pils Malt, plus a little Aromatic Malt and Flaked Wheat for character. Since I intend for this to be a late Summer beer, my Original Gravity is below the bottom of the BJCP Saison guidelines (not that really care all that much). If the yeast doesn't go too nuts, the beer's alcohol content will clock in at around 4.5%. That's just abut right for a beer meant for drinking while plowing the fields, rather than for getting plowed in the fields. Styrian Celeia hops provide a nice floral quality. The bitterness will be prevalent, but not overpowering. As I did with last year's Saiso

My Belgian Wit is ready. It's time to see what my friends and family have to say about it. It's my beer, so I'll go first. Let's start with the pour. The beer is appropriately cloudy and has a nice hue. The head; however, is small and doesn't like to stick around. Very disappointing. The look could definitely be better, but I suppose taste and aroma are what really matter in beer. The lightness I was expecting is there. There are no overpowering flavors or aromas at work. Instead, everything is nice and subtle, with a very refreshing overall picture. Having used sweet, rather than bitter orange peel in addition to Malted Wheat, the beer leans toward the sweet side of the Wit spectrum. The coriander is restrained, but just noticeable enough. Even though I didn't use a traditional Wit strain, the yeast still has a "Belgian" quality to it that brings a little lemon and sourdough to the party. The grains are on the bready side, with a bit of a cra

After a night of pretty decent sleep, it was time for the final day of the 24 Hours of LeMons 2013 B.F.E. Gran Prix . Sunday started out well enough. The car fired right up and sounded much better than the night before. All those fixes must have done the trick. I was first up to drive. On the second warmup lap there was a loud pop, followed by a clang. The tractor sound was back. Our spare bolt and J-B Weld exhaust manifold "fix" had obviously failed. Thankfully, the car was still revving freely. As long as I had power, I could handle the extra noise from the exhaust. After Saturday's timid approach at the wheel, I got the confidence up to be much more aggressive. I trusted my tires and was holding my own in the curves. The power was enough to pull away from people in the straights. A white Toyota and I were going at it pretty good for a few laps. He was catching me in the corners, but my power kept him from passing when the course straightened out. It

LeMons Day One was both terrifying and exhilarating. None of us had ever been on this, or any other track. Other than getting to walk it Friday night with homebrew in hand, we had no idea what we were really up against. No matter. At 10:15am, our Team Captain was out there, surrounded by 61 other cars, driving a track he'd never been around, in a car that hadn't gone further than around the block in who knows how long. What could possibly go wrong? His stint went remarkably well. The car was humming along and lap times were more than respectable. The "massaged" engine, combined with sticky tires and light weight made our car one of the fastest ones out there. Plus, due to the inevitable breakdowns that happen with terrible cars, the field had already thinned. Lining up to hit the track. Our first trip to the Judges. Driver two was less lucky. His times were good, but he went off the track, resulting in our first Black Flag. It was off to the J

The Judges rule that we cheated! The Friday before a LeMons race involves the Tech and BS Inspections . Tech inspection is pretty straight forward. Your safety gear is checked out and the car is given a general inspection to make sure nothing is too terribly wrong with it. Our car passed with flying colors. The BS Inspection was where things got interesting. We had to convince the race Judges that we really did only spend $500 on our car. That clean and shinny engine bay with all those new looking parts? That was really just the result of diligent prep work! We never would have broken the budget by installing new belts, gaskets and hoses! Our Badge of Honor. The Judges didn't buy it and slapped us with two penalties. The first was sticking our group of rank amateurs into the fastest racing class. Welcome to Class A, the land of BMWs , Porsches , Mazda RX-7s and other performance cars. Our dreams of beating up on AMCs and a Checker Cab were vanquished. We were also

I interrupt this homebrewing blog to talk about endurance racing! For some unknown reason (that definitely involved beer), I was convinced to join several of my colleagues in an automotive endurance race. Well, not exactly your typical endurance race. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Unless; of course, you find racing $500 cars that should never be allowed near a racetrack to be a good idea. The race I'm talking about was the 2013 B.F.E. Gran Prix at Colorado's High Plains Raceway . It's part of the riveting 24 Hours of LeMons race series. The original endurance race for $500 cars. To use the organizers' own words, "It's not just an oxymoron; it's a breeding ground for morons." The car under construction. Of course, you can't just grab any old beater, get it running and throw it on the track. There's a lot to do before hand. Believe it or not, the organizers want you to be safe out there. That means the car needs a pro