Campfire Brewery

New Site

2007-12-29T08:35:00.001-05:00

Please update your bookmarks: our new site is located at www.campfirebrewery.com. Thank you very much!

Greg Reviews an Oatmeal Stout

2007-12-27T21:45:00.000-05:00

OK, I'm sure you're still laughing your ass off at Clubby's silliness, but now it's time for my review, so wipe those tears of laughter away, and get ready for Wagner Valley's Oatmeal Stout.
OK, the beer poured a black color with a tan/brownish head. There was decent head retention, it lasted a few minutes. Aroma had a roasted smell, with a background of chocolate. The first sip had a bitter bite to it, but that soon mellowed out to a big roasted flavor, with hints of chocolate and coffee. Body was medium to heavy, with a nice mouthfeel. It wasn't as smooth as an oatmeal stout should be, but it wasn't bad either.
Overall, it's a good beer. It's nice to drink at 10 o'clock at night when you are relaxing. I would definitely have another. I can't think of anything else to write, this beer neither blew me away, or totally sucked. So I guess in the end it's a winner, and til I have more, this is the best oatmeal stout ever. And the Dunkel isn't stinking so much anymore. Either that or I am so completely used to the smell by now I've dulled my senses.

Clubby Reviews Affligem Noel

2007-12-27T20:40:00.000-05:00

Ok, so in my last blog I lied a little bit. Apparently the Dunkel we made, so far, smells like old eggs in the purse of a dirty prostitute. But, that's to be expected, it is a lager...
Anyway....to the review we go!
With the gentle pour of a clumsy giant, the head rose to about 4 fingers and lasted, leaving a thick lace toward the bottom of my glass. The color was a darkish caramel a tad darker than Tyra Banks but not quite Oprah (I'm almost black so I'm allowed to say that). The smell was a light sweet caramel and spice. As I tasted it I thought of that song "I would do anything for love anything you've been dreaming of but I just won't do that" not that the beer reminded me of it, I just really like Meatloaf. But also as I tasted it I thought sweeeet, it is pretty darn sweet for my tastes but great for a "Christmas Ale" I guess. The sweetness went really well with the spiciness it has. Also, because when I swallowed it, gave it a second to go down, I felt the slight burn from the 9.0 ABV. Usually, I'm not big on the overly-carbonated dark ales, but, this was overly carbonated and good! I felt the in between medium/heavy body was perfect for the spiciness and slight warmth in the throat. So yes, this will be a winter drink of choice for me. Although, the spiciness could have been brought down a tad, all the components balanced out well. Wow, I shouldn't have had the whole 1 pint 9.4 oz. bottle!! Sleepy time for Clubby-Poo!

Campfire Munich Dunkel

2007-12-26T17:21:00.000-05:00

We decided to do a Munich Dunkel as we wait for our Choco-Raspberry Stout to finish.
Ingredients:

3.3 lbs. Coopers Unhopped Plain Light
2.0 lbs Clover Honey
2.0 lbs Munich Malt
1.0 lbs Chocolate Malt
1.0 oz Tettnanger (boil 60 mins.)
1.0 oz Hallertau (boil 20 mins.)
White Labs WLP830 German Lager

Originally we were going to make this a cherry dunkel although we know dunkels shouldn't have fruit. But, we're badasses like that. Anyway, we decided not to add the fruit to avoid backlash from the masses.
Considering the Munich Malt we had, we had to do a partial mash in the oven because we have no mash tun.
We put the 2 lbs of crushed Munich in 2.5 quarts of water @ 160-170 deg. for 45 minutes.
As that was going on we steeped the 1 lb. chocolate malt @ 170 deg. for 30 minutes.
We strained and sparged munich into the boil pot, then strained the chocolate malt into the boil pot.
Bringing all of the goodness to a boil with the 3.3 lbs. of coopers unhopped plain light extract.
The 1 oz of Tettnanger was added for 60 minutes.
The 1 oz of Hallertau was added for the last 20 minutes.
And the 2.0 lbs of honey was added for the last 5 minutes of the boil.
At the end we ended up missing our OG reading, it was 1.042.

After consoling each other with tears, tight hugs and sloppy kisses we decided to leave it. Thus far it smells delicious and I'm sure it will taste twice as good. We'll give you an update once we get the final gravity.
As of tonight we are up to the diacetyl rest.

Clubby Reviews Otter Creek Copper Ale

2007-12-24T20:58:00.000-05:00

While Greg reviews beers with fancy pictures taken with high-tech digital photography machines, I review with my soul, poor grammar and lateness. Sorry for the wait guys, I know you lost sleep over the fact I should have done this almost a week ago.
Well, first off, this ale pours a clear copper color with a decent, almost 2 finger head (just like my girlfriend, she does the head thing with 2 fingers too!). The retention leaves a nice lacing around the sides of my glass(also like my girlfriend, she needs a good lacing). The smell to me is straight up sweet caramel malt. I thought there may have been some slight pine initially but after further inspection, that turned out to be mostly my christmas tree. I swashed the brew around my mouth and swallowed. The caramel was outstanding while the hops provided a nice slightly bitter finish, well balanced. I felt it was nicely carbonated, not overwhelming at all but the body was a little light for the color it had. Overall, this is a brew I would drink again. Just a few tweaks here and there and I think we have one of Clubby's hundred favorite drinks! But, only after a few tweaks. Let's get on that Otter Creek!

ChocoRasStout Moves to Tertiary

2007-12-23T17:06:00.000-05:00

Today the Chocolate Raspberry Stout has moved into it's new home, into a third carboy for tertiary. The primary purpose of this was to remove the beer from the raspberries and get it off whatever trub was in there. I took a hydrometer reading and also had a tasting. The beer was much better than when we moved it into secondary, the bitterness was way down. Also, the raspberries added a great sweetness, while also adding wonderfully mild yet noticeable raspberry flavor. The gravity reading wasn't what we were hoping for, it only dropped to 1.020 from 1.021, but that's OK, It should still be great.

Greg Reviews In-Heat Wheat

2007-12-20T19:20:00.000-05:00

Flying Dog Brewery In-Heat Wheat Hefeweizen

Let me start by saying something about the picture. Clubby and I both poured our glasses at the same time (his is on the left, mine the right). I got slightly more head then him, and within a minute of pouring, the head was gone, as evidenced by the picture. His was about a 1 finger head, mine, maybe 2 fingers, if you have really tiny girl fingers. Anyways, onto my review:

The beer poured a cloudy orange, golden color. Head was almost 2 fingers, which disappeared rather fast. Aroma had a clovey, fruity nose to it, with maybe some very mild wheat smells. The beer had a fairly strong wheat flavor, spiciness from the hops, and very mild hop bitterness. There were some citrusy undertones as well. It was fairly light bodied with medium carbonation.

Overall, it's a decent beer. Although it says it's a Hefeweizen, it's an American version. It's a good beer for hot summer days, not so much in December. I wouldn't go out of my way to buy it, but if it was handed to me I wouldn't necessarily turn it down. And by the way, Clubby and I apologize for not posting the reviews last night. We have disappointed the 3 people who look at this site. We were busy producing our next batch of beer, based on a Munich Dunkel, so watch out for the write up of that lil adventure.

Cutting Edge Beer Reviews

2007-12-16T18:41:00.000-05:00

Well folks, it's time for some incredible news! Greg and I (Clubby) have decided to start writing reviews of the BEST beverage on the face of the planet...the milkshake! Just tuggin' your chain, BEER, of course.
Starting this Wednesday (12-19), the Campfire Brewing boys will choose a new brew to review, including commercial beers as well as our own homebrewed creations. That is 2 reviews every week!
I told you the news was incredible. So grab yourself a drink savor the flavor and enjoy.

Chocolate Raspberry Stout Has a New Home

2007-12-09T19:09:00.001-05:00

Well, today we moved our stout from primary to secondary. We racked on top of 12 oz of raspberries. The gravity reading before the move was 1.021. Our target gravity is 1.014. We used Dole frozen raspberries. They were nuked in the microwave for 3 minutes to thaw and sanitize, then crushed quickly with a fork, then plopped into the carboy. There was about 1 inch of trub at the bottom of the bucket. Pretty funky looking, mixture of hops, yeast, and chocolate. Kinda looked like....Well, you get the picture. Dammit, we should have taken a picture. So the Stout is now currently wrapped in a blanket in the bedroom, where it will remain cozy for the next 2 weeks, until tertiary time.

Chocolate Raspberry Stout

2007-12-05T19:29:00.000-05:00

Our latest batch which is still fermenting is a chocolate raspberry stout. While Clubby isn't really a fan of heavy beers, we decided to make this beer to try something new and "daring". We have absolutely no idea how this will come out, it's more of an experiment to see if we can come up with some "extreme" beers that taste good. Here's the recipe:
Brewed 12/1/07
6.6 lbs Munton's Liquid Light Extract
1 lbs 2-Row Black Malt
1 lbs 2-Row Chocolate Malt
.5 lbs Roasted Barley
3 oz Mt. Hood (4.2%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
10 oz Chocolate (unsweetened) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
1 oz Fuggle (3.8%) - added during boil, boiled 5 min
12 oz Raspberries (fresh) - added dry to secondary fermenter
1 ea White Labs WLP004 Irish Stout

The grains were steeped in 1.5 gallons of water at 150-160 degrees for 30 minutes. We then sparged them with approximately 1 gallon of hot water. We then added the extract and brought the wort to a boil. The Mt. Hood hops were added for the rest of the 60 minute boil. We used Hershey's Unsweetened Cocoa Powder with 15 minutes left in the boil. We dumped the whole thing in. Was that too much? We'll find out. Everyone loves chocolate anyways, right? The Fuggles were added in the last 5 minutes. We moved the wort to the tub so it could cool down. The tub works great if you have less then 3 gallons of wort. When the wort cooled we strained into the plastic 6.5 gallon bucket. 4 oz of hops is a lot. Took forever to pour, the strainer kept clogging with hops and chocolate. We took a gravity reading, and got a SG of 1.057, we were aiming for 1.059. Pretty damn close. We pitched the yeast, and moved the fermenter to the bedroom where it is warmer than the basement. the next day some vigorous fermentation was going on, with the airlock bubbling 26-30 times per minute. It has since subsided, but the temperature has also dropped. The bucket is now wrapped with a blanket to keep it warm. On 12/9/07 we will take a gravity reading, if it is 5-8 points from our FG, we will rack to secondary on top of the raspberries.

Beers We Have Made So Far

2007-12-02T11:34:00.000-05:00

Our brewing career began with a kit from Beer and Wine Hobby (kudos to them for being awesome with their service so far). It was an amber ale that came with all the equipment. It came out decent, we made some mistakes. In the end it tasted like beer. A tip for all newcomers to homebrewing: When using a plastic fermentation bucket, apply the airlock to the lid before placing the lid on the bucket. The grommet easily falls in your beer if you push too hard, then you have to have Bujer sanitize his arm and stick it in wort to fish it out.
Our second batch was using a Coopers IPA kit. The extract comes pre-hopped so all you have to do is boil. Not difficult at all. Here's another tip: When using the IPA kit, don't use 2 cans. Use 1 can of the IPA, 1 can light malt extract. 2 cans make for extremely bitter beer. After about 4 months we still have 1 bottle left, it might have mellowed out by now.
Our third batch was our own recipe for an India Pale Ale. We believe it came out fairly awesome, good balance between hops and malt. We were quite pleased with it, so we don't have any tips.
The next batch was a Belgian Witbier. Great flavor, balance, too dark. Definitely the best one and most popular to date according to all of our friends. A tip: When using White Labs WLP400 yeast, keep the temperature between 75-85 degrees when fermenting. Our yeast went dormant in the basement because the temperature was 65-68 degrees. Took an extra week or two to finish fermenting.
Stick around for our current beer that was started yesterday...

Welcome

2007-12-02T11:12:00.001-05:00

Thank you for visiting the blog of the Campfire Brewery. We are made up of four friends; Greg, Clubby, Bujer, and Dave, who decided earlier this year to start making our own beer. Not quite sure why, but we did, and now we're hooked. Right now we are still using extracts, but soon we will be venturing into all grain territory. Stay tuned for more posts on beers we are making, drinking, talking about, and other random crap.