Flagon Slayer Brewery

So, killing some time online tonight, I stop by cracked.com to read about 6 dream jobs that would actually suck, as anyone would do. Job #5 is Brewmaster, a post I’m known to aspire to. Reading more, I stop and stare at the last picture in that section. I have that strainer. That pot looks familiar. That’s Mark’s shoe! That’s right… when Cracked wanted to show disgusting downsides to brewing, they took a picture from our batch of Skull Splitter (bottom pic).

When you think  of the Horrors of Brewing Beer, just remember the Flagon Slayers.

Wow. My one Cascade bine is _really_ starting to produce! This is its second year, so it’s quite a bit more lively, but I’m also propagating off a ton of bines to try to set up a small-scale hops farm in some spare land next year. Have a look at how they’re doing below:

Click any image for a nicely hi-res version.

It’s been a long-running joke among us that Fautz can’t brew. Chris, being the Insult Master, decided to capitalize on this for his Christmas present last year. Look at the happy little feller!

Sadly, looks like we were a little overconfident in his abilities. Take a look at what we found today:

Looks like we need to find something a little easier than a Mr. Beer if we’re going to get him into the wonderful hobby of homebrewing. Any suggestions?

It’s been two weeks total since brewing, so I’ve racked the gruit beer, and decided that it wasn’t quite bitter or spicy enough, so I’m doing the herbal equivalent to dry hopping. I just put an ounce each of Yarrow and Wormwood, along with 1/4 tsp of Coriander into a pint of 100 proof spirits, where it will steep for two weeks, at which point it’ll be added back into the beer. This should extract the essences of the herbs nicely, without any deterioration from boiling, and you can add portions to taste, so I won’t make things too bitter by accident. That sort of control is good in an experimental brew.   Just making a post so I remember every step that went in to the beer when I want to recreate it.

I leave for California tomorrow, so thought I’d get an update in. Put the Cyser into primary, with the addition of 1/4 cup brown sugar to darken the flavor a little more. It smells delicious, with a 1.121 starting gravity, and should be perfect by December. Full writeup when I rack it into secondary.

Also, in the mail today I received a wine label from Schloss Vollrads, a Matuschka estate that’s been selling wine since the year 1211, and had 27 generations of family history until the suicide. The label is from 1893 and very cool… I’m thinking that with some photoshop magic it’ll be perfect for marking my Mead.

Hail, brewers!  Flagon Slayer Brewery is group of techie homebrewers who congregate around Louisville, KY.  We believe that there’s something special about creating a living, bubbling entity, who just happens to produce our friend, Ethanol.  We’ll be sharing recipes and brewing methods along the way, and keep you updated as the batches mature.  Hopefully a few of them will turn out…

Skål!