Trying Again

 First off, I hope everyone is staying safe during this trying time. I am fortunate enough to be able to work from home and my family is safe. One of my close friends said to me "sometimes we need to be reminded of what we love". He was talking about brewing. A hobby we both have enjoyed at different points in our life but have allowed "things" to overtake our time. Well he rekindled his love for brewing he helped me rekindle mine. So last week I brewed an Pale Ale and boy did I have fun. The brew day was filled with ups and downs as I struggled to find my groove. But at the end of it all I made beer. I am going to brew another batch this weekend. I hope to document my journey. Thanks for reading. Leave a comment!

Coffee and Cleaning the rig

SS Brew Tech Fermentor

Friendly Acres Brewing: New Pico Pro Brew Day

Friendly Acres Brewing: New Pico Pro Brew Day: OK, so I jumped back into brewing this week. I have not brewed a batch for about a year and have been really missing the hobby. My life is i...

New Pico Pro Brew Day

OK, so I jumped back into brewing this week. I have not brewed a batch for about a year and have been really missing the hobby. My life is in a great place and Diane has encouraged me to get back to doing it. I have been looking for some easy kits or some way of getting beer back on tap. I have a long range goal of building a "Brewing Shed" and have a new rig to do some all grain batches and be really creative. This all has to happen after our wedding in May. So I thought I may do just some stove top kits or something along those lines. When I started searching around I found this little number by Pico Brew.

The Pico Brew Pro is a counter top all-grain brewing machine. It yields about 1.75 gallons or a 12 pack. You use pre-packaged brew packs and insert them in the machine. It then uses a small keg as the kettle and fermenting vessel. It is very easy to use and easy to clean up. I purchased the machine and a few kits to get me started and I am hooked. It is fun, easy and works like a champ. They have over a 100 different pre-packaged brews to choose from or you can create your own. I have yet to do that but have brewed a DIPA, Wit and as I am writing a Porter is brewing.

The ease of this system is the draw. I am certain the quality of the beer will be great. For a person who wants the control and really create this is not the way to go. I will be eager to get my brew shed built and my all grain system up and running but in the meantime this system will allow me to keep awesome beer on tap.

Cheers! Brew and Smoke on

Food,BBQ and Brew

Well it has been quite awhile since I blogged. I am entering another new phase in my life and it is one that I am really looking forward too. I am getting married in May to the love of my life and I am excited about what our futures hold. My kids are getting older and more independent. My daughter is now a teenager and my son will be 9 this year. As my life advances so do my hobbies. I have been an active home brewer for the better part of 10 years. As you may know from my past blogs there was a time I had ambitions of going pro and make brewing my life. I still hold out hope that some day I can make that dream come true, but am content with my life as a whole now.

 I will be using this blog as a format to help home brewers, home chefs and home pit bosses alike. I have dipped my toe in a lot of different hobbies that focus around food and spirits not just limited to beer. This blog may end up being only for me but I hope others will enjoy it, contribute and come along for the ride.

I would enjoy input on what people would like to see. How to smoke a brisket?, How to make bacon jam? home brewing tip? Or maybe show me a thing or two.

Feel free to comment below and I will do my best to answer any questions.

Been A While

Quick note: Hey all, I have not blogged for a long time because frankly life got out of control. Not that anyone needs to know details. Divorce, work and kids. What I have learned over the past two years is that I enjoy brewing and plan on being more involved in the hobby again. I plan on updating this blog more frequently and hope to become more active in the community again.

I have just ordered a BIAB electric system that should arrive this week and will plan on posting a blog about it and the brew days in the next week. Well look forward to getting back on the path.

New Start

Hi All,

It has been way to long since my last post but there has been a lot going on at Friendly Acres Brew House. I have joined forces with Glen Weisgerber who has been brewing for a few years. I have know Glen for almost twenty years and we share the same vision and direction we want to take our brewing. After a lot of discussion and feedback from friends and family we have decided to take Friendly Acres Brewing as our official name. We ultimately decided to use this because of our location and hopefully the marketing opportunities we can create.

We have spent some money in the brewery and have installed a RIMS system. We are still working it in but are excited to what it will bring to our brew days.

I will be following up with some posts about our brew days, some equitment reviews and other information and try to make this more of a habit to update.

If anyone wants to contact us please feel free to email at FABrewing@gmail.com

Brew Day With 3 Beers Gone!

Saturday August 25th 2012 I had a brew day with some guys from another local home brewery named 3 Beers Gone. Glenn Weisgerber one of the members has come to help me brew her at FAB on a few occasions. On one of those brew days we decided we would have a combined brew day. We would both brew the same beer but use our own brew rigs and use different yeast. We decided to try and model our beer to be similar to the fall brew "Tumbler" by Sierra Nevada. Here is the recipe listed below.

OG. 1.055
IBU's 40.6
SRM 29.5
ABV 5.2%

9.5 lbs Pale 2 Row (Bel.)
1lb 60L Crystal Malt
.75lb Chocolate Malt
.25lb Smoked Peat
2 oz. Northern Brewer (60 min)
1 oz. East Kent Golding (10 min)
.50 oz. Perle (5 min)

I used WL011 made a 1L starter 24 hours before pitching.

3 Beers Gone used WL002 English Ale

Overall the day was great we had a nice turn out and everyone was eager to get brewing. While I washed out my gear Tim and Ken from 3 Beers milled the grain for both batches. Glen and I tinkered with the recipe to try and match it as close as we could. Glen was doing ten gallons vs. my five.

I had a little home court advantage and was able to mash in about half hour before 3 Beers. My brew day went off with no issues. I was able to mash, sparge, boil, cool, aerate, and pitch the yeast all within 4 hours. 3 beers had a stuck sparge which caused some delay but nothing that was not manageable.

                                                      Glenn Messing With Beersmith

 We both finished off or brew days with great amount of success. I would encourage all home brewers to find like minded people to brew with. The value gained in brewing with other brewers is priceless. Our two home breweries are looking towards October to do another joint brew. We have even contacted another home brewery "Black Bus Brewing" to join us as well.

                                                                       Mashing

We ended the day with some food on the grill and of course sampled a few pints throughout the day. We compared brews we had both made IPA's so we compared the differences and gave both some feedback about what we liked and what we would change. Because of this feedback I am looking forward to brewing my IPA again with some modifications to the hop additions.

It was the first but not the last time we will get together to do a joint brew session. It was more work than a normal brew day for both groups but it was by far a well worth it.

As of the following morning both beers were fermenting nicely. I will follow up on this blog with tasting notes and comparisons to both beers.

Cheers for now!