DeathBrew #2 is in the books. Too bad it's already gone.
DeathBrew's 3 Day Weekend Stout

New beers coming soon!

10 Gallon Polarware

Humble Beginnings

DeathBrew # 2 - 3 Day Weekend

A DeathBrew Original Stout

Brewed 2/20/12
Bottled 3/11/12
Tasted 3/21/12

O.G 1.052
F.G 1.015

6 lbs. Pale Malt (2 Row)
1 lb. Crystal Malt (20L)
1 lb. Flaked Oat
1 lb. Roasted Barley
6 oz. Black Malt
3 oz US Fuggles
Irish Ale Yeast

Great pour, great head, light roasted malt aroma. Translucent but dark color. Light mouth feel that starts with a sweet roasted malt and finishes with a bitter/sour hop very reminiscent of a true stout. However, large bubbles add to the uncharacteristic qualities of a true stout, combined with the light mouth feel and the translucent color 3 Day Weekend makes me hesitate labeling this as stout at all. Whatever it is 3 Day Weekend is a session beer and best beer brewed by DeathBrew to date. This beer is no longer available for samples.

Mikkeller is an inspiration to us all

I've got to say when I first heard about Mikkel from Mikkeller Brewery his story seemed more like a dream. 

"Mikkeller is the story of two young homebrewers, who in a few years went from hobby brewing at home in the kitchen to national and international recognition."

Going from brewery to brewery and creating a beer on a commercial scale is a dream all homebrewers share. Being internationally known for brewing is the peak of all beer meisters careers and doing it all in roughly 5 years is down right jaw dropping!

Mikkeller has a passion to create and serve some of the most amazing beer on the planet and if you are lucky enough to find and try a pint, make sure you do. Savor the flavor and know that sometimes dreams come true and when they do, they are delicious!

Mikkel of Mikkeller Brewery

To find out who is serving Mikkeller brew try Untappd. Untappd is a great social network for talking all things beer and a great way to find the bar serving the beers you crave.

DeathBrew # 1 - Houblonmonstre Tripel IPA

A Northern Brewer Extract Kit

Brewed 11/17/11
Racked 12/20/11
Bottled 1/17/12

Tasted 2/4/12

Pilsen Malts
US Magnum, Saaz and Cascade Hops.

Thick 1/2 inch head that dissolves to a few millimetres after first sip and only mediocre lacing. Floral hop nose is very apparent and typical of an American IPA. First taste is subtle banana to malty bitter hop. A little hot with a thin mouth feel and a real smooth finish. More like an IPA than a Belgian Triple with commercial effervescence. The color was much darker than expected and I wasn't expecting the slight banana tones but a very drinkable beer. I think this will age well and the hot liquor tones will subside. Update with a final pull to come.

**Update** 3/24/12
The hop nose, the banana tones and the hot alcohol taste have mellowed. The effervescence is still present with no sign of a head. Samples still available. 

Introduction

Welcome to the Death Brewery!

So glad you could make it! I guess I should explain a little why I'm here and lets see if you still want to hang out.

The Death Brewery is a home brewery located in New York City. My wife puts the Death in Death Brew. Our tiny apartment is littered with homebrew stuff. She hates the unsightliness as well as the space it takes up but, within all relationships there is compromise. Our compromise is that as long as the house isn't overrun with "tubes and buckets" and when we invite people over I can hide my dirty little secret I can keep my hobby.

When the wife first said "Death to Homebrew!" I was nervous. I couldn't understand why she would try and stifle a hobby that I have grown to love. So, like any good husband I ignored her and continued to brew. She grew angrier with every bubble from an airlock until we had the conversation I'd been dodging since we first were dating. Turns out she didn't care that I brewed but it boiled down to the way I stored my equipment and her limited of knowledge in the art of brewing.

The first thing I learned was the wife was afraid of the wort chiller.

Hide your chiller!

She went into detail about how when we were first dating and she saw my wort chiller she thought I was a mad scientist and that the wort chiller was nearly a deal breaker in our budding relationship. I've heard this story many times since then from urban homebrewers. Some have been ousted by landlords the day they move in for "using steam" and claims that the landlord didn't have the insurance for "experiments". It really opened my eyes to the lack of knowledge the general population has about homebrewing and more importantly to the regular Joe our equipment is downright peculiar. With the meth epidemic and meth labs being showcased in mainstream media I've even known urban homebrewers who have been accosted for their "meth lab".

Homebrewing has been legal since '79. Thanks Jimmy Carter!

She didn't like the fact that I had so much equipment and that it was stuffed into a closet where coats and clothes should be. It's how I'd always stored my homebrew equipment, I had a homebrew closet! Our tiny NYC apartment only had 2 closets and one was hers and one was mine. The problem wasn't my hobby it was how we utilized our space.

We got some industrial shelving and a cover we got from the container store and my equipment, my carboys full of fermenting beer, and my bottled homebrew vanished in about 20 minutes of assembly. Win win, we got the use of another closet, I got organized and she got the aesthetics she desired in small space living. I give her credit for helping me organize and helping me realize that the way things look has a direct relation to the way you feel about your surroundings. I don't mean to get all feng shui on you trust me, we are more controlled chaos than anything else but my wife does have a knack for making use of our tiny space and making it look good.

Are you still with me? Good! Thanks for your interest in my adventures in urban homebrewing and I look forward to hearing from you about your adventures as well. So give me a shout @DeathBrew on twitter or email me @ deathbrewnyc@gmail.com

I'll be posting about craft beer, homebrewing and just the general love and appreciation of adult sodas.

Cheers!

Coming Soon...

Check Back Soon for the Official Launch of DeathBrew.com!

Death Brew Chronicles the Successes and Failures of Home Brewing in a Small Apartment Setting Without Upsetting Your Spouse.