I am about 6 beers deep this evening. It's probably time to update the blog...
Obviously, celebration was in order today. I finished my first test today! My first week is in the books, and I am one step closer towards being a professional brewer. The results don't come in until Monday, but I am sure I did reasonalby well. This week was all about barley, malt, and hops. How much could I have learned? HA! There is a huge seedy underworld of brewing ingredients that no one knows about! Well, now I know about it! If you ever need to know about how hop extracts are formed by the use of Super-Critical CO2, I am the guy to ask. Who has two thumbs and would be willing to talk about pre-isomerized alpha acid pellets? This guy...
There is an absolutely insane amount of information flying at me in 7.1 Dolby Digital Surround Stereo. I can't remember the last time I had to study this much for anything. Even in college, I could put in a couple hours per class leading up to the midterms and final for each class, and I would still get reasonably good grades. I found myself on a very regimented schedule here.
Obviously, celebration was in order today. I finished my first test today! My first week is in the books, and I am one step closer towards being a professional brewer. The results don't come in until Monday, but I am sure I did reasonalby well. This week was all about barley, malt, and hops. How much could I have learned? HA! There is a huge seedy underworld of brewing ingredients that no one knows about! Well, now I know about it! If you ever need to know about how hop extracts are formed by the use of Super-Critical CO2, I am the guy to ask. Who has two thumbs and would be willing to talk about pre-isomerized alpha acid pellets? This guy...
There is an absolutely insane amount of information flying at me in 7.1 Dolby Digital Surround Stereo. I can't remember the last time I had to study this much for anything. Even in college, I could put in a couple hours per class leading up to the midterms and final for each class, and I would still get reasonably good grades. I found myself on a very regimented schedule here.
A typical day looked like this in week one:
7:00am: Wake-up and wish that I had adjusted to the time change a little better
8:10am: Leave for the train
8:50am: Arrive at Goose Island for class
5:00pm: Hustle across *"The Intersection of Death" to Siebel's Bier Stube for a pint of beer
7:00am: Wake-up and wish that I had adjusted to the time change a little better
8:10am: Leave for the train
8:50am: Arrive at Goose Island for class
5:00pm: Hustle across *"The Intersection of Death" to Siebel's Bier Stube for a pint of beer
5:30pm: Cry a little bit to myself
5:31pm: Leave the Bier Stube to brave rush hour traffic back home
5:40pm: Climb onto someone else's back in order to get a spot on the train back to my stop
6:00pm: Squeeze uncomfortably between the 12 people standing in front of the train doors and head home.
6:05pm: Make dinner while studying a bunch of stuff that I never knew that I needed to know
6:20pm: Eat and study
6:30pm: Clean and study
6:40pm: Study until I hate the thought that I may actually have to use barley and hops to make beer.
10:00pm: Watch Battlestar Galactica until I fall asleep
*The "Intersection of Death" is the intersection that we have to cross multiple times daily between Siebel and Goose Island. Approximately 17 streets merge at one point. 19 different stoplights send mixed signals to the speeding traffic and bewildered pedestrian. In 5 days, I have almost been hit twice. With that average, I should only be in the hospital for about 15% of my time here...
Yes, my life will probably be pretty regimented (unless I am struck by a vehicle) for the next few weeks, but, honestly, I love it! I have met so many new, cool people who are all in the same boat. Apparently, the guy I sit next to in class was even a customer of mine when I managed the pet store! Small World!!!
Today, we went into depth about water chemistry and how various dissolved solids effect the flavor of beer. Again, much studying will be needed. What is really cool about this is (Brewing nerds get ready...) that Ray Daniels is the instructor. Most folks won't know that name, but he is HUGE in the brewing community and has written one of the best books a brewer could own: "Designing Great Beers". I even nerded out enough to have him sign my copy of it!
I know, "Shut up and tell me about the beer!"
Ok, this week I had several new ones.
Bell's Witbier: Yeah...it tasted like a wit. No complaints. It was at the end of a long night.
Bell's Witbier: Yeah...it tasted like a wit. No complaints. It was at the end of a long night.
Great Lakes Fitzgerald: A very nice roasty porter. Very drinkable. Very dry.
Two Brothers Cain & Able: I had heard great things about this beer. It was a nice dark red with
a hoppy red character. Not bad.
Goose Island Mathilda: I had to try this out of the tap since I love it out of the bottle. Honestly,
I think it needs the time in the bottle to let the Brett get the right flavor. It was good, but I
liked the aged character of the bottled version a bit better.
Goose Island Double B: Goose's pub only Belgian Dubbel...yeah...it was good. I will have it again.
Probably very soon!
For the music nerds out there who keep a "life soundtrack" like I do, here is my Chicago playlist for the week:
Pandora mix: Junior Kimbrough/R.L. Burnside (a lot of this)
Iron & Wine: Creek Drank the Cradle
Several podcasts from Stephan Kesting (Jiu-Jitsu) and Jamil Zainasheff (brewing)
That's it! I look forward to the weekend and to next week. John Mallette, the production manager of Bell's Brewery, will be teaching, as well as another day from Ray Daniels teaching about mashing chemistry. What an absolutely overwhelming experience! I will definitely look back at this when I am done and be very happy that I decided to do this!
Until next time...CHEERS!!! (Someone go to GoodLife for me and have a Pass Stout. I miss that beer!)
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