Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Super Ultra High Gravity Crazy Awesome Freakin Sweet

so dan from listermann's is doing us a huge favor by hooking us up and ordering three viles of the white labs 25% yeast. apparently the process of creating brew with this high level of alcohol will be rather labor intensive, but the std crew will strive to do everything we can to make this the most incredible batch of beer you have ever tasted. your blood may boil on god brew. your head may explode into thousands of pieces. your liver may even grow legs, hop from your body and run for its life. so for all of you masochistic members of society out there, here's your treat.


brewing begins this weekend. get ready.

Man? God.

tonight the first three days of fermented man were tasted. and the results? astounding. this brew is going to be even better than originally planned. with a smooth coffee taste racing across the palette followed by a delightful floral finish with notes of chocolate, caramel and a hint of sweet vanilla, we now have a new rival for quality of davedave brew. all we can say at this point is, buckle up.


in other brewery news, the decision for the next brew has been carefully handpicked by the STD crew. some of the details still need to be hashed out, but the bottom line is that we are basing the brew around a particularly intriguing strain of yeast, the Wild Labs Super High Gravity Yeast. the yeast, it is said, can produce up to 25% alcohol in a batch of beer. which is ridiculous. and we're going to do it. unfortunately, the availability of such yeast in these parts is scarce, but the STD brew team is working on outlets to obtain said ingredient. so once we have it, you'll know, and we're planning on making it as soon as humanly possible.

not at all concerned with the taste, the brew team will work to produce the highest percentage alcohol in a beer (technically after 15% not considered, "beer," but who cares?) possible. the new beer, tentatively titled, god, will not be for the light of heart, nor for god fearing man, nor man fearing god. it will be the heaviest, maltiest, dirtiest, most robust beer to hit the tri-state, and possibly, world area. get excited.

we'll keep you posted.

Monday, October 29, 2007

it's quite possible that i'm your third man, girl. but it's a fact that i'm your seventh son.

update: man brew is fermenting faster than previously expected. in fact, it's moving along faster than any other brew to date. in this case, bottling should take place this coming weekend, and drinking should occur within 10-14 days after that. tentative drink date: friday, november 16th. let us know, orders are already rolling through for this limited time batch. ;)

Sunday, October 28, 2007

std: the birth of man

yesterday we witnessed the birth of man.


with help from timmy tomato, shea, and our newly acquired teammate adolf aka tom selleck aka charlie chaplin aka jackson charles goodwin the third, the brew (an std production under the davedave brewhouse) was a success. for the boil, we used 1.5 gal h2o and .5 gal brewed coffee. we used about a 1/2 cup of whole beans in the boil as well as around a 1/4 cup ground beans. after the cooling, we dumped another handful of beans and grounds in with the maltodextrin into the first carboy and sealed that baby off. i'm not quite sure how the coffee beans or caffeine will react with the yeast, if they will keep their potency or burn off in the first ferment stage. we'll know the initial findings once we set up to bottle. man brew will be bottled anywhere between the 7th and 10 of november and will more than likely be available as cold hard man sauce ready for consumption around the 20th. the temperature conditions are a little cooler than usual, so the first stage may take up to 21 days at most, but chances are this phase should be finished within two weeks. i'll have to keep you all updated.

let me know, also, if you're interested in picking up some of these brews. the wort (which is the concentrated beer mixture that was cooked to release the fermentable sugars in the dry malts) tasted delicious and smelled even better, so it looks like we're going to have one heck of a product in about a month.


there are a few other brews in negotiation, and with double brew capabilities, davedave may be deciding to put out another batch relatively soon. currently there is talks of a gummi bear brew, an autumn-infused brew, or a sweet pepper brew. i'll let you know when the decision has been made. peace out, kids.

Friday, October 26, 2007

beer tools

good sound advice from our number one. on that note, here are a few more links that may be beneficial to the local homebrewers, especially those looking to amp things up a notch:

www.listermann.com
listermann is a cincinnati native brewing supply store. they have an abundant selection of all supplies necessary as well as many wonderful kits to get even the novice of homebrewer started on their way.

www.beertools.com
for those who have a brew idea, beer tools has a great online calculator which helps you figure out what kind and amount of ingredients you will need for you next batch of beer.

www.morebeer.com
good site for purchasing brewing supplies from extract brewers to mash brewers, as well as a good source of info for brewing tips.


out of the thousands of brewing sites, these are a few of our current favorites. feel free to let us know some that you have had success with or would also recommend.

adios, d2.1

Beer School

There are actually schools that teach brewing methods:

http://www.siebelinstitute.com/course_desc/

Also, join your local brew club. Learn methods, recipes and friendship. For example:

http://www.chibeer.org/

Thursday, October 25, 2007

recipe for man

if for some reason there is anyone out there interested in duplicating any of our beers, i would be more than happy to share the recipes with you. in that light, here is the tentative brewing plans for "man":

*100% extract brew*
5 gallon batch
60 min. boil

3 lbs. dry amber extract
3 lbs. dry extra dark extract
1/4 lb 90*L american caramel malt
1/4 lb chocolate malt
1/2 lb coffee malt
1/4 lb black roasted barley malt
1/8 lb caramalt
1oz. yakima magnum (60 min)
1oz fuggles (15 min)
1oz mt. hood (3 min)
1/4 lb honey
1/2 lb ethiopian harrar coffee beans
1 wyeast 1084 irish ale
1/8 oz natural flavors
4 T vanilla extract

all pretty self explanatory. the hops start very bitter and mellow out as the brew boils (magnum @ 14.5 %AA, fuggles @ 5 %AA, mt. hood @ 4 %AA). these are all wonderful floral hops and should add a nice sweet bitterness without making the beer taste like a mouth full of garden. the honey is added in with the malt, as well as 1/4 lb of whole harrar beans. also, the "cinnamon and chocolate to our skyline" 1/8 oz. natural flavors from the brew store (which will act as the crowning jewel to our triumph) as well as the vanilla extract, 1/8 lb whole beans & 1/8 lb ground beans will be added at the beginning of the first ferment. plans are for 10-14 day stage one ferment, and 10-14 day bottle, but this will probably change, so we'll keep everyone posted at the status of the brew and when it *may be* available. brew time is saturday around 2-3 at the fairview residence. we'll start drinking and brewing then as well, so give me a shout if you want to come. you know, the more the merrier, or something like that. later.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

consumable infamy

"the power of a comet to earth is comparable to a beer on the lips; subject to destruction, but let's just see what happens."

from the top...

since this is a brand new thing going on here, the first batch of hypertext slotted out over the next few weeks will more than likely be a back and forth memento-like drop of information about the daves, the history, some information we've learned about homebrewing, different beers we've enjoyed or despised, or other random pieces of information for you to drink as we see fit. so consider this our disclaimer.


and this, our motto as well as company mantra:
"two men sit facing each other and both of them are me. quietly, meticulously, systematically, they are blowing each others brains out with pistols. they look perfectly intact. inside devastation."

tim(dave)dave: "man"

an exciting addition to the already growing davedave family is our good friend, timmy tomato. this coming saturday marks the inaugural tim(dave)dave brew, "MAN." "MAN" features a combination of robust malted barley and black patent grains with a dark malt base. this porter-esque brew will also feature a drew carey show-esque twist in that it will be brewed with brewed coffee and then fermented with coffee beans or grounds (the decision is still up in the air until we get drunk and figure it out). the "MAN" will be ready to taste around the first of december. it will mark the onslaught of the holiday season with tremendous force and will forseeably dropkick some hearts and livers into early submission.

joining us on brew day will also be mandizzle, jenny and possibly my new cat. if you have any ideas for cat names, let me know. i probably won't use them but hey, you tried.

*note* the new "MAN" brew team, davedave and tim is being posted as "tim(dave)dave" for a few reasons. naturally, dave the square one has relocated to the chicagoland area. and secondly, tim comes before the dave because first of all, davedave is no ominous dictatorship, and b. it just sounds better. we all know that tim is an inferior man to the daves but let's try and make him feel a bit special. at least, until he reads this.


oh yeah, totally unrelated: check out the movie, 'sunshine,' because it's pretty amazing.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

davedave united... via internet?

the first of many, this post marks the official written-in-stone start of the davedave breweries, inc. and its online interests. as many of you may know, davedave has been running in full force since december 31, 2006, the date of Conception Brew #1: the jimmy carter special. although the brew itself was not nearly at the standards expected at the present day brewery, the first batch marked the beginning of an era marked by and for two sons of alcoholic labor, dave greve (d.sq.1) and dave schuster (d.sq.2). feverishly working, learning, drinking and of course, brewing, since the birth of brew as we know it that fateful day in december of 2006, davedave has not only spread the word about homebrewing in the tri-state (and now chicagoland) areas, we have been pushing the limits of brew in new an unique ways with no end in sight. Our unabashed list of beers include:

brew 1.1: the jimmy carter special
brew 2.1: brew two? fuck you!
brew 3.1: 'merican ale.
brew 3.2: 'mother of maxin!'
brew 3.3: the hop
brew 3.4: *currently unnamed* cinnamon special


impressive, you say? absolutely. but just wait. and keep yourself posted. because there will be recipes, updates, and of course, plenty more brews in store for you in the days to come.



also, if anyone is interested in purchasing a batch of 'merican ale! (not recommended), or 3.4, the cinnamon special (highly recommended), let me know. but you can't really purchase them legally, so when i say purchase i mean donate to us and because of your generous donation of approximately $10 (of course, merely a suggestion), you will receive 6 beers as a thanks, from one davedave to another non-davedave.

as usual, and when i say as usual, i mean, starting now, if you have some good ideas for brew, or try some mysteriously delightful beers that may be of interest of us, feel free! let us know! we would love to hear from you!

alright, we're out. catch you soon, folks. love, davedave