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Jul 12
0

Holy Mother Tucker Hard Apple Cider

By | Brewery

Getting back at it.

It’s been a long time.   Years.   Seems I went and bought a house – bought a project – and stopped brewing.   For nearly seven years, BlackDog Brewing took a backseat to life and work and homeownership.   But no more!   I have a batch of cider fermenting as we speak.

WHAT?!   Cider???   Yep.  Not beer, but hard apple cider.  Why?  Well, because 1)  I have five apples trees, and the two largest ones ripen in late June, so I get hundreds of apples all at once.   And 2)  the beer brewing equipment BlackDog uses was designed and built by a company that no longer exists.  So I’ll need to spend some time (and money) searching around for generic parts and ingredients since the proprietary stuff doesn’t exist anymore.  C’est la Vie.   :::Cough Cough::: PicoBrew.

So, the cider: “Holy Mother Tucker.”  As with all things BlackDog, the name is a reference to a family dog.   This time it’s my big sister’s family dog from back when her kids were young, Tucker.  Tucker was a beautiful red golden retreiver, and the goodest of good boys.   I don’t have many pictures of Tucker left over from back then, but that’s not a reflection of this loyal, kind hearted soul.  The label will be made featuring the best picture I’ve got –  Tucker hiding behind a wall at the beach in Capitola Village, California.   I’m sure he was patiently waiting for one of the kids to finish surfing, or maybe finish a sand castle.

Picking Apples
Washing Apples
What a mess
Apple Grinder

The apples came from two trees in my backyard, and a third at my brother’s house.  In total, this batch has about 135 pounds of apples which Mom helped me process.   The grinder and press in the pictures came from Booze Brothers Brewery in Vista.  They’d finished their small batch experimentation, and were sizing up to bigger equipment.  So I took advantage and bought the whole setup for $100.  (See? Even when I’m not brewing I’m still thinking of brewing.)  The grinder is hand-powered, and the press accommodates enough apple mash to squeeze out about a gallon of juice.  It’s been hot in here this summer,  so we set up the grinder and press on a folding table in my breakfast nook.  It was much better than working outside, but *THE MESS!!*   I swear my house was sticky for two days after all of that work.

First Press
IMG_4981
Bubbling Away

 

All ground and pressed, that translated to about 9 gallons of cider.  After adjusting for the temperature in my house that day, my test sample suggested this batch should come out to about 5.9% alcohol.  The plan is to back-sweeten with an organic apple juice concentrate, and bottle the whole batch in 12 ounce bottles.    I’ll use a plastic 20oz coke bottle as a tester to let me know when things are nicely carbonated, then pasteurize the bottles in batches with a sous vide cooker.   In theory, it’s going to be great!   I’ll keep you posted.

 

Mar 26
0

Black Dog’s New Digs

By | Blog

Black Dog has moved!  The website hasn’t been getting much love since I bought my house – things have been pretty busy.   But, the website needs attention, so instead of sending email updates about the house, I’ll post updates here.  That also means you can click on any picture to make it bigger.  🙂

This weekend I tackled the lower part of the yard.  With all the recent rain, the weeds really needed attention.  There was some blood & lots of sweat, and even a couple of broken weed-eaters, but in the end the place looks much better.   Also took out a couple of trees and broke in a new (4 stroke!?) weed eater!

Saturday morning I picked up some hand-me-down tractor implements from my brother.  Tim gave me a rotary lawn mower, a rototiller, and a big chain harrow…  which is great because with all the recent rain, the weeds have gotten taller than George!

Dad came over to help me get the mower installed correctly on the back of the tractor.  After a couples of beers and fussing with bolts and pins for a while, we got it mounted.

It was my first time using a mower like this, and there was a bit of a learning curve.  It took me 3 or 4 full hours to mow the big lawn.  With practice, Tim says I can probably cut that time in half.

This part of the yard is still mostly weeds…  but at least now they are short!    Eventually, this will all be grass.   There will be a gravel driveway to the Eucalyptus trees at the back of the property, where my workshop will go.

After a few hours, the majority of the yard was mowed.   But I still had to trim the edges, so I turned to the very first yard power tool I ever bought – My trusty echo weed eater.  I hadn’t used it in a while and it was looking a little worse for wear, but it always worked before, so it should work now right..?  

NOPE!  It started and ran for a few minutes, but bogged down and died if I gave it any gas. I fiddled with it for a half-hour, but I was losing daylight and needed to move on.   Well, that’s ok – the previous homeowner actually left a weed eater behind.   Put some gas in it, some fresh line, should work right?

NOPE!  It ran just fine, but it was built like a child’s toy.  It lasted about ten minutes before the spinning bit at the end literally broke in half.

I’ll get the echo serviced, and keep it as a backup – but I broke down and went to Joe’s to buy a new one. I probably needed a bigger one anyway, with the yard this place has.   The new one has a “mixed gas 4-stroke” motor, meaning it still takes mixed gas but CA feels better about its emissions.  I don’t know if that actually makes it run cleaner-  but it definitely makes it sound meaner.  Click the link on the right to hear it in action.

Ignore the dirt drag marks in the grass.  The mower has one wheel that doesn’t roll well.   I’ll have to fix it before I can mow again.

Hear this thing roar!

Well, that was most of the weekend.  It was nice to have a couple of days of sunshine, though all the rain has made the plants very happy.  The wild irises mom planted have started to bloom, the Camellia bush covered in bight red flowers, and this little purple hedge burst open with little purple flowers I haven’t seen before.   I’ll be researching that one to add a few more, for sure.

Happy Monday!   -Danny

May 27
0

Jeep Day – 5.21.2017

By | Blog

Last weekend George & I made the trip up to dad’s, and finally helped him install Janice’s Christmas present.  Her Jeep got 1′ spring spacers, a high-clearance bumper and a shiny new winch!

Use the slider to see the before & after:

We worked at a pretty relaxed pace, so the project took most of the day Sunday.   Dad’s still wearing his mechanical boot after the crash (that will have to be a separate post), but he still crawled around under the Jeep with no signs of slowing down.

Of course, George and Kahluah were around to lend a hand too.

We also tested a few of Black Dog’s latest batches.

When the Jeep was all buttoned up, we managed to sneak in a test drive in the local hills.    All in all, it was a great day, and Janice’s Jeep looks so much better!

– Danny & George

May 06
1

Hello World!

By | Brewery | 2 Comments

It’s a rainy day here in Vista, so we skipped the local beer festival to clean up around the shop.   Come check out the digs.

-Danny & George