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Flavor Combinations

A few people have recently asked us, “how do you pick your flavor combos?!” Super Berry Cider, Blackberry Mint Sour, and Ginger Lime Seltzer, are just a few we’ve brewed recently. We simply tell them: We’re always thinking of beer.

Every time we go out to the grocery store, a new restaurant, or to visit a brewery, our eyes and minds are always open. Sometimes we just wander through the grocery store and see what we can find and start with one ingredient and build from there. If you start with a tart ingredient, you cater your brewing style to add a bit of sweetness or if you use a bitter tea, there’s no need for a ton of bittering hops.

We also recommend to scour the internet not just for beer recipes and ideas but for anything edible. You never know where your inspiration will come from. Sometimes we look up cake recipes and see how their built and their proportions and build a recipe based from something unrelated.

We always look forward to recipe creation because it helps us put our creative foot first and let our brewing skill show the rest. What do you do for recipe creation? How do you handle developing new recipes? Let us know… there’s always room to grow!

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Juniper Leaves

https://www.etsy.com/shop/juniperleaves

https://www.instagram.com/shop.juniperleaves/

As I mentioned last week, relationships help small businesses grow. Well, our good friends from Seattle (originally from the true Best Coast – the East Coast), run a small business out of their home. It’s always been close to our heart because it involves dogs. It’s called Juniper Leaves. It’s a Dog Mom + Me accessories site but as a dog Dad I feel I can enjoy pampering my dog too!

Don’t tell my wife but my favorite son is our dog, not the silly cat she’s had since we first met. The cat’s a jerk – the dog’s great. So, to help pamper my buddy we try to get him new toys when he goes to the groomers and new bandannas when the mood strikes. That’s where Juniper Leaves comes in. Stout, our pup, is a big fan of her stuff. He seems to love wearing her materials and cuts and they always seem to fit perfect. We have 2 beer bandannas and a Penn State bandanna from here.

Juniper Leaves and I are working on a collaboration beer and some Warzy Brewing gear. Keep your eyes open so you can shower your pet in gear and help small businesses along the way.

If you have any ideas of doggo, mom, or dad accessories you’d like to see in the Warzy Brewing swag catalog please let us know and we’ll work to develop something for you and your fur babies!

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Building Relationships

One of the most important parts of success is building relationships. Relationships are about give and take. They’re about helping each other out and going above and beyond. Without relationships, small businesses don’t work.

Over the next few weeks I’ll try to spotlight some of the relationships we’ve built while developing Warzy Brewing. If you’re interested in getting involved with our brand or collaborating on something for the future please let us know. We can grow together.

Keep your eye open for the relationship spotlight next week. I think this one is a paw-fest one to start with. This one isn’t a ruff relationship at all… More to come next week – stay tuned!

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Fruited Beverage Combos

My uncle always says “you don’t fruit the beer” or “I never put fruit in beer”. We get that sentiment from a ton of old school beer drinkers – the responders typically like super hoppy west coast IPAs or light American lagers. I don’t mind that opinion – I myself rock Miller Lite at tailgates or a nice Bells Two Hearted when the mood strikes. However, lately I’ve been enjoying adding fruit and/or spices to beer styles and they’ve been turning out great. Below are some combos I’ve used and the beer style I went with:

– Blueberry and Cinnamon – Milkshake IPA

– Cherry and Cinnamon – Hard Apple Cider

– Cucumber and Honeydew Melon – Gose

– Blackberry and Mint – Kettle Sour

– Mango – Hard Seltzer

– Ginger and Lime – Hard Seltzer

What are some flavor combos you’ve used lately? Anything I should try? I’m curious to see the bounds of adding fruit and spices to beer, cider, and Seltzer styles!

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3 Rules for Homebrewers

Homebrewing is a fun hobby. You can make some incredible beer that you get to share with friends. Lately, I’ve been asked what “rules” homebrewers have and I jotted down my 3 most important.

1. I can’t sell you my product. I wish I could. I have had folks at beerfests ask “okay… so how do you make money?!” Simply put, I don’t. I brew as a hobby and a stress reliever. I enjoy getting feeding and seeing others try my beer. Thus, my slogan #BrewingBeerForFriends .

2. Homebrewers can add almost anything to a beer. Professional breweries have limitations on what they can add or when they can add it. Homebrewers don’t. Lately, I’ve been in a fruit, tea, and spice mood, so my products have any had one of the above in them! It’s fun!

3. Newbies that want to try brewing for the first time ask: “what’s the most important tip?” My answer: sanitation. If your process is sanitary and you keep everything clean and the bottles/kegs/fermenters sanitary that the wort is going into, you’ll make beer.

Do you have any other must-follow rules for home brewing? I’d love to see the questions you get!

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Upcoming Beer Fest – Homebrew & Chill

We’re very excited to be part of Greensburg,’s craft beer week. We put together some incredible beverages that we’re really proud of:

-Mango Hard Seltzer

-Blueberry Pie Milkshake IPA

-Darjeeling Blonde Ale

-Blackberry Mint Sour.

Details for the Beer Fest are below. We hope to see you there!

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

The official home brew competition & beer tasting of Greensburg Craft Beer Week! You won’t want to miss the chance to sample these great beers — and possibly discover the area’s next brewer.

This a ticketed event where guests will be able to taste and vote for their favorite home brews entered into the competition. Enjoy live music, food trucks and the photo booth then grab some GBGCBW swag at the merch tent!

30 Home Brewers will be present, attendees will be able to taste over 60 beers!

Best in Show Winner – Will be able to brew their beer with a local brewery

People’s Choice Winner – Collabs with First Sip Brew Box

VIP Admission (2-6pm) – $50

– Early Entry (2pm)

– VIP Hour with lite bites (2-3pm)

– Collaboration Beer Tasting Hour (2-3pm)

– Signature Tasting Glass

– Live Music

– Food Trucks will be parked and food available for purchase

General Admission (3-6pm)– $35

– 3pm entry to the event

– Signature Tasting Glass

– Live Music

– Food Trucks will be parked and food available for purchase

Designated Driver Admission – $10

– Entry to the event (GA or VIP)

Please be aware of your entry time. VIP gets entry at 2pm, General Admission gets entry at 3pm. No exceptions.

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Growing Hops Dangerous for Dogs?!

Apparently, the cones are the threat when a dog eats enough of them. Hop cones can cause a potentially fatal condition in dogs called “malignant hyperthermia.”

The symptoms are restlessness, panting, and vomiting. In some reported cases, symptoms progress into seizures and life-threatening high body temperature.

Greyhounds appear to be the most susceptible breed – of nine documented dog-related deaths to eating hops cones, eight of them were the greyhound breed.

Hop vines can grow 20 feet tall or more. The primary concern for pet owners should be when the mature, yellow-brown cones fall to the ground. If a pet owner monitors the harvest season and makes sure their dog can’t reach any low-hanging cones, they should be in the clear. Personally, my wife and I built a fence around our hop garden so everything is contained and away from our dogs and other wandering neighborhood pets.

A bigger worry for me is my pup getting into bags of stored hops, hop pellets that fall on the ground during brewing, or trub/hop sediment that I dump into the compost pile after brewing and fermenting. I do my best to store all hops in the closed freezer and turn the hop trub into the compost pile after dumping.

What are some things that worry you about hops and your animals?

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Centennial Blonde Ale

Lately I’ve been digging blonde ales and more malty beer styles. My taste buds have seemed to reach hop and flavor overload. I don’t seem to gravitate towards the NE IPAs, Milkshake IPAs, or the fruited sours. I still have one every few weeks but not in the daily doses that I had when they first hit the brewery scene.

I’ve brewed this blonde ale recipe that’s been in magazines and internet forums for years. I’ve made it many times and it’s always delicious and a hit at parties, beer festivals, and for every day drinking. It’s especially true now when all the brewers I talk to are at flavor overload like myself.

When you get a moment to reflect and see how your taste buds really feel, do yourself a favor and give this a shot:

****5 Gallon Batch****

Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.57 gal
Estimated OG: 1.040 SG
Estimated Color: 3.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 21.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
————
Amount
7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
0.75 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt – 10L (10.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (55 min)
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (35 min)
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (20 min)
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (5 min)
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) (Hydrated)


Mash at 150 degrees for 60 minutes.

Credit: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/centennial-blonde-simple-4-all-grain-5-10-gall.42841/

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Too Early for Oktoberfest?

I LOVE Oktoberfest style beers – I always look forward to Märzen, Oktoberfest, and Festbier season.

Over the last 3-5 years I’ve been noticing the Oktoberfest styles slowly creep from September into August and even July for their release. I keep asking myself: Is this too early?

Because I love the style, it’s not too early for me, but having a Märzen on July 4th seems odd. Should pumpkin spice, lagered Oktoberfests, and pullover sweaters be kept for later in the year?

As with anything else, marketing and market drive the early production and sales of these items. If people buy them earlier and earlier, why wouldn’t breweries release them? Supply and demand.

We kegged our Märzen today and I’m hoping to let it lager a bit before crushing it. However, it was tasting good!

Give me your comments and thoughts. I’m still on the fence if it’s PSL and Fest SZN.

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Spent Grain Dog Treats

My wife was able to utilize spent grain from a Marzen I brewed last weekend to make some dog treats.

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 cups spent grains
  • 2 cup flour
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 2 egg

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
  • Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl. Mix to combine.
  • Use a rolling pin to roll out dough on a floured surface. Use a cookie cutter to cut out treats. Alternatively, you can shape treats by hand.
  • Bake treats on cookie sheet for 30 minutes.
  • Remove treats from oven and lower heat to 200 degrees.
  • When oven has cooled, return treats and cook on 200 for about 2 hours to dry them out.

Credit for the recipe: https://dining-alfresco.com/spent-grain-dog-treats/

We did the 2x recipe. Let’s just say the Gooddest Boy was happy!

PS: Stout is a small black lab (40 lbs). We got him from a rescue and we think he’s a lab and beagle mix.