Hooray! I thought there were only three of us who did homebrew in the pinball community! Myself, Eric Akeson (Puyallup River Brewing) and Don Bettencourt. At least that's everyone we know about in the Puget Sound area...

>>I don't know about you but a good homebrew and pinball go hand in hand.
Amen!
And here's a song for that!
http://www.laughingotter.com/music/Pinball/Claude_King-Beers_And_Pinballs.mp3

I've been brewing for the last three years. I made 5-gallon batches at least once a month and served it up at the Seattle Pinball League tournaments (in fact, I'm their official brewer!). Now I make 10-gallon batches with two converted kegs and a propane burner I sometimes use with a wok if I'm doing Asian cooking. Only useful thing I've ever had from Anheuser-Busch. Nowhere as sophisticated as Stangbat's kit, but hey...

Right now I've got ten gallons of Twilight Clone (that's it's name) in secondary for the Solstice Soiree, which happens right after the Fremont Solstice Parade (which is another thread in this section)! If any of you are in the area, Pinball People are always welcome at this party!
>>Sorry, the Fremont Solstice Parade thread is in the Pinball Bar.

Pinball players seem to favor pale ales and IPAs over darker beers, I've noticed. When they're not swilling PBR, that is...which is good for playing Fizzball, but not much of anything else...
What's Fizzball? Glad you asked...
http://files.wackiness.org/3r-sam_and_max-fizzball.jpg

Hee hee hee, Brokedad's a funny guy...but we do too... ...and we've even brewed the two together in one
Wow! My kit doesn't even come close to this stuff!

Speaking of homebrew, in case it was missed on the other thread, I'm organizing a homebrew social and pinball tournament.
PinBrew I will take place at Dorky's Arcade in Tacoma on Feb. 4th, 2012. Probably be running all day and into the evening. As far as I know this is will be the first IFPA tournament dedicated to homebrew. Another Seattle first! (just like the 4/20 Greenwood Pinball Open. Guess what that theme was!)
Still working on logistics and all that, but I will be sending Josh Sharpe a notice this week formally announcing the event! If it works out (and I don't see how it could possibly miss!) it will become a yearly event!
So, whaddaya think?

Homebrew And Pinballs, Dammit!

boogies: And in most cases you would be right! Except beer and pinball have gone together for as long as...well, as long as there's been pinball, so that term is always going to mean one of two totally different things in pinball!
Dunno how the label "homebrew" evolved to mean constructing/modifying your own pinball machine. I should try to find that out. I'm sure my brewing friends would be amused!

pinheadpuckguy: Portland has two brewpubs with pinball. Seattle has none. New York City has one. And as far as I know none of them do BBQ, so you might just have a niche there. I'd keep plenty of WetNaps around, BBQ sauce can be a bitch to clean off of flipper buttons!

And Now!
It's time for a look into Laughing Otter's amazingly high-tech brewing system!
1: The brew kettle is heating up over a very precisely temperature-controlled system.
2: Mash kettle. 23 pounds of grains in a completely-controlled mash kettle environment.
3: Meanwhile, we need some hops for this beer. My backyard is as good a place as any!
4: Got about six cups of fresh hops. Almost certainly Cascade. Or Saaz if it isn't. Bugger if I know the exact percentage.
5: Incredibly precise sparging kettle. Temperatures are well-maintained and regulated throughout this critical period.
6: And we're finally at the familiar phase of boil-the-hell-out-of-for-an-hour.
7: This year's Cascade hops weren't too bad, actually.

PSbrew01.jpg PSbrew02.jpg PSbrew03.jpg PSbrew04.jpg PSbrew05.jpg PSbrew06.jpg

The Nuptial IPA recipe I made used hops right off the vines in the sparge cycle, which is odd but I could see why they were doing it that way. The hop essence is lifted from the cone without boiling it, so the fresh hop flavor really came through! Unfortunately, it's like a Pliny. You can't age a fresh hop beer, and you've definitely only got a limited time to drink it. I kegged mine last month and it's already fading in flavor.

I'll be brewing next weekend for the SPL Masters tournament in December. I think it'll be another IPA (or maybe even a CDA! I haven't done one of those yet!). I also need to get started on a Scotch Ale for the Las Vegas tournament next March. I can do the IPA for that event in January. Plus I also need to make two beers (20 gal) for the PinBrew event early next February. Haven't even decided what those will be yet.

Most of the pinball players who drink my homebrew are more partial to IPAs and pales and goldens over the more malty types of brews.

pinheadpuckguy: Good luck with your brewing! You're making a quadrupel or a straight ale? PSbrew07.jpg