Brewing Liberally

This helped me brew today...

2011-06-17T15:31:00.000-05:00

2 hour brew & more

2011-06-17T15:00:00.002-05:00

Okay, here is the deal. Going on vacation next week,will not have any beer legged for July 4th if I don't get it done now. So I also really want to see if I can keep refining the 2HB process. So yes, success on both counts. After seeing another brewer's spreadsheet (thanks Gary) I set up my timeline on two parallel tracks. Started at 1:54 and was pitched and picked up at 3:55! And I kegged a pale ale into a corny & the teakettle , so yes we will have Homebrew for the fourth.
And I'm enjoying a lovely Fat Tire too. Ah,good deal.

No time to brew

2011-06-02T10:42:00.003-05:00

Learning how to post from my iPad....did get to brew over memorial day weekend. I made a mistake with some grain at the mill, so voila, the wiener-wizen. About 50/50 of both,used the thames valley II yeast. It blew up so I guess I pitched enough.........

2 hour brew, revisited, again

2011-03-06T09:18:00.007-05:00

Another Sunday, another try at getting the 2 hour brew even better.

You must have a five gallon kettle and a wort chiller. You have to get your fermenter sanitized the night before, then all I needed to do was rack the sanitizer into a bucket to sanitize the strainer, measuring cup, stopper and airlock. The kitchen needs to be "brew-ready" when you walk in the next morning. So okay, done.

Now the brew.

Bring 1 gallon of water to a boil in the brew kettle. Bring another 2 gallons to a boil in a smaller pot. When the large kettle is boiling, turn off the heat and mix in the extract. Stir well with the paddle and top off with the now boiling water from the other kettle. Now that the smaller kettle is empty, heat up enough water to cover grains to 165F. Start steeping the grains and go for 30 minutes. I'll remove the grain bag, heat it up to a boil and pour that "tea" into the kettle. Boil for only 50 minutes. That shouldn't change anything dramatically. Chill and pitch.

So far:

8:55 Walk into kitchen. Get water going, mix extract in, bring to boil.

9:35 Boil starts. Timer set for 50 minutes. Siphon sanitizer, get some hot water into malt bucket to get it all out, set aside.

10:00 Get grains in bag into strainer; more hops added

10:12 Wort chiller goes in; grain tea brought to boil, added to kettle

10:31 Boil done, chilling begins.

11:05 Chilled, pitched and the kitchen is clean

Not bad...................

Can she do it?

2011-02-20T15:29:00.002-05:00

Sadly, sometimes life gets in the way of brewing. So, make it into a challenge. Today, a single decoction Maibock, into work by 11 a.m. Can she do it? Yes, I can. My old Maibock recipe: pilsner, Vienna, cara-hell, white wheat and a bit o'honey malt. Mmmmmmmm. Hella bock slurry and Hallertau tradition hops. Love it. So the solution: mash, decoct and sparge before work. Come home and boil and pitch. It's 5:30 and I'll be done in about a half hour. Oh yeah, take out pizza is helpful. But I do have a pan of brownies in the oven so that's all good.

American rye: very clear, maybe a little too hopped for the style, but good for me.

What's in the pipeline today......

2011-02-13T10:27:00.003-05:00

Well, since I absolutely don't need to bring home any more carboys (unless we build an addition to the house) I'd better get into bottling mode this week. I have two ciders to bottle. One seems a fair bit more clear than the other, so probably will bottle that one. Also have a Chardonnay , a Brunello, and a Trio Blanco from last summer to bottle. Can't say I have enough bottles/rack space to do all three wines though. Have a dunkel to rack and another pilsner right behind that. I'm thinking about the bock I want to do next....last year's version was quite nice. A hellesbock with honey malt and a pound of honey, one decoction. Mmmmmmmmmm. Maybe I'll do that again, maybe I'll think about other ones. The bock slurry would make a fine Octoberfest too. Haven't done one of those in a while.

The picture is a medieval drinking vessel from the Musee du Cluny in Paris.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

2011-01-23T10:00:00.011-05:00

The forecast is one of extreme cold for the next couple of days. Water pipes are cracked and pictures of outside thermometers are fun to send to family in Florida. Think I'll brew a Munich style dunkel. My sweetie likes them and I have a Hella-Bock yeast that will go into something stronger next. Haven't decided if I'll make a bock or maybe an Oktoberfest..............

Dunkels are not easy to find commercially brewed. Monkshof is delicious and a local brewer, Allan van Anda at Trapp Family Brewery makes a nice one. Had it last night at the Farmhouse. Hope mine is just as good.

Racked the rye this week. Pretty good. And already it looks like it will clear out nicely without the dread rye haze.

a boring beer?

2011-01-09T10:19:00.004-05:00

Well, it's a new year and it's my second brew of the year. I took advantage of no hangover and a quiet (everyone was sick) house to brew on New Year's Day. No surprise, a pilsner. A second pitch of the Wyeast specialty yeast, Rasenmaher. 50F in the basement brewery and it's chugging along nicely.

Today's brew is one I've been grumbling about internally for a while. Our homebrew club has in internal competition in which the winner names the next year's challenge. This year: American rye. Admittedly, I have all I can do to brew enough for us to have homebrew on tap most of the time. Therefore I tend to brew what I/we like. Lots of pilsner, pale ales, Irish red, some dark and or smokey beers. This is not a beer I would brew ordinarily. I like rye. I really enjoy the extra tang it adds to a beer. So when I do use it it's usually in a specialty brew, like a red rye Pilsner or in a smoked porter, or an American amber. American rye, as a style, is pretty boring. Not much color, body or bitterness. Yawn. But, it's a challenge. Okay. Rye beer, in particular, rye beers done with a high percentage of rye in the mash is a challenge. Gummy, gluey, sticky, and the dread stuck mash are all usually a part of any brewers discussion of rye. So I guess the challenge will be, how much rye do I dare?

48% is the number. Using rice hulls and a slight modification to my typical procedure, sparging in progress.

Since I don't normally do a mash out, I mashed on the thick side and layered the mash with hot water as I transferred it into the lauter tun. 1/2 pound of rice hulls as well. Wort is running very well and I have a lovely golden color.

The picture to the right is from Friday. A hawk is dining on a bluejay in the driveway. Gorey but fascinating to watch. I've never been so close to a hawk before. He/she was very intent on the meal. But it glared at me as the camera beeped as it powered up. I was inside. That's some fine hearing.

2 hour brew: one more time, what I've learned

2010-03-07T10:22:00.002-05:00

Sunday morning. I am trying to brew before I go to the store. It'll be tight. I started at 9:30 a.m. It's a pilsner with the Wyeast Staro-Prague yeast. This is a new one for me. All light dry malt and US Saaz pellets. Some carafoam, light wheat & a bit of flaked barley.
Some thoughts on this 2 hour deadline:
1. I will need to cut back on boil time to 50 minutes. Depending on how much I boil, it takes more time to come up to a boil. So today I'm starting with just a bit less than 4 gallons. It took about 30 minutes to get to full boil.
2. Mixing in dry malt: Tried something a bit different. Poured dry malt into pot then I used the sprayer attachment to add water. Used hot tap water. This worked really well. It dissolved pretty fast, nothing stuck to the bottom. The paddle is the right tool for a flat bottom pot.
3. The oatmeal stout grains were a pain in the ass. Oats got really big. Hard to rinse well. I don't think I got all the color from the dark grains, so I might have to rename this as an English Brown ale. Don't think I'll do use oats in a post boil steep again.

2 hour brew,part 2

2010-02-07T10:58:00.004-05:00

Okay, the schwartzbier seems to be coming along just fine, so I want to try another 2 hour brew.

Start time, 11:00 am

fermenter is already filled with sanitizer

about a gallon of water heating on the stove to make dissolving the malt extract easier

starter is made, yeast looks very good

oats go into cool oven to toast as it preheats to 350F

The recipe:

Toasted Oatmeal Stout

#1 toasted oats

12 ounces chocolate rye

8 ounces 90L US crystal

12 ounces dehusked carafa 1

4 ounces roasted barley

4 ounces mild ale malt

#6-6 ounces Munton's amber malt extract

After I mixed the extract into the gallon of hot water on the stove @11:12, stirred well with spatula, then I started topping off to boil volume with quarts of H2O that I had heating up for 3 minutes in the microwave. That should get everything up to a boil quicker. Oats toasted to a golden color in about 20 minutes. Don't forget them! As soon as you can smell them, it's time to stir or take them out.

11:36 Boil! Set timer for 1 hour

Hops:

1-1/2 ounces E. Kent Golding pellets, 5.5% AAU @ 60 minutes

1-1/2 ounces E Kent Golding pellets, @20 minutes

12:15 am rinse out funnel, cup, strainer, fermenter Add wort chiller to boil. Add 20 minute hop addition

12:39 Boil is done; wort chiller hooked up. Grain bag is in the middle of the chiller.

1:05 Pitched and covered @ 72F

Because the oatmeal grain blend was bigger than most recipes, it really filled the funnel/strainer. Luckily I had the better part of a suitcase of water, so I was able to use that to rinse the grain bag. Did that, then topped it off with tap water.
Okay, a little more than 2 hours, but not bad. done!

Two hour homebrew?

2010-01-05T10:18:00.009-05:00

I've had an idea for awhile about how to brew more efficiently. Normally we steep the grains for a 1/2 hour or so, while the kitchen gets cleaned up and the fermenter gets filled with sanitizer. Then add the malt, boil for an hour and chill. Can I brew a five gallon extract w/specialty grain homebrew in two hours?

What if:
1. the kitchen was already clean/tidy?
2. dissolve the malt in the pot and get the boil started right away?
3. steep the grains in the wort while the chiller runs?

Schwartzbier, Jan 5, 2010

9:00 am Dissolve #6.8 d.m.e. in 3 gallons of H20

9:20 am Boil starts, get fermenter filled with sanitizer, start adding hops

10:10 am Wort chiller into pot

10:15 am Drain fermenter, rinse strainer, measuring cup, lid, airlock
10:20 am Add whirlfloc tablet

10:25 am Boil finished

11:00 am Wort chilled, topped off, pitched and in the cellar

Done in 2 hours. I realized that the grains weren't really in the pot very long while the chiller was running. So I poured the wort in the pot through my strainer first to get rid of the hops. Then I put the grain bag in the strainer and rinsed through the grains as I topped off the fermenter. There was a nice color in the wort coming out the strainer and I think I probably ran a gallon and a half of water through the grains.

All in all, this seems like it works. I had #2 of specialty grains. I'll be looking forward to seeing if I get all the color and roastiness I want in this schwartzbier.

Done!

A Tale of Two Pilsners

2009-03-22T10:11:00.003-05:00

It's spring! It's snowing! My cellar is still 53F!

So, because I know how tasty a bitter pilsner can be on a hot summer day, it's going to be a pilsner brew day. And because I've been crazy busy, it's going to be a 10 gallon partial mash. Most of the time I make my pilsners with the classic ingredients. Today, because I'll do two fermentations side by side, I'm pitching two different yeast: Czech Pilsner and Pilsner Urquel. But maybe today it's a good time to get out of my Saaz/Hallertauer rut. Maybe its time for a Chinook & Cascade Pilsner...

This is a pilsner from December. Yum. Good food photography is harder than it looks.

Unexpected present

2008-03-16T13:15:00.002-05:00

My plans today were to make a 10 gallon partial mash. An altbier as the base wort, then a separate grain tea to make a porter out one. Well, last night, at a very fun St. Patty's day party, I was given 5 gallons of reverse osmosis sap. OG 1.030 What to do?
So I'm turning the all grain grains into an old ale. German pale ale, dark munich, 4 different crystal malts, some East Kent Goldings and a blend of European ale and London yeasts. Starting gravity looks like the mid-70's so I think I'll add all the yeast that I was going to use for the 10 gallons. That's the plan....boiling right now.

Red Rye Lager

2008-01-23T19:07:00.001-05:00

Long time no blog, but I've been brewing. Brewed and gone: Irish Red ale & a dry Stout. In the keg now, American Pale Ale and a German Pilsner is up next. Did a 10 gallon partial mash of a brown ale: American ale yeast/hops upstairs and a pilsner blend in the cellar. Not sure what either one is, probably just homebrew.

Today is a reddish lager with 30% rye. I use malted rye, flaked rye and just a couple of ounces of chocolate rye to redden it up. Hops will be leftover odds & ends from the fridge. Will try to go moderate, maybe 35-45 IBU's. Usually wait to make up the hop schedule once I have a reading on the starting gravity after the sparge.

So after the brew is over, it's done, pitched, in the can. Used Bullion, US Hallertau, and Liberty. Yum Yum. The "keller" is 47F...so I pitched a huge jar of slurry.

It's all good.

Hoppy Brew Year!

2008-01-01T14:21:00.000-05:00

Okay, it's harder than it looks to blog consistantly. But it's a new year so what the heck, let's try again.

So today is a two-fer: I have a Ringwood slurry and a Pilsner blend slurry. The pils blend is three yeasts, all pils strains. So in a hurry to get a recipe put together I did this: Dark Munich, Dark wheat, German pale ale, UK pale ale, cara munich III and chocolate rye. Also 5.82 pounds of light dry malt. Hopping for the lager is all Northern Brewer : 1 oz @ 60, 2 oz @ 30, 1 oz. @ 2. Got a bit more creative on the ale: pretty steady hopping with moderate amounts of: Centennial, Sorachi Ace, Cluster, Galena, Yakima Magnum and Willamette. All leftover hops so a good way to use 'em up. So eventually 10 gallons of homebrew: done the partial mash way. In spite of the different hop schedules and yeast, it'll be interesting to see how the same wort can be manipulated to give you two different beers.

Forecast is for more snow....I baked a loaf of bread and the windows are all steamed up. My family is home from parts far away and I'm looking forward to seeing some GOP ass getting kicked in 2008.

Life is good...

Not such a good blogger, am I?

2007-10-31T08:41:00.001-05:00

I have been brewing more than I've been blogging. Since the last post, I've brewed an American Brown ale, a Rye Amber ale and a pre-prohibition pilsner. Yum...

The pre-pro is actually a bit of a tradition here. The basement is still in the 60's, not quite cold enough to lager. But if I'm careful I can ferment in the 50's by using either the garage or my deck.

Just got a ribbon for my last German pilsner from last spring, 40 points, not bad.

Time to start planning my holiday ale. Taking into account the crisis of hops prices/availability, I'm thinking it might be time to rediscover "session" ales from England. So I think I'll do a hearty Strong Dark Mild ale.

Saison update

2007-08-28T11:11:00.000-05:00

Still fermenting............down to 1.018ish. Hard to read cause there is still some krausen on top. Still bubbling and it smells good.

Redemption Beer

2007-08-28T09:46:00.000-05:00

Well, I never thought it could happen to me.................but two tries to sparge an overnight sour mashed beers (with flaked maize) were totally and completely stuck solid: looked like glue, unbelieveably frustrating and it made me very determined to brew again. So with the beautiful American Wheat #1010 ready, I brewed this one yesterday. A copper colored American wheat: UK pale, US white wheat, and cara-wheat. I used some leftover No. Brewer, Cascade, Simcoe and Columbus, in that order. Didn't bother to calculate the IBU's. But, thankfully, a smooth mash and an easy sparge. Probably helped by spending an hour with a toothpick to poke out the goo from the holes in my false bottom. But this is the next morning and the yeast is really going crazy. It's the kind of floculation that can keep a brewster entertained for..............minutes at a time. Like little meteors hurtling through space. Tried to post a movie but it's not as bright as the picture. And Blogger, despite it's claims that we can post video, tried and failed three times to do so.

But, we will return after Labor Day, for another sour beer. Maybe a smaller sour mash and/or souring the wort overnight. We'll have to think about this (we, as in me and my brew buddy T.H., not just me speaking royally).

Tis the Saison..................

2007-08-07T13:00:00.000-05:00

After a very long brewing hiatus, I'm back. Just bottled and kegged the last of the lagers: schwartzbier, vienna and a pils. It's hot out and according to Wyeast, here's a yeast that can take it: Saison. I'm having a little nosh here, Saison Dupont and a Vermont camenbert style cheese. And the wort is chilling as I write. I went with a 60/40 blend of Belgian pilsner and Vienna malt for a base. Some acidulated malt and white wheat from Briess. 1/2 lb. of cara-red. I think I nailed the orange color pretty well. This Dupont is a little more golden/orange than I think mine will be. I hopped it with all East Kent Goldings. 4 ounces got me to 42 IBU's. Starting gravity should be about 1.063. I had a pound of light candi to throw in, but the gravity is high enough. I mashed @ 149/150 so I hope this ferments down nice and low.

It feels good to be brewing again....even though it's a hot day. And I'm planning the next brew. It's going to be a repeat of a 10 gallon partial mash Flanders red ale. We'll do a sour mash all night and hopefully get it good and sour. The last time I did this, about 3 years ago (maybe longer?????) it came out great. We added peach influences to one batch and blackberry to the other. We are still playing around with ideas for this one.

Getting a little behind here............

2007-04-16T10:05:00.000-05:00

This is about one of my newer favorite beers. When we go on vacation we drink vast amounts of Heineken. Not because I'm such a fan, but it's the cheapest good beer, in a can, that we can find. It's a wonderful beer on a very hot day, when it's very cold. It's good in the morning with pb & j, it's good sitting on a floatie at lunch time, and really, until it's time to fire up the gin & tonics, good anytime. So I asked myself, how would I change it to make it better.....well, more hops and alcohol would be a start. So, My Big Heine was born.

It's about 1.058-60 OG. Pilsner malt, flaked rice and rice syrup solids, a pound each of the last two. I get the IBU's over 50 and pitch a good, clean lager yeast. In the past that was often Danish, but this year I used my new favorite, Budvar. All in all, something to look forward to when summer finally gets here.

100 bottles of beer on the floor.........

2007-04-02T13:13:00.000-05:00

Well, it's easy to put off, but if you want to drink your homebrew, then you have to bottle/keg it. So Sunday was designated as bottling day. 20 gallons were processed: the rye lager, the Budvar lager, the oatmeal stout and the American pale ale. A combination of bottle sizes hopefully gives me the right size to share/drink at home. Everything tasted good. So now I can start brewing again. The basement is still 52F but it will start creeping up now. I have an "imperial" dutch lager and a 10 gallon partial mash Vienna/Oktoberfest planned.

This picture is Ninkasi, the Sumerian Goddess of Brewing. She is clearly in shape for hefting up 5 gallon carboys.

Fun week in politics..............great picture online of Karl "turdblossom" Rove with a folder from the RNC website host under his arm. That would be the outlet used by White House staffers to avoid using the official email server, you know, the one that has to be preserved. Rove and co. were using RNC email addresses to conduct official business. Sounds shady to me.

Sap's running!

2007-03-27T09:49:00.000-05:00

Lot's of brewing this week. I brewed an ESB over the weekend. Finally used the Yorshire yeast in something that I'll be able to taste it in. Then on Sunday I got 5 gallons of sap. So today's brew is a traditional bock with the sap. Starting gravity is 1.071. I also did a "mash-out" decoction for 15 minutes. Oh boy, does the house smell good when I do that. It's so cool to see the different color of the decocted grains when they get mixed back into the main mash. Recipe was: dark Munich, German pale ale, pilsner, dark wheat, caramunich III, melanoidin and 2 ounces of dehusked Carafa I. Looks like a nice rich, dark copper, almost brown. Just two and a half ounces of German Hallertau pellets, a 500 ml starter of Bavarian and at the last minute a half cup of Urquell slurry. Chilled it right down to 52F and down to the same temp in the cellar. This should be a nice bock. I don't really expect any maple character since sap is so watery. And with the starting gravity I didn't bother to add any syryp to the boil.
So lager season is almost over and still, no rauch or Vienna or Dunkel. Oh well.

More pilsner

2007-03-18T12:15:00.000-05:00

Because the days are getting longer and the basement is going to start getting warmer, the dilemma on each brew day becomes: should I brew a pilsner or should I make something that I haven't brewed yet this year. Like a bock, Vienna/Octoberfest, Dunkel or Rauch.....or should I just keep making Pilsner. So with an aging jar of Urquel slurry in the fridge, Pilsner won. Basic simple grain bill: Bohemian malt and white wheat. Hops are more fun: Saaz, Hallertau, Magnum, Tettnang and Spalt (still cleaning out the fridge). Starting gravity andIBU's are both 57. Yum. Can't wait.

The picture is of what I think is a pretty cool way to get your kegs delivered. I really like Venice.

No stout for St. Patrick's day....

2007-02-25T11:52:00.000-05:00

It's my Sunday brewday, and today's homebrew is an oatmeal stout. I'm doing pretty good on my efficiency so instead of a regular dry stout, I've got a foreign export stout. With oats. But not a lot so I don't think that will change the beer and cause me to label it that way. Got a little crazy with the grain & hops, so for better or worse, here's the recipe:

Munton's 2 row, chocolate, black, roasted barley, crystal 60, dark wheat, US 6 row, oats, Munich, Target, UK Goldings, Challenger, Northdown and W. Yorkshire ale yeast. Whew....not my usual recipe, but I had a odd assortment of grain and hops to use up, so there it is. Too bad it won't be ready for St. Patty's but a nice stout in April will still be just fine.

Headslapper of the day (so far, but it's still early): Russert talking to Doris Kearns Goodwin and Maureen Dowd: "so who could have predicted 9-11?" And NOBODY corrects him!!!!!!!!!! WTF? Yo, Punkin' Head, have you ever heard of the August 6 pdb, Osama Bin Laden determined to attack the US? Maybe Rudy Giuliani, since the World Trade Towers had already been attacked, maybe he had a guess about that. Why don't you ask him? Although, since he had his emergency ops in the WTC, maybe not..............

I bottled my witbier this week. Did a little bottling day tinkering with it. It's very good, but maybe too clear. Very low final gravity, had to check it twice: 1.008 Nice delicate orange nose, very crisp and dry. I liked it quite a bit.

Now for something I haven't done here before. A beer tasting. A good friend was in Long Island and brought me back some Uerige Altbier. Just the regular, not the sticke or dubbelsticke. Which I've had and didn't really think much of. I like to brew/drink Dusseldorf style altbier and I've won a lot of ribbons for it, but other than a Diebels once, I've never had the real thing. So I'll think I'll open one up and taste it with an eye towards brewing one....

It's 4.5% alc/vol and a light/medium copper color. So, don't think you'd want to go over 1.048 OG. The color suggests a fair amount of Munich malt. The bottle says: wasser, Gerstenmalz, Caramelmalz, Rostmalz, Dolenhopfen, Uerige-hefe. So looks a little translation is necessary. I think that a blend of Munich/Pilsner malt, a fair bit of cara-red, maybe an ounce of carafa (the rostmalz) would get you there. It smells a bit long in the tooth, somewhat oxidized, but there is no hop aroma to speak of. Maltiness dominates the nose. There is just a bit of residual bitterness, more hop flavor in the mouth while I drink. So don't think I'd want to go over 40-45 IBU's. Of course, the color will be darkened by a decoction so I might instead go with a light Munich/pilsner/cara-hell/pinch of carafa blend and then do a 20 minute decoction for the extra intensity of maltiness/copper color. This is a tasty beer and I bet it goes down amazingly smooth in Dusseldorf. Gotta get there.......................

Tuesday dog blogging

2007-02-20T12:54:00.000-05:00

My favorite blog and commenters are discussing the virtues of dogs vs. cats....so I offer you my buddy, Tito, the giant shrimp. He's a 20 lb "Chihuahua" we rescued. Although I have never owned a cat, I think Tito is more like a cat than any other dog I've seen. But, he is a dog and has disgusting dog habits, but for all that, I love him and I think the feeling is mutual.

On other matters, the pale ale from Sunday is in high krausen right now. Up to 65F but I don't think I'll need the blow-off. So it will probably be a huge mess when I get home tonight. Planning the next brew....have crushed up an oatmeal stout and I'll use the W. Yorkshire yeast for that. Should get the witbier bottled this week if time permits.

As for brewing liberally, take a minute to check out this page http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/Transcript_Page.aspx?ContentGuid=d7f52e21-cf46-4115-b397-ed1dc70fcdab

that was graciously shared by WoodyG'sGuitar, rogue scholar. Why isn't there more of this? Why are the politcal shows dominated by right wing pundits and asshats? There need to be more smackdowns like this. Which is one reason I like to listen to Randi Rhodes, love her!

Digging out..............

2007-02-18T11:07:00.000-05:00

It's been a loooong week here at the brewery. By the time you start digging out from 2 feet of snow and figure out where to put it, a nice Sunday brew starts to look pretty good. Just racked the Budvar pilsner. It already tastes pretty good and isn't that cloudy either. A new brewer might consider it ready to bottle now, but patience will really pay off. The cellar is hovering just above 50F, so I will probably lager this pilsner for at least 4 weeks. I could go longer but that will work, then another couple of weeks to carbonate, so it's still going to be some time before it's in my glass.
Today's brew is an American pale ale. I have been storing a Rogue "pacman" yeast since the end of December. So I'm making a very hoppy, light orange pale ale. The starting gravity looks like it's coming in at 1.060 so it'll take plenty of Sorachi Ace and Amarillo and a little leftover Columbus for the aroma.

Rye & lies

2007-02-11T12:13:00.000-05:00

Another Sunday brew day. Wasn't sure all week if I'd have the time to brew today, but the slurry of Urquell in the fridge wasn't going to last forever. And it's 48F in the basement. I decided yesterday I'd brew either a Munich Dunkel or a Schwartzbier since I now have 15 gallons of pilsner going. But I changed my mind and today's brew is a Red Rye Pilsner. Still can't get past the current pilsner theme....this is a beer I've done a couple of times. A nice dark red, pretty bitter, and the added twist of rye. It's a classic homebrew, totally invented & no official style of beer. I usually try to mix it up when I'm brewing. So in anticpation of lots of classic German/Czech pilsners on the way, this will be a nice change.

Recipe: German pilsner malt, dark munich malt, rye malt, flaked rye, caramunich I, and a pinch of chocolate rye to redden it up. Hopping is Northern Brewer for bittering, Spalt, Centennial, Liberty and Tettnang.

Now for the liberal part:

I'm watching the political shows this a.m. as I brew. Can't believe Douglas Feith has the cohones to say that the whole WMD scam was legit. Bastard. Wish he'd go over and prove it.....

Anyway, the Scooter Libby trial has been interesting...I hope Big Dick gets called to testify. Inquiring minds want to know.

Too much fun.................

2007-02-08T15:06:00.000-05:00

Not posting in as timely a manner as I meant to, but I have an excellent excuse. Last weekend I spent the day with a bus full of my friends and set off to New Hampshire and beyond. New Hampshire stops were at Moat Mountain and Tuckerman Brewing. Brewer Will at Moat shared his beers, fine lagers, and gave us a tour. The tour at Tuckerman was interupted by periodic visits to the shop for tastes, a fine altbier and a pale ale. The altbier in particular was very good. But the "beyond" of our tour was Ebenezer's pub in the middle of some woods on a long stretch of Maine highway. I was on a bus so I didn't really need to know where I was....so I didn't. This is the beer Chris opened for us................and the hospitality and great beers just went wild from there. By the way, this is a BIG bottle. A magnum perhaps. I remember having a wonderful Cantillion Iris and a lot of fun. Oh yeah, I was celebrating the day before my birthday too. Too bad I was having so much fun I forgot to eat anything. It was a hungry ride home.

But I did get some brew jobs done this week. The witbier was racked (pretty tasty, but I might still jazz it up a bit) and I kegged an altbier (the one I made on New Year's Day). I know, I'm rushing it (I never even moved it down to the cellar to lager) but we are out of keg beer.

Starting to plan the next brew........I have a Rogue yeast and an English yeast, the West Yorkshire ale. So it'll be an American pale or brown or maybe an ESB. Not sure but I have till Saturday to decide.

The Budvar lager is still fermenting, it's 48F in the cellar.

If it's Sunday it must be meet the pilsner...........

2007-01-28T14:34:00.000-05:00

Sunday is brew day. When my kids were little I used to brew during the week when they were in school. Now it's less of an issue and I don't care if they don't like the smell.
This is the brewery. Not very fancy. A 5 gallon brewpot is my mash tun. I can do infusions in the stove, step and decoctions on the stove. I use an old bottling bucket and a false bottom for sparging. Not very complicated. I can fit #13 of grain in the pot. For stronger brews I'll make 3 gallons or add some malt extract. I brew more often than my fellow brewers making 10-15 gallons, but I have more variety in the cellar.
Today's brew is a German Pilsner. It's a simple beer, just two grains today. Bohemian lager malt and white wheat. With a high mash temp I can forgo the crystal malts. German Perle, Hallertau Traditon, and lots of German Hallertau. I used a slurry of Budvar yeast that I had saved from last week.
Pilsner gets a bad rap. I don't make North American cat piss. This is real beer.
Sunshine in a glass.......crisp and dry. Bitter and aromatic. Refreshing. Good with all kinds of food. A show off beer for a brewer. If you mess up: too dark, too harsh, too malty, out of balance: you missed it. I watch the thermometer in the basement all fall, waiting to see it drop below 60F. My cellar is cold and dark. It is a keller, a cellar for brewing lager beers. I have till late April to take advantage of it.

Slurry: it's a beautiful thing

2007-01-27T09:39:00.000-05:00

The witbier is going crazy.........I've washed out the airlock twice, but it looks like it's settled down a bit so I won't bother with the blow-off stuff. It's been a pretty steady 66F. Time to plan for tomorrow's brew. I have a slurry of Budvar yeast in the fridge. Just used it for the first time in a 10 gallon partial mash brew. I split the pilsner into two fermenters and pitched the Budvar in one and the Urquel in the other. Both are fairly recent additions to the Wyeast line up. Side by side, at 53F in the basement, the Budvar finished first. Tasted very promising when I racked it and it has already started to clear. I'll move these two pilsners along pretty quickly since I'll need to get some beer in kegs soon. The all grain brew tomorrow will be given a little more respect.....

It's five below....I think I'll brew a witbier

2007-01-26T11:14:00.000-05:00

A very cold day, and I need to brew a witbier. My homebrew club has a little competition on the night of the NCAA finals and this year it's about wit. So be it.

My recipe:

Organic pale ale
white wheat

flaked oats

sweet orange peel

bitter orange peel

mystery herb

Did an infusion mash at 150-152F for an hour. Kind of soupy but the oats did suck up quite of bit of the excess

It's cuddled up next to the coal stove.....the warmest place in the house.

So goes this, my first post as a blogger. I meant to get started on New Year's Day when I brewed my first recipe of 2007, but I never got around to it.