Saison update

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

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..................

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............

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.........

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!

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

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.