Lazy.

Been away for awhile and have not spent enough time brewing with so much going on. The Irish Red has been all done and is 75% gone now as I gave many bottles away.  I still have everything hanging out reaching towards their experation date for the “American lager” so I am going to try and squeeze that in either tonight or thursday evening. Biggest challenge is my keezer needs to be transported and hooked up in the basement, and I have been as mentioned putting everything off. One good thing is my Wife and I have been venturing out more and have recently taken up biking.  So I guess trading off for something healthy isn’t such a bad decision. I have a bike ride planned for tonight and then a Katy trail expedition for Saturday.

Anyhow I have two competitions coming up as mentioned in a previous post, they are both HBT member driven events. Both casual in nature but I’m starting to run out of time.  I need to somehow get this Lager done then move onto a APA then IPA in the next month.  I took up spots for both as they limited entries so it would be crappy of me to fail to partake.

Something else that has been long left forgotten is the Dunkelweizen that was finished and ready a month ago. Dunkelweizen being a moderate gravity wheat beer doesn’t benefit from aging, so it really needs bottled ASAP!

I had some pictures to toss up of the Irish Red but they are at home still, will update this thread tomorrow with them.

Cheers

The Irish and the Apple.

I finally got chance last weekend to bottle the experimental Cider and Irish Red Ale.  I have been so busy / lazy the past month that I have not been on the ball with my brewing responsbilies. Luckily when bottling I had some help, my daughter really enjoyed helping wash and sanatize the bottles. Which is good to know, because as she gets older she will become a huge asset in the war of bottling.

Bottled about 80 bottles in total, since the Cider was only a 3 gallon batch. Good thing to because I am not sure how well this stuff is going to become. Just a fair warning, the recipe I posted was quoted as being a “Wood Chuck” clone, and after several people have made it everyone agrees its anything but. It has an upfront tart flavor, coupled with toasted malt on the back end. Very unique but not what I expected well see how it ages. Its defaintly drinkable though which is a big positive, just not something you want to run around and try to impress people with.

The Irish Red also got bottled, finished up around 1.015 started up at 1.060 so its ended up at 5.86% ABV so its got a little kick to it not really happy with the color, its not as Red as I wanted. But that’s what happens when you use a partial mash kit and don’t tweak it.

On deck: Dunkelweizen and an American Lager. I’m going to move my chest freezer to the basement and dedicating it 100% to lagering now, and will be moving my taps to my old fridge. Hope to crank out a few different lagers this year as I so far have only made one since kegged beer always took over the keezer.

I also have to come up with an APA and PA recipe for two competitions I signed up for, both over at the HBT forums. And since its summer I have to get a Hefe going, as its my favorite summertime style. So thats 5 batches that need to be made in the next month…

Lastweekend My Wife and two youngest attended the Annual Earthday celebration in Forest Park. Schlafly beer was the ONLY available brewer handing out some of the delicious offerings. The brought out their new “Organic Ale” and it was a very well rounded beverage. The also had their Kolsch and APA on tap also. I had the Organic and an APA while listening to some drumming at the grass stage.  It was a great day, plus I got to hear some people mumbling as they walked buy “where is the bud light” which gave me a chuckle.

This weekend we are attending the STL Microfest,

It will be the first time attending and from what I hear is one of the best beer fests STL has to offer, one that completely blows away the “Heritage Fest” put on by AB. I will be attending the afternoon session on Saturday and did pick up the VIP access as well. Its also for a good cause, so everyone should run over and pick up their tickets before its sold out. (and it will)

I will be posting pictures from the event next week!

Springs on the way.

Now that winter is over (well not actually but lets just pretend) its time to start thinking about good times. This is the time of year where you have to start planning out how your spring / summer is going to unfold in the world of brewing. Since we got a little back this year on taxes my lovely wife and I decided on two things, one pay off some debt, and secondly order some beer ingredients. Well maybe I decided on the second, but I will admit she did give me the thumbs up. So I decided on three things to get going, 2 that will be ready by the real spring season, and the other around June, just in time for summer.  And here they are,

Irish Red

Dunkelweizen

Orange Blossom Mead

I have had great success with Irish reds in the past, and its by far the most favorite of my friends. A few good things about an Irish red; its easy as hell to make, will be ready very quickly and is easy on young palates. This will be a great brew to drag along to festivals and share with the masses.  As far as the Dunkel, well I have never made one but I have some commercial versions and really liked the style. They are German, dark and hazy, although very easy going down. Its a wheat beer, and usually at the low end of the IBU scale. Lastly a Mead, yes I will be making a mead only for the second time. My first shot at this was a down and dirty quick mead, lighter ABV although I believe it hit around 8% and fairly dry. This one will be sweater, although higher ABV (11%) so it should sneak up on you. Its going to be made with Orange Blossom honey, so it will have a nice interesting character to it. I am excited as its more of a tradition mead, and should take about 4-5 months to ferment. And will age well so it should only improve over the rest of 2009.

My biggest hangup now is the bottling situation, should I or shouldn’t I? I really should take advantage of my keg setup however I like how easy it is to send bottles home with people. Most parks and events wont allow glass bottles either, however I might be able to get away with a couple growlers. Then again I could bring a keg on ice to a gathering and really be a hero. Luckily I have a month or so to make up my mind, its going to be a tough choice.

Stay tuned I will post some pictures up of the next round of brewing, hoping next weekend we will have good weather!

EPIC FAIL – But hey the ciders good.

Well I got to try out my Wee Heavy over the weekend to see if it had any hope at all for making the grade for this weekends competition. I had my doubts so I wasn’t shocked, the yeast just didn’t seem to finish up and with my recent move I had to skip the secondary or possible re pitch and just bottle the batch. It looks great, but that’s pretty much where it ends, since the yeast crapped out at about 1.030FG its overly, well … sickening sweet. Which 1.030 is acceptable for the style, however the SG is usually much higher then 1.094.  So I got this great looking pancake syrup, with a 8% ABV kick. Now what? Well there is a slight chance, (although slight might even be pushing it) that aging with help smooth things out. However once the yeast stop, they stop. So the sweetness has almost no chance to chill out. So I am just going to leave it in the basement conditioning for a year or so and give it one more taste. If there is no change I got the suggestion to use the stuff in a BBQ sauce, or meat marinade. Which actually might make the loss easier to handle.

On the lighter note the hard cider turned out fairly well. Its a touch over carbonated, which is causing the apple flavor to hide even more, but its light and bubbly and has a small kick after a few glasses. This stuff will be really tasty on a hot summers day, that is if any makes it that long. The great thing about it is how easy it is to make, so I will be making a new batch and will change up the yeast type to try for a slightly different flavor profile.

So I am a little bummed but sometimes you just get bad batches, it happens. Now I have as with most winters a lull in my brewing ambition, but I know it will come surging back once the temps climb out of the teens. So I have plenty of time to try and nail my next adventure and as of today I am having a hard time deciding on what to make.  I most likely will get my kegerator going again and toss a few lighter session brews on tap for the spring season.

Cheers!

Wee Heavy.

Category one complete, now all I have to do is be patient and hope that the yeast work their asses off! OG = 1.091 its got some work to do! The day did not go over without any problems though, I have never used this much malt before. After the additions of the malt I was near run over on my pot, and this was before I fired it up. Luckily a co-worker had hooked me up with a keggle over the summer. However I had never used it out of laziness. So after my friends and I gave it a quick thought I went down and dragged it out. Scrubbing and washing it the best I could.

This was “before” the malt additions!

Much better!

After disaster was averted things went pretty smooth, the garage smelled awesome although our wives didn’t agree. I had to make some small adjustments however to get the immersion chiller to fit, but it ended up working out as well.

The Competition is 2 months away, I’m just going to cross my fingers and hope for the best! Now I have to decide on whats next, German Alt or American Amber. I have never made either style, but both take much less time then the Wee Heavy.

 

Thanks Brad and Chris for hanging out and helping with the transfers. I would of made a huge mess with out the extra hands!

Pumpkin Rack.

Well so my idea to dump 5 large cans of pumpkin into the boil was a huge mistake. I was warned by several people, but then It also came suggested by many others. In the end I lost 2 gallons of brew, I racked off the massive amount of sludge last night. I am getting a FG reading of 1.015 which seems to be on par with what it should be, however it tastes very light.  I am thinking since I lost so much to the sludge, especially when it moved from the pot to the carboy that it just didn’t turn out right. Does it taste undrinkable? No not really, it just lacks much of anything. The spices come through a touch, the pumpkin only slightly and hops seem to of went on vacation. I am going to go ahead and let this secondary for a few weeks then bottle. Who knows maybe it will ripen.

So the weekend approaches, and I have batch one of three to complete for the competition in January. Lets see that’s about 2 months away, and what style am I brewing? Scotch ale, my all time favorite! But wait not just any scotch ale, a Wee Heavy! YES a freaking WEE HEAVY, with only 2 months to spare! I am such an idiot, I honestly forgot how much more time is needed for this style to come into its prime. Its too late now as I am ready to go and got my recipe tuned in. It should be drinkable, but usually Wee Heavys peak 3-6 months in! Wish me luck.

Brew Day.

I setup in the garage and got brewing this past Sunday. It felt nice getting back into the swing a things, and my good bud Chris participated in the festivities with me.

It was fairly cool, around 45′F and a brisk wind so we fired up the fire pit and set the burner up just inside the garage. You had to be on top of the fire pit, or against the propane burner in order to not get the chills, so we migrated between the two all afternoon.

Long Break.

Baby:

My Son was born September 24th, he is healthy and doing great. Outside of keeping my wife and I up all night, we are cherishing every moment. However, I really love when they start becoming more interactive AND sleeping longer between feedings! =)

Back to Beer:

With the return of the fall and cooler temperatures I have started to turn my attention to heavier, darker and higher ABV beers. Pumpkin Ales, Dunkels, Porters and bocks are making my mouth water. And its time to start planning on whats going to happen next. I think I will be turning away from kegging the next round, and try to hit up something large that will benefit from a nice aging. Once I make my decision I will be posting up info on the brew day along with some pictures!

Hop Update:

My hop crop didn’t do to well this year, I got only about 4 foot of growth on each. They stopped around July and looked like they got attacked by a few kinds of insects. This most likey stunted their growth, and they never took off. I got a feeling also that I didn’t give the root system enough good ground to spread through, as I was too lazy to till up a large enough area for them. If they pop back out next spring I will be removing them and planting them in a new area with much better prepared soil. I also will be doing a better job monitoring the watering, as last year we got record rainfalls followed by drought conditons, so the season ended up very rocky with a lot of guess work on the watering schedule.

Side Note:

Picked up a 6 pack of Michelob DunkelWeisse last week and really was suprised by this Macro offering. Michelob’s “craft” line has some decent brews if you stop in somewhere with a limited selection.

Hefeweizen approved.

I finally got my Apricot Hefeweizen hooked up to the tap last night. Poured off the settled particles and gave it a sample. Its very good if I say so myself. I used a partial mash kit from Austin Homebrew Supply out of Texas. It came with this concentrated apricot additive and I was afraid of two outcomes. One being an overpowering apricot flavor, and the other being more of a soapy kind of nastiness. I was surprised to find out the very strong smelling concentrate gave very little to the batch. It pulled off an aroma more then anything that actually faded half way through the pint. I could barely detect the flavor at all. Which honestly is a good thing as I would rather have it subtle then overpowering. The bitterness from the saaz is clean and snappy. It doesn’t linger, and shouldn’t turn off the people scared of beer with flavor. Not the most complex thing in the world, but its an American Hefeweizen so its spot on the style. It will be great after an afternoon of yard work.

Mead & Hefe, Party in the basement!

Both my Mead and Hefe are doing well. As of last night my ambient basement temps are holding steady around 65. Kind of cool for the Hefeweizen, but I am sure it will be fine. I checked on my Lager also and it still has a cidery aroma to it (Acetaldehyde). It has been in cold storage for 3 weeks now at 34′F, I am giving it one more week then just kegging the SOB, calling over a few friends and clearing it out if it sucks. It was my first Lager and I learned a lot along the way. For instance, monitor your freezer or cooling device well if its on an outside GFI! I had mine trip 3 times from storms and it didn’t notice it until a day or so later. Luckily during the primary it only spiked to around 60′F. This is considered a BMC light clone, along the lines of Bud / Miller light. I wanted something super light and easy to drink, so my BMC fanatic friends could for once try and say they like homebrew. I know this is the complete ass backwards way of converting the die-hards, but I gave up on most of them already. And besides I don’t mind a light lager in the heat of the summer!