Monday, July 26, 2010

Two in the keg, one in the carboy

Hey readers, today I have managed three major projects in the brewing department, so as of tonight, 1. The English Mild is in the keg 2. The RyePA is in the keg and 3. This winter's Hot Chocolate Stout is brewed and the yeast pitched! The stout will be wonderful. I refuse to disclose the full recipe, but here are some highlights:

-A pound and a half of chocolate
-Cayenne pepper
-Enough alcohol content to warm those winter chills away
-A touch of cinnamon
-A freakin pound and a half of chocolate!
-Oatmeal for extra creaminess
-Lactose, an unfermentable milk sugar to give some residual sweetness
-A full pot of coffee
-A POUND AND A HALF OF DAMN CHOCOLATE!!!

I can't wait to enjoy this beer. I will have finished my fall semester final exams and this baby will be amazingly aged and conditioned. Gosh darned liquid gold. And my kitchen smells like brownies :)

-Braumeister

Monday, July 19, 2010

Back on track

Hey folks!

I wanted to give people this weekend's updates, as we had a couple of exciting events that got the brewery fully back and running again. First off, the hop trellises are fully finished and the beautiful vines are now growing up the well-strung lines of sisal. Also, I re-brewed my English Mild that I so tragically lost just over a week ago. OG was up from last time, which means that our efficiency is getting better, and the stuff is already looking great and bubbling away in my air conditioned room. It is happily fermenting side by side with the RyePA, and they will be released consecutively in the coming weeks. As soon as those guys go into kegs, I will be looking to brew my winter Hot Chocolate Imperial Stout. I've been formulating the recipe, and I'm really excited to brew it as it should be lots of fun. It will, of course, be even more fun to actually drink it this winter.

And now...PICTURES!!!


My beauties side by side


Sweet homemade trellises


Lil' guys growin' up the guy lines

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Focusing on the positive

Okay, let me start by saying that this past Thursday, I brewed up the JuniorSenior Drye-hopped RyePA and it went rather well. The beer is chugging away in my air-conditioned room and should be excellent after a little secondary and dry-hopping. I sincerely cannot wait to try it and it should be wonderful. Unfortunately, that won't be for probably another three weeks. Now for the bad news...

RIP English Mild. Yesterday afternoon, I tapped the stuff on my corney kegerator system. It was delicious. A truly nutty, toasty, most definitely chocolatey beer begged my palate to taste more, and it being of lower gravity it was still delicate and refreshing. I was so excited about it...my first all-grain batch, and another delectable original recipe. I poured myself a half pint, tasted it happily, then drew a full pint off the tap and went upstairs for about twenty minutes to drink it. When I came back down for a third glass, the worst possible sight met my eyes. There was beer all over the floor. I opened up the fridge and beer flooded out. Basically, the "beer out" tube had become detached from the back of the tap inside the tap tower, and the beer had just shot out (since it was under pressure) all over everything. What a travesty it was to lose a whole batch of beer in such a way :(

I'm thinking that I may just brew another batch of English Mild and try to transfer the RyePA to secondary a bit early...if I force carbonate it, the mild could be ready to drink within about a week. It was a cheap recipe, too. That's what I think I might do with it. Anyway, I'm trying to stay on the positive and keep plugging away.