Princeton Brews

My move to Princeton will mark the return of kegged homebrew, and as such, I'd really like to have a plan for the first few brews.  After being back and forth on a lot of different things, I finally have an idea for the first three or so that I'd like to crank out.

• SMaSH (single malt and single hop) English bitter: Maris Otter is extremely well known as a versatile and flavorful base malt with a sweetish, somewhat nutty flavor, so that will be my single malt of choice, and I'm still contemplating what hop variety I want to use...I'm pretty keen on East Kent Goldings since they're a classic for English bitters, but I'm also considering Styrian Goldings, Fuggles, and Williamette
• Steam Beer: I LOVE Anchor Steam and have been wanting to do a steam beer ever since I started brewing, and now that I have the option of kegging, I will be able to condition it properly.  Steam beer is fermented with a LAGER yeast at ALE temperatures, and then it's best if bulk-aged at around 50° for about three weeks.  It's easiest to do that in a corny keg because they fit in the fridge easily.
• Smoked Mild: I've been digging the idea of a smoky beer lately, and I thought it would be cool to do a sweetish English brown ale (mild) with some Briess cherrywood-smoked malt.  I also thought it would be fun to age two gallons of that on some smoky chipotle peppers, to give the beer further smokiness and a little kick.  Should be fun...this one would probably be bottled since I'm doing a split batch.

Can't wait to get the beer flowing again.  I'm running a little low on homebrew now...it's been very popular lately and the Christmas ales won't be ready until, well, Christmas.  Thus another reason why I've chosen the SMaSH bitter (see first entry)--it will be done FAST. 

More updates soon once I have a chance to brew.  Prost.