...and the going. Wow.

Snow on our Yuengling keg post-Halloween party

Well my lovely SMaSH bitter kicked SUPER fast, thanks to the help of a few friends.  It really was quite good, definitely something I can see brewing (or doing a variation of) lots more.  I would do it again in its purest form when the weather is warm, just because it was so delicate, floral and thirst-quenching.  I'm pretty sure I'd want some crystal and munich in the mix for my ideal, on-tap-all-the-time beer, just to add the malty depth.  NOT that Maris Otter didn't stand up really nicely, but hey, brewing is a wonderful art that is all about fine tuning...and hey, that's me.  I like a little malt with my hops.

The coming and going of this batch made me aware of a few things (several that I had already anticipated, really).  First, I need to be brewing more often.  I knew that already...I was just without my car for so long that I fell behind.  After coming weekend's performance of Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem in Philly, I'll def have some more time to brew again, particularly on Saturdays.  Also, I may really have to expand my keg system.  I've been tempted to upgrade to a two-tap tower for a while now, but the crazy thing is that, after doing a little research, I figured out that if I started from scratch and crafted my own four-tap kegerator (which was really my ultimate kegging goal and would be my ideal situation), it would actually be LESS expensive than switching to a two-tap on my existing kegerator...and I could do it gradually as I had the funds available.  Now I've really gotten an idea of my upcoming batches of brew, so here's what things are looking like:

1. Experimental smoked, malty English brown ale with one gallon of it (and maybe the whole thing) racked onto some smoky chipotle peppers

2. My own spin on a classic Steam (California Common) beer.

3. A classic, roasty historical porter recipe from 1839...from the historical archives of the town of Westminster!  Westminster porter ftw.

4. Opening the English and Belgian Christmas ales in about a month!  Aww yeah!

Whew!  Lots of good stuff.  It should be an exciting time of growth for the Rebel Opus Brewery.