Sunday, March 18, 2007

Today was an epic brew day. (Also, less bullshit than last time)

Today was intense. Allan knows already, but we went full bore on brewing and got all our shit done.

1) The California Pale was kegged and should be ready to drink as soon as there's room in the kegerator.
2) The Honeyed Wheat was bottled and should be ready in two weeks.
3) The carboys for both were cleaned and we racked the English Brown from last week into one. So far, looks perfect.
4) We switched up the old IPA recipe and brewed up a batch.

The IPA should be a good one. We kept the ounce of summit at the beginning as our primary bittering hop (which with 18.6% aau should make a pretty hopped up beer, even for an IPA). But then on the recommendation of the guy at Brewcraft, switched out Cascade for Amarillo. He says it has a smoother finish, losing the pine-y bite of Cascade, and has a kind of Apricot after taste. Figured it was worth experimenting with. Also, I wanted to give dry hopping a shot, and since the Amarillo's a little higher in alpha acids, we shouldn't lose any bitterness by not boiling the last ounce at all. I'm excited about this IPA.

Mid-week I plan on kegging the Oatmeal Stout, and then both the Pale and Stout should be ready by next weekend, as soon as the kegerator is empty. At the rate we're knocking back pints, that should be soon.

Also, I got a set of chisels sent back up to me from home, so i'll start carving tap handles pretty soon. You guys brew this weekend?

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