Christmas Beer Bottled

Mint Chocolate and Gingerbread are done.  I must say, the ginger did not come out like it did this year, but I've found with spiced beer that less is usually better.  Either way, it's a nice stout.  The Mint Chocolate was good, with plenty of chocolate and a slight mint flavor.  As usual, we didn't end up with as much as I would have liked, but still enough to share.  Last night Santa made his list.  Were you naughty or nice?

Maiden Voyage

As is my standard procedure for new breweries, I brewed a stout today as a test run for the new RCBC. Let me just say that so long as this beer doesn't taste like warmed up arse that was the best brewing experience I've ever had. 77% efficiency, steady mash temp, and ease of use, where has this brewery been all my life!

Oh yeah...anyway, brewing went well, all told I now have 13gal of stout in process...which now that I think of it is probably more than I had calculated for and therefore efficencies were even better! Next brew will include an accurate sight tube for proper volumes (installed today).

Santa's Bootstrap complete!

Bottled most of the bootstrap stout yesterday while brewing yet another attempt at a brown ale. Popped one today to check the carbonation level, and let me tell you it was one fine beer! I have the labels in hand and will be bottling the rest as soon as I get the second keg's CO2 right.

Man am I slack!

But here comes Santa's Bootstrap!

Beer is brewed, conditioned, and ready for spice. I've separated spiced vodka:

Ginger
Ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg
Ginger cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla beans

I have nice labels on the way, will post the proofs when I get them!

It's been how long?

Nearly a month, not that anyone is counting. Starting a new business has taken it's toll on my free time!

The Christmas Stout got good reviews at my club meeting last night, although it is obviously not a drinking beer, and therefore not much was missing when I got home. No biggie, it's a rich full beer that wasn't meant to be drank in bulk...

Another biggie is the CAP I have lagering. It's mellowing nicely, although I figure it really needs a few months more. I'll have to put it on tap before then since that's about all I have right now. Brewing gold ale this weekend that should be ready to serve in a few weeks, so I can make up the difference.

When good brewing goes bad...Xmas beer test run.

Well brew day is in the books...what a cluster bomb...

Planned a great recipe for my christmas beer, a ginger-molasses imperial stout.

Planning is but a small part of a project. For some reason I chose to forgo adding Munich malt, why I don't know. Then my mash temp was low by 3 degrees (not too big a deal). Then my gravity was off by 10 points, as seems the standard for any high gravity beer even though I continue to lower the projected efficieny. And finally I can no longer get the wort below 78-80 now that the water is getting to that temp. I even had a pre-chiller going with ice and salt...still no dice after over 30mins of chilling, stirring, swirling, etc.I guess I'll have to start freezing some water bottles or move to Alaska in the summer! Days like this make me feel like a rookie!

Pic of the day...

Here we see a nice pic of my NQG Stout (nitro) preparing to be consumed in my official BBG pint glass!

Whoops, took a week off! Light Irish Red Lives On!

Well, I guess I wrote a lot the last couple blogs anyway. You could have broken them down into daily capsules. Anyway, tis a dark day, as the O'fest is gone, the Brown ale is still a bit bitter, and the pumpkin isn't quite ready.

ON TAP - LIR, Plain Ole' Punkin Ale(green), NQG Stout (Not Quite Guiness)
KEG CONDITIONING - Brown Ale x2
FERMENTING - BVIP*, O'fest #2

The Light Irish Red...This beer has been on tap since August, yet I can't get anyone to finish it off! Funny thing is, it's still a pretty fine ale, just very weak and light for a homebrew. I've been drinking it while watching football so as to not get lit and end up in bed at 7:30 Sunday evening. I've been very successful with the stout and the O'fest so everyone's gravitated to those, leaving the Light Irish Redheaded-stepchild Ale waiting for some love. I'm even going to bottle some of it for a contest in December, just for the hell of it...

*BVIP update: It is almost done fermenting. Actually it was almost done a week ago, but it seems I am supposed to let it sit on the primary yeast cake for 10-12 days at least since it is a high-gravity brew. This is not "mine", but property of the BBG.

Pumping and Stout

As my quest towards overdoing my brewing hobby continues I've begun slowly upgrading to a RIMS (Recirculating Infusion Mash System) brewing system. Basically, that means I am installing a pump that recirculates the mash, adding to efficiency and clarity of the wort. I mounted a "pumphouse" on the back of the brewery with valves and a recirculation loop to allow me to draw wort from the mash tun and pump it back over the top of the system. I'm also considering change the mash tun to a 15gal one I found at Wally World for $20. It would allow for more wort volume...

The nice thing is that most of these things are freebies (pump, valves). So the upgrade is mostly labor and design. I can't find my digital camera, which is why there are still no pics!

Why am I working on upgrades? I've volunteered to participate in the BBG Bourbon barrel stout project, and the grain bill is pretty tall!