I’ve found I tend to get excited about oddly specific (and admittedly sometimes just odd) things; not quite phases, more like a recurring orbit. Hard bop. Rorquals. American wheat beer. Tradition hops.
courtesy hachenburger.de/hopfengarten
Since it was last discussed here, my stance on this “style” has softened a bit. I have found it useful to view it as more of a Pilsner which used the wrong hops and was fermented with an ale yeast. Continue reading
Time is utterly without mercy, fleeting by in blur until there’s just a midden heap of brew days, barbecues, and fishing trips that could have been. This is about closing down summer and the thirties, about getting back on the blog horse, grabbing what’s left of the daylight in the midst of transitions. A silent brew session in anticipatorily fall-like weather. Porter that isn’t quite ready to be porter, a saison turning dark for autumn.
Well, at least I’ll have some damn beer on tap.
Saison sans Merci
Target OG: 1.055
Grist:
Mash:
Boil:
Fermentation:
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The experimental hop fairy visited my house again recently, and this time it’ll be a lavishly alphanumeric best bitter type of deal. Continue reading
Brewing an Irish stout: it’s been a while. So long, in fact, that any delay from a little detour into history and personal remembrance won’t significantly prolong the wait. Let’s get a beverage before the second paragraph. Continue reading
Such a melodramatic title with so many adjectives for a post about a 3% abv beer! Let’s start over:
Reader and friend Keith C. hit me with this Russian novel of a question – slash – very enviable first-world homebrewer problem, and I’m recruiting you citizens to chime in with your answers in the comments section. Let’s dig in: Continue reading
It will probably be the last brew day of October, and it may well be the last brew day under the open sky before the looming winter of 2013/14 ushers operations into the garage and kitchen. It will be a day to play hooky and eat lustily of the tacos of bachelorhood, even if only for an afternoon, and over the sink so I don’t have to wash dishes later.
It will be a west coast IPA with West Coast IPA, riffing on the recipe for Russian River Blind Pig in Mitch Steele’s IPA. It will have some well-loved old friends – Rahr 2-row, Amarillo, Simcoe – and some new blood too: Polaris for the bittering power, EXP 5256 standing in for CTZ and Cascade where called for in the Blind Pig bill. Continue reading
There I was, citizens: I was enjoying the last gasps of Minnesota summer while brewing outside, I was drinking something from Maine Brewing Co., I was trying out some new hops and new yeast, I was smelling the roast happening at the coffee shop downwind, I was gristing some malt and heating some water and ruminating on a recent conversation with friends. Continue reading
Or, Need a Bigger Boat Bitter.
the beer engine 