Year End Lager Brewing

I'm working on two Lager recipes to try and wrap up this years brewing madness. I'm getting together with B Late Friday afternoon. We are going to brew up the Black Lager recipe that I have been working on. This will give me an opportunity to take the new fermenter for a ride. How much beer did I brew this year? Well all I have to say is FUATF!

Merry Christmas

What an extraordinary day it was today. As per usual I spent most of it in the kitchen getting the dinner together. Not unlike my Grandmother I truly believe that one of the best ways I am able to demonstrate my love for those close to me is through food and drink.
Along with the turkey today we also enjoyed some Chocolate Stout and Bohemian Pilzner.
I hope you all enjoyed your holiday. Next year I think I'll take the rest of the week off after Christmas day.

Early presents

Izzy is taking the girls to Chelmsford to visit Buddy and Maya this weekend. I'm off to the Mountain Saturday and Sunday to put in a couple Volly Days and make some turns. Saturday should be brilliant for turns, while Sunday may be somewhat firm and moist. We'll also be splitting the Christmas dinner shopping up. With any luck I'll have the bird in the brine by Sunday.

More Fluff

It snowed again last night. We received another couple inches of freshy last night. I have Friday off, but have a ton of work to get done at the office, and am considering coming in for a half day. I'm also considering making a black lager, or possibly getting out for early morning turns. Oh, decisions decisions. I do know I'll be hanging out with my daughters again this Friday afternoon. Perhaps there will be more sledding this week, not unlike last Friday's adventure.

Not quite epic, but it was nice

It started snowing late Saturday night, and puked all day Sunday. I was able to get out with my friends Mark and Murph to make turns until noon. The conditions were excellent. I can't really say that they were epic since there was only about a foot of freshy, but I must say it was the perfect adventure for a Sunday morning. All fun and games until Murph broke a ski pole and we had to go home.

Possible epic conditions in the forecast

I just started snowing. In fact it's puking out there right now. We are expecting another storm this weekend. If all goes well, we may be looking at epic conditions for December. OMG, I love the Winter and all it has to offer.

Semi-sleepless night

I have fermentation on the brain. All I could think about last night was coming up with ideas on reaching maximum capacity.
The new fermenter has raised the bar for my goal to reach maximum capacity in the brewery and I have been scheming ways of getting all the vessels shoaled. Ideally, I would like to brew the doppelbock that has been in the design phase for the past few days. The recipe is near completion. The only thing really holding me back is space. I simply don't have any room to make lagers right now.
Perhaps I'll go with making a Canadian style Golden ale. I brewed one a few years ago that turned out pretty well. Maybe it's time to get off my lazy bottom, and take the leap at getting that Belgian in the books. That just may be the ticket in taking this fermenter for it's maiden voyage. Whatever goes in there is going to tie up the fermenter for a least a month.
Any other ideas?

Celebration Ale

Those of you who know me are aware of my desire to design my own signature brews. I typically do not take any true joy in brewing up cloned beers. For me the only excitement in cloning is to see how close I can get to the real thing.
Personally I enjoy the product development side of things. Tonight's brew was very different in that regard. Tonight I brewed up a clone of one of my all time favorite beers: Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. I had everything on hand for this except the Centennial Hops. I nailed my Gravity on this clone tonight, as well as the color. Only time will tell how the deviation from the true hop profile will shake out.
Five gallons of the Bohemian Pilz got racked to a keg tonight as well. So this now leaves me with two empty kegs, and one empty carboy, not to mention the big-ass conical fermenter. Don't fret I have plans to fill them soon.

A suprise for Thomas

Today we all went up to Suzanne and Astrid's house for a little holiday project. We also met our friend Cindy up there as well. I'll share the secret details sometime this week after my brother leaves for Vermont this coming Wednesday. Stay posted, as I will even have some pix to share from this exciting event.

A visit to Santa

Auntie took the girls to visit Santa Claus this afternoon. The visit was complete with Alfred the elf.

The Fermenator

I picked up a 14.5 gallon Conical Fermenter while up in Winooski on Tuesday. Isn't it adorable?

Ditched the yeast

So I made the starter for the Belgian Strong ale. It took off Friday, and fermented out. I left the foil on top, and have been letting sit out for a few days. I'm going to ditch the yeast. I'd hate to dump ten gallons of crap on account of sketchy lab procedures. I do have another Belgian strain handy. Perhaps I'll get another starter going,or maybe I'll continue using the strain 1056 that I have on hand that's pitchable immediately.

Small delights

It's dumping outside. I Friggin love snow. I wish I wasn't tied to the computer, phone, chair today. We are in the midst of a little storm that will probably leave us with at least 8 inches of pow. The local HDP discussions have already moved on to the next system which may be moving in on Friday evening. Oh yum!

Pale Ale V3.1

I love it when I am able to make a beer over, and over, and over, and have it come out the same. I brewed up the Pale Ale V3.1 today. In fact the wort is chilling as I write this up. I racked to Alt to a keg earlier this week, as a result this beer will yet remain 10 gallons short of reaching my maximum capacity.Guess I need to make some beer next week in order to fulfill this prophecy of maximum capacity. By the way the yeast starter for the Belgian Strong Ale finally took off Friday morning. Look like I'll be able to step it up again, and brew that Belgian. Now for the recipe. Think quick, any ideas?