First State Brewers' Blog

My available keg space just increased dramatically. Last night the American Pale Ale and Black Honey both kicked, and I expect to see an end to the Abbey tripel this weekend. The APA unfortunately never made it into a bottle... there was one pint left last night, and my son accidently knocked it over so I didn't even get to enjoy it. The Black Honey Ale and Abbey Tripel both got 5-6 bottles filled so I'll have some to enter in the upcoming competition if need be.

I put the Oak Aged Vanilla Porter on tap last night (some may remember it as "Sex in a glass") and will get Ichabod's Revenge Pumpkin Ale on tap sometime this weekend. Donna's b-day is Monday, so she gets to choose the brews to celebrate. Not sure what the third will be - maybe the Native Rage IPA. I could use it to singe everyone's taste buds in the competition and sway things in my favor... mwaa haa haa. Or maybe the Phoenix ESB... That would be nice.

This weekend is 10 gallons of Belgian Wit, brewed early Sunday morning. A fellow brewer might sneak out of his house and come watch, if his wife lets him - he's looking into doing all-grain soon. I've also got recipes ready for 5 gallons of "Homegrown Pale Ale", that will use my Nugget and Cascade hops from this season, 10 gallons of many beers (my peated scottish is next up), and the Ommegang clone whenever I get around to it.

With last weekend being completely devoted to the kids and installing our new Pergo floor, I am taking this weekend a little easy - and not brewing. By the end of the week I'll have nearly 50 gallons in kegs, so its not like I'm in danger of running out of homebrew sometime soon. Some of the things I wanted to have brewed by the competition aren't going to happen, but I've got plenty of candidates for submission, so I'll be just fine.

So my new schedule is to brew 10 gallons of Belgian Wit next weekend, followed by 10 gallons of Peated Scottish the following.... although that's just a rough timetable since Donna's b-day is coming up on the 3rd - and we've got plans to go to the Rehobeth / Lewes outlets for that. The kids also went totally ape for the ocean last time, and I imagine it will be no different this time.

Sometime soon I'll try to brew my Ommegang clone - but getting enough yeast to reculture and getting it stepped up will be a challenge.

I will be unable to attend this month's meeting. My wife has another commitment that supercedes my need to go and wax zymurgic with the other club members and sample the fruits of their labor. So I will have to stay home and sample mine own.

I brewed a pumpkin ale this past Saturday evening - It went fantastic, the wort smelled heavenly (and extremely squashy / pumpkiny) going into the carboy. My wife swooned, which she is not prone to do. I think it'll be a good one.

This coming weekend is 10 gallons of Belgian Wit, followed by 10 gallons of Peated Scottish 80/-, and sometime very soon - Ommeclone, an Ommegang abbey ale clone using recultured yeast and the clone recipe from the latest issue of Brew Your Own magazine.

Will the fall bring a hiatus to the madness, once my kegs are completely filled? Who knows. There is always lagering....

Once again the time of year is here for microbrew festivals! On October 8th, Kennett Square will be hosting another microbrew festival to showcase the many excellent beers produced by our professional brewing brethren in the local area. This year they are also getting some folks from the west cost, namely Stone's Brewing Company, who have international fame for their high-quality ales. I hope I have an opportunity to try some Arrogant Bastard.

There is a connosieur tasting as well for those true beer geeks among us, but for me, starting the day off with high-octane brews just means I gotta watch myself for the rest of the day, so I'll pass.

Both my wife and I are going, I think we've got several other folks interested as well, and its going to be a blast. You don't want to miss this one!

Note To Self:

Self, if you brew a 5 gallon batch of beer, and the yeast blows out that single carboy, repitching that yeast cake into 10 gallons will have the same effect or worse - except it is now in 2 big glass jars instead of just 1. Double the yeasties, double the mess!

Man, this Burton Ale yeast is nuts! The kraeusen is so thick, sticky and gummy that overnight it will go from no kraeusen to clogged airlock. Last night before I went to bed, I swirled both carboys so there was nothing, and this morning both were totally clogged with yeast that was blown off. If I were prepared I could have easily vacuumed out the kraeusen / yeast into a sterile container and used it to either culture more or give it away, but alas... I have no such apparatus.

At any rate, depending on how good this beer tastes I will have to remember that WLP023 is a fantastic strain for top-cropping. I can't even imagine how much yeast I'd have if I had sucked all that kraeusen out... alot, for sure.

This past weekend was a 10 gallon batch of Nut Brown Ale. It is currently downstairs fermenting away. I've got an imperial stout and ESB in secondaries. This coming weekend - "Ichabod's Revenge" Pumpkin Ale. Next weekend will be 10 gallons of Belgian Wit (yeah, so what if its late in the season for a wit) followed there after with 10 gallons of Peated Scottish.

Gotta fill those kegs somehow, right?