Sunday, January 29, 2006
Another Brewing Weekend
This time it was 10 gallons of my Native Rage IPA - Although it is more of a Red Ale than a Pale Ale. I had to borrow a second mash tun from Jerry Carney (many thanks, man!) and it worked like a charm. I unfortunately still didn't sparge enough and boiled too much, so I came up a little short in the fermenters - like 9 gallons instead of 10. Bummed, but hey - them's the breaks. I honestly didn't have enough room in my kettle to sparge more ... I collected an extra 1.5 gallons and boiled it off on the stove, adding it back at 30 min... But it still wasn't enough. That Camp Chef burner can boil some damn water like no one's business.
Initial gravity was 1.071, so it'll be just as strong as last time. Yeast are in there chugging away right now. I am tempted to brew more of it since I've got the hops & stuff on hand... but I think I'll resist.
I've got 43 White Labs vials I intend on turning in soon to claim a Polo shirt for my wife as part of their Customer Club. I'd essentially have to double my amount if I wanted the next item, so screw that.
Next up - Another strong stout. Man, I just love dark beers. While I was over at Jerry's place I also grabbed his 25 gallon kettle (or whatever it is) so I could brew an uber-big batch of black honey ale... Donna has declared it the "house beer", so I need to make sure we have lots of it. We also seem to give alot of it away to friends and family.
Off to put my Maibock in a secondary and begin the lagering process... WOOT! Things went really well, I think - gives me hope for brewing an Oktoberfest in March.
