Anyone read this ever????

Not sure if I should keep this going, I have not brewed in a while but I don't think anyone reads this even when I do update........

Russian Imperial Stout

Brewed this BIG beer as part of a group barrel project.  3 of us are brewing 60 gallons of this stout to be aged in a used whiskey barrel for at least 1 year!  Good thing it won't be kept at my house or most of it would "evaporate" before the year is up! :-)

Took two mash tuns to make this!  Needed 15.6 gallons of 175 degree water to mash all the grain for this batch and my tun is only a 15 gallon pot.  Got my old tun (igloo cooler) out of retirement and put 10 lbs of grain in it and just short of 40 lbs in the other.

After fly sparging 13 gallons into the kettle the runnings still looked quite thick so I refilled the mash tuns with hot water and let sit while bringing the big pot to a boil, then just drained the tuns to a 7 gallon kettle and still got a 1.04 OG wort from it!

Anyway, the big pot yeilded 1.12 OG and is fermenting away.

CHEERS!

MGD Lemonade

This is just too funny.  At least I know what NOT to try...  Here is a short quote from Joe Sixpacks blog,

"...You might say MGD Lemonade 64 is nothing more than an alcohol delivery device, but it doesn't do even that very well.
A 150-pound woman could commence drinking one bottle of MGD 64 Lemonade every 15 minutes, and after an hour and a half (a full sixpack!) she still couldn't get herself pulled over for DUI. She would, however, have consumed 384 calories - about the same as a McDonald's Sausage McMuffin...."



Read the whole thing for the rest of the story here.  www.joesixpack.net/columnArchives/2011/062411.htm

Born on the 4th of July!

Brewed a kit for the second time in my brewing life.  Boundary Waters American Wheat from Midwest.  I modified it a little, some on purpose, some by accident.  It is currently bubbling away in the basement awaiting the day it can be drunk in honor of the 4th!

As a was explaining the brewing process to a friend who happened by, the boil started unexpectedly and in my rush to get the first hops in I grabbed the wrong bag and dumped them in.....  soooo......  it will be an all new beer!   Put Palisade in for the bittering hops and Sterling for the flavor/aroma hops instead of the other way around.  Meant to look up the hops and see what they are but have yet to get around to that.  My guess is I will drink it when it's done.

On another note. 
The Amber Ale I brewed a few weeks ago finished its primary fermentation and I decided to try something.  I had planned on kegging half and bottling half, 10 gallon batch, and have heard allot on the uselessness of secondary.  Now I have always made very clear beers and think it's due to the secondary fermentation.  But I put half right in the keg and the other half in a carboy to bottle in a couple more weeks.  The kegged half I started drinking last week, it did not clear out very well, so I dubbed it Merriman Mud Ale.  It tastes great and has had good reviews from samplers who happen by, and has cleared a little but not much.  The big test will be a side by side comparison after the bottles are ready.

Cheers!

Brewing with the Tri-County Fermenters

Had the Tri-County Fermenters over on Saturday and we brewed up an Amber Ale while sampling Sam Adams Latitude 48's.

I must say I liked the English styles over the American style IPA's. The Hop flavor and aroma is strong but not the bitter taste I have associated with IPA beer.

http://czartcf.blogspot.com/ is the new web site for the Tri-County Fermenters by the way. Give it a look, better yet, join!

As for the brew day, it went well. The first 10 gallon batch on my new system. Glad I had help as lifting the mash tun of the rack would have hurt me by myself. Thanks to Gary for reminding me to start the timer for the mash then again for the boil, someone was paying attention. Also note to self, again, charge battery for drill BEFORE brew day or you will keep crushing grain by hand.

18# 2 Row, 5# Munich 20L, .5# Roasted Barley, 1# Honey Malt

2oz Cluster 60 min. 1oz Cascade 10 min. 1oz Cascade 0 min.

Tsp Irish Moss 15 min.

Mash 1.15 qt/# at 155' for 60 min. Sparge 170' till 13 gallons in the kettle. 60 minute boil. 2, 5 gallon fermenters with Muntons dry ale yeast.

Crying over spilled BEER!

Came home from vacation and went for a beer. Temperature controller on my keezer locked up and I had four and a half gallons of frozen beer! Cried for a little while and started the thaw, had a few bottles of porter to ease the pain and agony, worked the temp controller a few times.

Two days later the keg was thawed, placed it back in the keezer and kept checking the temp.

Had a batch ready for a friends birthday party that needed to be kegged and force carbonated so I did that but I only had one picnic tap. Took the tap off the keg in the keezer to use on the new batch. Checked the temperature again.

Got up the next morning and went to check the temp again….. apparently the o-ring on the beer post was damaged by the freeze! About 2 gallons of beer in the bottom of the keezer! (more crying)

Anyway, the beer still tastes GOOD! It’s an amber ale by the way. Going to have to invest in a good controller.

Heard the birthday beer was good, I couldn’t go, had the pager, (more crying). It was a toasted blonde with some honey malt. Had a bit of a sweet taste to it but very drinkable.

Cheers!

MAY DAY BEER!

Brewed a 'Toasted Blonde' for a friend of mine on May 1st. It's for his birthday and he is REAL OLD! Happy Birthday Mike!

Brewed it on my new rig I picked up on Friday. Should be done by his party.

Bought the rig thru the Green Bay Rackers brew club. (Thanks Randy) . The previous owner departed in March so thanks and condolences to the family. I will toast to Kelly with the first beer and use his system often and well.