WOW, Christmas is only a week away!

Where has this year gone? Well, did I tell you about my Munich Malt? Man was that ever good, 1.5# of English 2Row, 2.5# 6Row and 8# of Munich, 90 minute mash, I used Cascade and Horizon, Nottingham yeast, 1 week primary, 2 weeks secondary, 3 weeks keg, then drink, yum! I am planning on making another but a 10 gallon batch on New Years Day 2009! I of course did a Pumpkin ale for the Holidays and the Red I talked about in the last post, well it turned out odd, almost bitter, some like it, I don't really, lots to give away :)
Well, till next brew....
-Dr.Doug

Hello again, well, I brewed an Irish Stout 2 weeks ago and an Irish Red this week-end past. Both recipes I found on-line, then modified slightly. The stout will be ready to drink end of October, the Red should be ready about a week before that. I read an article about using 100% Munich malt for a brew, I am going to try that soon, I plan to use Cascade hops grown in my own hop yard. Well cheers for now, send a comment, win a prize.

Is it August already???

Wow, where did the time go? So I have brewed a few batches since my last post, like seven! I also harvested quite a bit of hops from my hop yard. I am getting ready to do a Pumpkin Ale for the holidays, it was quite a hit last year. Cheers for now.

Wow, it has been quite a while since I posted, the Red is gone :( The Stout is good, I made a Peach Ale, and it is pretty good, for a fruit beer. I have another Red in the secondary, and the primary is crying out for something new, perhaps another Blonde, it was good, it is also gone :( What next???

Prepping for St. Paddy's

Well, the Blonde is not too bad, for a Cream Ale, I did an English Pale, 10 gallon batch, then split it with a friend, he added 4 oz. of Chinook to the secondary! Yeah, he likes it hoppy. I secondaried mine for 2 weeks, and kegged last week-end, it is aging nicely, tastes great even green. So to prepare for St. Paddy's I made an Irish Red this week-end past, and I am going to make an Irish Stout next week-end. So I do not know if anyone reads these blogs because no one ever comments, so if you read this, please comment, so I know I should continue.
Cheers
-Dr Doug

Last of 2007

Well, it has been a while since I posted, it is the eve of New Years Eve, tomorrow I plan to brew a Blonde Cream Ale, now some of you might say that is redundant, Blonde and Cream, but this is kind of a combination of two recipes. Trust me, I am guessing here. I think it will be good. I received Palmer's book for Christmas and I have been reading a lot about grains regarding colour and taste and I hope I have made the right choice, we will see. I am using ale yeast as that is what I have, but I plan to attempt to lager, to some degree. Well, I will post how it goes. If you read these blogs, please add your comments. Thanks
Cheers

-Dr. Doug

Pumpkin Ale – Take 2

Well I did my second pumpkin ale, with hopes of it being ready for Christmas.

Boy do I hate hop pellets, I am sure the guy who invented them is still laughing.

I used a lot more real pumpkin this time, on the order of 8 ½ pounds with 11 pounds of assorted grains, 4 pounds of British 2row, 2 pounds of red wheat, a pound of Belgian Special B and a few pound of others. I mashed with 4.25 gallons of 152° water for one hour, when I tried to sparge I had the worst stuck mash I have ever seen, what a mess.

I got through that and decided to use some of my reserve of pellet hops, did I say how much I hate pellet hops? Well I do! I put them in a hop sack, and tripled it, and then put it in a nylon hop bag with some whole hops, well as soon as those pellets hit the hot water, they became almost liquid and passed right through all of the barriers I made and mixed with my wort, yuck! I boiled for one hour and then started the chiller, once everything was down to temp. I transferred it through a strainer to my primary, even through the strainer, when I took my sample for the hydrometer reading, my test vial was 20% full of trub, and did I mention how much I hate hop pellets? My reading was 1.024, so it will be a lighter beer, but that is ok, the taste is phenomenal, I used a bit more spices this time.

Besides the dreaded hop pellets, I used some Cascade and Tettnanger Whole hops.

I used 22gms of Nottingham dry yeast in a starter, and let it get going good.

I will be giving away my hop pellets as I don’t like them, I might have mentioned that.

So, time will tell, but I think this is much better than my last pumpkin ale.

Till Next Time.....