The day for ESB!

Brewing an old favorite, Trout Stream Ale. The first two times I brewed this, I actually drove out to Blue Springs CA, and brought home water from the spring house at the deserted farm there. While I no longer go to these extremes, its still a very tasty ale!
Grain bill

9.5 pounds Maris Otter
1 pound med crystal
1/2 pound light crystal
1/2 pound rolled barley.
1/2 pound Victory malt.
Mashed at 152 for 70 minutes
Hops bill
1 oz Northdown 60 min
1.3 oz EKG 30 min
.5 oz Fuggles 10 min
Will dry hop with an ounce of EKG
Used Wyeast 1968 yeast.
Full krausen the next day (20 hours later)

Strawberry mel

Racked, stabilized with potassium sorbate. Next week I'll back sweeten. Bought mesquite honey for this, am now thinking I need to get orange blossom to do this.
Its the 30th of August, back sweetening this with 1.5 pounds of Mesquite honey tonight. Hopefully, I'll be able to bottle in October!

Oaty Oatmeal Stout

Not much to do this afternoon, so I'm finally getting around to brewing an oatmeal stout with nothing but oats.
About 9 pounds of oatmalt
1.5 pounds of toasted (dark) oat grits and a pound of oatmeal
mash at 154 fo an hour
2 oz of Fuggles hops 60 minutes
fermented on yeast cake from the ABA (which I'm kegging today)
This one failed. Apperently, I don't know how to roast grain, as I got no color extraction. Not sure how much sugar is avaible in malted oats, but the 8 pounds I added yeilded a 1020 wort, after boiling down to 5 gallons, it might have approached 1025, hardly enough to bother with. Live and learn, barley has been the main brewing grain for good reasons!

Deep Forest Ale

After sipping on this for a few weeks, I decided it was a bit "sweet" and or lacking. So, today, the 13th of August, I added Wyeast 5151 Brettanomyces claussenii, which is an English strain of Brett. This should dry it out a bit, and lend a slight brett characteristic to the ale. Will know how it does in a month or two!

Multifruit Mel

Sitting with 3 gallons of straight cranberry blossom mead still clearing and a freezer full of fruit, I decided to combine the two. The first fruit addition will be 5 pounds of motecello cherries (tart pie cherries). These will go in tonight. Then some red raspberries, followed by blackberries, then the black raspberries. I plan to rack between each fruit addition so that I can judge how much of each needs added. It should end up as a complex fruit filled mead.
Its Friday the 13th, I added 2 pounds of blackberries and am thawing out a couple more pounds of blackberries and about 5 pounds of red raspberries to add tomorrow.
Added 3 1/4 pounds of red raspberries and another 2 1/2 pounds of blackberries on August 14th. Later this day, I added 2 pounds of black raspberries. This is going to be good!!!!
August 22nd. I added 2 pounds of peach blossom honey, one quart each of Trader Joes Just Blueberry juice, Hortex Black Currant nectar and Fructal Strawberry nectar. This should be done, unless after a month I decide a little more black raspberry is needed. I then topped off to five gallons with Black raspberry blossom mead (one gallon) and part of a bottle of sunflower blossom mead. Like I have previously noted, this will be GOOD!

They say 103 today

That doesn't slow me down, brewing an American Brown Ale today.

Malt bill
10 pounds of 2 row
.5 lbs. of crystal 65
.5 lbs of chocolate malt
.25 lbs. of Victory malt
.25 lbs. of dark wheat malt

Hop bill
.5 oz. Chinook 60 minutes
1.5 oz Cascade 15 minutes
2 0z. Cascade 0 minutes

US-05 Yeast

Further work

Both batches of Cheswick Bitter are in the Kegerator carbinating. When I return from vacation, they will be ready to drink!!!!
Also the Rye Twist has been dry hopped with an ounce of Cascade. When I get home, into a keg, and by the weekend, it'll be ready to quaff!

A Rye Twist

Many things to do, Stauderfest, Going to Robert's house for cool fresh ale.....but I'm out in 95 degree weather brewing up a batch of Rye Twist.

The Recipe (altered slightly due to an understocked grain bin)

7.5 pounds American 2-row
.75 pounds of light wheat malt
.75 pounds of rye malt
2 pounds of 60l Crystal
.75 pounds of Carapils

This will recieve .5 oz of chinook at 60 min,
and .5 oz of cascade at 30, 15 and 5 minutes and at knockout. Will dry hop next Friday with an ounce of Cascade. .
Using Saffale 005 Yeast.

Penrose Pub

Here are some updated pics of my brew room.

Chiswick Bitter

The recipe: (ten gallon batch)

14 pounds of Maris Otter
3/4 pound of 135L Crystal

1 ounce of UK Target 60 minutes
.5 ounces of UK Northdown 15 minutes
.5 ounces of UK Challenger at 15 minutes
3 ounces total of East Kent Golding (subject to change)
1.5 tsp of Irish Moss at 15 minutes

OG of 1.040

Using Wyeast 1968 on half and Danstar Windsor on the other half.

Day three now, first dry hop additions, on the 1968 batch, half ounce of East Kent Goldings, on the Windsor half, half ounce of Brambling Cross.

Tranferred to secondary. 1968 batch received another half ounce of EKG and the Windsor half received another half ounce of Brambling Cross. The EKG half is now in the kegorator chilling at 50 degrees while the Brambling Cross is cooling down to 68 degrees. In a week and a half, they will be kegged with another half ounce of each hop.

Busy night

Getting ready for the Grand Opening of the Penrose Pub this weekend. Will post pictures soon.
Last night I racked the mead off of the strawberries. Excellant flavor in this mead and the color is perfect. Let it sit and clear for several weeks, then bottle.
Finally kegged the Deep Forest Ale last night also. It took the oak flavor wonderfully, melted in with the spruce and maple syrup. It will be a fine sipping ale this winter!

Strawberry Mead

I'm placing 8 1/2 pounds of strawberries that Bill Garvey gave me with three gallons of Missouri Blueberry blossom honey mead that I started a while back. Hoping to end up with a semi-sweet to sweet strawberry melomel. A portion of this mead will go back to Bill for providing the fruit. I'm expecting great things out of this!
Bottled this on 10-3. Very tasty!

Olde Ale Revisited

Looks like I'll be brewing the old ale again this weekend. Will make a half gallon starter tonight with some yeast saved from the porter. A little brett, have a strain from England, should make the ale taste just right! Always good to brew!

Flashbacks

Thinking back on my early beginnings. Hard cider made in my dorm room at Southwestern in Winfield,Ks with bread yeast. I remember an elderberry wine I made while living at Pammel Court (Iowa State) that we had to mix with Sprite to drink. Finished off the whole gallon that night, Di and Jan got toasty. Beer and wine making with Linda in Winfield. The persimmon wine was ugly, cloudy, murky, a real witches brew, but it tasted quite good. And look at me now, 5 beers on tap......

New Kegerator!

While its not finished, here are prelim pictures.

And pictures of the inside, notice 5 kegs with room to either store bottled beers or condition an extra keg in line-up.
A little white paint on the outside, make a drip pan......life is great!