still at it

Still brewing catch-up. Just dry-hopped a RyePA for kegging in early July. Just dry-hopped the Orval-ish beer too. Roeslare fermenting in the basement. Pilsner and smoke beer lagering. Yesterday I flung together an emergency thirst quencher. Sort of a bullshit cream pilsner? Like a pilsner recipe, but weaker, and lightened with sugar. Not over-bittered. Lots of Tettnanger and Hallertauer for aroma. U.S.-05 is fermenting it in the basement, relatively cool. Wish I had one more IPA going too. May have to do an emergency batch o' that at some point damnit...

hoppy beer tasting

Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale: This is a superb black IPA with massive, sticky hop flavor and solid aroma. I love it. Expensive, but I should buy a couple more...

Oskar Blues Gubna: Another winner. Nose melds understated, but creamy, malt and pine-accented hops. Despite huge size, has all of the balance and much of the drinkability of the always lovely Dale's Pale Ale.

Lager time

I normally brew two or three lagers in January-March, but it got put off...

Yesterday: Rauchbier. Third time I've brewed one of these. Half Munich, half Bamberger smoked malt, touch of Carafa II to bump up the color. Currently fermenting vigorously. Used to double decoct this beer, but just did a single one. Dough in at 153 and then set-up a big bubbling Dutch oven next to the main mash. Bavarian lager yeast.

Today: House Pilsner. Tweaked with a little Munich and somewhat overhopped by Czech standards. Hops will be U.S.-grown Hallertau and Tettnang. Bohemian lager yeast.

These will be in the basement in the cooler for about 6 to 7 weeks and then should get bottled in early July when I'm back from my Folger fellowship. Aging with them in the basement but at ambient temperature will be the Roeslare and 3789 beers. Each got a couple weeks at kitchen temperature but they should be downstairs shortly to make sure the Brett doesn't get too wacky.

Next up in the brewing marathon is probably Denny's Rye PA with the 1450 strain (a new one for me) and a steam beer.

I'm on a roll.

Other impending things: two Saisons; a redundant Rye PA; an IPA Tripel; other Belgians (Leuven, 3787); some sort of a quick-drinking, refreshing session ale with noble hops. One of the Belgians needs to be the missing beer in my mass cycle: Benediction.

Batch 200

Just brewed batch 200. Was vaguely planning to do something outlandish, some sort of oak-aged, improbably strong, fusion style, ostentatious sorta deal. But the number crept up on me so I just brewed something that went with the yeast I had already smacked, an old pack of 3789 from last spring. The result is a beer loosely inspired by, but not intended to be a clone of, Orval.

I'm hell bent on brewing fairly regularly for the next couple of weeks to create a base of future operations and restore some stocks. So there was a batch of Roeslare pale last week, this Orvalish concoction today, and several other things in the works: Steam, Pils, Smoke, and Saison are probably at the top of the list. Draft stocks are OK and about to get better so the long term lagers and Belgians are key for the moment, though, as always, a batch of IPA or summery pale ale for draft would not be a bad idea either...