A year of Brewing

I'm enjoying a year old IPA, my first brew, to celebrate my first brewing on January 24, 2008.

It tastes as it did ten months ago. A little pickled. I added too much priming sugar so it's slightly over-alcoholed.

A delicious retrospective. Best hobby ever.

I was really hoping for a Stewart's ginger beer but I couldn't find any at any of the three local stores. Doctor Who really goes well with ginger beer.

Double Brew

Another double brew. Winter Warmer yesterday, Dortmunder Export today. Straight into the carboy.

I ordered this kit several months ago, and the malt extract froze as you can see on my brew calendar (bottom of page). I'm not sure how long the extract stays fresh, but my guess is that it started fermenting a little. The picture on the top is the before. It was foamy, generating some gas and was bowing the lid of the container. I scraped off the foam and added it to the boil as usual. We'll see how it turns out.


Also, I used Wyeast strain 2124, Bohemian Lager yeast. The smack pack swelled all the way out after warming up to room temperature. There was a slight pouring problem and I lost some yeast down the side of the carboy. Hopefully there is enough in there for a full fermentation.

I'm going to leave the carboy out of the fridge until it shows signs of fermentation. Then drop the temprature gradually.
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Lagering

Just so I don't forget, I brewed and lagered the Vienna Lager all in the carboy. No racking to different fermenters for that brew. There was no noticeable difference between that beer and the Pilsner or Oktoberfest that were fermented in a bucket then racked to the carboy for lagering.

In other news, I had a Goose Island Winter Ale (I can't find it online, might have been the Christmas Ale) and it smelled exactly like the Listermann's Winter Warmer kit I brewed yesterday. I'm positive there is some roasted barley in there. Hopefully mine turns out as delicious.