A Munich Smash

stoutmakerLeave a comment

Had a busy weekend in the brewery for once. First we got the Xmas beer kegged and ready to go.
A relatively easy going Best Bitter featuring Golden Promise malt with EKG hops finishing it off. It’s going be what I personally will be drinking during this years Holidays.

Next we brewed a beer that is going to be going a beer fest in early February. Munich malt and Perle hops.

A great combination. But this one is going to be quite hoppier than what you normally see in this combination.

We are already looking towards the next brews as the competition season is fast approaching. I think we have a theme going, but will need to work a few things out.

Stay tuned.

Keg Filler

stoutmakerLeave a comment

I have some brewing to do this weekend. I am quickly running out of all beer. All my kegs are down to probably a gallon or less. I decided by the wheel of fate, which beer I’m gonna brew.
Keg Filler Blonde.

A new brew. Just one that I made up in order to get something in the keg and up and running very quickly. But at the same time.. Be somewhat to style.

There are a lot of different opinions of what a Blonde ale is supposed to be. I for one don’t look at one as the lightest beer out there.
When I think of a Blonde ale I think of a lighter colored beer that’s average alcohol, but has a definite malt, hop and yeast profile. Somewhere between a light lager and a pale ale.

So to get there. I went with

Keg Filler
-8 lbs 2row for the base grain
-1 lbs Munich to get a little malt backbone
-½ oz citra @ 60- this should give it enough bittering but stay short of bitter
-½ oz Citra @10- for hop taste, yet be enough in the nose to be noticed
-Nottingham Yeast- extremely light esters and keeps it from being dry.

I’m gonna mash this at 154 because there is nothing but base malts and want to keep some of that body.
There should be nothing fancy or standoutish for this beer. And that is the point of this one. Just a quick solid Keg Filler beer.

Next up…
Something for these red currants I have.

Kveik update

stoutmaker1 Comment

A bit of a follow up on the Kveik Munich brew from last week.
I decided to give the very popular Kveik type yeast a try. Being touted as the next game changing thing in both home and commercial brewing.
Quick turn around and wide temperature range going upwards of 100F make these yeasts very popular right now.
With dozens of varieties out on the market now and many more waiting to be released, you will probably be overloaded with Kveik talk and beers very soon.
I chose the OLY-091 Hornindal yeast by Omega. I figured because my garage hovers in the 85-95 degree range it would be perfect. 
We infact had near perfect conditions for this brew. But I did not attempt to regulate those temps. Just what ever the garage did, that’s what it got, so we did have a substantial swing. But I already knew that going in.
I took readings twice a day for 4 days. Once in the morning before work and once in the heat of the afternoon after work.
Day 1 pitch 11:00am- 85
Day 1 6pm- 92
Day 2 8am- 81
Day2 6pm -89
Day 3 6am 80
Day 3 5pm 87
Day 4 6am 75
Day 4 6pm 86
Pretty much a 10 degree swing every day. But it never seemed to affect the fermentation,, at least visually.
One other perk to these yeasts is the quick pitch to keg time. While I was expecting it to be much faster (and it might have been with more stable temps) it was kegged in 7 days. That for me is completely unheard of as I rarely even look at the beer until 3 weeks.
We went from 1052 to 1008ish. So it did what was expected numberwize anyway.
And while the carboy looked like mud, this particular carboy always collects crud like this every brew. But the beer went from fairly active ferment to dropping clear with a compact yeast cake over night. I did let is sit for an extra day.
So far everything is great.. but how does it taste? It’s kinda hard to get a good description of it in this beer. It’s so clean and neutral that it’s not standing out enough. But there is a orange zest thing going on that I’m not sure is the Magnum hops. No fusel, no jet fuel.. just a  good clean maybe slightly citrusy profile.
I am already looking at the next recipe for this yeast.. maybe something a bit lighter to let it stand out a bit more.