Amber

Still drinking my Amber, it is my best beer to date i would have to say. I broke into the keg which i used the Burton Ale yeast and it to is clear as a wistle now, so i guess it just took a little more time to do it's thing. Ok go have a pint and tell me about it later.

Stout

Well, today I put my stout into secondary, but I'm a little concerned about the gravity being at a 1.030 after a week. I might not have pitched enough yeast to start, but I'm not really sure. I mash was low enough for the wort to be more fermentable, so I'm just a little baffled.

Stout Again

Ok, so Sunday was a very good brewing day for me. I had no problems, though my sparge arm needs a little work. They day went extremely smooth for a change, so they beer should be good. I used the Dry English Ale on this Stout, just to see how it would do. I also put in a lb. of wheat germ just to play around. Everyone uses flaked barley, but i'm not really sure what that really is. I dont think it's just barley thats shaved up, it must be the germ of the grain, cause bran is not going to do crap, but if i'm wrong please let me know. The OG is at 1.060, and i'll let you know where it ends up. Ok, till next time.

Plow Head Porter

Here is a picture of my Plow Head Porter taken by my good friend Zsuzsanna Schreck of Rocketcat. This porter was entered into my first brewing competition. I've yet to hear any feed back but, damn the man, I loved this beer.















All images are subject to
Copyright 2006 by Zsuzsanna Schreck.

Amber

So 3 weeks ago, I went after an Amber Ale, and really had a great day till the mash out, when my kettle got upto 180 deg. F. for a couple minutes. Luckly I keep a good amount of ice on hand for just that sort of thing, so I really can't tell if it's effected by the temp jump. O ya, I also had a clog during the sparge and had to float the grain bed for a bit and let reset for 10 minutes. Even though I had these things go wrong I really enjoy this beer. It has a great balance of malt and hops, with a nice mouth feel, thats not to heavy and a great dark amber color. The OG was a good 1.053 and ended at a 1.011. Again I used two different yeast strands in this batch to see which I liked better, and i'm for sure going to use the White Labs Dry English Ale from now on. Compared to their Burton Ale the English Ale is much clearer, but does have a slight chill haze.
Until my next pint. Good night and Good Luck.

Well it's been a little while sense i've posted, but I'd have to say I have an excuse, I've been busy as hell. So as far and the Stout goes from my last post, the flavor is great, but it lacks a little in the mouth and in the head retention. The OG was at a 1.060 and ended at a 1.020, so i'm not really sure about why the body isn't what i hoped. The Pale Ale tastes really good, but is really cloudy, and a little to fruity for my taste so I'm going to try a different hop next time. I really, really, really need to get away from the Cascades. The OG was also at a 1.060 and ended at a 1.017. Good body, Good head, just to damn cloudy.