It was back in early-September that I wrote about home brewing another batch of various beers. Those beers were brewed and turned out fine despite my fears that all was lost.
The Honey Porter, Raspberry wheat and Citra IPA were great and were tapped first. Those finished up last week and, on Monday, I tapped my Coffee stout, Root beer and Hard spiced cider. Alongside what’s left of the IPA, that’s currently what’s on tap at the cabin.
I’ll talk more about how all of the beers brewed in September came out in a later post. For today, let’s talk about what’s brewing next.
First up, I am moving away from Brew in a Bag. I’m not saying it doesn’t work but I wanted a bit more ease and less hassle. So, I bought a 10 gallon mash tun. I’ve already done the first batch with this and it went great.
- Batch 1: Belgian Wit with Orange and Coriander brewed on November 18th. Primary ingredients are 5 lbs. Domestic Pilsner, 3 lbs. White Wheat, 1 lb. Unmalted Wheat, 8 oz. Carapils, 1 tbsp. coriander, ½ oz. orange peel and Liberty & Hallertau hops.
- Batch 2: Is a Golden Belgian Strong Ale (think Chimay yellow label). I’ll be brewing this on Friday the 23rd. Ingredients are 9 Lbs of Domestic 2-row, 8 oz. Caramel 40, 8 oz. Carapils, 1 Lb of candy sugar, 3 oz. of hops, Hallertau and Styrian Goldings hops
- Batch 3: This will be an Imperial stout. I’ll brew this in a couple of weeks and I don’t know yet what direction I will take this. The coffee stout I made tastes terrific. Maybe chocolate and coffee? Maybe bourbon soaked oak chips? I’m not sure yet. The ingredients are 18 lbs. Domestic 2-Row barley, 12 oz. Chocolate Malt, 4 oz. Caramel 120°L, 12 oz. Roasted Barley, Glacier and Williamette hops. Yeast is Wyeast British Ale # 1098
- Batch 4: This will be a repeat of the Raspberry Hefeweizen but I’ll be hopefully hitting my gravity this time at the start and, instead of Raspberries, I’ll be using blueberries and honey. We’ll see how this one comes out.
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Also today, I picked up two extra yeast vials. Buying vials like this will inspire me to actually create a beer around them and jump in. I’ve wanted to do a wild beer since the Berliner Weisse (which should be done in 2 months). I don’t know what these will be used for but I picked up:
- Brettanomyces lambicus WLP653
- Brettanomyces claussenii WLP645
I’m excited for my Berliner to be finished, too.
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f127/what-should-i-do-my-berliner-363493/
(Long read)
I expected a quicker turnaround on this Berliner, as has been my experience in the past. Since it didn’t sour right away, I pitched Wyeast 3191 – Berliner Weisse Blend into it. Excited to see what the strain of brett does, and if the lacto eventually helps the beer get some sourness.
Good luck with yours. Cheers!
Good read! yeah, in my case, the Berliner Weisse I brewed in September was pitched with a yeast vial that was “expired” at my home brew store so I did a starter and pitched it anyway. It’s been fermenting for 3 months. I just added strawberries and rhubarb to it so it should be sour enough by January…but, like you said, “we’ll see”