Bookend Brews

On a whim I decided that Saturday morning would be a good day to brew beer. What to make? Looking over my current is-fermenting/conditioning/carbonating/on-tap list I see a Kölsch (always on tap!), a Double IPA, and a Christmas Ale on tap; some Maibock fermenting away at 50°, and 10 gallons of Porter carbonating. Problem being, the Christmas Ale and Double IPA are almost gone! I have a few jars of yeast slurry in the ol' kegerator, namely Kölsch yeast, English Ale yeast, and the standard WLP001 California Ale yeast. And then there's that little bottle of raspberry extract that's been sitting on my shelf for months.

Then I decided I'd give it a shot at making a Raspberry Wheat. The only thing I had missing was the wheat malt, and I'll be using the WLP001 yeast instead of a hefeweizen yeast (basically an American wheat). So here we are:

Raspberry Wheat

Batch Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 10.00
Anticipated OG: 1.053
Anticipated SRM: 3.5
Anticipated IBU: 16.8

5.00 lbs. Wheat Malt
4.00 lbs. Pilsner Malt
1.00 lbs. Honey

0.75 oz. Hallertauer (Pellet, 4.00% AA) 75 min.
0.25 oz. Hallertauer (Pellet, 4.00% AA) 15 min.

Raspberry extract added at kegging

White Labs WLP001 California Ale

And of course the week stated out with brewing 5 gallons of Maibock for the Spring with a couple of fellow brewers over to assist. Drank a little too much homebrew for brewing, but I hit my starting gravity and volume dead-on. I used Jamil's Yeast Pitching Rate Calculator and used the stir plate to get 2L of lager yeast going. By the next morning the Maibock was chugging away, very good considering lager yeast ferments more slowly than ale yeast. All-in-all, a great day.

Prost!

Pilgrimage to Victory

Yesterday the wife told me her friend was in a karate tournament near Valley Forge, PA. Not being the history buff she is, I was a little confused as to the exact location. Once she said "just outside of Philadelphia", my brain said "VICTORY!"

"Victory" as in Victory brewing company!

Located in Downingtown, Victory's only about 20 minutes from Valley Forge, PA. Quite an allegory, salvation after hardship. In my case, after a long day at work. Unfortunately for the 11,000 men of George Washington's Continental Army, there was no Victory Brewing Company for their R&R and I'm sure the 18-century taverns paled in comparison.

We made it to Victory around late afternoon and already the restaurant area was brimming with people. Their 10 Years Alt was still on tap, so I started with a pint of that and enjoyed a pint of their Mad King Weiss with a rack of ribs. The restaurant area is large with a hint of a Bavarian beer hall feel. A long bar area backs up to a large window with a view of many shiny, stainless steel fermenters.

Before leaving, I presented my growler to the waitress for a fill with their Festbier. I also visited the gift shop and grabbed a few Victory gear items. On patron was busy buying 4 cases of beer, apparently a big fan as well!

Overall, the place is great. Last time I was there I toured the brewhouse, which was narrated by one of their management staff who certainly knew his way around and well knew the various functions of their brewery.

Again, I highly recommend a visit!

Prost!!

#57

Saturday morning, 6 a.m. Not much else gets me up this early in the morning on my days off, 'cept for the kids when they're being ornery. What a great morning. Freakishly warm for January at 63°F! And whisper-quiet outside, hardly any noise other than the constant roar of the HLT burner.

It was time to brew up 10 gallons of Porter for a homebrew club competition next month. And it was also the first time I used the HopStopper (thanks, Santa!) I gotta say I'm very satisfied with this thing. It's hard to judge clarity going into a fermenter with a Porter but from what I saw looked good. No green and brown hop particles/trub going into the fermenter first.

Almost had an incident-free brew day until I got distracted and left the CPC Quick Disconnect on the hot keg seat! Lesson here is always have extra parts. I managed to make a make-shift one with a female QD x 1/2" MPT and a 1/2" FPT x 3/4" female garden hose.

In the end, I knocked out 10 gallons in 4 hours and was just a gravity point short of the anticipated OG. Nice cool wort went into the fermenters and the yeast was ready to go off the stir plate.

Next up: Oktoberfest!