With so many beers brewed in a year it’s hard to keep track of them all. This was a Belgian ale I make for the summer.
Coming to the end of the boil, the wort chiller is being sterilized
Once we got it cooled down (in the summer this is a pain) we transferred it over to a six gallon carboy. We ferment for about 4 weeks before racking over to a keg.
Filling the carboy with cooled wort
Fermentation
Belgian Ale in Primary Fermentation
I brewed straight through the summer with some great wheat beers. I then followed up with some light beers. Kolsch, Leffe and English Pale Ale. Bought a bigger burner to heat the wort and fry some turkey. It’s still a challenge to cool the wort. I need to go over to a immersion cooler.
I grew some yeast in a beaker and pitched for some great beer. Somewhat different then just pitching into the wort. It builds up some serious quantities of yeast for pitching.
Oh yes now we have the keginator running 5 gallon batches of ale. It can hold two 5 gallon tanks of ale. Soda syrup kegs are re-purposed for storage.
So now we are going into the fall with some great brown ales. Honey brown, Phate Tyre, Caribou Slobber.
Its an amazing process of making wort, the raw un-fermented beer. With boiling water and malt sugar in liquid and powder form, additions of hops and the strange aroma that arises from the brew pot. It’s almost prehistoric in the concept of making a mildly alcoholic drink. I’ve been working with liquid extract and specialty grains and an amazing collection of yeasts. Ah yeasts bring us wonderful cheese, bread and beer. This connection is a wonderful experience and I must say the results certainly are encouraging. It will be interesting to see how the late spring and summer months go with brewing. I may have to take a break..after working like mad to make it through the summer. I’m looking at a ginger flavored beer to make before the heat of the summer. I have a thing for ginger (and stormy nights).
Tags: beer brewing, ginger
Harpoon ginger wheat beer. 100 barrel series, session 29. A very tasty surprise. A wheat beer base is a nice compliment to the ginger flavor. I’m a big fan of ginger and this just hits the spot. Winter is a great time to release any kind of beer but this one would do equally well in the summer time with a touch of honey and lemon: A light Wezen with a kick I might add. I think a brewer could have a lot of fun with ginger and a wheat based malt: Harpoon’s Scott Shirley sure did. High proof and a light wheat color and taste. Very clever using the ginger to hide the alcohol. The problem with higher levels of alcohol in beer is it can taste winy. It’s easy enough to jack up the content but to balance it out is usually the job of the hops. This is a great beer and I would not only recommend it I’m not recommending it so there is more for me!!
I’m looking out the window, waiting for the snow to fall. I can smell the snow, feel the cutting wind and see the dark clouds. I have some home brewed beer so getting snowed in is very possible. With 20 feet to the main road it might not be till summer. Well hopefully the UPS or FedEx drivers can make it the distance. Of course this does not work if the snow melts. I’m worried about that. With all the talk of global warming I’m afraid all my snow will melt. Although I don’t know how we can have global warming with winter. That just does not make sense. Like Alaska not having snow or something. Or even crazier the arctic ice melting. Crazy talk. 😉
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