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
