New Belgium Brewing distributing in PA starting 8/31/15

Be prepared to see this logo around town as New Belgium is finally coming to PA.

Fat Tire is sometimes considered a "Craft gateway beer", but I always enjoy one whenever  I go out west. It was a pleasant treat that I looked forward to. Now I can enjoy one at home.

Hopefully their Lips of Faith line will be distributed as well.

If only we could see more Cantillion and Heretic!

2015 Harvest Pale Ale - 08/16/15

Harvested my hops today. I bit early this year but this when the schedule allows so I picked the top cones of the bones and donated the rest of the hops. I ended up with 1# dried hops (Centennial, Columbus, Chinook, Cascade) with the later two being double the first by weight.
I ended up with as 5 gallon bucket full of dried hops for a 8 gallon batch.
Grain bill - 65% 2 row, 27% 6 row, 5% victory, 3% c20
I bittered with a small amount of Warrior for 18 ibus at 60 minutes. The harvest hops were added at flameout and I had a 30 minute stand. I then chilled with a immersion chiller for about 70 minutes to 65F, then rested 30 minutes to let everything drop out.
Transferred to 2 carboys with OG 1.056.

The brewery was super hot - close to a 100F  while brewing. The boil was controlled as it should have been. The relay in the control panel must not switch off correctly with the heat.  I've had this problem before. If this starts occurring more often I may have to replace the boil circuit relay, but my gut tells me the control panel is too small. With all the man hours I have into that panel, I'm hoping this is an occasional problem on hot days.

Hoe de Garden (Belgian Wit) and Little Cousin (American Pale Ale) 05/16/2015

Hoe de Garden - Belgian Wit - OG 1.046
Spiced with Orange/Grapefruit peel, chamomile, coriander
50/50 wheat/pils
mash ph 5.29 -
no sparge
Bella hop bittering/Hallertau (5 grams) flameout
WLP400 - 1L starter 1 day

Little Cousin - American Pale Ale OG 1.046
Golden promise 93%, 7% carafoam
mash ph 5.3 - no sparge
All flameout hops (9oz-3oz of each) Chinook, Columbus,Galaxy whirlpool 10 minutes
2 oz of Columbus at start of chilling.
Chill to 70f
Rest for 45min.
Pitch WLP001 - 1L starter 1 day

Brewery issue - I have an oring going bad on a hose connector. I pulled the connector out and will replace it before it leaks or causes a burn.
No pressure fermentation for 30 hours then put air lock on.

Nita Nee Stout - Irish Dry Stout - 4/25/15

Second brew of day - Irish Dry stout.
I was going to do a no sparge but I forgot to add roasted barley at mash out so I did a batch sparge.
Overshoot target will have to cut with boiled water to drop the alcohol level.
Used a 3/4# rice that we didn't like - it should be just sugar in the boil.
London Ale - wlp013, flaked barley, 2 row, roasted barley - EKG.
Was fermenting in a few hours and is pretty much at terminal gravity in 3 days.
Counterflow chiller.
No issues on brew day.
The new grain mill is great.

All Nighter - English Standard Bitter - 04/25/15

Today is a double brew day to build the pipeline for Shannon's graduation party.

First up an English Standard Bitter.

Hoped with Bramling Cross - mildly hopped. Hoping for a little interesting flavor.

My favorite "English malt" - Golden Promise, 1/2# of English C120, 1/4# of special roast, and 1/4# of invert#2. 

Yorkshire Yeast -repitch from English Brown Ale - 3 week old yeast.

New mill - Monster mill - used standard gap setting and it is a much better mill.

Used counterflow chiller and no sparge to speed up brew day.

No issues - was fermenting in a few hours.

Summer Session - Kolsch 04/18/15

Brewed a Kolsch today. I actually made a double batch and split the fermentation between WLP003, WLP029, Wyeast 2565. I have heard that 2565 is sometimes preferred over WLP029 so I wanted to check that out and wlp003 is a platinum White labs Kolsch strain that I happened to pick up.

I had some mill issues again and I've decided to replace my mill with a different brand.
I ordered a Monster Mill at the end of this brewday. I was tired of fighting with the other mill.

Had to double grind the grain because the mill was not crushing the kernels. I ended up overshooting my conversion efficiency and will add boiled water back to cut the alcohol level back down to a more session beer. This is beer three for Shannon's graduation party, three more to go.

I used Kolsch malt, it's a little like a vienna but not as sweet.
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh hops.

Lady Luck Lager - Munich Helles - 4/3/15

I brewed a Munich Helles tonight. Munich Helles is one of my favorite styles.
Easy drinking malt focused pale gold clean lager.
This beer will be on tap for Shannon's graduation party.


Summary of brew Day:
I'm still using the Northern Brewer mill. The problem is that the rollers don't always grab the grain and if they do the husk isn't always broken. Once I get a coupon I'll be getting a Monster Mill.