April was a Busy Brewing Month . . .

Ok, I admit it, I have been extremely lax about updating the blog, especially given all of the beer and brewing things I did in April. I keep telling myself that I will get around to posting to the blog, but never seem to make the time to do it. Here is a bulletized recap of the brewing and wine-making activities of the last month or so:

• John's Party Brew Day #3 - John and I brewed beer batches #5 and #6 in April, which included a Dry Irish Stout and a Pale Ale. The Dry Irish Stout resulted in a stuck sparge, so it took a LONG time, and we kept missing our temperatures; thus it was nick-named Murphy's Law Irish Stout. However, despite all of that, it tastes great.


• First 10-Gallon Batch - I brewed my first 10-gallon batch ever in April. I had borrowed a friends 20-gallon aluminum pot so John and I to make two batches of beer at the same time. While I had it, I figured I would try to brew 10 gallons of Belgian wit, which worked well, but still took longer than expected.


• First Brewing Experiment - I divided the 10-gallon batch into two carboys and finished each different. I used the first carboy as a control, allowing it to finish fermenting normally and just following the recipe. I tried to make the second carboy into a clone of Dogfish Head's Red and White beer, which my wife loves. This involved racking the beer onto 2 ounces of oak chips that had soaked in pinot noir wine for a week. It will be neat to try the beer side-by-side to taste how it is different.


• Kegerator - I got really lucky on Craig's List and bought a $1,000 kegerator for $150. It is only three years old and is in very good condition. It can hold three homebrew kegs and I am currently working on a method to outfit it with three taps. I am very excited about this project, as I will finally have draft beer at the house.


• 4th CAMRA Meeting - Our homebrewing club had its fourth monthly meeting and we had about 25 people show up. One of the members led the discussion about the Belgian wit category (very timely, as I had just brewed one and he had lots of good suggestions) and we talked about growing hops and organizing our first homebrew tasting event at the end of May.

I hope to write an individual post about most of these items, but if past performance is any indication, it might not happen for a while. I am especially interested in follow-up posts about the kegerator and the Belgian wit experiment. I also need to do a write up on my bohemian pilsner, as I am down to the last bottle.

Until next time, whenever that may be . . . cheers!