Brewing Update- Snowed in!

I haven’t brewed since November!!!  All that snow still has encased my garden hose along my driveway.
But as I left for work this morning, I could see well over 70% of it exposed, the last bit is actually encased in ice in a shady spot near the house.

It’s almost time to fire up the brew kettle once again.
The top of the list is a revisit my Oatmeal Stout recipe with some revisions.
I thought I would be able to start brewing sooner, so does it make sense to brew up an Oatmeal Stout as the weather starts to warm. (dare I challenge Mother Nature by making that statement?)

I also have a Pale Ale and some Cream Ale on the top of the list as well… tough decisions.

BREW ON!

Original Post 12/22/08Well I had plans to fire off that Cascade Pale ale to complete my comparison to the Brown Ale I made but mother nature has different plans for me it seems.

We have received ice and snow over the last two weeks which has basically shut down my brewing operations.  I hook up to my water source from an exterior faucet on the house here.  I use it for filling pots, but more importantly it’s my chiller water source.  Regardless of that fact but my water hose is buried under 2 feet of snow out there.  I draped it down the front lawn to drain it.  Now it’s completely buried!

So until I can dig out the hose and the faucet, I’ll just have to make do with what I have.
The good news is that it’s so cold I have decided to keg my American Brown Ale instead of bottling it.  I’ll keep it on the enclosed porch where it should stay plenty cold to carbonate and to serve.  I have some bottled beer out there and it doesn’t freeze normally.  So I’ll get back into my kegging practices without a beer fridge. Hey, that’s green brewing right????

I hope you are brewing more than I am now despite the winter weather here in New England.

BREW ON!