Sprint to the Finish

It’s September! In September I always start thinking about how I am going to wrap up the end of the year as a brewer. Also, for most of us the extra warm temps of the summer are starting to slip behind us and there is a limited window of opportunity to brew in some ideal temps if you don’t have an active temp control set up for your brewing. There are only a few short months left to brew what you want to brew before the year ends. I start thinking about the Fall beers I want, and any holiday beers I may want to lay out. The latter is certainly important to think about now as these beers tend to be a little bigger and will take more time to mature.

So as my brew kettle starts to ramp up here is my short list of things to try and knock out before the year is out:

1. Oatmeal Stout– I want to try a new recipe concept with some Munich and Crystal 15
2. Cherry Wheat– This one is just a fun beer. I didn’t brew any wheats this summer, to the chagrin of my wife. That and I told John I would give him this pound of lactose I have in my supply closet. He wants to make a sweet chocolate stout. I figured blending some chocolate stout and cherry wheat might make some really cool black forest beer. So yeah, I am putting John on the spot for this one.
3. Sweet Potato Beer– A fall beer recipe I have had kicking in my head for over a year. Its time to bring it to life.
4. American Cream Ale– My inlaws have really taken to this beer, we have been working on a keg of it I have for most of the summer. I like the ego kick it gives me as they salivate over pitchers of this beer. With family get togethers coming from Thanksgiving to Christmas, brewing up this one before then will keep my ego pumped through the new year.
5. Holiday Ale– I have a beloved recipe that I haven’t made in a couple years for this one. Its a real winner and I won my first competition medals with this many years ago. I might increase the OG 10-15% so I can age it a bit as well.

The list could have easily been longer than that but I have to draw the line there somewhere. On top of that as a blog we are still covering kegging for newbies, I have a baltic porter and a pale ale to write up, we are still working on some more regular video logs as well. I am building a new keg mash tun, I have placed a pump in my process now, and I need to finish off my kegorator. So there is much for us to do and write about.

We’d love to hear what’s on your year end brew sheet!

BREW ON!