This post will serve as my jumping off point for my first brew session of 2010.  The new baby in the house has certainly slowed down my brewing.  So for this batch I am going to be brewing up an extract batch of American Brown Ale.

I modified my favorite all-grain brown ale recipe to this extract one in an attempt to brew some fresh beer in hopefully half the time of my normal all grain sessions.  I hope to get it started and wrapped up in 3 hours!  We’ll see though.I am excited to do an extract brew again.  Its been a while since I did one.  I started my WLP001 yeast two nights ago and I put the flask in the fridge this morning to encourage it to ‘floc’ out.  I’ll decant the spent wort and pitch just slurry tonight.  (I usually pitch the entire starter, but I wanted to try something different).The yeast looked nice and light tan this morning, so I am in good shape. The extract attempt will also be part of my efforts to shorten my brew day as part of the series I started in a previous post.

We’ll see if I can hit that three hour mark.The biggest challenge will be getting my kettles set up in the garage.  I was hoping to brew on the front stoop just outside my garage; but its raining here today in The Commonwealth of MA.  My garage is a nightmare as usual post the winter season.  We just keep letting things pile up in there all winter long and I haven’t done a good spring cleaning yet.

And if you are really paying attention, yes I said kettles.  I am brewing the brown ale, but if things go well I may stagger a second extract session 40 minutes later to make an Amber Ale.  I had some extra hops around that I wanted to use up, so I purchased some Munich extract and more base extract.  If the set up and space issues work out I will hopefully come out of the session with two beers not one.I always tend to bite off more than I can chew though, so I hope to play it conservatively and brew the second beer only if its all going well….

BREW ON!