Brew Dudes

Just another site update!

I added two new categories to our list: Hops and Malts

When I started the hops and malts profiles, I stuck them all in the Ingredients category…now they have their own categories!

Now the hops/malts profiles are in their own place. Take a look.

Tough choices always abound when the seasons are changing. My IPA and Kolsch are going to get bottled up this weekend and its time to brew again. I have so many recipes that I want to brew, and styles that I want to drink. Several factors are making the choices hard:

1. Its getting warmer out. I was amazed at the American Cream Ale I brewed up not long ago and we toasted the whole keg at one party. I’d love to brew that up again for a regular drinker.

2. I still have a couple late winter recipes that I told myself to try out: Sweet Stout, American Brown Ale and Southern English Brown. Is it too late to brew these guys this far into spring? The stout maybe, but the browns would definitely still fit in with some wet spring weather.

3. I have a half sack of Pilsner malt and half sack of English Pale malt. I could brew up an Allagash White Clone that I put of from last year, or I could brew up a Best Bitter. I still need to re-try the Tripel I made late last year that didn’t quite turn out right. But these two beers have yeasts that I don’t have on hand right now.

4. I have a good amount of Cascade pellets on hand right now that are probably getting a little old. I should really brew up an all Cascade Pale Ale to use up those Cascades before they turn.

5. The IPA that is ready to be bottled has a nice yeast cake of Fermentis US-05 waiting to be repitched. Maybe that means the Cascade Pale or American Brown should be next. Then again that American Cream Ale starts rising to the top (Get it? Cream rises to the top!)

Anyhow here are the potential contenders in no specific order:
American Cream Ale
American Brown Ale
Southern English Brown
English Best Bitter
Allagash White Ale Clone
Belgian Tripel
Sweet (Milk) Stout
Cascade Pale Ale (American Pale Ale)

So what is sitting in your brew line up/agenda???

Last night, I got my stuff together for the Sam Adams LongShot submission. I followed the instructions that they emailed me including printing out the labels and attaching them to each bottle using a rubber band. I took a few pictures of the bottles and the traveling case I am using for transport:

So if you see a guy on the subways of Boston with a case like this, he may not have a laptop in it…

I am submitting the APA that I just brewed along with the Maple Porter I made late last year.  I am going to be dropping them off at the brewery today.

Now I don’t have any delusions that I am going to win or even do well in this competition…just interested in the whole process.
I have learned that life is about experiences and trying things like this blog…so let’s see what happens.

Hey there,

We had a reader write in with a problem about low to no carbonation after priming and bottling his lager.   From what he typed about in his email, it seems it might have been an issue with time and/or temperature.

The temperature part of the issue has me concerned…and I am using this post to reach out the community for comments and discussion.

Here’s a little back-fill:  I plan to brew a lager this year.

The few things that seem to be the brick wall in front of me are:

• Controlling temperature – will I be able to maintain the right range of temps without a fridge?
• Will I be able to master the diacetyl rest if need be?
• Are my yeasties going to settle out before I bottle?  If so, will I need to add more yeast at bottling?

Although I have a few worries (silly, I know), the one I would like to focus on and get a discussion going is the last point.

Has anyone run into problems bottling a lager, in particular low to no carbonation in the bottle?

Comment away!