Arghhh! Another brew day froze out!

I've been trying to get a brew session in for the past three or four weeks when I have a day free to do so. And each time, the weather has conspired to keep the storeroom low. I almost had an op the other week... but there were In House issues. This week, I figured that I would brew today, Sunday, for sure. But looking at the thermometer and seeing it below 10°F, I just can't bring myself to face that. When it is too cold to brew outside, I brew in the basement with a fan in front of the outer door to exhaust the fumes from the burners. But this is just too cold. (Am I beginning to transition from 'Young Geezerhood' to actual 'Geezerhood'? Aieeee!)

Dunno... after I've had a flaggon or two of coffee I might change my mind.

Münich Cream Ale ready to be drunk...

I've taken a couple sixers out of the cases and fridged them, taking one to the December meeting (held on 2 Jan. due to snow) and the other one sampled and distributed amongst the Pilgrims. Tastes good, and Trish said that she likes this one. At the meeting I was asked to give a presentation on the Cream Ale style at the next meeting. Thought that all we did was swill brew and eat copious amounts of most excellent food, did you? Well, we do that too. But we have educational thingys as well.

This beer isn't to style per se, so I believe that calling it 'Münich Cream Ale' is not correct. But what the hey. My beer, I can name it as I please.

Tasted the Munich Cream ale after one week...

...slightly carbonated but not there yet. Tastes pretty good, Trishie will probably like it. You see, it is for her that I have been fooling with the Cream Ale style so much this year.

I had planned to brew another batch of Amber Ale yesterday but I felt like shite, as I did on Sunday. VW suggested that it was DFIRS (Delayed Flue Inoculation Reaction Syndrom) but I don't think so. I just had two days off in a row and it was time to get ill. Get it out of the way for the holidays, I raccoon. Jeff F. gave me enough grain to get the Amber Ale brewed and I have made up the recipe with the ingredients that I now have on hand. Should be ready to test next year... January? Febrewary? We will see.

Munich Cream Ale bottled

Got 53 12-oz. bottles out of this batch after adding corn sugar in 1 liter of water. Should be ready to taste by Christmas.

06A v4.0 has stopped bubbling....

I believe that I will rack to the secondary before I go to work this Ayem. Trish was not real happy with the dryness of the last couple batches of Cream Ale ("6A" as she calls it, a reference to the alpha-numeric style ID on the cap label). I'll rack to secondary sooner than usual and bottle after two weeks. Perhaps that will assuage her disappointment. And if this is the last batch of beer that I am ever able to brew, at least she will be happy.

Bonus Nachos!
-CyberDave

And remember what the Virtual Philosopher, (Wayne Patrick Hammond) 'Virtual Wayne' once said to me:

"Dave, it's too late to undo the past, but you can still undo the future!"

New Cream Ale brew: v 4.0 Münich Cream Ale

It's been a while since I brewed... I decided that this Monday was the day to do it yet again. I planned to make it from mostly Münich malt, but I only had 5.44 lbs. left. And so I used up the rest of my Pale Ale malt and 2.75 lbs. of my Pilsner malt to make up the diff. And this time, I am using Fermentis American Ale 05 dry yeast to ferment with. This also has 2lbs. of corn meal in the grain bill so I had to cook this adjunct prior to mashing the rest of the grains.

If you have never had the safety plug blow on your pressure cooker,let me tell you: It is a glorious sight and sound! I had 2 lbs of corn cooking on med. with the 10 lb setting on the pressure relief valve in place... but the thing didn't do it's 10-lb dance. When suddenly...
Pow~!
Trish had retreated to the back of the house to escape my 'right wing' tv program (C-Span) only minutes before the cataclysm and when it went off, she came sailing out of the bedroom yelling for the dogs to evacuate the area, amid admonishments aimed at yours truly. She didn't see the sweet geyser of corn ejecting from the safety hole, but when she came back from securing the WonderDog Continuum, she saw it's aftermath. Picture this: She wasn't a happy camper for she had spent the best part of the day before cleaning the kitchen. "No more pressure cookers for you!", she said, adding that to the list of forbidden objects she began for me years ago. Double boilers? Verböten! Pressure cookers? Verböten! Well, at least I can still play with knives and guns.... and brew beer!

I've left the scene of the crime to start the next rest and set the timer on my phone to alert me to go heat the next measure of water. Still have more cleaning to do as well. Whether I clean the site to the molecular level or just get the great gobs, it won't be enough. Trish will clean it again. It looks like it is going to be a long day....

After all was done, the carboy held 5 gallons of sweet wort and this morning it was merrily bubbling away. I removed the blow off tube and installed an airlock filled with Bowman's Vodka. I also have about 3 liters of wort the last of the runnings from the lauter tun, to can for starters. I'll just have to use a canning pot rather than a pressure cooker.

Tasting notes on Cream Ale 2.1.1

Trish said that the cream ale is too bitter... maybe next time I will either modify the hop schedule or reduce the secondary fermenter time (Probably that) to improve the balance. And I have 4 cases of the stuff to drink. On a different note, it does have a spicy taste, as I would like to see my Biere de Garde taste when I make that style. I like it! Trish will have to suffer thru this, I raccoon.