Honey Wheat Unplugged - 2nd Rack

Racked the Honey Wheat tonight, had gone back and forth about making another beer but I did pick up an American Pale Ale kit and hoping to have it done by late August.  Of course since I'm brewing and there's a fair bit of downtime on the brew I figured I'd rack the Honey to the secondary fermenter.

I brought the carboy up from the basement and never noticed that there was an earwig on the airlock!  Seems like the little guy was just as excited as I was about the beer.  Fittingly I've decided to name the beer Earwig (Honey) Wheat, maybe just EHW for short. 

What the?@#!  Ah... just an earwig.

Proper Primary... slowing down the fermentation, waiting to be racked to 2nd.

EHW - Earwig (Honey) Wheat

Obviously Mr E didn't affect any of the flavors... but I thought it was touching that he would like to jam out to John Lee Hooker and rack beer.  Of course as soon as I tried grabbing him from the airlock he fell and scurried away.  Later I did find him and kindly (and rarely) showed him out the front door.

SG sitting at a comfortable 1.009 - 1010.  1.054 (OG) vs 1.010 (SG) = 5.75ish ABV.  A reading all earwigs can respect. 

Will likely bottle 1st week of August.

Honey Wheat Unplugged

Given the success of this year's Honey Wheat (mostly consumed over the 4th of July), I decided to give it another try but this time modified the recipe quite a bit.

Instead of Mt. Hood hops I used Hallertau, and more of them.  The honey I used was a specialty farmer's market buy - true Wisconsin wildflower honey from Bonde Bee. 

Process took about 3 hours.  OG was just like the last at 1.054. 

Marzen - First Taste

mmmmm....

Still young in the bottle... I had it in the fridge for about 3 weeks and little carbonation.  Could be different with the bottles in the basement and at a higher temp.  Though the taste is divine.  Loving it.

Weizenbier Taste

Really quite happy with this beer. Wheaty taste with the honey sweetness. Good summer beer. Clear and great smell. Could use a bit more maturing in the bottles - they've been there for about 3 weeks now. But mmmm good!

Sehr gut

After resting close to 2 weeks to ferment some more in the bottles I had to take a sample and the DK Bock is fabulous. It has good bottle carbonation now and really is colorful. Clear as day and so smooth. Shameless plug but just really impressed with the beer.

Cheers!

Weizenbier

On a whim today I went and bought a kit at Brew and Grow. It was a Brewer's Best Weizenbier for fairly cheap. I wanted something light and ready for May's summer awakening and the package sold me. If I get it going now it should be ready.

Though when I opened it up I didn't see any grains? Really? A wheat beer without grains to steep... something didn't add up. But after looking over the ingredient list sure enough it was the case. This will be too easy I thought so I went and bought 2lbs of honey to add to the recipe.

Initially I thought this would be an easy kit - and it was, but the water took forever to boil, 1hr 22 minutes to be exact. I easily could have saved time had I added hot water instead of cold to boil - lesson for next time.

All said and done I have a nice golden honey looking batch just ready to ferment. I had a sample and it tastes like the good soggy sweet milky leftover from an oversized bowl of Honey Nut Cherios. Tastey, I know. OG is sitting at 1.054.

mmm Märzen

I'm trying my hand at a Märzen - which is effectively an Oktoberfest bier brewed in the spring and lagered through the summer.  Whether we'll be able to wait until October to taste is another story.

It's a Brewer's Best specialty kit called Marzen Festbier.  I'm writing this after the brewing but I do know it was brewed around the first week of April.  I know the OG was about 1.058.  It was a lager beer so I started the fermentation in the room temps then transferred the carboy to the Kegerator on April 12th.  When I did the OG was sitting at 1.016, so I think that was about a week or so after I brewed it.  I had a noted that said it was brewed on April 2nd.... but that can't be right?  That was the day before Easter and I would have been black fasting.... something didn't add up, though I did have Good Friday off of work so it's possible.

Anyway it went into the Kegerator and I kept it in for quite a while.  Temps were about 38F and the airlock was clicking away nicely.

Terrace Pilsner

It's been a while since the last post, but not from lack of activity. In fact I have a whole bunch of new stuff to post just having trouble finding that precious time.

However this simply can't be bottled. For Easter I at the request of my brother I ventured into my first Pilsner beer. It was the Terrace Pilsner from the Wine & Hop Shop. I started the beer in early March and wanted to have it ready to keg for Mike to bring back and enjoy with Shari.

I cut it close and Good Friday turned into a long Friday (as I brewed a Marzen and also kegged the Pilsner). But I'm told the final product is acceptible to the Minnesotans. Even more impressive is that Mike turned his Sankey only tap into both Sankey and Corny - so now he can enjoy both and I get an excuse to brew more.

Some photos from the Terrace Pilsner project...

Der Kaiser Racked

13 days after primary fermentation I racked Der Kaiser into the secondary and now have it in cold storage. SG sitting at about 1.018, so that puts things at about 6.8% ABV. Hoping to squeeze a few more out of it but so far so good for my first lager yeast.

Temps were pretty consistent at about 56 - 54 degrees while fermenting in the primary. It's in the kegerator now and am trying to set it to 38 -36.

Visually it's got a nice deep brown color and already the beer is very clear. Initial tastes are incredible! Carmel sweet flavor balances wonderfully with the Tradition hops giving a clean and crisp taste.

Very pleased thus far.

Der Kaiser Bock

For Christmas Liz bought me a gift certificate to the Wine and Hop Shop, so I thought it appropriate to brew a good Bock beer for the upcoming Lent. They had a "Varietal" series bock called Der Kaiser Bock so I thought I'd give it a shot.

10 lbs of Malt Extract and 6 oz of Brewcraft German Tradition hops... made for a fun and messy beer. 3 hours later OG is sitting at 1.070 and just waiting for the fun to start.