Saturday, February 25, 2012

NP article - What the Baltics have done for beer

http://life.nationalpost.com/2012/02/25/happy-hour-what-the-baltics-have-done-for-beer/

I was enjoying an imperial stout just the other day (from Phillips Brewery). Great for cold winter days!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Other good beer blogs

As awesome as this blog is, I can't say it is the only good beer blog out there. Here are some other good ones:



Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Homebrew: Anchor Steam clone

Thus far I have only brewed ales, because the ale yeasts ferment at or near room temperature. Lager yeasts ferment at temperatures below 10 degrees. Without access to a fridge that would hold a carbuoy, this can be tricky.

However, Anchor Steam seems to be an interesting hybrid. It uses lager yeast, but the recipe says to ferment at 15 degrees. Lucky for me, that is about the temperature of our cold storage, so here goes:

(note - in order to make sure it fit in the cold storage, I made a 3 gallon batch, not the usual 5, so the measurements are adjusted accordingly. Except the yeast - I unthinkingly pitched the entire packet, as opposed to 3/5ths. Not sure what effect that will have...)

Recipe taken from Clone Brews (Szamatulski)

Steep 238 grams medium crystal malt (75 L) for 30 minutes at 150 degrees F
1.7 kg light dry malt extract
water volume: 8.5 Litres
20 grams Northern Brewer hop pellets (9.8% AA)
boil 45 minutes
9 grams Northern Brewer hops (9.8% AA)
3/5 tsp Irish moss
boil 14 minutes
9 grams Northern Brewer hops (10.3% AA)

I cooled the pot to about 65 or so degrees F, then pitched a packet of Wyeast's 2112 California Lager yeast. As noted above, I pitched the hole thing. I then set the carbuoy (filled to 3 gallons) into the cold storage.





Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Random beer picture

I get thirsty just looking at this