The most annoying thing about good blogs is when they fall into the posting doldrums. There are often two separate reasons that a blog fades. The first is that the blogger loses interest in the subject of the blog making the blogs follower feel rather foolish for possessing more excitement and interest in the work then the actual creator seems to hold (fuck you George R.R. Martin). The second is that the blogger has been too engaged with the material of the blog that they haven't put the time in to write about it. While this second reason is still very annoying there still lies hope that the blog will rise again. In my case it has been the latter. Instead of going through the much needed editing of many half finished beer reviews I have spent my time upgrading to an all-grain system, devising a saison solera system the notes of which I will probably break up into several future blog posts, and scheming of beers to brew in the upcoming spring season. when bumping up to all grain I went pretty big with a 15 gallon kettle, a 52 Qt. Cooler, KA4B Bayou Classic Banjo Cooker. Kelly Was also nice enough to lug back a 35 pound grain mill through the airport this past Labor day weekend. I bought the cooler and copper manifold parts some time in late October and slowly started to cut and hacksaw the piping into shape through November and December. I think it was around thanksgiving that I actually ended up buying the kettle and cooker. Since all grain requires a lot more water I also went ahead and bought a water filter so I could use tap water instead of deer park jugs. I also bought Brew Pal on the Iphone for my brewing software.
The first All Grain Beer I brewed was a Bells Two Hearted Clone Kit by Northern Brewer. Everything when pretty smoothly except that I mashed in a couple of degrees low. I hit my intended original gravity right on the mark. The second all grain beer was a dubbel I brewed for my Mom's Birthday. This was the first time I actually ground my own grist which also worked pretty well. I had a slight bit of a stuck sparge, but I hit my original gravity exactly again and was only a single degree below in my mash temp. I am assuming the drastic difference between the mash temp I am achieving and those I should be getting from the recommended strike temps is that I have been brewing in under 32 degree weather. I still have to figure out what my efficiency is (seems to be around 75-80%) and how my process matches the assumptions made in my brewing software. So far I am getting the OG I am looking for and with a little bit more beer than I intended which isn't a bad thing. I will be posting my tasting notes for many of my past beers as well as my upcoming brewing ideas and inspirations.
