Beer Update

My Ichiban Lager clone is still cold-aging in the fridge, will probably bottle it at the end of the month. My extract blueberry wheat, which I made for Mrs. Brew Dude, is close to ready for bottling after a very vigorous fermentation. A stray blueberry actually got stuck in the airlock and the fermentation gases actually cause a few berries to burp out of the top of the bucket, causing a small mess. I think we're still ok, sanitation-wise, as tastes out of the fermentor have been promising.

Next batch will be an all-grain American Wheat, just in time for the dog days of summer. After that, I'll be planning my next few brews. Looking at another Pumpkin Ale, maybe a Brown, a stout, and wondering if I have the patience for a Barelywine. Strong beers like Barleywine need lots of time to mellow in the bottle, just like grape wine, and many recipes recommend 6 months to a year in the bottle before cracking them open. I'm having enough trouble waiting for my 6-week lagering process...

Lots of summer beers have been rolling out around town, my favorites so far have been Magic Hat's Whacko Summer Ale (wheaty and crisp), and South Hampton's Double White. It's a very sweet, higher alcohol, Begian-style wheat beer. I found both on tap at Rocket Bar in Chinatown.

Stay cool out there!

Frickin S'Wheat

This weekend we opened the first couple bottles of our Spiced Wheat.
















As you can see, it has a nice, deep amber color. The low head retention was my fault: I poured a little too gently down the side of the glass.

Taste-wise, it's silky smooth with none of the tartness you find in a lot of wheat beer. The sweetness of the malt balances pretty well with the minimal Liberty hop bitterness, and spice from the orange zest, cloves and coriander.

We took a six-pack to a party and people seemed to really like it. I predict this batch won't last very long.

Also bottled my Weizenbock on Sunday. I am officially done adding sugar to bottles. It's a pain in the ass and not worth the potential to introduce bad nasties to the beer. Going to order a bunch of PrimeTabs, which are compressed, sanitized corn sugar cubes. That is, unless my wife will let me start kegging. What do you think, honey?

Beer update

A list of what's going on, beer-wise:

My Spiced Wheat Beer will be ready to drink this weekend. Cloves, coriander, orange zest and Liberty Hop pellets went into the boil, and tastes out of the fermentor have been very promising. Anticipating something similar to a Leinie's Sunset Wheat or maybe a Hoegaarden.

Also this weekend, my Weizenbock (Dark Wheat) should be ready to bottle. This will be my hoppiest beer to date, as the extract I used was pre-hopped and I added the balance of my Liberty Hops as well.

The Sweet Chile O' Mine (green chili ale) will need another week in the main fermentor. Our airlock hasn't been bubbling like I expected, but I held up a flashlight to the outside of the fermentor and there is definitely a decent kreusen on top, so we shall see.