Ale is Neat

Once upon a time I brewed beer. Then I lost access to my roommate's kettle owing to moving three hundred miles, and there was much sadness for my poor kit lacked all but this very expensive kettle. A new kettle has finally fallen into my hands, and so beer may be brewed again.

Current Activity

I started brewing again with a few friends (makes it much easier to actually get around to doing it when you have help). Since multiple people are involved we are using a wiki to collaborate. This poor page will probably remain dusty because I can just put things there instead.

More Recent Brews

I decided to at least make a stab at being unlazy and actually linking to the files that are stored with the website. I keep a reasonable brewing log (probably dry and boring to almost everyone) in the files themselves.

I'm only bothering to list recipes that have been brewed and bottled here—information on anything in the pipeline is at the brewing wiki since it is liable to change a lot.

Since old trusty QBrew is no longer actively maintained and Brewtarget is I've switched over to that. Meaning my newer recipes are in BeerXML that theoretically can be imported into other programs, but may very well only work in Brewtarget.

English IPA

We had a lot of leftover ingredients after Steve's amazing brewing Odyssey, most of them English grains and hops. As such I threw together the leftovers into what seemed like it would be a good approximation of an English IPA. We even threw this onto the yeast cake of the last batch in the wedding brews (an ESB).

Unfortunately, it was a wee bit underwhemling. Since we have a fancy temperature controlled fridge now, I decided to brew around 68F (no risk of overshooting). It came out slightly musty and generally bland... still, for being made from leftovers it's alright.

• Batch A 2011-10-16 (source)

Cernunnos (Ginger-Chamomile Wheat Ale)

Cheap and quick to make, this is ready to drink after a quick fermentation and as soon as the bottles carbonate. The chamomile really shines here adding a honey-like note; the ginger adds additional earthiness and a bit of zing; Sorachi Ace hops finish everything up with notes of lemon cream.

• Batch A 2011-05-04 (source)
• Batch B 2011-07-05 (source)
• Batch C 2012-02-18 (source)
• Batch D 2012-02-18 (source) - My first ten gallon batch. I lost about a gallon, but what can you do.

Nowruz (India Pale Ale)

Perhaps my finest recipe to date. A suggestion to continuously hop was heeded and the result was incredible.

• Batch A 2011-03-20 (source)
• Batch B 2011-06-11 (source) This adds Centennial and expanded the dry hopping a bit — the Centennial was out of place, and the extra dry hopping overpowered the fruity notes present in Batch A. But the extra bitterness and attenuation definitely improved things.
• Batch C 2012-01-11 (source) Back to the basics, but adding Citra to the boil and using Chico Yeast. First impressions are: even better than Batch A!
• Batch D 2012-05-06 (source) Ten gallons, half on US ale yeast, half on Wyeast Belgian Ardennes yeast. Initial impressions are that the Belgian version is amazing: the fruit flavors and phenols from the yeast complement the hopping quite nicely.

Thoth (Foreign Extra Stout If You Bend a Bit)

An attempt at experimentation—an adjunct (blackstrap molasses), a spice (star anise), and a reused yeast cake (Ringwood from a Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale clone).

• Thoth (source)

Pale Ale

My first brew, resurrected.

• First Time on the New Rig (source)

Cider / Apfelwein / Cyser

My girlfriend hates carbonation and so, inspired by Edwort's Applewine, I started experimenting with batches of cider. I'm keeping some notes, but doing it more by "I guess this is the gravity..." than with brewing due to the fairly different production methods. Eventually I hope to get wine making down a bit better...

Occasionally I dump the text notes from my phone to a page on Steve's wiki.

Long Past Brews

I present to you my poorly annotated QBrew files from my ancient brews made in the lands of pleasant living.

Pale Ale

• First Brew Ever (source)
• Revision B (source)

Porter

• The record of the first brew has been lost in time
• Second Attempt (source)

Wheat Ale

• Bannanas (source) — A very hot fermentation made this taste like liquid bannanas it was ... interesting.

clinton: last time I was a bit weak (*sniff* level four and only 18 hp) clinton: I had a -1 intelligence modifier for the first three weeks emacsen: what about your character?

Last Modified: January 21, 2013