Fresh out'the box

Here I am the day after I started my first job out of college. Its funny looking at my last post how the timing has come in to play, but it seems that maybe there is a bit of fate stirring around. I can say for sure that it isn't everything and then some like I wanted, but it defiantly could be. I feel pretty confident that I can my my own destiny with a place like this. The owner alluded to sweat equity, and there is a chance #2 is going to be coming on line in as little as 6 months. I feel that there is a lot that is yet to be seen.

The Champagne Ale I brewed decided to go the lactic acid route unexpectedly, and it has gotten its first dose of Pineapple. I plan on using a high end pineapple concentrate from a place in Napa called Perfect Puree to prime the bottles, and the dosage will include a wild lavender potion that I collected in Flagstaff AZ.


As for my recent brewing adventures, I was the Chef for the Mountain Top Mashers beer dinner for the second time, and brewed a batch of my Southern English Brown. The first time I brewed it I felt that I needed to up the malt profile. The second time around I was unable to get the same ingredients, and my improvisation proved to be at least a partial success.

I also brewed a trio of young sour beers in a parti gyle this summer. I cultured a bottle of saison, and then stepped up and added two vials of wlp007 the next day. The gyles were set up so I would have three nearly equal OGs. The first runnings were golden in color, the grist containing torrified wheat, malted wheat, munich, vienna, and pilsner. My wheat malt ratio was just about 50/50. I added capping grains for the second runnings, consisting of cara wheat, and caravienne. The second beer was a pale red/ amber. The third runnings got boiled for 7 hours to a thick bubbling syrup and came out a brimstone red. This beer also got a hefty dose of dry hops, all Saaz. It was remarkable how the heavily dry hopped beer developed significantly less acidity over time.

new days are brewing...

This summer I brewed on an entirely new system that I rigged up out of spare parts that were around plus another couple of parts from the LHBS. I brewed 5 gallons S. English brown ale, a smoked amber ale, and a special Belio-English Stong Wheat Ale, Champenoise.

On another note, the semester is beginning and I am ready to get cracking. I have almost a month to locate a job, so I will be pounding the pavement regularly. I may be able to get work at the local brewery, that is if they need the help. If not I will be volunteering. Here is to getting things in the future.