SIR Brown

SIR Brown was racked today. I'll give it another week before kegging and bottling. It looked and smelled nice and clean. I'm back on the brew horse after a long layoff. This is my first home-cooked batch since February. I've named it in honor of my lovely bride--whose initials are SIR--and made a brown ale because she likes browns, porters and stouts. I had a 6-lb. sack of extract laying around, along with crystal and chocolate malt, and some Willamette hops. The package of Safale-04 was the last in the larder. I've had both good and bad luck with this new-generation dry yeast. The combination of cost and convenience is hard to ignore, and I think if you keep the beer below 70 deg. F. the chance of off-flavors is very low. I'll order some specialty yeasts when I stock up again, but it is nice to have a workhorse around.