Summer in the glass

We tapped the Summerfest today to have with our chips, salsa, and Giants baseball. Alas, the game has been a disappointment. The beer, however, is smooth and dry with just the right touch of sweet malt flavor. I think we have a fine summer ale. Here in the State of Jefferson, summer has been unusually mild, with cool breezes and afternoon clouds softening the sun's blows more often than not. I'm loving it! I'm glad I didn't overdo it with the hops on this batch--they have a nice, bright flavor with a clean finish and no lingering bitterness. Perfect for thirst-quenching! It is a little cloudy in the glass so far, we'll see if that settles out. What say we have another?


a.d. IV Id. Iul.

Summerfest II

The beer went into the fridge today. It spent the last nine days in the "main fermenting room" (er, the hall closet) hovering between 65 and 69 ºF. It has been HOT here in FSB-Land, and I had to use my old trick of putting a milk jug of ice in the closet to keep it from getting too warm. We hit the road tomorrow for a family Fourth Festival in Lake Tahoe. Should be much fun. Then we go to SF and stay with old friends and go to TWO GIANTS GAMES! Too cool. We are back on Wednesday the 8th of July--beer should be in prime condition a week or two after that.

FSB readers (are you out there?) might note that yours truly is now on Facebook. That's right, the computer has taken over and enslaved me.

Be seeing you.

Summerfest

Kegging the brew was today's business. I used a quart of water and 120 grams (about 4-1/4 oz.) of dextrose to prime the batch, and then I split it between two 2.5-gal. kegs. My yield from the fermenter was about 4-1/2 gallons. I dropped my hydrometer last week, so I had no way to measure the final gravity. Alas, it looked well-fermented! I have this thing about breaking those tall, skinny glass hydrometers. My next one will be my 4th? 5th? I can't remember. Yet I also have a mercury-filled glass thermometer that is darn close to twenty years old, and it is "no worse for wear." I'll keep this in the closet until the end of the month. We hit the road on the 1st of July so it should be in the refrigerator by then.


a.d. IX Kal. Iul.

Worshipping at the maltar

I'm on summer holiday, and that makes everything more relaxed. Brew days are less frantic because I can get the clean-up and take-down done over a long evening--no early morning work alarms to worry about. Something about Sundays for cooking up a batch, I suppose I worship at the Malt Altar, the Maltar if you will, and need to keep the Sabbath like the rest of the believers. Who says The Big Guy doesn't drink beer?

Matt Cain was smokin' today for the surging SF Giants, throwing a complete game with nine strikeouts in a 7-1 win. I love baseball season, and having the G-men on the radio while the aroma of boiling wort mingled with the smells of spring was delightful. Yes, we are still having this wonderful spring, cool weather, occasional rain, the sun in and out behind the cloudbanks, and it feels great. I named the beer Summerfest, a bit boring, but we'll be sucking it down in the summer heat soon enough.

Two things about today's session: (1) I used 12 lbs. of 2-row and 1 pound of 20ºL crystal but only managed 13ºP wort--1.052--which is disappointing; (2) I used digital probes to monitor the mash temperature. I have a standard food thermometer with a steel cable and food probe that works for roasting meat, candy-making, and whatnot, and I finally realized it would be better in the brewery than in the kitchen. I also am field-testing some old lab apparatus from work, a Casio EA-100 kit. Using the temperature probe in "multimeter" mode was too easy. The two devices were several degrees apart, so I'll have to do some calibrating. But it sure is nice to have a continuous read on the mash, I think it will help me improve my technique and, I hope, my extract yield.

I kept the hops simple, a one ounce addition for sixty minutes and a one ounce addition for 30 minutes. That's two ounces of (7.4 % alpha-acids) organic New Zealand Saaz whole hops. Lovely stuff, should taste great. I used a pack of US-05 Safale yeast, pitching it directly in the carboy. The Giants Fever is done, we polished it off last weekend. It was delicious. I'm looking forward to the new one.

Happy Flag Day!


a.d. XVIII Kal. Iul.
(The Ides were yesterday!)

Giants Fever V

We've had a chance not only to sample but to share the brew, and we are very happy with it. It is light and dry with the easy drinkability of a "session ale" and the refreshing crispness of a "lawnmower beer." This one has real flavor, though, a fine layering of malt and hops, surprisingly complex in a low-gravity (1.043) beer. The amber-orange color looks great in the glass, too. The 2-Liter swing-top jug ("growler") ferried draft beer to a party in Weed, and it worked beautifully. The entirety of this batch was kegged, but now there's an easy way to share it. Graduation Day starts my summer furlough, and that means there will be a party in Montague this Friday. We'll be drinking Giants Fever!

Giants win today 5-3 v. St Louis.

Prid. Kal. Iun.