Batch 74, Panama Red

Same as usual. I was just a little short on Crystal 60.

10 gallon batch

20.25 lbs 2-row
1lb, 6 3/4 oz Crystal 60
4 oz Chocolate malt
Mash for 60 minutes at 153F.

2 oz Mt Hood, FWH
1.5 oz Galena, 60 min
2 oz Cascade, 30 min
2 oz Cascade, 5 min
2 oz Mt Hood, 5 min

Wyeast 1272, 2 quarts slurry

OG: 1.062, actual

I facebooked this as I brewed, and got several confused responses. Fun!

May 12, transferred to secondary.

Brown Hippy

I've decided to name batch 72 "Brown Hippy" -- just because it tastes like grass. Actually, I think I'll throw a vanilla bean in the second keg.

Prickly Pear Mead

I've been drinking the prickly pear mead that I made back in batch 67 . It seems a little on the sweet side to me, but it's pretty good. It has a definite alcohol flavor, but it's not a hot flavor. The prickly pear flavor is pretty mild. I've never had a plain mead (that is, with no fruit flavor at all, just honey), so if I didn't know the prickly pears were in it, I wouldn't have guessed it.

Hops!

The hops I planted last year are looking awesome! We got a little sun for the past few days, and seriously, they went from about 6 inches to 3 feet in about 3 days.

I planted a second row of hops this year. Steve P got some rhizomes from Mike G, so I got a bunch of Cascade and Chinook. Steve also dug some Mt Hood and Nugget. The one Galena that grew to about 4 ft last year is coming back strong this year. So I have Galena, Chinook, Willamette, Cascade, Nugget, and Mt Hood all in the ground. Since these are the hops I use the most, I'm thinking I'm pretty well set.

Last year, I ran twine straight up from each plant, but this year, I went with a V and trained 3 shoots up each side of the V. I'm hoping this will double my output, but I'll have to wait until harvest time to know.

Grassy

About batch 72, that dark hoppy ale, I don't think it came out that well. It's not that hoppy, and the excess of black patent made it too bitter, grain-wise. I attempted to compensate by dry-hopping with 2 oz of Chinook in 5 gallons. All I can say is "grassy"... I'll drink it, but this won't be repeated!