Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Just some notes about previous batches

Batch 194, currently named "Smooth IPA", is renamed to "Hoppily Ever After". The hops used in this batch were the decorations at Libby and Aaron's wedding. I got about 4 pounds of nice Chinook from the decorations, which were provided by Gooding's hop farm.

Batch 193, a 10 gallon batch of Leeser, and Batch 192, a 10 gallon batch of Oktoberfest, both lagered at 35F while we were off to Mexico for the winter. They are on tap now and are very clear and quite delicious.

Batch 191, a simple pale ale, was really good and worth doing again. Unfortunately, it's all gone now.

Oddly enough, there are still 2 kegs of Batch 190, yet another version of the Guava IPA I've been working on. For some reason, no taps were available to put this beer on before we left for Mexico the first week of November. So now it's 7 months old (really old for an IPA), but it's still pretty good. The hops flavor has faded, of course, so the guava flavor is a little stronger, but it is still a quite nice beer. I thought it might clear up some after all that time lagering, but it is still cloudy.

The garage beer fridge needs work. I'd left both Batch 188, malted cider, and Batch 177, Prickly Pear, on tap. Both taste sour now. The malted cider went on tap last May, and the prickly pear last June. Even kept cold and under pressure, both of these went bad. Surprisingly, the Dunkelweiss from Batch 161, which was brewed November 1 of 2014 and put on tap November 27, 2015 (notice that's a whole year between brewing and serving and now it's a year and a half later) is still quite drinkable.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Batch 195, Panama Red

I've turned into a snowbird, so I spent the winter in Mexico rather than staying around in the cold and snow. I haven't brewed since last October, so it's definitely time to brew, and it's Panama Red, of course!

10 gallon batch

22.25 lb 2-row
1.5 lb crystal 60
1.5 lb white wheat malt
4 oz chocolate malt

Mashed at 154F for 60 minutes. Adjusted pH to 5.2 with phosphoric acid. Recirculate for 10 - 15 minutes on each sparge.

2 oz Mt Hood, FWH
2 oz Centennial, 60 min
2 oz Cascade, 30 min
2 tsp Irish Moss, 15 min
2 oz Mt Hood, 5 min
2 oz Cascade, 5 min

Wyeast 1272, from the last time I brewed this. I got two quarts out of the fridge yesterday so they'd warm up, oxygenated the wort as usual for 90 seconds, then pitched both quarts. The yeast looked really good for being 4 months old.

OG: 1.060 (actual)
FG: 1.015
SRM: 11.8
ABV: 6.4%