Sweet, Tasty Beer

Now that the Holidays are over, it is time to get back to brewing and January 2012 is shaping up to be a good brew month. Last night, I bottled my Sierra Madre Pale Ale from Northern Brewer, and I think it is going to be a winner. In fact, I brewed it with a friend from 536 Run Club whose motto is, “Make it a Great Day”, so this one has nowhere to go but up. Vital statistics are:

Brewed 11/30/11

Racked 12/15/11

Bottled 1/4/12

O.G. 1.048 @ 74 degrees (target 1.052)

F.G. 1.008 @ 68 degrees

The beer has a nice amber color and is incredibly clear (possibly due to the extra week in the secondary). It had great hop aroma, but was not as strong as when I racked it from primary to secondary. At that point, it smelled exactly like its muse. The “sample” obtained from the short pour was fantastic! Looking forward to drinking a carbonated one.

Additionally, I created a yeast starter for my next beer, the Clementine Hefeweizen. I have blogged about this beer before and am looking forward to equally fantastic results. I have not made any adjustments to the recipe given its enormous popularity (don’t mess with a good thing). I do intend to pay closer attention to fermentation temps and try to maintain temps within an optimal range for Kolsch, which is the yeast I’m using. I will post an update on this one shortly, including my recipe.

Finally, I purchased the ingredients for my Super Bowl beer, which I will also brew this weekend. It is based on the Northern Brewer recipe for The Innkeeper, but I had to make a few adjustments based on the ingredients that were available at my local homebrew supply shop (thanks for the gift card, Cricket and Peter!). So, the adjustments are as follows:

3.3 lbs light Pilsen liquid malt extract (closest equivalent size to NB 3.15 lb offering)

1 oz whole leaf UK Kent Goldings hops (sold out of pellet variety from Christmas season)

Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley Ale (does not carry Wyeast 1945)

Rest of the recipe remains the same. Looking forward to a good brew, which should be pretty spot on based on what I’ve read. Enjoy yourself a homebrew.