I have winter break coming up, which explains why I'm semi checked out and posting more frequently. I'm excited about the time off to brew several beers. I have been waiting to brew a Pittsburgh style beer for my brother-in-law Peter and my wife Kristen. They are from Pittsburgh and both(as am I) big fans of Yuengling. Peter's not an ale drinker and has been asking me for years to try to make a Yuengling clone. Unfortunately, I don't have the capability to lager. So the Yinzer Ale is going to be a 3 gallon batch. I'm hoping for it to be a lager-esque ale that is going to aim at being in the ballpark of Yuengling or Iron City.
Plus. it's very timely since my brother-in-law just got a long-awaited job in the video game industry. There isn't a more deserving person to be working in that world and its a rare opportunity that someone works their whole life to achieve a goal of doing something really cool, and he's well on his way. So congrats bro, and this beer is brewed in honor of you.
I'm going to finally be brewing La Libertad. I had the idea when I was in California in September to brew a "west coast style" Pale Ale. I had the recipe kicking around in my head and then after buying a sixer of Anchor's Liberty Ale after I got back from my trip, I decided I'd aim for something similar. I was lucky enough to get 2oz of Cascade hops right before the hop shortage.
Also I'm planing on brewing the Big Ticket Brown Ale, but I'm still working on the label. It's going to use the Fat Tire yeast, not exactly sure what the beer is going to be yet, but I have an idea.
Some other random beer thoughts: I wasn't aware that Schell's Snowstorm was a rotating recipe. Jeff really liked it and told me about it, I thought I'd had it last year but then I found out it's new every year. This year is a Belgian dubble. It's really good, fruity and has a nice redish brown body.
Also, I've been drinking one of my favorite winter beers- Bell's Winter White. This is Belgian white ale (wit) and is one of the best. It's got a sweet flavor and a presence of coriander at the end. It's a nice change of pace from all the winter ales. I love everything about this beer even down to the label. 
-Bearded Brewer
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Random thoughts
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6 comments:
rawk on brother!!!! thats freakin sweet :) yeah, gotta keep it short for now, but we'll talk soon i'm sure. otherwise have a good time with the family, and send my regards! oh, and as a btw: my hollowisparadise blog is probably going to get some new artwork from evan and tony soon, so that may be worth checkin in on in the near future. peas!
-p
Sounds good. A good clean pale ale.
You live in one of the most frigid of zones here in the US. In the current season, is there no way to lager your beer...naturally?
Perhaps you can build a small igloo for your fermenter to sit in? Pretty regular temps in those tiny ice huts. Say, if I had the property, and snowfall here in Chicago, I think the Igloo Lager would be a riot.
Just an quick idea running through my brain.
Ted- I tried last year with a maibock and a lager to do it naturally and wasn't pleased with the results. I thought that the main problem was the inability to control temps. I had read a couple of recipes where they suggest fermenting for a week at say 55, then dropping it down to 45 for a week, then lagering. I don't have the capability. Temps in my garage can stay in the low 30s, but its the controling of the temps that have scared me off. Thoughts? I'm planning on using the Cali lager yeast for the Yinzer (my basement is about 64 or so for primary) then lagering it in the garage for a couple months. Any advice would be appreciated for sure.
That sounds like a good plan to me. I've never used that yeast before, but with my recent Sterling Pearl, I fermented it with the Northwest Ale strain at 62*F, and it came out very much like a lager. I imagine you will have good results.
If your basement temp is around 64, then the fermentation temp will be around 70, and that's gonna be a bit high.
Do you have an unheated porch area? Cause I use a thermostat controlled space heater in mine, and it works great...as long as the outside temp stays much lower. Perhaps you can setup a mini-shack in the corner of your garage with one of these controlled heaters.
Ted- Actually I didn't state that correctly, the temps for my beers in the basement are about 64. I actually had to move a white beer upstairs because it was too cool. So I think I could probably do primary in the basement, but do I need to be dropping the temps after that stage?
I'm going to use the Northwest yeast for my Libertad and it sounds like I made the right choice if you liked it for your Sterling Pearle. It sounds like its malty but clean enough to highlight the hops.
As for the lager discussion, do you use a fridge for lagering? If so do you just leave it in the fridge at the same temp throughout the whole lagering time? Maybe I've been scared off for no reason.
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