First Brew in the Brew Lab

As I have mentioned, my brewing has taken a sudden dive in frequency recently.

Of course I understand that for 99% of homebrewers, dropping from brewing every 5 days to every 14 days is somewhat difficult to see as "dropping".  One thing to understand is... I now have several "regualar" beers which I brew.  NOT having those on hand is disappointing to me.

So- I have to brew a bunch of those to "catch up" before I can get out to crazyville.

(of course you understand this is all in my head- no one else cares)

Yesterday I brewed a favorite- Zombie Grains.  It is an 8% Nelson IPA.  I also brewed what I WANTED to be my Copper Ale, but it didn't come out very copper.  Not sure what happened there.  I have a sneaking suspicion that my LHBS had C-40 in the C-60 bin, but that's neither here nor there.  So instead of being a copper ale, it's an APA.  Which is fine.  I also didn't have the same hops, so... it was destined to be different.

I bottled the stout we brewed in the Homebrew class.  It had been in the fermenter for a month.  This is SUPER unusual for me.  2 weeks is a long time in a fermenter for my beers.

Also- it's a stout.  Not a coffee stout.  Not a creme brulee stout. Not a bourbon stout.  Not a mierpoix stout.  Not even a MILK stout- just a stout.  (It feels weird)

I put some oak chips in Irish Whiskey, and took the bacon OUT of the vodka.

The first brew went perfectly. Absolutely perfectly.  It's SO convenient to have access to water and a sink in your brew house- I recommend it to everyone!

Tonight I am doing a cider with english ale yeast. Not brewing- doing.  Because... there's nothing to do to the cider but to pour it into the fermenter and sprinkle in yeast.  Upon further review, I will be doing a Graff.  This is a cider with a bit of malt added for body.  A couple of reasons for this: Ciders take from 6 months to a year to ferment. I find homebrew ciders to be lacking in body and residual sweetness and apple flavor.

Also tonight is bottling of the Maple Bacon Coffee Stout.  Using my bacon tincture, priming with maple syrup.

The fermenter will be full again.  Like it has been.

OH!  I have to start using my heater in the fermenter to keep it up to temp- it's getting cold out!