Why Am I Doing This?

Primarily, I am doing this to keep a record of when and what I brew. Every book that I have read about the art of home brewing suggests that you keep precise records of the brewing procedure -- for example, length of the boil, hops schedule, original gravity, etc.

To date, I have been spotty at keeping these records. So, I am hoping that by writing it down in a blog, I can keep track of what I do and when I do it. At least that is the primary reason why I have set this up. I may end up talking about additional stuff, but it will all probably be beer, brewing, or fermenting related.

What Is In The Hopper?

Well, I have approximately four gallons of beer currently being bottle-conditioned. I am attempting to save a really good beer (an old ale) which I could not get to carbonate in the bottle. From my best guess, I kind of blew out the yeast before bottling. Hence, there was not enough active yeast cells to bottle ferment the beer at the time of bottling. It is a really big beer, testing in at about 10% ABV. So, after consulting with the fine staff at Great Fermentations, I decided that my last and best chance to save this beer was to combine it with my Oatmeal Brown Ale (which is about a 6% ABV beer). I blended the two beers and then batch primed the entire 4 gallons with four ounces of corn sugar and some additional dry yeast. This was done a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps in another week or so I will test one to see if I was able to save the beer. Even the beer does not properly carbonate, it is still going to be a very tasty beer -- albeit one without carbonation.

Inspired by Bell's Hopslam Ale

Bell's Hopslam Ale just came out a couple of weeks ago. This is my favorite double India Pale Ale. The stong mango, citrus and pine notes in the hops are delightful. For a 9-10% ABV beer, it is really smooth and well-balanced with just a hint of alcohol burn when drinking it. The honey also adds a nice roundness at the end of the taste. I happen to agree with many of the other beer geeks out there who sing the praises of this beer. But at about $18 per six-pack -- yikes.

So my solution? Try to emulate Hopslam @ home. From what I can gather on-line, Bell's dry-hops with Simcoe and Amarillo hops. So, I went to The Brewer's Art in Fort Wayne and picked Simcoe, Centennial, and Citra hops (they were out of Amarillo and suggested that I substitute Citra). I plan to utilize the Centennial in the beginning of the boil. Then in the last ten minutes, I will again add some Centennial and some Citra. I will then dry-hop with a combination of the Simcoe and Citra hops.

This will be my last 2 gallon "Mr. Beer" batch for a while. With the wine making kit we recently purchased and with a few additions, I will once again be back to brewing 5 gallon batches. While 2 gallon batches are not all bad, for about the same amount of work I can brew 5 gallon batches. And since the entire home brewing industry is sort of predicated on the 5 gallon batch, this will open up my options.

So, later this week, my bastardized version of Hopslam will hit the fermenter.