Nanobrewery Update

Last weekend I transfered the rest of my Belgian Winter Warmer to bottles; there wasn't much left. I may enter that and my Belgian Farmhouse Ale in a contest, somewhere.

Tonight I'm going to transfer the Imperial Stout into a 14-gallon glass carboy and pitch some champagne yeast. In about 7 to 14 days I will then separate the 10-gallon batch into two 5-gallon carboys. One will have medium-toasted French Oak chips in it (that have been soaked in Maker's Mark Whiskey), and the other will not. It will sit and condition in tertiary containers until I see fit to transfer to 5-gallon corny kegs. Then I'll force-carbonate da bitches. I spoiled myself and
bought an additional carboy carbonating setup, so that I can gang-carbonate 2 carboys at a time. Hmmm. Gang...force...quite the harsh language for a simple homebrew operation.

The Imperial Rye IPA is still sitting and conditioning, but I think I'll transfer it into kegs this weekend.

Last night, I drank a small bottle of Duchesse De Bourgogne from Brouwerij Verhaeghe (a traditional Flemish red ale). It's on my list of my favorite beers of 2005. Then I sliced some Spanish cheese and tried a little of my Bitch-Slap Black Ale, which is a black IPA. That beer is a huge hit with my son and with my friends. It's getting a little long in the tooth, but still tastes great. I finished the evening watching the movie Solaris while sipping a small glass of Jameson's 12-yr. I deserve it...I didn't drink anything Sunday or Tuesday, and had only one beer on Monday night. Even though the critics panned Solaris, I enjoy that movie (and the strange soundtrack). It's a perfect slow-going "sipping movie."

This weekend, I may brew my 6th version (in the last year) of a German Kölsch. This one will be much different than the others. I won't use decoction mashing, I will use a single-step infusion mash and the secondary fermentation will have massive dry-hopping. Here's the basic recipe:

Gute Träume Kölschbier v6
Brewer: BadBen
Type: All grain Size: 10.5 gallons
Grain:
9 lb. Weyermann Pilsner, 1.7-2L
9 lb. Maris Otter
2 lb. White Wheat Malt
Mash: 73% efficiency.
Single Step Mash at 152F for 80 min.
Charcoal-filtered tap water, with 1/4 of total volume distilled H2O, (to reduce alkalinity).
Batch sparged at 170F, 5.5 gal volume (approx).
Boil: 80 minutes 11.5 gallons
Hops:
2.0 oz. Tettnang Hop Flowers (60 min.)
1.0 oz. Hallertau Mittelfruh Hop Flower, German (45 min.)
1.0 oz. Hallertau Mittelfruh Hop Flower, German (30 min.)
1.0 oz. Tettnang Hop Flowers (15 min.)
1.0 oz. Hallertau Mittelfruh Hop Flower, German (15 min.)
2.0 oz Hallertau Hop Pellets (Dry Hop in Secondary)
2.0 oz Tettnang Hop Pellets (Dry Hop in Secondary)
2.0 oz Saaz Hop Pellets (Dry Hop in Secondary)
Yeast:
Kölsch 2565 starter with approx. 200 billion cells.
Fermentation:
Primary fermentation in glass at 65 – 72F for 5-6 days.
Secondary fermentation in glass at 55-58F for 20 days.

It should be an interesting and aromatic final result.