it’s been a long time
Reilly and I got together two weeks ago to brew the first beers of the year — well, the first beers in a year and a half.
Because of the distance between our houses, and our respective supply stores, Reilly hit up Modern Brewer, and I tried out Strange Brew for the first time.
Reilly wanted a nice winter red ale, and decided to tweak the Winter Ale ‘95. It came out like this:
1 lb. Crystal 120L Malt
8 lb. Light extract
1.5 oz. Cluster hop pellets (60 mins. — bittering)
.75 oz. Chinook hop pellets (15 mins. — flavoring)
.75 oz. Hallertau pellets (5 mins. — aroma)
Windsor yeast
S.G.: we didn’t measure (it was the last batch of the night, and we were pretty drunk, I think)
F.G.: 1.020 (we’re not sure if there was something wrong, but the beer smelled and tasted good at bottling)
I decided to go with the Strange Brew Winter Warmer:
8 oz. Medium Crystal Malt
2 oz. Chocolate Malt
4 oz. Cara Wheat
4 lb. Light extract
2 lb. English Amber Dry Malt Extract
1 oz. Columbus hop pellets (60 mins. — bittering)
1 oz. Czech Saaz pellets (8 mins — aroma)
.5 oz. Pumpkin pie spices (8 mins)
Nottingham yeast
S.G: 1.090!!! (I took this at approx. 74 deg. F. This seems alarmingly high considering the expected S.G. of 1.045)
F.G.: 1.011 (Hrmm…If my S.G. was true, the ABV would be about 8.4% and I don’t think that is possible. The expected F.G. was 1.014)
This was the first time I was responsible for the fermentation process as we normally brew at Reilly’s. This was also the first time I’ve used the brewing equipment that Erika bought for me. Everything worked as expected, and the auto-siphon was deemed to be the M.V.P. (most valuable part).
Reilly scored a few 24 oz. bottles from a cider brewery, and I had a few 16 oz. Grolsch bottles from Aram’s pumpkin ale (which we drank during the brewing and bottling for inspiration). We ended up with:
44 12 oz. bottles, 1 16 oz. bottle, and 2 24 oz. bottles of Reilly’s Red
40 12 oz. bottles, 2 16 oz. bottle, and 1 24 oz. bottle of the Cat’s Ass Winter Warmer (named after Walker, the smelly cat)
Everything is packed and stored away. I’m a little worried about the gravities on both of the beers, but we’ll see what happens. With a little luck, both beers will be sampled at our NYE party.