Where did it go????

Time or Beer? In this case, the beer is disappearing! Some from drinking...some from unfavorable results. I bottled up the rest of Jacked O' Lantern and Pebonkas Stout (will wax and label these). The Oaked Pops Ale tasted atrocious after 9 months in the barrel and the Country Livin' Stout was a maple bomb (not good)...both dumped. All that remains is one lonely keg of Western Slope Saison waiting for seven of his friends.

Planning on brewing a Rye Pale Ale which will be the second version of Ryse of the Phoenix from this past summer. I'm thinking some fruity/citrus hops would be good. How about a Amarillo/Citra/Cascade combo?  I also upped the Rye grain from 29% to 33% of the grist. I'm hoping the spiciness of the Rye and the fruitiness involved in the Amarillo and Citra will be real nice.

The second beer of the brew day will be a Belgian Trippel, which I have never attempted. It will be slightly different than a traditional Trippel in that it will have more than Pilsner malt and sugar as fermentables. I have added some caravienne and biscuit malt to the grist, as well as flaked oats for a creamy mouthfeel to the beer. I am also going to attempt to not add sugar and mash at a low temperature instead. It will be lower in alcohol as well, at around 7%. I will use Sterling and Styrian Goldings for hops. When I go out for a beer now, I have been leaning towards Trippels, so why not just brew my own!

I have a few other projects going on that I'll fill you in on next time!

GABF and Partigyle

Sorry about being MIA! Since I have loaded up the taps with beer, there hasn't been much room for new brews and brew news (clever, eh?). We took another trip up to Odell Brewing in Fort Collins to again taste Muddy Huddy on tap with a large group of friends. I can't say enough of how great Odell has been throughout the whole ProAm process and the multiple visits to the brewery! Here is a picture of the baby, the inspiration, the stout...Huddy:

He had a good time on our last trip up there. It was only fitting that he get a photo! I'm sure he will enjoy it years down the road.

The GABF was in October and it was a great time. We went down early for the awards ceremony, which was HUGE. It was great to see entire theater fit for 5,000 people almost full. Muddy Huddy didn't earn any medals, but it was cool to see all of the other breweries and the beers that earned them top spots! I stopped by the ProAm booth while at the GABF to taste Muddy Huddy once again! It was fun to taste the beers from the hundreds of breweries there.

Well, that was GABF in a nutshell.

Next up, I'm brewing an imperial version of Muddy Huddy next weekend....called King Huddy. I hope it will be around 11-12% ABV.  It will be part of a partigyle brew, with the second beer being a breakfast stout...literally. Flavors of smoky bacon, maple, coffee, and biscuits will come through on this one. It will be interesting.

For those of you that don't know what a partigyle mash/brew is, it is a mash that results in 2 or more beers. The first beer that is produced is from a higher gravity wort that is taken from the "first runnings" of the mash. Basically, taking the wort that is produced in the mash and draining it into the brew kettle with minimal rinsing  (sparging) of the grain. This results in a high gravity wort. The second beer is from the "second runnings" of the mash. Therefore, there is less sugar in the mash after the first runnings and sparging is often necessary. This results in a lower gravity wort in the brew kettle. Therefore, the first beer can be a higher alcohol brew and the second can be a lower alcohol or even a session beer. This also allows you to create two very different beers from the same mash. Things such as hops added and yeast used can be changed between the two beers from the same mash! I will also be adding additional specialty grains to the mash before collecting the second runnings to give the beer a different flavor (smoke and coffee). It could go very well...or very badly. Nonetheless, the process will be exciting and it will be fun to experiment with this facet of brewing. I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.

These Can Only Mean One Thing...

Trip to Odell and the Latest

As many of you know (see previous posts), Muddy Huddy was chosen to be brewed by Odell Brewing Co. for an entry into the Great American Beer Festival. At the beginning of August, I drove up to the brewery and brewed my beer on their brewery. It was an absolutely awesome experience and a really fun day....really makes me want to open my own brewery soon.

Started out with over 500 lbs. of malt!

Here is the system I brewed on, can make about 8 barrels (252 gallons)  of beer on it (we made about 6)

Muddy Huddy mash!

Morning sun coming into the brewery...beautiful, right?

Well, one month later, we took a family trip to Odell to try the finished product. It came out pretty good!  A little lower in alcohol, 5.9% vs. 7.5% that I brewed. All and all, it is very tasty and we'll be taking another trip up with friends to sample it again.

Tap Room beer list...that's right...uhhuh

I actually wrote the description for Muddy Huddy

Cam is so psyched

Wonderful wife..she doesn't like stouts, but said she liked this one!

Cam is really impressed with the brewery...

The day after the brewery visit, I brewed up two beers. The first was a Saison that will have 20 pounds of Colorado Western slope peaches added to it at the end of fermentation. The other beer was a wet-hopped harvest ale that was made with fresh hops from the backyard and Micah's yard. I had mostly Chinooks and Micah had CTZ. It will be a lighter beer at 4.6%, but it should have a good wet-hopped taste and aroma.These beers will be the first of the Harvest Series brewed each fall.

 

Had to hire workers for the harvest (Olivia loves the smell...while drinking a Muddy Huddy, how fitting!)

The Hop Harvest:

The fresh, wet hops thrown into the last part of the boil.

So, this is the time of year where I want to have nothing but autumn seasonal beers on tap. I have the Oktoberfest lagering until October. The saison and wet-hopped ale will take two more of the taps in 2 weeks. I will most likely still have Bellamy Amber on tap at that time too. I also worked up an Imperial Pumpkin ale recipe tonight! Although, I don't have enough fermentors! Space will free up in a couple of weeks and maybe I can brew it then. Have fun sipping your favorite fall seasonal craft brews...

Brewing with Dad

This past Saturday, I brewed with my Dad! Along with my Mom, they are the newest residents to Colorado! We're extremely excited that they now live here. We brewed a Belgian Blond that will be around 5% ABV and will have a bunch of noble hop aroma and spiciness. We also brewed my first rye beer, a Rye Pale Ale. I used about 30% Rye in the mash and it was heavily late-hopped with American hops...it will finish up around 5.5% ABV. The wort had a slight taste of rye bread that I think will pair nicely with the hops. Both brews are bubbling away as I write this.  We did manage to wreck some parts of the brewery with a melted sight-glass and burnt temperature probe...those can be easily replaced though. The beer is going to be great and it was really nice to have my Dad go through an almost 12 hour brewday with me, learning what I am so passionate about!

Dad manning the spray bottle to prevent the boilover! Hi, Mom! (in the reflection)

Here is a tiny glimpse of the project I undertook the day after I had knee surgery and was laid up. I etched my brewery glassware with the Lowell Brewing logo..too much? I'll post a clearer picture at another time, but this one was neat with the reflection bouncing off some Vernalis at dinner the other night.

I also have to get on planning my Oktoberfest brew since it will have to lager for 2 months after fermentation. I think I have the recipe about figured out. And, who knows, maybe I"ll brew a pumpkin ale this year in the spirit of autumn...if this blazing inferno of a summer ever passes!