Both Batches are Done

Over the week I brewed a batch of Sweet Sharon and another of Briton's Mist ... the mashing part went quite smoothly.  But I did notice that in the batch of Brinton's that the yeast fermentation seems to shut down quicker than expected even to the point where the cap of the airlock was sitting level on the output of the airlock.  I have never seen the airlock do that thus as insurance I pitched another batch of yeast into the wort.

After pitching the batch of yeast and waiting it still appeared nothing was happening ... thus I removed the airlock, covered the port and shook the carboy to aerate.  This seems to work and hopefully the batch will turn out fine.  I should note that this is a newly purchased carboy that is more translucent than my older one. 

If should be also noted than even with both carboys in the same spot the newer one is a couple of degrees higher.  So I covered the newer one to block any light that may be raising the temperature, speeding the yeast production, etc.  I will know more after shifting to the secondary.

Brewing Two Batches

Yesterday, I brewed up a batch of Sweet Sharon Honey Wheat Biscuit, and later today I will be brewing a batch of Brinton's Wheat Mist.  I am going to enter both of these and maybe the Apple Milk Stout in a competition that is at Hanger 24 in Redlands.  Of course I hope that I will win but I am mainly entering to get some feedback from the judges of "tweaks" to improve the quality of the beer.

I also have two new exciting beers on the Horizon -- a Smoked Porter and something completely different which will pair nicely (if works) with hamburgers and hot dogs in the summer.  I am so excited to start brewing.

Getting Ready for the Next Level

Currently, I have two beers ready to take to compete in home brew completion.

        1)  Brinton's Wheat Mist
        2)  Sweet Sharon's Honey Wheat Biscuit

These are ready now and I will be making the batches that are needed for the competition.  Maine's Moose Apple Musk (final name will most likely be Maine's Moose Apple Milk Stout) has been made finally with the apple and I bottled the first batch (with apple) on Friday.  As with the stout's it will require four weeks in the bottle for proper carbonation. 

This upcoming week I will be getting the supplies to continue brewing and testing ... but look for on the horizon my first attempt at a porter.  I have been playing with the base recipe trying to figure out the needed ingredients to produce a smoked porter and I am almost there.  For now just playing with the names since my Mother asked if I could include Turkey into the name  ... of course wild turkey is out, but I am looking at maybe "Smoked Turkey Brown Porter."

Trip to Egypt

I have recently returned from a trip to Egypt, a place of beer's birth after tasting several varieties of brew.  Came with some great ideas for future batches.

Sakkara -- Very Nice Beer

In addition, along the way tried a couple of Russian beers while we were in the airport in Moscow ... they were great.

Russian Beer

Moscow Airport

I have been also sampling my own beers and two of them are ready to take to competition -- Sweet Sharon Honey Wheat Biscuit and Brinton's Wheat Mist.  The next batch I make of each will be the ones I take to the next level.  Additionally, I have removed the molasses from the Maine's Moose Musk (a sweet stout) and replaced it with the apples I plan to have in the final recipe ... also added lactose powder to improve the mouth feel ... four weeks until testing can begin since I will be bottling tomorrow.

Soon there will be a porter in my collection -- more to come.

Moving Day on Saturday & Sunday

Second Batch of Sweet Sharon in Secondary

It was time to move the 2nd batch of Sweet Sharon to the secondary and on Sunday I made another batch of Brinton's Mist.

Batch of Brinton's Mist Being Made -- This is the Wort

Additionally, on Sunday I had a couple of friends over for dinner and of course to sample my craft ... since the only batch that was fully ready was the Moose Stout we also after only one week opened a bottle from the Sweet Sharon ... which ready sooner than I expected.

Sweet Sharon Honey Wheat Biscuit

The favors from the Sweet Sharon Honey Wheat Biscuit were quite nice and I am assuming that within a couple of month I will be ready to place this recipe into completion.

Brewing Up a Storm

With my trip to Egypt looming I am trying to use up my supplies before I go including grains, hops and yeast. Last week I am another batch of Sweet Sharon Honey Wheat Biscuit, and today I am making another batch of Brinton's Wheat Mist. There are some slight changes to each batch one to use up the supplies and two to compare recipes.

Nice Head

Next week I will make another batch of Maine's Moose Muck so it will ready to bottle upon my return. Good news on the MMM is that the first batch finally carbonated after 5 weeks in the bottle. I opened a bottle from the first batch and it produced a 1" head and tasted much better. Thus, its seems that the Moose Musk requires longer time in the bottle before opening.

Tasting of Moose Musk & Brinton's Mist

Last week in Las Vegas we finally got to taste all of my hard work as the bottles were ready to open.  I had to go to some seminars so I brought up three cases of beer for my friends to taste.

The Brinton's Mist was a lightly hop tasting beer with touches of cinnamon finishes.  Everyone tasting it thought it was quite nice and enjoyed the beer.  There are a couple of changes I want to try before going to competition.

The Maine's Moose Musk experienced issues in the lack of carbonation.  The taste wasn't too bad and slightly tasted like a wine due to the sweetness ... but the lack of carbonation was too difficult to get past.  The funny thing is that upon my return as I went to dump the remaining bottles I noticed some slight carbonation ... held on the dumping to ask my local brewer for some help on the issue.