It's packaging time at the Reinitzgebot Brewery (the name I've given to my homebrewery)! Tonight I plan on kegging 3 gallons of Imperial Brown Ale and 5 gallons of Rye IPA. I think I'm gonna be doing the "quick & dirty" forced carbonation method as opposed to my normal "proper" way, since I'd like to have some beer available on Saturday night for visiting friends. The Munich Helles I brewed a few weeks ago is lagering in my chest freezer; it's been there about 2 weeks so far, and I plan on leaving it there for at least another 2-3 weeks before kegging that up.
I also purchased ingredients last weekend for the first beer I've designed myself. It's going to be a spin on the Vanilla Bourbon Porter I made at the end of last year, but using my own unique malt/hop bill. I'm dubbing the beer Cinnabon Porter, which will have a base of Crisp Marris Otter malt and a blend of specialty malts, including Chocolate, Brown, Crystal 40, and Crystal 60. I was hoping for Kent Goldings for the hop additions, but the homebrew store didn't have any, so I ended up getting Styrian Goldings and Fuggles. On brew day, I'm going to soak 2 vanilla beans and 2 cinnamon sticks in a small amount of bourbon and let it sit during the course of fermentation. This infused bourbon will then be added to the porter at bottling (I'm bottle conditioning this beer as opposed to kegging). I'm planning on entering this beer in the Sam Adams Longshot Competition this year, which I just registered for. This year's Longshot competition is only for Category 23--Specialty Beers and entries are due at the end of May. I'll be brewing next weekend to get this beer done in time for the deadline.
In other brewnews, I attended a Scottish Ale tasting a couple weeks ago at the Brickskeller in DC, which was led by Bruce Williams of Williams Bros Brewing Co. in Scotland. It was a great tasting plus Bruce was an interesting and engaging speaker. My favorite of his beers was his 80/- (80 Shilling) Scottish Ale, a malt forward, but incredibly well-attenuated beer. Bruce also did a really cool experiment to demonstrate the different carbonation levels in various beers. Williams Bros produces only real cask ale or bottle conditioned beers--no forced carbonation. Bruce poured a number of different beers into small glasses including two of his own, a Budweiser, a Bud Light, as well as a glass of soda. Over the top of each glass he stretched a condom that had been filled with some Sweet n' Low. The Sweet n' Low acted as nucleation points to force CO2 out of solution and up into the condom. Depending on the carbonation level of the various beers, the condoms inflated to different levels. The condom over the soda looked like it was about to blow off the glass (ha, he said "blow off").
The tasting couldn't have come at a more perfect time--I'll be in Philadelphia this weekend judging the first round of the National Homebrew Competition, and I've been assigned to the Scottish & Irish Ales for the morning judging session. In the afternoon, I'll be judging IPAs. I've also signed up to judge the Spirit of Free Beer competition in Fairfax, VA in the middle of May, and I plan on entering a few of my beers in that competition as well. Lastly, I just signed up to steward the second round of the National Homebrew Competition at the National Homebrew Conference, which I'll be attending in Minneapolis at the end of June.
Till next time, cheers and beer it forward!
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