Brew Batch #139 Kemosabe

Had to have something hoppy on tap with all these lagers and stouts so I tried my hand at a hoppy pale wheat. I think it could have come in a little lighter but this is just a "tip of the hat" to our masked friend which is why I used Cascade to bitter then Amarillo and El Dorado in the boil. A little Columbus to dry hop and I'll have worked up a brew around a great concept of a light colored hop juice that hopefully has a citrus feel with a bold musk follow through. Like you've been riding the range all day with your Injun by your side. OG 1.060+0.000@73F

Brew Batch #138 Ikigai (again)

Only need about 8 or so more gallons to refill Le' ARTHUR, so this can be chewing while I'm finishing up wrapping and building toys and the other half of FBC is at Disney. Then he'll knock out 4 or so gallons. Needless to say we're overshooting cause having a nice English Barleywine to sip on in February sure does warm the cockles. OG 1.110+0.001 @72F, just a pinch off from last batch but sitting on some healthy Safale 04 repitch.

2019 Happy Holidays

Trying my hand at Happy Holidays once again, I brought out the big guns. KeeWePee b3 and what was deemed Le' Arthur at the time of entry (the Rum Barrel Project batch #115 unaltered). KWP garnered a paltry 32, good but you're not going to place in this competition of 561 with anything less than high 30s I would think. Then the literal 9 month birthchild of myself and RP@OTB (which =FBC) bangs a 43, a 🥇 at it's table of 26 Smoke and Wood aged beers then my first ever solo or otherwise a 🥈 BOS out of the 32 tables! A great way to end the year, it's been a long one of trial and error but this makes it supremely worth it. Hell, I may stop doing comps now...…..nah. Thanks to St Louis Brews for putting on the, "final qualifying event for the Annual Masters Championship of Amateur Brewing (MCAB), and the final stop on the Midwest Homebrewer of the Year circuit".

Brew Batch #137 Reinke's Revenge 2019

Once more into the fray, a month later than last year's newly proposed Stout Day brew day, but nonetheless still in 19'. Same recipe as last year and hard to believe, but I overshot BE by 2 points. OG 1.106+0.000@69F sitting on top of some fresh Safale 05 from MCB v1.1. Now I've just gotta figure out if this will be straight Reinke's or will I meddle with it?

Brew Batch #136 Squeeze (beta)

All ten gallons kegged today, half lemongrass whirlpool half regular base. Come Monday, we'll do some sampling and blending with some Amoretti lemon and Soda Stream lemon essence to see if we can bring out just a pinch of that citrus profile. American hefe with a lemondrop kiss. FG 1.012+0.00@55F gave a 5.5% bevvy that's easily dialed back to the intended 4.5%. May need a beta batch #2 but we'll see what the consensus is before ramping up to 15 gallons. 

Brew Batch #135 Melted Chocolate Bars v.1.1

So no nibs in the secondary due to my impatience to see how the overall recipe itself improved. But 4 gallons of very "clear" sweet stout of some kind was kegged today (clarity thanks to "weather", a couple of nights near freezing works great, really just one). I plan on using that same Safale 05 cake that's still in the fermenter to work on something else come Monday. FG 1.014+0.000@55F gives us 5.25%. That yeast really chewed it down. A full 1.25 points further than expected, but in reality we're just getting some good sweet stout batches rolling for the ultimate goal of Postman's Route Peppermint Stout.