Category beer

There. 5 gallons of unpasturized, unpreserved Rochester Cider Mill cider has been put to ferment. In with the juice is two pounds of honey from Honeyflow Farm in Dryden, MI, two pounds of Domino Dark Brown (Cane) Sugar, and one packet of Lalvin D47 yest.

With an original gravity (density) of 1.082~1.084, this cider will hopefully be around 7% – 8.5% when it is done.

Boiling the wort.
(Click for more moblog photos…)

Here’s the beer today, which I’m going to call Simcoak. Well, I’ll call it that if it actually comes out…

Wyeast 1056 – American Ale (Yeast)

2 lbs. Carapils Vienna
2.2 lbs. Muntons Extra Light LME
4 lbs. Muntons Extra Light DME
3 oz. Simcoe Hops (13.4% Alpha Acid)

3 quarts of water at 165°F Strike temperature, aiming for mashing temperature of 152°F. Mash for one hour.

Sparge with 4 quarts of water at 180°F.

Boil for one hour.

Hops at 60 minutes, 30 minutes, and 5 minutes remaining in boil, one ounce per addition.

1 tsp. Irish Moss (seaweed) at 15 minutes remaining in boil.

2 1/2 tsp. Yeast Energizer and 5 tsp. Yeast Nutrient at start of boil.

Original Gravity (OG) of 1.060.

Put to ferment at 15:10 EDT.

Once the beer is in ‘secondary fermentation’ (aka aging) I’m planning on adding a quantity of toasted oak which has been soaked in George Dickle bourbon for a while. Hopefully this will make it nicely oak-y, to go along with the extreme hoppyness. Alcohol should be mild, maybe 6% or so. Maybe this will make a nice summer-time after dark beer…

My favorite local shop for purchasing beer just happened to have a whole bunch of Founders’ Kentucky Breakfast sitting on the shelf. Imagine that. ;)

If I hadn’t brought one to share last Friday when playing Wii with friends there’d be a six pack. Mmm.

Today’s Beer Purchases
(Click for full resolution image.)

After a week without consuming any alcohol I decided to swing by the local good beer store on my way home from work. Here’s what I acquired, from left to right:

· Founder’s Black Rye
· Founder’s Kentucky Breakfast Stout (x2)
· Arbor Brewing Company’s Olde Number 22
· Dogfish Head’s Burton Baton
· Dogfish Head’s Shelter Pale Ale
· Dogfish Head’s Red & White
· Mahr’s Brau’s Jubelfestbier
· Stoudt’s Triple
· Breckenridge’s Vanilla Porter
· Victory’s Ten Years Alt
· Rampo Valley Brewery’s Passover Honey Beer^†
· Morland’s Old Speckled Hen (x4)

I’ll try and post an image and a bit of info about each one as I try them.

And yes, I know the image looks a bit soft. I’m not sure why yet. It might be that I had it at f/14 to ensure the edges were in focus too.

^† Not technically a beer, as it contains no malt.

Yeech. Remember that awful whisky I brought to the Brian and Debbie’s before the Michigan Beer Fest? I got rid of it. It had been sitting in the pantry since the summer, and after one deciding sip curled my lips I decided to dispose of it in the only appropriate manner.