tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24995881559358882192024-03-13T09:15:57.839-05:00Bluff City BrewingA blog about making, drinking and appreciating beer in TennesseeBluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.comBlogger111125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-72746111336477891672021-10-17T15:29:00.001-05:002021-10-17T15:32:02.713-05:00A Normal Sunday<p>I'm finally able to make beer on a Sunday again, after being banished to working weekends over a year ago. The hard times hit our company and thankfully I managed to survive.</p><p>I'm making Stout once again. But this year, in honor of my wife's obsession with everything pumpkin, I've decided to make this a Pumpkin/Holiday Stout.</p><p>It's basically her old stout with Pumpkin Spice, Nutmeg, and a Cinnamon stick.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RqjJDZ-CI40/YWxjVXRDOOI/AAAAAAAABXI/I_0fK4oj2N8SR_Hk0T1KBDu04z60tAr_QCLcBGAsYHQ/s6000/DSC_2773.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6000" data-original-width="4000" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RqjJDZ-CI40/YWxjVXRDOOI/AAAAAAAABXI/I_0fK4oj2N8SR_Hk0T1KBDu04z60tAr_QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/DSC_2773.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>College visits and home improvements have taken time from the brewing arts but still I have been able to make lots of <i>my</i> beer lately (Ambers, IPA's and Pales). <div>Now it's time to have one ready for the holidays for the love of my life.<div>It's a near perfect fall day so I'm diving head first into the task. Stout is a good Winter beer but I admit Jennifer is probably more interested in it than I am.</div><div>I mashed at 156 and added a teaspoon of pumpkin spice, a pinch of nutmeg and a cinnamon stick at 10 minutes and eased the hop schedule to create a thick dessert beer.</div><div><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9PP2xu94zf0/YWx45bC6IJI/AAAAAAAABXU/7qaA293d-9QSc8ixxoBwW71EQSx4U97nACLcBGAsYHQ/s1620/DSC_2777.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1620" height="133" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9PP2xu94zf0/YWx45bC6IJI/AAAAAAAABXU/7qaA293d-9QSc8ixxoBwW71EQSx4U97nACLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h133/DSC_2777.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div>Adding spices to these beers is always tricky. A pinch too much and you've got a sappy, thick glass of crap. Too little and you get an off-tasting base beer.</div><div>We'll say a prayer to St. Arnold of Soissons asking for a good fermentation and a pleasant flavor.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MsYru-YmURI/YWx-SY4Zy1I/AAAAAAAABXc/pMBDoS80qEULbvK2csvItRo1Bdz84GeNQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/carboy.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MsYru-YmURI/YWx-SY4Zy1I/AAAAAAAABXc/pMBDoS80qEULbvK2csvItRo1Bdz84GeNQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/carboy.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div>Truthfully though, I may still have a couple of bottles of this left this time next year. I tend to shelve these beers to see how they age.</div><div>But there are more specialty beers on the horizon for me.</div><div>I'd like to make an Oktoberfest cause' I guess, I do one about once a year. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vWdz8QnT7F8/YWyA7pVJbWI/AAAAAAAABXk/9yc9kMzIY04DfjoNJasrPyKNSyqY4WO1ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1620/DSC_2795.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1620" height="133" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vWdz8QnT7F8/YWyA7pVJbWI/AAAAAAAABXk/9yc9kMzIY04DfjoNJasrPyKNSyqY4WO1ACLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h133/DSC_2795.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div>And Jenny wants a sour. </div>This is another beer that can be tricky. But, with the exception of some Vienna and Munich malts, I have the grain.</div><div>Anyway, sorry for being a terribly infrequent blogger. I'm grateful for the attention I get and I understand that a proper blogger makes an entry twice a week, not twice in two years. I won't call it an excuse but I have been busy learning some new things at work and assisting my wife shooting videos for her Disney blog.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mgmctw2sXEA" width="320" youtube-src-id="Mgmctw2sXEA"></iframe></div><div>I resolve, once again, to be a better blogger, a better brewer and a better human.</div><div>Please be kind to others and, as always,</div><div>Good Beer To You.</div><div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9PP2xu94zf0/YWx45bC6IJI/AAAAAAAABXU/7qaA293d-9QSc8ixxoBwW71EQSx4U97nACLcBGAsYHQ/s1620/DSC_2777.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9PP2xu94zf0/YWx45bC6IJI/AAAAAAAABXU/7qaA293d-9QSc8ixxoBwW71EQSx4U97nACLcBGAsYHQ/s1620/DSC_2777.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /><br /></a></div></div></div></div>Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-83776134979510710142020-03-22T21:46:00.003-05:002020-03-22T21:46:33.379-05:00Somewhat SequesteredNot quarantined, thank God. I love being at home but I couldn't stay here for weeks on end.<br />
But life as I know it has been altered for a while.<br />
Many of my co-workers and I have been doing the job out of our cars for a week now but today, the city is shutting all non-essential businesses down. I work in TV news and I'm told that we are essential and may continue to do our best to serve the community.<br />
We do not enter the building for any reason. Equipment and instructions are ferried out to us in the parking lot. There are Porta-Potties for us to use just outside the door.<br />
Although I used lavaliere mics a few times last week I'll be taping a stick mic to a stick starting tomorrow. We edit video outdoors on a laptop.<br />
Still, I am thankful.<br />
I am working.<br />
Others are not. I worry and pray for them all.<br />
Nashville has many restaurants, hair salons, tattoo parlors and retail of every kind.<br />
This kind of economic catastrophe will close many of these businesses for good.<br />
Many will have life turned upside down.<br />
We are doing what we can at our house.<br />
Today, though, I really needed something normal. I needed to check out for a while and just do something outside the coverage of this world calamity.<br />
<br />
So I made beer.<br />
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I had just enough roasted and chocolate malts to make a Stout.<br />
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I don't drink this beer that much but Jenny likes it so we need to keep some in the beer room for her to have occasionally.<br />
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I recently finished a Dopplebock and a second batch of Celebration Clone. The Dopplebock finished fairly sweet so I'll let it sit in the bottle for a couple of months to see if it comes in line with what I think it should taste like.<br />
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The Clone beer does not taste particularly similar to Sierra Celebration, but it is a good beer.<br />
Double Heart will be packaged next.<br />
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I think this beer will be a good one.<br />
The mash, boil, chill and pitch all went well.<br />
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In a few weeks maybe I'll be able to find somebody who needs a few bottles of this beer to ease the considerable burden that Coronavirus has thrust upon us all.<br />
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Good Beer To You, and prayers for you and your family too.Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-14864361264131710902020-01-12T17:01:00.000-06:002020-01-12T17:20:13.479-06:00A Clone For The KegAs I mentioned in my last post we vacationed at Disney for a couple of days last month.<br />
I found a beer stand at Disney Springs selling Sierra Nevada Celebration. As I walked and sipped that day I wondered why I've ever drank anything else. Perhaps it was the right beer at the right time for just the right frame of mind. Maybe I was influenced by the fact that I was having a beer on vacation, which always makes it better. But in my home brewer arrogance, I resolved to try to make it.<br />
I found an old <a href="https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/sierra-nevada-celebration-ale/" target="_blank">recipe </a>online and started adding ingredients to the recipe formulation portion of Promash, which I have used for 15 years. After adding a handful of acidulated malt and subbing a couple of ounces of C60 to make up a shortfall of C40, I'm mashing the following:<br />
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The mash looked good but the strike temperature came in short. Really short.<br />
I was shooting for 154 but hit it at 148 degrees. The starting grav was long at 1.070 so this will be strong.<br />
The lower mash temp might thin this beer out so I hope the Carapils Dextrine malt does it's job and keeps this one thick.<br />
As I brewed I shot a little <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PiBrOWM5Vc" target="_blank">video</a> and mashed it up with some I already had and added a bit of free music I found earlier on YouTube to commemorate the day.<br />
My assistant was no help. She just sat at the table as if she expected me to put a plate in front of her.<br />
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I'll evaluate the resulting beer in a few weeks.<br />
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Good Beer To YouBluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-5042386877228697892019-12-28T16:33:00.000-06:002019-12-28T16:56:57.267-06:00This Hop Was a Flop, Maybe.The Pale Ale I made with Cashmere hops disappoints me.<br />
I'm not shy about bragging regarding my Pale but this substitution completely changed the character of the beer into a flavor profile I don't really like. The beer reminds me of one of those really tart east coast IPAs.<br />
I'm more of a traditionalist Pale dude. Sierra Nevada Pale, Mirror Pond, etc. So I'm not really digging this one.<br />
But I think somebody might.<br />
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I'm going to draw a few growlers off the keg and give them to a couple of brewers and beer peeps I know to see what they think.<br />
This beer might be a bust for me but could be something I make again for somebody else.<br />
My palate is the end all, be all, but only for me.<br />
Others might find this beer delicious.<br />
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In other news, I was on vacation for a week and managed to make beer twice and head down to Star Wars Land at Disney for a couple of days.<br />
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Today I packaged my 2nd and 3rd beers in as many weeks. One of them is an Amber in the keg on the left, above. The other two are an IPA I made on vacation and the Raspberry Porter I made a couple of weeks ago.</div>
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I'm trying to improve the IPA with a bit of Acidulated Malt. I think the bitterness might be more defined and present.<br />
The Porter was a try at something I had years ago. I checked it last night.<br />
Not bad but not great. Drinkable.<br />
I think more porter and less raspberry next time.<br />
I'll let my Cursillo brothers sample this one for some feedback.<br />
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Happy Holidays! And, of course,... Good Beer To You.</div>
<br />Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-57705101112535218782019-12-07T12:09:00.001-06:002019-12-07T12:18:32.601-06:00Raspberry PorterYeah.<br />
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A fruit beer,... sort of.</div>
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My wife and I went to a beer dinner at Bosco's in Memphis with some members of the beer club about 10 years ago.</div>
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Great food was served in courses and paired mostly with Bosco's beer. But the dessert was paired with a Raspberry Porter made by my friend Jody Kane.</div>
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Maybe it was the food pairing, the other beers I'd had,...I don't know. But I remember that beer to this day.</div>
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So I'm trying to make one.</div>
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A little chocolate malt, an ounce or two of black malt and some roast barley are the backbone of my attempt.</div>
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I'm using a raspberry puree split between the end of the boil and the bottling process to attain the fruit character.</div>
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I briefly thought about using real fruit in a secondary fermentation but I'm not all that confident handling it to be certain that no bacteria get in there and ruin the ferm.</div>
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My trusty stainless fermenter and a good pitch of California Ale yeast should do the job well.</div>
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Good Beer To You.</div>
Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-52095609627732751902019-11-24T10:39:00.001-06:002019-11-24T10:40:54.821-06:00Cashmere!Today I'm trying a new hop. <br />
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Cashmere. </div>
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It was on sale so I decided to try it out in my very successful Pale Ale.<br />
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The grist remains the same but the hop schedule is as follows.</div>
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I'm still throwing a little Amarillo in there for aroma but I'm excited to see how the flavor profile changes. The 30 and 15 minute additions are what's important to me here.</div>
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I'll report the results in a few weeks.</div>
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Good Beer To You.</div>
Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-77107061846819051052019-09-08T16:24:00.001-05:002019-09-08T16:24:47.925-05:00Oh Yeah. I Almost Forgot About This BlogSo its been a minute. Two years, in fact.<br />
But don't think I'm not making beer. I've brewed about 50 times since my last post.<br />
First lets catch up on some things.<br />
The kegerator project went south on me. After I painted the thing, got the holes drilled, installed the taps and poured about 3 kegs out of it, the compressor failed and it became junk. Then, over the same weekend, my fermentation vault stopped too. So I pushed both out to the front lawn and called the junk collector.<br />
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Now I'm looking toward my now 10-year-old dorm fridge to do the dispensing and thankfully, a friend donated an updated kitchen fridge to me. I put a temperature controller on the side and started again.<br />
There have been <a href="https://youtu.be/0_eiSIi6qYg" target="_blank">vacations</a> and a life event or two during the last 24 months.<br />
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I renovated a couple of rooms in our house. Learned a few things about flooring along the way.<br />
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I'm thinking about re-branding this blog. After all, we've lived in Nashville for about 8 years now and it might be time to let the BCB domain go to somebody who'll use it in Memphis. Lots of new breweries down there now. I'm rooting for all of them.<br />
Finally, today, I'm making an IPA that leans in the direction of Bells Two Hearted.<br />
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This is the third try at this beer. It's a good beer. It's still short of being a great beer. Still working on it.<br />
As always,...Good Beer To You<br />
<br />Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-92076473077276428282017-09-03T11:57:00.000-05:002017-09-03T11:57:30.656-05:00Kegerator ProjectAs I make Pale this afternoon, I'm getting back to work on a kegerator project started a while back.<br />
At first I wanted to have this old fridge painted at an auto body shop. But when I really got to the sanding last night I realized that there are too many small dents and scrapes to merit more than a store-bought, matte finish paint job.<br />
Here's how it looked before I started peeling stickers and wiping grease and oil off of it.<br />
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Phase one of the transformation began last night.<br />
This fridge still works but in case it stops 15 minutes after I get everything done, I don't want to spend much money on it.<br />
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I'm not sure if I want to take off the emblem at the top. If it's glued, that's ok but I don't want to rip it off, only to find a couple of holes in the door I won't like looking at.<br />
After the paint comes a couple of intentional holes for the simple wall tap, a new gasket for the door, a small CO2 tank and some tubing.<br />
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Beer people problems.<br />
<br />
Whatever.<br />
<br />
Good Beer To You.<br />
<br />Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-48007859251746199232017-08-06T20:20:00.001-05:002017-08-06T20:26:51.644-05:00More Beer More ProblemsToday I decided to make a larger volume of my Amber so that I'll have some to drink on into Thanksgiving.<br />
I would have doubled the batch size but that would have exceeded the limits of my mash tun. So I calculated the total volume of grain and mash water that would get me right up to the brim. I had to thicken the mash a bit to get enough fermentables in the cooler to make 10.5 gallons. <br />
I hit the mash temperature just a half a degree long at 152.5 and filled it.<br />
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I could barely get the lid on. Then as I began to sparge I employed my new screen to catch husks and other solids from getting boiled with the wort.<br />
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The primary purpose of this device is to provide a place to add hops during the boil and easily remove them when the chill begins. It is designed to hang into the kettle but I had to clamp it up high because the total volume of the boil in a batch this size would sink the top of it. and make it ineffective.<br />
It did a great job on the Session IPA I made a couple of weeks ago so I'll make it a permanent part of my process.<br />
On another note I'm working on a business plan when I can. It's slow going but really instructive.<br />
Good Beer To You.Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-73869361459809122152017-04-16T17:06:00.001-05:002017-04-16T17:06:55.270-05:00Stout Grist and a Steam BeerJust taking a minute to post a couple of recent beer photos.<br />
I made a Stout last week and snapped this before I milled the grain.<br />
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And today my Steam Beer is fermenting away at 63 degrees.<br />
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That's it. Carry on and, of course,... Good Beer To You.Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-15214050427246099642017-02-08T21:06:00.002-06:002017-02-08T21:06:55.691-06:00A Fresh Look At Some Old VideoDuring the day I work with various kinds of video technology. And today, I found an old video of my beer bottling exploits.<div>
This was just some stuff I shot to familiarize myself with a new GoPro we acquired. </div>
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It's not much, but I cut the shots together to show how I package beer.</div>
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I won't be entering this into our local Emmy competition.</div>
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But it's about beer so, I guess this is the place for it.</div>
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But here's a little bit more.</div>
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A couple of things I've done on my day job as a news photographer.</div>
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I hope you like them.</div>
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Good Beer To You.</div>
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Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-29358464534089394532017-01-01T14:39:00.000-06:002017-01-01T14:39:52.472-06:002016 is in the Books, Thank Goodness!!A new year of family, friends and beer awaits.<br />
I'm ready for it.<br />
2016 was a tough year at our house. We replaced the water heater, the furnaces and A/C units, the dryer, the oven, and had a major repair on one of the cars.<br />
The good news is that we are running out of appliances that might need replacement without warranty. If the toaster oven and dishwasher go, we're going to have some problems.<br />
However, I'm at once embarrassed and proud to report that I have made beer 35 times.<br />
Unfortunately, I do not have 190 gallons of beer here at the house, which says something sort of dark about my drinking habits.<br />
I made a couple of batches for my neighbor and gave a lot away but, damn, I should still have lots more in my beer room.<br />
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I went through a couple of kegs of Ordinary Bitter.<br />
The session IPA is great, and Sam I Am (a Sam Adams clone) turned out well too.<br />
I developed a Rye IPA that is good but still needs work to become one of my go-to recipes. The newest Bock is good and my Stout keeps my wife smiling.<br />
I made an Oktoberfest this year and Big B's Special Blonde and Pale 208 are good, as expected.<br />
2016 was good, beer-wise.<br />
2017, I hope will be good for everything else.<br />
We need to buy a car.<br />
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Jenny's '97 Accord, the one she had when I met her 17 years ago, is about to fail.<br />
Of, course, I'll get the CRV and she'll get the new car. That's just the way things work around here.<br />
But all I really care about is that everyone is safe and comfortable.<br />
That's part of the deal when you're a husband and father.<br />
Today, though, I'm celebrating the start of a new year with a fresh batch of Brown Ale. I harvested yeast from a Pale I racked yesterday and happened to have the grain and hops on hand so, of course, I'm making beer.<br />
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This is the beer that won me a Best of Show a few years ago. When it's made well, it's spectacular.<br />
Anyway, I hope everyone at your house is happy, healthy and enjoys a wonderful 2017.<br />
If you stop by my place for a beer, here is what's available right now.<br />
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Plus, Jenny has wine on hand too.<br />
Good Beer To You,...and me.Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-78688232648413263072016-11-26T11:28:00.000-06:002016-11-26T11:28:12.434-06:00Session IPA on Game Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Bitter turned out well, as expected. It's in the keg and pouring well.<br />
Today's glass features our friends at Bosco's Memphis.<br />
5 years in Nashville and we still miss you guys.<br />
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The Octoberfest and RyePA are conditioning in the beer room.<br />
And I'm making Session IPA on a beautiful college game day.<br />
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This beer has been a winner for me. Less alcohol. Great flavor.<br />
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The grist seems a little busy.<br />
I think the first version of this beer was limited by the grains I had on hand.<br />
But it turned out well so I'll make it the same way.<br />
Finally, with Thanksgiving still fresh on my mind, Im looking at my beer fridge.<br />
I see a collage of what I'm thankful for.<br />
My wife, my daughter. <br />
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And, of course, beer.<br />
Colorado plays at 630 central.<br />
Good Beer To YouBluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-21340449966585805352016-10-30T11:31:00.000-05:002016-10-30T11:31:30.126-05:00Nice Easy Beer on a Nice Easy SundayNo, I'm not having one just yet. It's not even noon.<br />
But I am making one. A favorite style of mine. Ordinary Bitter.<br />
I love session beers because I love big taste and small alcohol.<br />
This beer has a few rich grains in it.<br />
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But to me the base grain (called Maris Otter) is what gives it the taste I love.<br />
The mash came in a bit hot at 156 but I'm not worried. I want this to be sort of a dry beer.<br />
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English ale is the yeast. I made this beer a couple of times in the Spring to get me through the Summer.<br />
They went fast.<br />
This one probably will too.<br />
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Next I'm thinking about making a Vienna Lager. <br />
Sam Adams or Devil's Backbone style.<br />
Suggestions on a recipe are welcome as I have never made a Vienna Lager before.<br />
<br />
Good Beer To YouBluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-79168657370009154902016-10-23T15:37:00.001-05:002016-10-23T15:37:24.919-05:00Octoberfest!!This post will look suspiciously like one from a year ago.<br />
I make Maerzen every October.<br />
Yes, I know its normally made in March and consumed during October but as it gets cool around here I can ferment ales in the house and leave the temperature controlled vault for lagers.<br />
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This beer looks good so far.<br />
Expected efficiency.<br />
Good color.<br />
I hope the fermentation is healthy.<br />
With ales I get lots of activity within a few hours.<br />
With Bavarian Lager yeast the krausen starts much slower. <br />
It makes me nervous. I hate to put so much work into a beer and have it go astray.<br />
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After hearing other brewers talk about the viability of this yeast I might shorten the fermentation by one week. It will probably be finished in 21 days.<br />
I'll raise the temp to about 70 for a couple of days near the end just to make sure.<br />
<br />
This is an old recipe and a good one too.<br />
But I don't want to ignore the possibility that it could be even better.<br />
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Maybe I'll turn the yeast around and re-brew with new grist and hop schedules in November to see if I can improve this beer.<br />
Good Beer To You.<br />
<br />Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-47470976619592742022016-09-05T14:02:00.002-05:002016-09-05T16:11:25.880-05:00The Session IPA I started drinking last month is almost gone already.<br />
I guess that means I'll make this one again. This may become my standard IPA recipe.<br />
Make room for a Rye-P-A.<br />
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I bought a couple of pounds of Rye and threw this together last weekend.<br />
I have never made one but have enjoyed many.<br />
It tasted pretty good when I racked it to a clean fermenter yesterday.<br />
<br />
Also I tried a new style last month. <br />
My next door neighbor has a fond remembrance of an Old Ale called Old Peculiar.<br />
Its something he's looked for off and on for years only to find out recently that the Theakston Brewery (UK) doesn't distribute in the US anymore.<br />
The challenge was, of course, to see if we might be able to make it at my house.<br />
He and I looked up a couple of homebrew recipes for it and I took what I considered to be the best of them and came up with a list of hops and grain I could get here in Nashville.<br />
So we mashed it at a mid range temp of 152, boiled it up, chilled it to 65 and pitched.<br />
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I used Wyeast London Ale III to ferment for a little more fruitiness in the finish. It tasted pretty good when we bottled it last weekend so, I'm hopeful.<br />
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So far Eric thinks it's great.<br />
He's calling it Olde Quixote. <br />
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Not much else to report from the brewery.<br />
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I've spent some time lately cleaning bottles. <br />
And I have been gathering media and imaging for a short promotional video I'm planning to produce promoting Trace Brewing.<br />
<br />
Working on this dream is a slow process. The more I know about starting a brewery the more there is to know and that's just fine. It's fun, except for the feeling that I'm really no further in the project than I was a month ago.<br />
It looks hard and I think it's harder than it looks but I'm still here. Still slugging through a business plan and deciding how big this thing should or can be at the beginning.<br />
I listen to a lot of podcasts of interviews of people who have done it.<br />
I am, at once, daunted and emboldened.<br />
I'm finding that there are a million ways to do this (20bbl, nano, contract brewing, alternating proprietorship). I just need to find the way that will work for me.<br />
One foot in front of the other, as they say.<br />
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Good Beer To You.Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-70103073933960621132016-07-20T21:28:00.000-05:002016-07-20T21:28:01.510-05:00Finally, Hop ConesI have planted these rhizomes for a few years now. This is the first time they have began to sprout hop cones. I don't know what I was previously doing wrong or what I might be doing right this time but here they are.<br />
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Without the acid content and cohumulone levels I won't brew with them.<br />
They will most likely become potpourri in the fall.<br />
New Session IPA is in the fermenter.<br />
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I made a few changes to try making this beer better.<br />
Gravity looks good at 1.053. That's just where I want it.<br />
I think pushing it lower would make it tough to get a good balance.<br />
And balance is needed, even in an IPA.<br />
<br />
Good beer to you.Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-13252862511359291322016-07-10T17:52:00.002-05:002016-07-10T17:55:06.135-05:00Working On "Son of Big Daddy"Last Fall I began to re-work my IPA recipe.<br />
The one I used to make wasn't very satisfying.<br />
After a couple of attempts I came up with a pretty decent beer I called Big Daddy.<br />
But then I started re-imagining the beer as a session beer along with my Pale.<br />
I just finished drinking a keg of my first attempt last week.<br />
The beer was drinkable but lacked the malt backbone an IPA needs to keep from being bland hop tea. It was too bitter, even for something I'd call an IPA.<br />
I think I pushed it a little too thin for the style. <br />
Based on my judgement of that beer (and a quick inventory of the grains and hops I have on hand right now) I made a few changes to the recipe.<br />
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The first try might have been a bit of a stretch but I think I'm closing in on a good balance with the one I'm making next weekend.<br />
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I am making short steps here. Backing off the bitterness a bit and bolstering the gravity a few points with a bit more 2-row. I eased up a couple of minutes on the aroma hop addition too. This might help take the sharp edge off this beer.<br />
Brew, ferment, package, judge.<br />
The process is slow but rewarding. <br />
We'll hope for the best.<br />
If this beer is a winner I'll start brewing it regularly. 'Son of Big Daddy' is cheaper to make and lots more approachable than a big alcohol IPA.<br />
In other news, I have lots of clean bottles lying around but only one beer (Independence Amber) to be packaged in the next week or so.<br />
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My beer room is getting a bit lean.<br />
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Good Beer To You.<br />
<br />
<br />Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-86786592688742659642016-07-04T14:08:00.001-05:002016-07-04T14:08:24.537-05:00Independence Amber<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Okay, I made this beer yesterday. But I'm counting it as a 4th of July beer since it was made just one day off and it was as hot as a firecracker out in the brewery.<br />
This beer is made with US grains, US hops, California Ale yeast and Nashville water so it's about as American as it gets.<br />
The final gravity was a bit long at 1.069 so this beer will be a shade less bitter than previous versions. I usually shoot for a bitterness ratio of about .88 or so but this one will come in at .81. That's still a bit high for the style but I enjoy this ale with a "west coast" groove. This batch will be for the bottle.<br />
The Ordinary Bitter has been kegged and sits in the fridge conditioning. Ten gallons will be enough to take us on into the beginning of September. By then I will have taken another shot at my session-ized American Pale.<br />
I re-joined the Brewers Association as Trace Brewing and returned to working on my business plan for a small local brewery and taproom in Bellevue. I am undaunted by the current slowdown in growth of craft brands for this year. The current growth rate for craft beer would still be considered phenomenal in most other industries. But I will be watching it closely toward the end of this year and on into 2017.<br />
The industry is changing. Giants like AB/Inbev and SAB/Miller are buying craft and making craft looking brands, obscuring what used to be a stark contrast between the two. While this is more prevalent than ever it's hardly new. Blue Moon and Shock Top are among many big brew brands that have been on store shelves for many years with minimal acknowledgement on the label about who really makes them.<br />
But I worry, as many do, about the distribution control big beer might wield with the acquisition of these brands. That might make it more difficult for a start-up like me to get tap space in a market with several great locally made brands.<br />
I'll just keep putting one foot in front of the other, however slowly.<br />
My mission statement focuses more on how beer can serve and improve the local community than on becoming a peer to Sierra Nevada or Sam Adams.<br />
I still have some work to do before I launch a campaign for funding.<br />
<br />
Happy 4th of July.<br />
Good Beer To YouBluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-1467689332550641952016-06-19T20:10:00.001-05:002016-06-19T20:10:19.014-05:00The Summer of the Session BeerFirst of all happy Father's Day to dad's everywhere.<br />
I'll use my parental mission as an excuse for not posting anything during the last 5 months.<br />
Apologies and, as always, I'll endeavor to become a real, regular, at least weekly blogger from now on.<br />
On to beer.<br />
I've been developing a couple of session beers during the last couple of months with some promising results.<br />
I'm trying to have a full flavored Summer with a bit less alcohol so I went to my recipe archive and started with Best Bitter.<br />
I make this beer well and I love it but I decided to trim it down to an Ordinary Bitter profile. Specifically, I wanted the new gravity to be a 1.041 instead of a 1.054.<br />
I applied the Best Bitter vision to my Ordinary Bitter recipe and the result was spectacular.<br />
This beer tasted like a 6% beer but has a 4% footprint. I thought it might be a fluke so I turned the yeast around and made it again.<br />
Same result.<br />
Since I have now emptied both kegs of it I started making it again last weekend with a second batch going into the fermenter today.<br />
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This is probably going to be the new table beer at our house.<br />
In the meantime I started making session beers out of my American Pale and IPA. I have tried to do this with my Pale in the past. The results from a new approach are a step in the right direction. But these beers need more work before they are ready to be served to anybody outside my house.<br />
There are other beers to be made before Fall arrives so, lots to do.<br />
Finally, my hops are not doing well this year.<br />
What I first thought were hop cones appearing on the bines now just look like off-shooting growth.<br />
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I guess you only get out what you put into it and I don't really study it much.<br />
I'll look ahead to next year.<br />
Good Beer To You.<br />
<br />Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-6004675942727284402016-01-31T17:24:00.001-06:002016-01-31T17:24:16.969-06:00Brewery (I mean home) RepairsMy hobby has been abated for a few weeks because of a lack of climate control in the basement, where I do ales in winter.<br />
But tonight I have a well made Amber starting up in the downstairs bath.<br />
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This was made possible by the new heater I had installed yesterday.<br />
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New upstairs too. And fresh AC units.<br />
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The whole story would bore you more than you already are, but lets just say that a perfect storm of 20-year old HVAC units, a somewhat lax attitude toward fixing the basement and an unusual Nashville snowfall led to a cold house, an uncomfortable family and a big overdue expense.<br />
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The new outdoor units look pretty nice, though.<br />
And I'm looking forward to brewing in comfort with the new vent installed in the garage.<br />
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Good Beer To You. Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-9153821729716647222016-01-17T16:02:00.001-06:002016-01-17T16:10:12.249-06:00Yeast and Bottle CapsLast week I decided to bottle my Brown Ale and sanitized a batch of bottles without checking to see if I had caps first.<br />
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Cleaning nearly all of my flip tops was frustrating but at least now I have a set of crown tops ready for the Bock that's going to be ready next week.<br />
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Now for the more serious mistake.<br />
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I often save the healthy trub from the bottom of the fermenter when I package my beers and use it a few more times to save money.<br />
Also, the pitch will be really good if you use it within a short time.<br />
I'll re-pitch California Ale yeast 4 and sometimes 5 times before I get too worried that it's dirty or tired.<br />
If I really wanted to explore this aspect of brewing right now I'd get a microscope and "wash" the yeast, re-using it indefinitely.<br />
I'd have a small lab.<br />
On the lower left of this photo you can see the clear glass growler that contains last week's 1056 I harvested from the Brown.<br />
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I noticed it when I reached for a beer to celebrate my efforts on today's just finished IPA.<br />
Of course, I began to wonder what yeast I actually pitched after chilling the wort. After some detective work I have determined this to be the 4th use of 1056 I last pitched on November 22nd into a Pale. Before that I used it in an Amber and a Blonde. I have great hope for this beer despite the circumstances.<br />
Although I am taken aback by the string of challenges and failures of the last six months, they only cause me to re-double my efforts and learn from these painful mistakes.<br />
Don't get me wrong. The IPA will probably be just fine. That yeast, although 7 weeks old, will probably start right up and make a great beer.<br />
But I've learned a lot in the 15 years I've done this. One principle is that the reduction of variables, balanced against the cost of that reduction, is a key contributor to success.<br />
If I am lucky enough to get funding for a small brewery in my neighborhood I am going to need a methodology that reduces beer production to a set of tasks that, properly repeated, will yield a product of consistent and reliable quality.<br />
I think I have my process down pretty well. I just need to pay a little more attention to my own rules and procedures.<br />
Peace, Love, Beer.Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-2610466344306004732015-11-22T18:17:00.002-06:002015-11-22T18:52:15.552-06:00My Beer Runneth Over. Not Good.<br />
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To an experienced brewer this photo says it all. You open the bottle and out comes a gentle fountain of foam. This beer got infected somehow and since every bottle suffered in the same way I'd guess the beer wasn't the greatest when I put it in there.<br />
This is the last of a batch of Steam Beer I made some time ago.<br />
I'm still not having much luck making this beer well since we moved from Memphis 4 and a half years ago. A bad fermentation is just an added insult. This does not happen often in my brewery. But every once in a while I'm reminded to pay more attention to sanitation. <br />
I can't help but to try and make this beer again.<br />
Maybe in the Spring.<br />
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My beer is plentiful, though.<br />
I have kegged (and already drank about half of) a great tasting English Pale. And I'm lagering an Oktoberfest for a few weeks in the keg for the Winter.<br />
Out of CO2 right now. But I'll get filled up by the weekend.<br />
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I just bottled an Oktoberfest I made right after the first one and put it in the stock room along with the Amber I bottled last weekend.<br />
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I made a Pale today using the yeast I harvested by racking the IPA I made a week ago.<br />
The IPA, surprisingly, is taking a bit longer for visible fermentation to fall off.<br />
The Pale (on the left) is just getting started.<br />
I'm going to have a lot of packaging to do in the next couple of weeks.<br />
Good Beer To You. <br />
<br />Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-86086956831095402912015-10-18T15:27:00.001-05:002015-10-18T15:27:19.846-05:00Bitter OctoberI decided to make the best use of my yeast.<br />
I made a Best Bitter right before we went on vacation.<br />
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This is a good beer. I find myself rationing it over time as my supply diminishes.<br />
So I thought, why not make two batches so I can enjoy it throughout the year as I continue to make my core group of American Ales. <br />
I have the yeast, after all. since I bottled Bellevue's Best Bitter yesterday.<br />
So I made it again.<br />
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Good mash temperature. Decent efficiency.<br />
I think I'll drop this one into the keg and save the bottles I packaged yesterday for the Winter/Spring drinking season.<br />
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Same with the Oktoberfest I made nearly a month ago.<br />
My good neighbor, Eric likes this beer so I'll keg the batch I've got in the fermenter now and turn the yeast around this weekend for a batch of bottles to make Eric happy for the Winter.<br />
He has mowed my yard twice when I have been out of town or out of sorts.<br />
I think he deserves a well made beer.<br />
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And, as always, Good Beer To You too.Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499588155935888219.post-33245668658327784002015-09-28T20:40:00.002-05:002015-09-28T20:40:36.340-05:00It's October. Where's The Maerzen?Yes, I know this beer is normally made in March and lagered until it is ready to be consumed in the Fall but I like to make it around the time it gets cool enough here to ferment ales in the basement leaving the fermentation vault in the garage available for the month it takes to finish a lager like this one. There are other beers to be made in the interim. Bitters, Alts, probably another Amber and an IPA. Maybe even a Rye IPA.<br />
Anyway here it is.<br />
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Good krausen on top despite the vault holding the temperature to around 51 degrees.<br />
I had made a starter from a fresh pack of Bavarian Lager yeast a couple of weeks ago. It started a little slow and I didn't get to brew anyway so I held it for a week and stepped it up a few days before I pitched it on Saturday. I didn't forget to crash it to about 53 degrees before I poured it into the wort, which I chilled accordingly.<br />
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I did a decoction for this beer. That is, I mashed the wort at about 122 degrees for about 30 minutes and brought a portion of it to a boil before I put it back in the mash tun to bring the mash to a rest temperature of 155.<br />
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This is an old technique that has been used historically with malts that might need a bit of help converting their starches to sugars.<br />
The malts I'm using probably don't need the benefits of this step, but, you know, it's a bit of a lost art and I believe that making great beer is a creative act, so I did it anyway.<br />
If this beer is competition worthy I'll enter it and, of course, post the result.<br />
Until then. Good Beer To You.<br />
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<br />Bluff City Brewerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08545847925340218482noreply@blogger.com0