This summer has been pretty busy as far as the homebrew side of things goes. I’ve just cracked open the first bottle of a Kolsch wheat beer that I brewed in late July and it is very good. It’s a nice light color (gasp, a first for me!) with very little carbonation, but plenty of classic wheat beer flavor with some fruity after-taste. As always it goes down smooth. I tweaked how much water I added to this batch because some of my previous batches had been very heavy specific-gravity-wise, and the results were favorable with 58 bottles from the batch, and a great, light late summer beer perfect for the first few Purdue home football games! Why it’s even gold in color… now if only I could find some black tinted lager glasses we’d be set!
I received quite possible the best compliment any homebrewer can get from the most difficult beer drinker to please: my mother. To her every beer tastes the same. “Tastes like beer,” are her exact words as my dad and I offer her various different brands and styles to try. But, she explained that she liked how little aftertaste and how smooth my classic altbier went down earlier this summer. WIN! (Especially because that altbier was almost 6 months old!!!)
With about a week left before I headed back to school I brewed the delicious dortmunder lager again. 8.4 pounds of malt and three hop additions (including some flavoring hops for 5 mins after the boil is complete) make this a very bold and agreeable beer. I can’t wait to crack open the test bottle here in just under a week. This particular brew should be spectacular as the whole brewing process went exactly as planned temperature and time-wise.
My dad and I build wooden boxes that hold 24 bottles each because I was tired of lugging around about 6 different kinds of leftover cardboard beer containers. Pictures will follow.
I’ve told myself I need to label my beers now, and the labels have been through the testing stage, but with the first big Purdue home football game, and thus the first big homebrew weekend looming, I still don’t have labels on any of my bottles. Thankfully I don’t have much hw so far this semester!
Latest new beer tried: O’Hara’s Irish red. On the suggestion of our waitress at Nine Irish Brothers in West Lafayette I tried this very hoppy red. I’d say think Killians, but with way more hop kick, and a little, teensy bit heavier. Overall very good!
