Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Cascade Pale Ale

This past Sunday I brewed my first extract batch in a while:
6lbs Briess Pilsen light DME
1 lb Caramel 60
1 oz Cascade @ 60, 20, and 7 minutes
1 package US-05
It's fermenting right now (along with the "Big Smoke" on it's diacetyl rest) at 65 degrees. I plan on fermenting for 2 weeks before racking and dry hopping with another ounce of Cascade.
OG: 1.050. Everything went well, with the exception of breaking my front tooth on a bottle during the boil. Maybe I'll give this beer a dental themed name.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Big Smoke

The name fits, too. The OG for my first lager came out really high. I attribute that to boiling off too much volume. Estimated: 1.088 Actual: 1.101 @ 55 degrees F. So, depending on how this Bohemian Lager yeast performs, this will probably be my strongest beer yet.
The fermentation schedule will be something like this:
Primary: 2 weeks @ 50F
Diacetyl rest: 5 days @ 65F
Lager: 2 months @ 35F