Fermenting Update

After what was easily the longest lag I have ever experienced or expect to experience, my Lefse Blond was bubbling away on Friday with a very fresh krausen. It was still going strong on Sunday, and I would guess the lag was from last Sunday until Friday or a full 5 days. I plan on slowly ramping up the temp a degree a day for the next few days to ensure that the fermentation finishes off strong. I will probably not rack it next weekend, with the time that I will be spending on the other side of town visiting Lee and Kyle while they are in town. Family comes before beer, at least when it means that I won't be around to work on it.

Lefse Blond Brew Day

Haven't brewed in a long time, and I was running out in the fridge, so I sat down on Sunday to brew. The Lefse Blond is an incredibly easy brew process with no specialty grains just 2 kinds of sugar. Boiled up 5 gallons of water, dumped in 6 lbs of malt extract and a bag of candi sugar. Once I felt that was mixed, I dumped in 1.5 oz of Spalt hops and started my 60 minute boil. No boil overs and a pretty easy process, other than keeping Rachel from getting to close to the rig. Dumped in my flavor hops along with a Whirfloc tablet and then flame out and cooling time. This was the second time I used my sump pump freezing water cooling process. I brought the temp down to under 120 using tap water then switch over to the pump. I was able to get the wort down into the 60's before racking it to my carboy. This was the best cooling I had ever done and could have pitched the yeast immediately, but the smack pack was a bit old and hadn't swelled yet. I waited 10 hours, then just pitched the yeast anyway. It was lagging, but I expected this and will give it 72 hours before even thinking about it again.

Widmer Pale Ale is Back

I don't remember if I blogged about this beer back when they first released it in 2007, but I vividly remember drinking several six packs of this in the summer of 2007. It has to be the most balanced, drinkable pale ale I have ever had. I spent quite a bit of time when I first started homebrewing looking for a clone of this beer as it was a limited edition and I was in danger of never having it again. I never did find a recipe, but now it doesn't matter. I really love the unique taste of the Summit hops and the beer was really supremely balanced. As soon as I find this in the store I will be picking up a six pack and may have to think about trying to grab a keg for the old kegerator.

2009 Mesa Strong Beer Fest

Hit the fest this weekend and wanted to let folks know about some of the beers. Best beer I had went to the 2007 Stone Old Guardian Bourbon Barrel aged. I have had Old Guardian before, but after being aged in the bourbon barrel it was extra yummy. Slight oak flavor and just a hint of the bourbon. Most interesting beers was a tie between the Chipotle Stout I had and the Coconut Coffee Stout that Matt had. I enjoyed mine and Matt hated his. Other notables were the Serpent Stout from Lost Abby and the Winter Wobbler from Four Peaks. I waited in line for over a half an hour for a chance at a taste of DFH's World Wide Stout. Missed it by about 20 people, so I had to settle for a 90 Minute instead. Pretty good fest, overall I have no doubt that when compared to next weekend I will see this as the more personal and low key of the two. Next up GABF in Tempe with a whole crew of people. Crowds and long lines. The oddest part of the fest next weekend is that the lines will be longest for really bad beer.