what are you working on currently?

Pumpkin ale for thanksgiving. I just bottle a Flanders Red and saved 1 gallon of it to blend with a malty brown ale that will hopefully turn out like New Belgium's Clutch.

 

I've got a rye-PA fermenting right now.

I am also working on building a better mash tun and getting a 10 gallon boil pot to do full boils.

 

Trying to figure out my spice tincture for my chocolate pumpkin porter. Also putting together a recipe for an IPA that is bitter enough for me - thinking Chinook or Columbus for bittering, I want that harsh bitterness just not sure which would be better for the job with some nice citrusy finishing hops.

 

Available for Drinking: Rye PA, Oatmeal Stout, Saison, Dubbel, Grape Berliner Weis.

Long-term Conditioning: Biere de Garde, Farmhouse Brett Beer

Twinkles in my Eye: a Pale Mild and a Black IPA (how's that for irony?). I want to try Northern Brewer's new Maris Otter extract, and I think a pale mild is a good vehicle for that. Despite any recent posts of mine questioning the worth of Black IPAs, a colleague has revealed to me that he really digs them, ergo, I'll try it. Also probably an extract beer, as shaving off a little time from a brew day can be make or break during the academic year.

 

Split 10 gallon batch of a hoppy wheat - one with 1056 ad one with American wheat yeast. Hitting the 1056 batch with 3oz Citra dry hops tomorrow.

Beside those I've got a light chocolate pumpkin ale I named Gallagher's Squash - might hit that with some more bourbon soaked spices dry hopped as it didn't come out as prominent as I'd like.

Have my first batch of mead fermenting on its 5th week - I used local orange blossom honey and damn does it taste good already!

And last but not least, a 10 gallon batch of a huge imperial stout I brewed on Sunday in the brand new conical....it's coming along nicely.

 

Dry hopping: Nelson Sauvin Red Ale with Special B and a ton of Nelson dry hops.
Fermenting: big American stout with almost a pound and a half of black patent and a quarter pound of Simpsons roasted for good measure. With Galena and Willamette hops.
Fermenting: Pumpkin Ale, mashed with Sugar Pumpkins. Currently have a tincture of spice soaking for spicing at kegging.
Next is figuring out what I want to brew for a party in late October (halloween) to serve beside the Pumpkin Ale. Thinking a hefe with red food coloring for the blood look and when serving dropping a small chip of dry ice into it to smoke a little. And the big project is getting plans to build a hop yard on some land.

 

Just added some vanilla beans to a Chocolate Oatmeal Porter.. It tastes great in secondary.. I'll let it sit another week or two and see how it tastes then.

I'm trying to decide what to do next. Thinking about something kinda large.. maybe 1.100 or bigger.. Barleywine, or a RIS.

 

Fermenting: Belgian Tripel aged on lemon zest and ginger root
Fermenting: Hard apple cider fermenting on cinnamon sticks and toasted apple wood.

 

Fermenting a lambic, sort of? 60% malt 40% wheat. Scored some 2 year old unblended girardin lambic and mixed it with a belgian pale. Turned it into a very funky pale ale, I then built up the dregs of that funky beer as the yeast for my lambic. At 3 months its very funky and sour, kinda impress at how well it turned out. Don't know if I should bottle, throw on fruit or let it ride.

 

Fermenting: 2 x 1 gallon local apple ciders from different orchards. One got 1028, one got ECY05 (Brett #9)

Conditioning: 5 Gallons of 13% RIS (awaiting oak & rye whiskey treatment), 5 gallons of dry stout, 5 gallons of ECY Bug Farm Sour (~1 year old now), 5 gallons of a Sour Brown (a Dunkel that went tart due to old yeast that I then Bretted and added oak).

In kegerator: Watermelon Wheat, 100% Brett Pale Ale, Amarillo Wheat
In kegs awaiting chilling: Brown Ale, Hefeweizen, Root Beer

Bottles: Sept. 2011 Quad, Feb. 2011 Barley Wine

Next in line: 100% Brett IPA, IPA (Centennial?), DIPA, Dunkelweizen, Another sour...

 

Also will add that if I happen to come across unpasteurized, untreated apple juice, I'll make a cider. They are so dang easy to make. I suppose if I were not so lazy, I'd just drive up the Bayfield Peninsula where the local orchards are and get some, but the reality is that I've only made cider when the ingredients find their way to me.

 

Fermenting/Aging: 15.5 gallons Flander's Red in Cabernet Barrel, 15.5 gallons 100% Marris Otter & EKG English Barleywine in second Cabernet Barrel.

Brewing this weekend for a chance at collaborating with a local brew pub: 6 gallons Galaxy/Citra/Simcoe/Rakau IPA, Rakau/Amarillo American Amber Ale w/ oats.

Twinkle: Dark Mild, AK Mild, Rye wine w/ NZ hops, American Barleywine or RIS for bourbon barrel

 

Just finished (this afternoon) making a mini-fridge able to fit my keg, but sticking with the picnic tap for now, tower will come later.

After that, I dropped 2oz of Centennial into Janet's Brown Ale that is smelling wonderful with a thick oily sheet on the top. Hope to rack this into said keg sometime around the end of the week.

Prepping for my first lambic style brew, going to taste 4 krieks (3F, Cantillon, Bruery, Phantom Canyon [local brewery]) and will pitch dregs from those that taste good. Might break into some other sours that I have stashed away. The plan is to ferment it out for a couple of months, then break it up as follows

1 gallon - Dry Hop
1 gallon - Fruit
3 gallons - save for future blending

I am also in the planning stages of a Nelson IPA using wine yeast.

Lastly, with the kegerator in place I am looking to brew a small-ish batch (3 gallons?) of some type of lager, probably a pils.

 

My goal is to come up with a really smooth, drinkable (like from a giant boot) 80 shilling type recipe. I have my first batch cold-conditioning now, but I don't think it's quite what I want. I like it, but it has too much body, and I really wouldn't want to load up a beer bong with it, lol. I've had a few in Scotland (Caledonian 80 /- is the one I've had the most) that I just really loved. I would normally slam one pint, then sit down and enjoy 1 or 2 more. That's what I'm looking for. I used wlp028 for my current batch, but I really wonder what yeast Caledonian uses. I don't remember getting a peaty/smoky flavor in that beer, although it's been maybe 4 years since I had any. I might end up with something like Nottingham. I refuse to use Cal ale yeast; I don't give a damn if it gives just the profile I'm looking for, it just doesn't seem right in a Scottish-type ale. I also don't give a crap about the whole 'scottish ales are really english ales' argument, so spare me.

 

I've got a dubbel that's currently bottle conditioning (went into bottles last Wednesday) and a barleywine in secondary (half on oak soaked in Woodford Reserve) that will be going into bottles shortly. Next up is a KBS clone that I'm just waiting on the ingredients to come in the mail for (the store I ordered from was temporarily out of Wyeast 1056). After that I'll be doing a Stone 07 Vertical Epic clone and my first sour relatively soon (and not necessarily in that order). Once fermentors are freed up from those batches I'd like to do a brown ale (recipe already in place), a porter, and an oatmeal stout.

 

Currently Drinking in bottles: APA (Close to SNPA Cascade+Centenial), My Summer Ale (American Wheat with Hallerttau Hops, Lemon Zest and Grains of Paradise).

This weekend brewing my first All Grain, my buddy just got an ill set-up. Were going to do an All Amarillo IPA, cant wait.

After that I'll plan something for Thanksgiving and/or Christmas. Maybe an Oatmeal Stout, Coffee Porter. Also thinking about doing a session ale, like an ESB or California Common.

 

bottle conditioning: summer ale/saison
primary: first attempt at a lambic
grains waiting to be brewed this weekend: a giant imperial brown (first all grain attempt!)
we also have a russian imperial stout already in bottles that we keep checking every few weeks to see if it has balanced out to our liking yet..

 

To be brewed soon:
Kolsch with ECY21 yeast
Riwaka Single Hop IPA

Fermenting:
Lightly Applewood Smoked Cinnamon Pomegranate Ale
Lightly Applewood Smoked Chamomile Pomegranate Ale
Rye Saison with ECY08 yeast

Keg Conditioning:
RIS - some destined for bourbon soaked oak spiral treatment, some not
Maple RIS - some destined for bourbon soaked oak spiral treatment, some not
Maple Barley Wine (12% abv)

Serving:
Hoppy Robust Brown (modified version of Janet's Brown)
Kick Ass Brown (C.H. Evans Brewing clone)
Triple IPA (11% abv and 167 ibu's including a 6oz Nelson Sauvin dry hopping for 5 gallons)