what are you working on currently?

I'm working on really dialing in my recipes for classic Rauchbier and Koelsch. It's pretty darned hard to nail down such styles. Going to divert myself by brewing a Bohemian Pils and a mild in the meantime. Then during Xmas vacation I'll be traveling to Koeln and Bamberg to do more research.

 

Which ones did you have, if I may ask? (I know there are many, many to choose from, so don't feel pressured to be too specific.)

 

Just brewed yesterday a Sorachi Ace Saison from Love2brew.com as I had one of his and was one of the best in the style I had. I am using the East Coast Yeast Saison strain. I have come to love their yeast.

I also just brewed my first crack at a Flanders Red but have been waiting for it to start to perk(airlock no activity). working on that problem now. Used Flanders Red ECY again.

Putting together recipe for a Metueka Hopped IPA. Anybody have good success or insight on this hop? How did you perceive the flavor of it? Should I add other hops or let this one shine?

 

There was a beer at Drie Kronen in Memmelsdorf that reminded me of 2 Women. There was one at Faessla that also made me say the same. Didn't take notes, was there for the fun of it.

There has been a Landbier on the shelf recently here in Michigan, Leikeim from Altenkunstadt, which google shows is not far from Bamberg or Kulmbach. A little lighter in color and body when doing a side by side with Two Women, but a good Landbier.

 

Bottled my pumpkin ale a couple of weeks ago and should be enjoying some in the very near future... Next in line is a porter with a slightly fuller creamier mouthfeel than most whose recipe is still under formulation...

 

Next up is a MO/Amarillo SMaSH to have something sessionable(ish) around, maybe tomorrow night if I have time after work.

After that is going to be an old ale. I'm still dialing in the recipe, thinking about somewhere in between HotD Adam and an authentic old ale. It'll be aged on some hand-cut applewood chips that I inoculated with various bacteria, primarily brett. Going to do a small 2.5 gal batch first to try it out...theoretically it could be really good but I want to see how it's going before making a big batch.

Third in the pipeline is a spiced porter. I'm thinking some cayenne pepper, a dash of black pepper, and maybe some nutmeg/cinnamon to round it out.

 

Fermenting: Wet Hopped APA (Daisy Cutter Grain Bill), Brett B Belgian Saison (GI Sofie Clone), Brett B Belgian Saison aging on 6 pounds of peaches, Flanders Red, Lambic patiently awaiting cherries.

Kegged: Wet Centennial Blond and Janet's Brown.

On Deck: RR Concecration Clone, Zombie Zust Clone, Daisy Cutter Clone Attempt #1, Winter Stout with MO, Coffee and Chocolate.

 

In the carboy, 6 gallons of an Orval clone, which is almost ready to bottle
Bottle conditioning - saison, Triple with rose hips.
Making the second stage of a starter after work today for an 18 gallon batch of Orval clone to be brewed on sat.
Also on saturday we'll be brewing 6 gallons of a session beer using westmalle yeast

On deck after that and already ground up - a spiced christmas beer and a dark strong belgian. Soon after those there will be 18 gallons of a Karmeliet triple clone for christmas and 6 gal of a Russian Imperial Stout

Then 18 gallons of A chouffe clone, which I miss very much.

 

oh boy, let me think...
primary: three English pale ales, northern English brown, couple saisons, a dubbel, American amber, and an American IPA.
dry hopping: American pale, two American IPAs and an English IPA
lagering: kolsch, Dusseldorf Alt, premium American lager, Baltic porter
conditioning: German pils, Dortmunder, robust porter, patersbier, 70/-
already in bottle/keg and ready to go: too many to name
+ bunch of cider/perry/mead

...sleep can wait. There's beer to be made. No crazy experimentation going on right now, just polishing skills on hitting style guidelines and tweaking to personal tastes.
cheers--
--Michael

 

9% pumpkin ale, a coconut molasses porter and my candycane stout so far! Caramel apple ale on the way!

 

Pumpkin spice porter in the primary, and an IPA conditioning.

 

Got 10 gallons of a big ol' pumpkin ale sitting in some carboys in the basement. It's pretty tasty so far!

 

In a couple weeks we'll be having a party and hopefully working on emptying 2 kegs so I can brew more!!! ha-ha.

 

Bottling my Honey Porter tomorrow night! And I just brewed an American IPA with Citra hops 2 nights ago.

 

Not sure if you will see this, but I have found that target has a nice bite to it. But Apollo, challenger, and others are out there too.

I'm going to hit it with a big Chinook IIPA soon.

 

Today I chopped up an ounce and a half of ginger and put it in a jar with 1/4 tsp of cloves and some rum for it to soak in. In a day or two I will put it in a small hop bag with sanitized marbles and drop it directly into my hefeweisen in which is in primary still. I'm not going to rack it to secondary because I've been told that it's better to let hefeweisens sit on the yeast cake up to bottling.

This is only my second beer I've brewed so I hope it turns out good.

 

Just started giving out bottles of an old ale I brewed in January, which turned out really good. This weekend I hope to bottle a couple batches: a gingerbread brown ale (second attempt with tweaked recipe), and a rye IPA. This past Monday I brewed a porter base which will be used in an attempt at a Maple Bacon Coffee Porter recreation. Fun stuff.

 

I'm currently working on getting an imperial stout below 1.032 fg. Voodoo and praying to "Dale Jr." have yet to work.

 

Also, I got my first mead in secondary, probably bottle in a month or two. I cold steeped some English extra dark crystal (~120L) to give it some color.

 

I have a sour - Consecration clone- in secondary. Been there a month. Probably give it a couple more then see how it's doing. Also have a couple gallons of brown ale that's spent the past year on sour dregs. Should check out how thats doing.
Also have parts and pieces for my mash tun to be. Need to get cracking on that.
I'm also working on a recipe for my next. Planning on a sort of smoked black Ipa. Thinking a dash of roasted malt to get the toasty flavor, about a pound of smoked in about 13 lb grist, mostly pale and MO for base, some caramel in there for flavor. I want a really piney hop character from this, so right now leaning towards Chinook and simcoe hops.
Any hints / thoughts / ideas would be appreciated.