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Beer (the delivery)
The
current primary beer delivery system is a homemade kegerator. I took the lid off
of a chest freezer, put a collar on it made of 2x6s, drilled some holes for
taps, and put the lid on the collar. It
holds two Cornelius (Corny) kegs, each holding five gallons, along with the CO2
tank, regulators, and tubing.
I
am currently in the process of adding more taps, possibly moving to a four keg
system, as I have ten of these kegs in the house right
now.
The
benefit of kegging, other than having draft beer at home, is not needing to
bottle. I hate bottling beer. Well, that and you can relatively easily
adjust the carbonation in the beer.
The
bottling process is simple enough. You
heat a couple cups of water, dissolve in some sugar, cool this liquid. Clean, then sanitize, about ten bottles per
gallon and set them aside. Take the cooled liquid and put in in a bottling
bucket (with a spout and wand for pouring).
Siphon the fermented beer to the bucket, then use the wand to fill the
bottles. Cap each bottle and allow to
sit for at least two weeks – a month is nicer.
The
kegging process is genius. Siphon beer
into keg. Connect keg to CO2. Give it a
few days.
Moving
to more kegs is not just about beer.
Right now an ‘apple wine’ is on one of the taps, and I hope to make a
cream soda in the near future. If not, I
will just fill them all with beer.
Reviewing what has been drunk almost provides a history of the year. Each one has its own memories and lack of memories...
|
2011 on Tap |
Kegged |
Descript |
ABV |
|
“Free”
Ale |
Jan |
Second
runnings off of a Barleywine grainbill. Added some apples, brown sugar. It was
weird. |
4 |
|
Double
IPA |
Feb |
This
was the birthday beer. Big flavor,
almost overwhelming. This was the ‘sit at home and watch tv, you’re 30’ beer.
US-05 |
8 |
|
California
Common |
March |
A
“Steam”-type beer. Hopped with Northern Brewer. Used liquid White Labs
“California Ale” yeast. A little bit of fruit. |
6 |
|
Amber |
April |
A
true early summer beer. A little bit sweet and very refreshing. Well hopped with
Cascade (Sierra Nevada IPA’s hop of choice), but still flavorful enough to not
make it bitter. US-05 |
4.5 |
|
ESB |
May |
Hopped
with EKGoldings, this is actually the second runnings off of grain used to make
a barleywine. US-05 |
5 |
|
Apple
wine/cider |
Jan
& May |
Lots
of honey, brown sugar, and cinnamon. The
first was just red wine yeast, the second was a slurry of both red wine and
champagne yeasts. |
10 |
| Summer Session Ale |
June |
This is the same grain bill as the ESB above, a second running off of a barleywine. Hopped with Czech Saaz hops |
5 |
|
2011 in Bottles (not all for me) | |||
|
Cream
Ale |
January |
Light,
refreshing simple beer. Perfect in March. With GP |
4 |
|
Marriage
Barleywine |
March |
For
sister’s wedding. Really looking forward to December, when it will be cracked
open. |
10 |
|
Cranberry
Hooch |
March |
a
couple gallons of cranberry juice, fermented with red wine yeast. Not terrible. With AB and JM |
7 |
|
Apple
Cider |
March |
Fermented
to dry with champagne yeast. With AB, JM, and GP |
8 |
|
Brown
Ale |
March |
Simple
brown ale, nice for spring! With GP |
5 |
|
Blond
Ale |
March |
Good
early summer beer. Spicy, Belgian-style blonde. This gentleman prefers another
blonde. With AB and JM. |
5 |
|
Coffee
Stout CA |
March |
A
big stout that also had a bunch of cold-extracted coffee added to the secondary
fermenter. Opaque. |
9 |
|
Dark
Steam |
March |
An
experiment. Second runnings off of stout, with brown sugar, Northern Brewer
Hops, and the White Labs “California Ale” yeast. A bit bizarre, a California
Uncommon? |
6 |
|
Saison |
April |
Delicious,
spicy summer beer. A bit of Saaz, a bit of awesome. With AB and JM. |
4 |
|
Citra
IPA |
May |
A
single-hop IPA. Over-hopped with the Citra varietal. US-05 |
6 |
|
Smoky
Rye |
May |
An
experiment with Rye, following a Weyermann Malt factory recipe, shared by
someone from Hogtowne Ale Works. US-05 |
5 |
|
Coffee
Stout JM |
May |
An
extract base, so this is a bit lighter and thinner. Brewed by JM. |
|