Homebrew: The Hobby You Can Drink
Friday, September 26th, 2008
I’ve been brewing up a storm lately. I’m between projects at work, giving me more time at home, and a couple of weeks ago, I tragically ran out of homebrew. The last of it was a hefeweizen, a batch that I thought was ruined when the airlock got clogged and the CO2 buildup literally blew the lid off the fermentor, that I thought was barely par when I bottled it, but that aged well and everyone loved, including my rabbi.
So with more time on my hands, I’m back in the beer business. (Only figuratively, Mr. ATF. I’ve brewed far less than 200 gallons this year, all for personal consumption.) I now have four batches in process — a pumpkin ale that will be ready on Halloween, a holiday ale (dark ale with ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon) ready a week after that (but better aged by Hanuka), a hefeweizen brewed with ginger, coriander and orange zest, ready in about 6 weeks, and an imperial stout that will be bottled in late January and drinkable sometime next spring.
The orange-spice hefeweizen, loosely based on Belgian witbier and the usual serving of hefeweizen with a slice of orange, is my first batch with a little improvisation in the recipe, and it’s already got me thinking crazy about future improvisations. On deck (when all my fermentors aren’t full, as they are now) are a vanilla wheat beer, a chili pequin cream ale, and perhaps an India pale ale with actual curry powder or garam masala, though I’m afraid I’ll never get the turmeric stain out of the while primary fermentation bucket.
In addition to those, I’m interested in trying Midwest’s clone kits for Anchor Steam (perhaps my all-round favorite commercial brew) and Surly Furious. I think Midwest actually worked directly with the folks at Surly to come up with the clone kit, called “Ferocious”. Whereas my extremely hoppy imperial stout uses 4 oz. hops, the Ferocious kit uses 6 oz.
If anyone has any recipe suggestions or requests, I’m listening. I’ll be brewing as many batches as I can while the weather’s nice (cool, but not cold) because there will be a lot for me to celebrate this winter. Cheers!
