As usual, I try to take advantage of the weekends when my older girls are at their mom's to get all of my beer tasks done. 2 weeks ago it was the monster 4 brew weekend, this weekend it's only going to be 2 brews and lot of moving beer around.

I never thought that I would say this, but I actually have too much beer right now. It will be months before I get to drink some of it unless I *gulp* bottle! So that's what I'm doing tomorrow night - I'm bottling the EF, Belgian Pale Ale...

ohiobrewtus

Things went pretty well considering that I did 4 brews. The worst part, by far, was coming to the realization that I may have had a old sack of pils sent to me by a supplier. Both the Belgian Dark Strong Ale (55% pils) and the Biere de Garde (51% pils) were just crazy low on efficiency. The Blonde Ale and the Roggenbier ended up right in the range that I expected them to fall in.

When your processes and equipment are all the same, and 2 out of 4 batches turn out just fine it almost...

ohiobrewtus

My reward for being a good husband and doing a bunch of landscaping is that I get to brew all weekend. Normally I'd just do 2 batches one day and that would be plenty - but not this weekend.

I have a Biere de Garde and a Belgian Dark Strong Ale that I've been wanting to brew for months now but I keep putting them off. My intention from the beginning has been to brew them, let them age 9-12 months, then submit to NHC '09 if they come out well enough. (I also brewed an Old Ale last weekend...

ohiobrewtus

I'm in South Carolina on vacation with the family this week with limited time to enjoy some beers, but I was able to fine some Ommegang and Allagash brews at a local World Makret that I was able to find.

Ommegang never lets me down. I had Rare Vos for the first time yesterday and it was freaking incredible. I'm going to have to make a stop there on the way out of town to pick up a half dozen or so Belgian 750's to take home with me.

I despise blistering heat, which is...

ohiobrewtus

Yesterday's 22 gallon brew day wasn't without its challanges, but all ended well and some pics are posted here.

My friend Lowell brought all his stuff up so we could do the batches side by side and all was going great until we tried to drain his MLT. It had only been used once before, but apparently when we used it, one of us beat the hell out of the ss braid with the mash paddle to the point that it actually split the ss braid and the tubing inside. Of course this allowed for grain...

ohiobrewtus