Last brew day of the year 2012

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Stauffbier

Stauffbier

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So what will your last brew of the year be? And when?

I'm brewing BM's Cream of Three Crops with a few tweaks tomorrow morning.
 
I've got 6 gallons of apple cinnamon cider that I'm racking onto cinnamon sticks tomorrow. Other than that, I'm making a stir plate. I've promised myself no more beers until I can do them "properly". I got dinged for under-pitching at my first competition.

I'm doing a Flemish Red after the stir-plate is working, hopefully on January 1st.
 
I just threw a one gallon batch of cherry apple hard cider together last night.
 
witbier. Harvested yeast from four bottles of Allagash White (thanks NuclearRich for the idea), and the starter is going strong. Brewing tomorrow.
 
osagedr said:
Vienna lager; maybe a bock.
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I've been wanting to brew a dopplebock. I only have one fermentation chamber, and it's hard to give it up to lagers. I need to build another one, so I can do lagers and ales.
 
Stauffbier said:
This is also on my list. What yeast are you using?
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I'm using WLP029: German Ale/Kolsch

I bought the Kolsch yeast because the local store didn't have European Yeast which I used for an excellent blueberry ale over the summer.

I used the Kolsch yeast for the grenadine/pomegranite wheat ale conditioning in bottles now. Next, I will use a realistic Kolsch recipe with the washed yeast and I'm very excited to see how it turns out!
 
Started a batch of apfelwein tonight, brewing with a friend on Sunday, brewing my last batch of the year on Monday with the leftover grains and hops I have lying around.
 
was attempting a rye pale ale...but it seems to have turned into something bigger. week in to fermenting. seem to have over shot my abv by a bit. at 8%.

hope it turns out! :mug:
 
I doughed in my Cream of Three Crops about 30 minutes ago. I'm doing an extended mash today (maybe 2-2.5 hours), since I have to go meet a client real quick this morning. It's going to be about 48F and clear here today. I consider that great weather for the last brew day of the year. I put a bucket of water outside last night in the 35F temps. I'm planning on using it to run through my IC to help reduce chilling times. Gotta be resourceful!

Cheers!
 
Brewing the White House Honey Ale all grain addition on Sunday when it is nice and sunny here. Will be bottling a Blonde Ale today. I already have several ales that I will be brewing next year- Pumpkin Ale, Prohibition Lager/Ale (not sure which way I will go with this), Single Trappist (that is great after it has been bottled for at least 4 months) and the ole standby of a Cream Ale- might make it an Orange Blossom Creme Ale haven't decided. Got to keep the pipeline full!
 
I brewed BeirMuncher's Helles recipe last week, and it will probably be the last brew unless I get around to doing a stout this weekend.
 
I will be brewing a black IPA tomorrow at work. (I work in an LHBS) I suspect it will be painfully slow so I will be doing a partial mash instead of an extract batch.
 
Gonna brew a Hefe tomorrow. Gonna also take a whack at my first decoction mash. I normally do single infusion with no mash out, so this will also be my second ever step mash.
 
Brewing my dark ale tomorrow and might run out and get the yeast for making my caramel ale either Sunday or Monday. Also looking to finally get my uber-mead going this weekend (been slowly warming up the bucket of honey).
 
Golddiggie said:
Brewing my dark ale tomorrow and might run out and get the yeast for making my caramel ale either Sunday or Monday. Also looking to finally get my uber-mead going this weekend (been slowly warming up the bucket of honey).
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I'd really like to try a good mead to see if it's something I'd want to brew. I've never had one.
 
Stauffbier said:
I'd really like to try a good mead to see if it's something I'd want to brew. I've never had one.
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I never had any until I tried a bit from one of the guys at the LHBS I used to visit. I made my first batch soon after that (day before Thanksgiving 2010).

If you have access to some really good/great honey, then I'd just read up on current methods (Got Mead? forums) and go for it. I wouldn't bother with a 1 gallon batch though. Smallest would be a 3 gallon batch. Most of mine, now are about 4-4.5 gallons at the start. That way I get more than 3 gallons to bottles. :D

You can also make a maple mead/wine. I started one of those early December 2011. Bottled it up after a year. About 14% ABV and came out great. Just be sure to use Grade B syrup, not that grade A crap. :D Formulate it so that you'll have some residual sweetness left and LOOK OUT!! Especially once it warms up to above 50F (if you put it into the fridge). I'm planning on making another batch of that once a friend gets some syrup from his uncle up in Canada. :D Probably going to go to at least 16-18% next round. :D
 
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Golddiggie said:
I never had any until I tried a bit from one of the guys at the LHBS I used to visit. I made my first batch soon after that (day before Thanksgiving 2010).

If you have access to some really good/great honey, then I'd just read up on current methods (Got Mead? forums) and go for it. I wouldn't bother with a 1 gallon batch though. Smallest would be a 3 gallon batch. Most of mine, now are about 4-4.5 gallons at the start. That way I get more than 3 gallons to bottles. :D

You can also make a maple mead/wine. I started one of those early December 2011. Bottled it up after a year. About 14% ABV and came out great. Just be sure to use Grade B syrup, not that grade A crap. :D Formulate it so that you'll have some residual sweetness left and LOOK OUT!! Especially once it warms up to above 50F (if you put it into the fridge). I'm planning on making another batch of that once a friend gets some syrup from his uncle up in Canada. :D Probably going to go to at least 16-18% next round. :D
Click to expand...

I just don't know if I'd want to invest that kind of time in something if I don't know if I like it. I'm not a huge wine fan as it is, and to be honest I don't know if mead is similar to wine or not. I might try to find someone online that is willing to trade a bottle of mead for beer or something...
 
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Stauffbier said:
I just don't know if I'd want to invest that kind of time in something if I don't know if I like it. I'm not a huge wine fan as it is, and to be honest I don't know if mead is similar to wine or not. I might try to find someone online that is willing to trade a bottle of mead for beer or something...
Click to expand...

I really like traditional meads, I find. Only flavor element is honey. If I had enough, I'd drink them every day. Done right it's wonderful. Unfortunately, a lot of people/places don't do it right [IMO]. You also need to serve it at the right temperature. That's one area where it's similar to a wine. But, a mead that's not bone dry, I find, is really good/great at red wine drinking temperatures. Even though it could be considered a white wine.

You also should find a mead that's made from a honey that you already like. Such as clover if you like that. Don't go for a buckwheat mead if you don't like that type of honey.

Something else, not cooking the must (when making the mead) means it will have more flavor and aroma in glass. So the places that pasteurize it (or people that heat it above 100-110F) will be less flavorful than the meads where people do not.

If I wasn't so low on my 2010 traditional oaked mead (made from late season harvest, regional, wildflower honey), I'd send you a bottle. I have a batch from last year (14%) that I'll be oaking very soon. The honey in it was a mid-season harvest, and was really light in color and flavor. It needs help, hence the oak addition. My mocha madness mkII is about to get it's flavor additions started. That one won't be ready to bottle for at least 6-12 months. My uber mead isn't slated to go to bottle for 2-3 years from mixing/pitching. I'm going to give it as long as needed in bulk form.

I just hope I can score more honey to start some more batches in Jan/Feb so that they're ready around the same time the following year (or come the fall after that, depending on ABV%).
 
So, I'm thinking about squeezing in one more little, 1.5 gallon batch of hoppy brown ale on New Years Eve. Since I'd be brewing while watching the annual Twilight Zone Marathon I figured I'd call it Serling Brown Hop Goo!
 
So I got out my leftover grains and some old, partial hop packs, and I threw together a 1.5 gallon batch that is probably similar to an imperial brown porter with lots of late hop additions. I ended up with the name Imperial Brown Hop Goo. This will definitely be my last batch of the year...
 
Just finished a 5g White House Honey Porter Extract kit from Northern Brewer. 1.050 OG

Also kegged my first beer today too. 2012 was a good year for brewing for me!
 
Just started the mash for an American brown this morning. We're supposedly getting snow here in St. Louis today, so if I'm stuck from driving anywhere for NYE I'll probably just welcome the new year while brewing a Dubbel.
 
My last beer of 2012, a kolsch style, is in the proverbial can. I brewed yesterday and the yeast didn't waste any time. OG 1.052. First time with kolsch recipe. It's going to be a good beer. I mean, year. Or both.
 
I made a coconut pale ale on Saturday, and will be adding pineapple concentrate to it this weekend for a coconute pineapple pale ale. :ban:
 

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