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Short day tomorrow. Need some quiet time in the brew pub. 😉

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My Pilsner quest is yet unsatisfied, therefore Beermeister32 has to do another beer run this week. Because of this, today I’m dipping into the home brew reserve here – with my own Bavarian Pilsner!

My Bavarian Pils starts out with Weyermann Barke Pilsner malt. I use Hallertau Mittlefruh and Tettnanger hops, 32 IBU, 5.1% ABV, 2.77 SRM, Munich water profile and WLP833 Bock yeast. This uses a stepped mash, pitch at 48F, ferment at 50F before ramping up to ambient for a D-rest and then lagering 90 days at 34F. I do sneak a bit of dextrose into the mash to keep the ABV where it should be while keeping the SRM in check - and 4 oz of wheat in the mash for lacing and head retention purposes - so no claim on 1516-Purity here!

Tastes great like a Pilsner should – make sure to use continental malt and hops and you’ll be in the ball park. Prost!

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A night for some R&D

Multiple kegerator lines are vacant (or will be vacant very soon)

Next brew will be an Altbier (Imperial G02 on the stir plate as we speak) brewday next weekend

First up, Japanese rice lager from Mikkeller, definitely pick up a lot of Sorachi ace in this, really like the dill / passion fruit flavour from the SA

Second, an all Simcoe WCIPA 7.2% (Alligator tugboat, from Pressure Drop) This is class. Bitter, a little pine, whiff of cat piss (not from the cat… I don’t think)

Both are solid inspiration for future brews… decisions… decisions…
 

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We helped clean up our son's kitchen, and I got the old Chimay. It didn't age well. I'm back home, cleaning my garage so I can put my 2004 Expedition inside. My shop beer fridge has been ignored too long. I have bottles of prickly pear mead I made in 1996, 2016, along with meads from friends back in that era. So yes, I'm way drunker than I have been in a long time. Good mead, great rock and roll are what needed to accomplish my weekend goals. BTW, Wishbone Ash and Deep Purple are greatly appreciated when I have stuff that needs doing.
 
Two years old. Getting more belgiany. Gonna have to resist testing. Wait for five years as bottle says :) more caramel and light esters. Should pick up more. Initially I got a six pack. Good deal
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So I occasionally dip into my fridge that stores a bunch of my own beers, remotely bottled for others, or the result of trades and such.
Grabbed one just now, odd shaped bottle. A wild ale courtesy of @Dgallo circa 2023 from a FOTHB trade. Josephine. A wild ale. Meaning random local yeast with a secondary on fruit (strawberries). He sent me two. The first one was "critiqued" as such:

"Some more feedback...the Wild Ale was excellent. A lot of stuff going on...aroma was "floral funk", but no horse blanket or sweat sock. I got a herbaceous pepper flavor (like arugula is peppery), and a touch of sour but not in true sour territory. The strawberry came through as a fruity background, but if I didn't know you aged it on strawberries, I wouldn't have guessed it. But overall, I guess that's how those wild fermentations go, I've never done one. Now, I'd like to try.."

Now, that same beer is still excellent, with even more funk. Still not enough pH drop to be considered a sour, and no phenolic "off flavors". But super complex and enjoyable. Like nothing I ever brew. I miss the FOTHB...Cheers! Rick
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So I occasionally dip into my fridge that stores a bunch of my own beers, remotely bottled for others, or the result of trades and such.
Grabbed one just now, odd shaped bottle. A wild ale courtesy of @Dgallo circa 2023 from a FOTHB trade. Josephine. A wild ale. Meaning random local yeast with a secondary on fruit (strawberries). He sent me two. The first one was "critiqued" as such:

"Some more feedback...the Wild Ale was excellent. A lot of stuff going on...aroma was "floral funk", but no horse blanket or sweat sock. I got a herbaceous pepper flavor (like arugula is peppery), and a touch of sour but not in true sour territory. The strawberry came through as a fruity background, but if I didn't know you aged it on strawberries, I wouldn't have guessed it. But overall, I guess that's how those wild fermentations go, I've never done one. Now, I'd like to try.."

Now, that same beer is still excellent, with even more funk. Still not enough pH drop to be considered a sour, and no phenolic "off flavors". But super complex and enjoyable. Like nothing I ever brew. I miss the FOTHB...Cheers! Rick
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Glad it’s still enjoyable. I have 2 bottles of that left, a 500ml and one of those Orval bottles. I might just crack one today lol
 
I’m still hunting down the remaining Pilsners available in California…. It’s a search! For being the most popular style in Germany, you would think that we’d have tons and tons of domestic Pilsners, but that’s clearly not the case. Most of the BMC type beers (some claim to be Pilsners) are really US adjunct Lagers of various types. Pilsners generally use Pilsner malt and continental hops and not a whole lot else. Not 2 row, not 6-row, not rice, not corn…. no potatoes, oysters, sawdust, no athletic socks…... PILSNER MALT! I know they were originally modelled after Euro Pilsners, but they’ve drifted far and away from the style, in my humble opinion.

You’d think that looking at the local bottle shops that Hefeweizen was the most popular brew in Germany. It’s not – it is #2. We get huge amounts of Hefeweizens dumped on us, and I’ve watched some on the shelf – they don’t move as quick as you think. So where are all the Pilsners then? I think they’re keeping them for themselves!

US markets are completely loaded up and saturated with IPA’s and Northeast Hazy IPA styles. I watch the big bulk sales around here, seems like it is a lot of Modelo and Coors Light type beers. So what is driving this huge effort at IPAs? I mean SERIOUSLY, I love IPA as much as the next hop-head, but the shelves are just PACKED with IPAs! We need more Pilsners!

Well, enough of my grumblings for today. Drinking this Enegren Edel-Pils, you’d think for sure you were slugging down an authentic German Pilsner, which looking at their ingredients list, you essentially are. Noble hops, 4.8% ABV, essentially a German Pilsner brewed in Moorpark, California! Edel-Pils means this is the “good stuff”… Enjoy!


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I found this at a local grocery store here in San Diego. Having it as a nightcap after a long, excellent Saturday with the family and in preparation for a chill cooking and brewing day tomorrow.
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I have never seen that in my 31yrs living in Austin. Am I missing out??

Edit, beer nerd buddy knows the owner. I guess they're available in our local grocery store but without a label with skulls and bones I must have glossed them over

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I’m still hunting down the remaining Pilsners available in California…. It’s a search! For being the most popular style in Germany, you would think that we’d have tons and tons of domestic Pilsners, but that’s clearly not the case. Most of the BMC type beers (some claim to be Pilsners) are really US adjunct Lagers of various types. Pilsners generally use Pilsner malt and continental hops and not a whole lot else. Not 2 row, not 6-row, not rice, not corn…. no potatoes, oysters, sawdust, no athletic socks…... PILSNER MALT! I know they were originally modelled after Euro Pilsners, but they’ve drifted far and away from the style, in my humble opinion.

You’d think that looking at the local bottle shops that Hefeweizen was the most popular brew in Germany. It’s not – it is #2. We get huge amounts of Hefeweizens dumped on us, and I’ve watched some on the shelf – they don’t move as quick as you think. So where are all the Pilsners then? I think they’re keeping them for themselves!

US markets are completely loaded up and saturated with IPA’s and Northeast Hazy IPA styles. I watch the big bulk sales around here, seems like it is a lot of Modelo and Coors Light type beers. So what is driving this huge effort at IPAs? I mean SERIOUSLY, I love IPA as much as the next hop-head, but the shelves are just PACKED with IPAs! We need more Pilsners!

Well, enough of my grumblings for today. Drinking this Enegren Edel-Pils, you’d think for sure you were slugging down an authentic German Pilsner, which looking at their ingredients list, you essentially are. Noble hops, 4.8% ABV, essentially a German Pilsner brewed in Moorpark, California! Edel-Pils means this is the “good stuff”… Enjoy!


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Enegren was one of the 50 or so breweries at the Central Coast Craft Beer Festival yesterday. Our club had a tent there as well, pouring our homebrews. I wandered over to the Engren tent and sampled their helles lager and their maibock. Both were very good.

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Twelve days ago this was grain.

This is the batch of Panther Piss that I kegged on Friday. You're damned right I'm flexing! Humor me for a moment, though; the Panther Piss Project actually succeeded! I managed to make a better N. American fizzy yellow swill than Bud/Miller/Coors (no real challenge in that), but I learned how to do it in something resembling their turnaround time w/o a centerifuge or polishing filters. Believe you me, that last bit is the tricky part!

It was a huge relief when this poured clear this afternoon. I called quits on the project a couple of years ago and this is the first time that I returned to it since then. Phew, it still works! I can still do it! It's repeatable! This confirms that I really did win.
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