November continues my steady stream of brewing (and enjoying) beer, as I settle in to my new electric brewing rig. With temperatures cooling down, I have a little more flexibility in ale fermentations, and I can utilize space outside the fermentation chamber more readily. It’s pretty great!

Beer Batch Updates

• The spiced Christmas ale is now kegged and carbonated, and just conditioning a bit before it goes on tap in about a month. It clocks in at about 5.8% abv, and has a really nice flavor.
• My Stygimoloch Bock is now kegged and lagering. The goal is to have it lager for at least a month before serving, and have it online for the Christmas holiday. As a malty, flavorful beer, I’m looking forward to enjoying it!
• I kegged a German pils yesterday, aiming for the requisite stretch of conditioning before it goes on tap.
• I brewed a session stout about 10 days ago, and will keg it within the next few days. It’s basically a dry Irish stout with a twist, using Vienna malt and flaked oats instead of Maris Otter and flaked barley. It has a starting gravity of 1.038, so will be truly sessionable!
• Last weekend, I started a “classic” northwestern IPA, using Cascade, Chinook, and Centennial as the hop core. It’s a slightly modified rebrew of Wildfire IPA, which I really enjoyed the first time around.
• I just rebrewed my Tremonia Lager, because it was so enjoyable the first time around. I’ve adapted the recipe a little bit for the methods and efficiencies of the Anvil Forge, but it’s pretty much the same beer.

What’s On Tap?

• I’m on the home stretch of Dog Days Pilsner, which is a truly fine beer. I feel like I’ve finally mastered German pils as a style (he said modestly), and it’s probably up there as one of my very, very favorite.
• Kveik the Keg Brown Ale is on my center tap, providing a highly drinkable session beer when I want something in the sub-4% abv range.
• Historical(ish) Vienna Lager rounds out my tap list, and has been my go-to autumn transitional beer. I still have slightly mixed feelings about it (the hop rate is too high for my tastes), but the beer has grown on me quite a bit. Weyerman Vienna Malt is such a solid backbone for this beer!

What’s Coming Up?

• I’m going to brew…something…this week over the Thanksgiving holiday, but I’m not sure just what. Maybe a red ale? As I type this, I’m enjoying a red ale brewed by a friend (passed along via socially distanced growler swap), and it seems like the right beer for this moment!

Other Notes

• I’m still dialing in my mash parameters for my Anvil Foundry system as well as streamlining my work flow with it. I hit mash efficiencies in the mid-60s for my first few batches, and feel like I can notch that up just a touch. For my most recent batch, I milled just a little finer (changing the gap to 0.037″ from 0.041″). I was able to get my efficiency up to 69%, and am pretty happy with that.
• My latest batch of Weyerman Pilsner Malt just ran out, so I am replacing that with Viking Pilsner Malt. I’ve really liked their other malts, so can’t wait to give this a try.