Brew Night: Popsicle Edition
It's long been proven: the colder it is, the better the brew day attendance. Last Friday was no exception. It was cold and six of the Backyard Brewers brewed. Pretty good stats. Except, of course, the temperature.
The garage was kept warm by several heaters and safeguarded under the watchful eye of a CO detector. Thankfully, the alarm never sounded and no one was caught acting odd from CO exposure, well at least not any more than usual.
Outside of it being non t-shirt weather, brewing in the cold has a big downside: the potential for frozen water hoses. A few years ago, thanks to ice in the line, I blew up the outside spigot before we even started. Since then, I've taken additional steps to safeguard the house and the hose. I also made the following announcement prior to our first kettle fill:
Once the hose is turned on, the hose stays on.
Forty feet of frozen garden hose would pose a slight brew operational problem.
The all grain/extract process was split 3 to 3. I brewed a Simcoe Imperial IPA.
The hop additions were crazy, with 7 ounces added in all. After dry hopping in the secondary, the final IBU total will be 138.34.
When it comes to managing a lot of additions, iBrewmaster always keeps me on track, as all it takes is a little distraction around the beer table for me to miss something.
Speaking of beer, we killed the keg of Norse Legend and started to put a hurting on my Barleywine. Drew broke out a bottle of his Imperial Stout, brewed at Brewgiving. It was fabulous. I've got a bottle tucked away and I'm looking forward to it.
As usual, everyone brought something to share. Including, as the photo below will attest to, Eric's 2011 Christmas brew, Santa's Back Door.
Drew was winner of the "I brought cool things" category. Not only did he get a fine looking Backyard Brewing Society pitcher for Christmas,
he also put to use his new refractometer.
Instead of measuring specific gravity with a hydrometer, Drew went the much easier, and far cooler route, and measured brix. The key to determining mash efficiency and eventually, alcohol volume, is based on the sugar content of the wort or fermented beer.
Brix is measured in degrees Plato and through an online calculator, can be converted to specific gravity. A much simpler process than trying to get a gravity reading.
I need one.
There really is no better way to spend a Friday night, than with a bunch of good friends brewing beer.
Without a doubt, the cold weather creates its share of impediments. However on the plus side, it makes wort chilling a little bit easier.
