Maifest Brew Day
We are making the annual 30bbls of Maifest today. Our Maifest is a ’spring bock’ style of beer. It is composed of 50% munich malt, which is less than the Scholade Bock which is nearly 100% munich style malt. The munich malt is important in adding that spicy, malty bock flavor. Otherwise it is designed to be a dry, refreshing beer, with no caramel malts to sweeten it. Its a big grain bill, so I am here late while it slowly runs off. The two Bocks and the Oktoberfest are the biggest grain bills we have, and they are always a pain in the butt to get to lauter off. The Stout used to be nearly impossible but we cut down the batch size to 8 bbls from 12 bbls and now it is manageable.
The new Crystal hops that I am using this year smell wonderful. They have a bit of both Hallertau and Cascade to them. I wish I could put their aroma on the web page, but they do not have smell attachments for computers.. yet!
The beer is already fermenting like mad downstairs at 53 degrees F. This beer will definitely be ready by April 15th!