Brewing Warsh Pail
Today we are brewing up a 20bbl batch of Warsh Pail Ale. This is the first batch we’ve made soley for ourselves (and not a beer club) this year. We will be making it again for another beer club in May! So I’m planning on keeping this yeast going to make all of that beer. This is the first batch we’ve made with the American Ale II strain, we’ll see how it turns out. I expect the fruitiness will be reduced, but whether that will be detectable beneath the massive hop aroma remains to be seen. Thats a tradeoff i’m willing to make in order to produce a slightly drier beer.
Right now we have 40bbl batch of John’s Generations White ale fermenting away at 75 degree’s in the fermentation room. I love the smell of that beer when it ferments… The whole cellar smells like oranges! This beer is really moving in Kegs… It really has me thinking hard on how we can keep up the production!
Last night I had a couple Cask Conditioned ales at the Old Capitol Publick House Brewery. Paul, the brewer there, has been tapping a cask every Thursday at 5:30. I think this is the greatest thing ever to happen in this area when it comes to beer! If you have never had a Cask Conditioned Ale.. you don’t know what your are missing!
In the lab here I am bringing up a strain of La Chouffe Yeast for this Saison we are planning to make in the first week of April. This is for the Belgian Beer fest that will be held at The Old Capitol Pub in conjuction with John’s Grocery in May. I talk to Paul, and he has his own belgian Saison planned. It will be interesting to compare the two.
For those non-beer geeks reading this, a Saison is a type of Belgian beer. It is characterized as being very dry with many interesting esters cause by the bizzare yeast strain used to ferment it. The grain bill for ours will be nothing but Briess Pils Malt. Fermentation tempertures are high, in the 80’s. This produces a very drinkable, zesty beer with an intensely spicey flavor (although no spices are used!)
In other news, In talking to my Iowa City distributor I learned that we have two new tap accounts in town. We are now on tap at the Boxcar (formerly known as Mike’s Tap) and at Speakeasy (formerly Big Ten Towing). I haven’t made it to either venue, but gee I guess now I have no excuse not to stop by and have a drink!