Save the date!

So I got the information I needed from the city about getting a street use permit for the festival and it seems like it's feasible. We just need to raise a little money to make sure it can happen. Right now I'm playing with some ideas about how to do that but I wanted to make sure you all are saving the date, August 1st. For those of you who aren't familiar with the scene you can check out a recap of last year here.

Also I wanted to give my personal congrats to Jeremy for the recent competition!!! WAY TO GO!!!!!!!

Cascade Brewers Cup

The results are in from the Cascade Brewers Guild's annual competition. There were 193 entries total and out of my four entries, two placed in their categories. I am pretty pleased with the results and feel encouraged to enter another competition. I also am looking forward to getting me written feedback sheets on the beers I entered. The unbiased feedback will be very helpful in improving my techniques.

The results:
2nd Place - Strong/Smoked/Wood Aged Ales - Barleywine (Imperial IPA)
3rd Place - Specialty Ales - Vanilla Bourbon Porter (10/2007)

Bravo IPA

I tried out the Bravo hops yesterday in an American ipa. They are 15% alpha acid so I used them as the bittering charge with Simcoe as the flavor and aroma. Both have a piney citrusy flavor profile so I think they will pair nicely. I hit all my numbers and volumes, I had forgot how easy it is to make a single infusion five gallon batch.

I also attempted to create a whirlpool during the end of the boil/chill period by recirculating through the pump. The point was to collect the hops in the middle of the kettle (bottom of the whirlpool) to prevent it from going into the fermenter, but I think the immersion chiller got in the way. It's possible to do, just needs some tweaking.

Saison!

I brewed up 10 gallons of the saison yesterday. The new thermometer addition to the mash tun helped immensely. I now have much better control during step mashing. This means better beer!

It was warm and sunny.

Draft Beer

After several long months the kegerator is back up and running. I made some access improvements and cleaned all the lines. No more going to the porch for a beer!

On tap:
Dubbel Overhead Abbey
Grand Cru