A Decade Under the Influence, 10 years of GABF in Review

In 2007, I had the great fortune of attending the Great American Beer Festival (GABF).  It was a fun trip to Denver with several brewery visits and a trip to Falling Rock thrown in as well.  If you've been, you know its the big show.  The crowd is energetic and rowdy.  And the brewery employees  and volunteers are tremendous.  Brewers can pretend that winning hardware at GABF doesn't matter, but that's simply not true.  Winning medals tends to be followed by a decent bump in sales or at least increased visibility and recognition in the industry.  I'd go every year if money and vacation time were no object.  If you haven't been, you need to go.

With the release of this year's medal winners a few weeks ago, I took it upon myself to download the last ten years of medal winners for some quick analysis.

Top US-States

The brewing industry might be 99% free of jerks, but that doesn't mean that bragging rights don't exist.  Over the last ten years, three brewing communities stand out as exceptional based upon total medals (gold, silver and bronze) won.  Of the time-trends shown below only three are statistically different: California, Colorado, and Oregon.

I doubt these results are surprising to anyone attuned to the craft brew industry.

Top Breweries

I think the list of the top twenty breweries winning medals below is a bit more surprising than the top states list above.  Several of the breweries on the list below are, in fact, brewpubs with multiple locations, so I'm not sure this is a fair comparison.  Surprisingly, Pabst, Miller, and Anheuser-Busch are high on this list.  However, these macros typically win medals in the less exciting categories, such as american light style lager.  The first brewery on the list that is not a macro or a brewpub chain is Firestone Walker.

Brewery	Medal Count
Pizza Port	68
Rock Bottom Brewery	60
Pabst Brewing Co.	39
Miller Brewing Co.	38
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.	37
Pelican Brewing Co.	28
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant	26
SandLot (The)	23
Devils Backbone Brewing Co.	23
Deschutes Brewery Bend Public House	23
Anheuser-Busch	22
Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant	19
Barley Brown's Brew Pub	19
Dry Dock Brewing Co.	18
BJ's Restaurant & Brewery	18
Russian River Brewing Co.	17
New Glarus Brewing Co.	17
Boston Beer Co.	17
Alaskan Brewing Co.	17
Snake River Brewing	16

Fest Love,

HolzBrew

Empirical Anomaly (Brett Trois IPA)

Not everything can be explained by theory and scientific testing.  Alchemy still exists to an extent when it comes to homebrewing.  This afternoon I figured I'd try to brew up a batch where Brettanomyces no longer remained a member of the supporting cast.  It was time for it to be featured in a staring role.

I've been reading the last couple of months about a variety of exciting Brett-only beers, so I figured it was time to give it a try.  I've used Brett quite a bit in the past to help add funkiness once primary fermentation is complete.  This beer uses Brett as the primary fermenter.  These Brett-only beers ferment somewhat fast and have a nice flavor profile full of mango and tropical fruit, which sounds really awesome.  I added some wheat to in order to keep the body light.  Additionally, I added acid malt to the mash in order to give the Brett some lactic acid to grab on to.  The hop profile is pretty much 50/50 Centennial (my love affair continues) and Citra (the new girl in town).  I threw in a little Chinook since I already had an ounce around the house and have been trying to find a use for it.

Empirical Anomaly

	Style: Unassigned
	Type:	Calories: 212
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 6.87 Gal
	IBU's: 64.09	Batch Size: 6.00 Gal
	Color:   10.3 SRM	Boil Time: 75 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.062

		Estimated	Actual
	Brew Date:	-	10/13/2013
	OG:	1.066	1.060
	FG:	1.010	1.010
	ABV:	7.34 %	6.55 %
	Efficiency:	70 %	64 %
	Serve Date:	11/09/2013	/ /

Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	28 days @ 68.0°F	10/13/2013	10/13/2013

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage		Name	Time	Gravity
13.00 lbs	76.47 %		Pale Malt (2 Row) US	60 mins	1.036
4.00 ozs	1.47 %		Briess 2-Row Caramel 40L	60 mins	1.034
3.00 lbs	17.65 %		Rahr Red Wheat	60 mins	1.037
8.00 ozs	2.94 %		Acid Malt	60 mins	1.027
4.00 ozs	1.47 %		Fawcett Pale Chocolate	60 mins	1.030

Hops
Amount	IBU's		Name	Time	AA %
2.00 ozs	51.71		Centennial	60 mins	10.00
1.00 ozs	12.38		Citra	10 mins	13.20
1.00 ozs	0.00		Citra	0 mins	13.20
1.00 ozs	0.00		Centennial	0 mins	10.00
1.00 ozs	0.00		Chinook	0 mins	13.00
1.00 ozs			Centennial	7 days	10.00
1.00 ozs			Citra	7 days	13.20

Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois	White Labs 0644

Additions

(none)

Mash Profile

Full Body Infusion In 45 min @ 158.0°F

Add 21.25 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 170.0°F

Sparge

Sparge 17.07 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins Batch Updates: 10/26/13 : Gravity reading today indicated a specific gravity of 1.017, which is roughly where I hoped it would be after two weeks.  I'd ultimately like this one to finished around 1.010 - 1.012 then bottle it.  I'l probably check it  again next weekend. The taste was both citrusy and fruity.  I hope the citrusy Centennial flavor sticks around for a bit, however, the fruity Brett Trois characteristics may dominate.  Most people brewing with Trois report that the hop flavors are subsumed by the fruity brett characteristic. Keeping it wild (yeast), HolzBrew

Celebration Day

I was itching to brew this weekend, but was ambivalent to the style, so I asked Mrs. HolzBrew what style she is craving.  Back story, she is 8 months pregnant and this beer will be ready to drink right around the time she can drink beer again!  We currently have a dubbel, hoppy red and porter on draft, so she wanted something light, malty, and fruity.  We decided upon a saison.

Saison is such a fun style to brew due to the incredible amount of latitude with-in the style, and I have brewed several.  Almost any sort of spice or fruit is fair game in a saison, or instead, you can keep it clean and go without excessive additives.  Saisons can be funky, sour, hoppy, or floral.  Also, I note people have been brewing black saisons lately, which is a cool innovation.  Basically, saison is defined as almost any wort fermented with a saison yeast strain.  Within the yeast selection there are several belgian and french strains.  I really like the Wyeast french saison varietal, unfortunately, it was not available at the local HBS yesterday when I stopped by.  Consequently, I ended up with White Labs 585.  I've never used this strain before, but it looked just right.  Both tart and fruity.

It was a rainy day, but things went pretty well.  No major set backs.  I used a mix of 2 row, unmalted red winter wheat, and oatmeal for the fermentables.  I would have loved to have added some belgian pilsner, but I've got a ton of 2 row around the house and I couldn't justify buying pilsner malt on my grad student budget.  I also probably would have liked to have used malted wheat, but I had the the red wheat around the house.  The hop profile is 100% Saaz, simple and beautiful.  The color turned out really light and clear as can be seen below:

If I can swing it, I may try to brew up a Brett Trois IPA next week.  I'd read a lot of great things about these all brett beers lately and I figure I might try my hand at it.  Below is the recipe from today's foray into familiar Belgian territory.

Celebration Day

	Style: Saison
	Type:	Calories: 206
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 5.83 Gal
	IBU's: 32.71	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
	Color:    5.2 SRM	Boil Time: 60 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.061

		Estimated	Actual
	Brew Date:	-	10/06/2013
	OG:	1.064	1.055
	FG:	1.010	1.010
	ABV:	7.07 %	5.89 %
	Efficiency:	70 %	59 %
	Serve Date:	10/06/2013	/ /

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage		Name	Time	Gravity
9.75 lbs	69.64 %		Pale Malt (2 Row) US	60 mins	1.036
3.00 lbs	21.43 %		Rahr Red Wheat	60 mins	1.037
1.00 lbs	7.14 %		Oats, Flaked	60 mins	1.037
4.00 ozs	1.79 %		Acid Malt	60 mins	1.027

Hops
Amount	IBU's		Name	Time	AA %
2.00 ozs	25.10		Saaz	60 mins	4.00
1.00 ozs	7.60		Saaz	20 mins	4.00
2.00 ozs	0.00		Saaz	0 mins	4.00

Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Belgian Saison	White Labs 585

Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
1.00 tsp	Black Pepper	15 mins	Boil
0.40 oz	Coriander Seed	15 mins	Boil
1.00 oz	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil

Mash Profile

Light Body Infusion 75 min @ 150.0°F

Add 17.50 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 166.3°F

Sparge

Sparge 15.10 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins

Keep the tanks bubbling!

HolzBrew

Roasted Oats

I toasted some oats today for an upcoming espresso stout.  I've never done this before, but I was checking out Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing (for the 1000th time, I love this book) and I came across an oatmeal cookie brown ale concept.  I typically add oats to my stouts for enhanced mouthfeel, but I've never toasted them before.  I figured that it may add a cookie character to the beer, which sounds great.  I roasted 36 ozs. of old fashioned oats on several cookie sheets for about 50 mins at 345 degrees.  The picture above is a side by side of unroasted and roasted oats.  Additionally, you need to let them air out for a few days prior to adding to the mash in order to let some of the harsher flavors dissipate.

End of Summer 2013

The primary purpose of this blog is to share homebrew recipes and discuss homebrewing in general.  However, the blog also maintains a secondary, not widely-known, scientific purpose, which is to rigorously determine the end of the summer.  Scholars have maintained that as a matter of science, the summer ends when yours truly quaffs the first Oktoberfest of the season.  It's a small sacrifice that I make for mankind.  Well I hate to make it official but by drinking a Weihenstephaner Okfest this evening with dinner, I the ended the summer.

The summer predictably starts every year on June 21st, and on June 20th during a leap year.  Consequently its relatively easy to measure the number of days in the summer and to study annual fluctuation in the length of summer based upon my historical blogposts.  Last year summer ended on August 8.  So I suppose we should be thankful for the extra couple of summer days this year.  I hypothesize that the raging bull stock market actually extended the summer.  Below is a graphical representation of the length of summer, in days, for the last five years.  You can check the records (i.e. my blog archive) but I've already done the work:

Well its not all bad.  As the summer ends, so begins football season.  Go Hokies!

You've got to respect the Sandman,

HolzBrew

Not to fear, we've got adambier

Over the last month or two I've been trying to nail down a special brew to celebrate the birth of HolzBrew Jr.  I knew it had to be unique.  A few years ago, Mrs. HolzBrew and I traveled to Portland, OR for vacation.  If you haven't been, and you like beer, you should go.  While in Portland we drank a plethora of flavorful and unique beers.  Perhaps the most unique of the bunch were the beers made by Hair of the Dog brewing company.  One of their flagship beers, if you can call it that, is an adambier called simply "Adam."  There is also a wood-aged version called "Adam from the Wood."  This beer left a definite impression on my taste buds, and I thought it fit the bill as the type of beer I'd like to brew for this special occasion.

Adambier is a historic german beer style, which to the best of my knowledge is no longer brewed in Germany.  The exact origin of the style is somewhat unknown, however, it is frequently tied to the city of Dortmund.  Quite unlike modern german beers, Adambier was a very strong, dark, and oftentimes sour brew that was top fermented and aged in barrels for extended periods of time (e.g. one to four years).  The beer is also described as having a smokey aroma and taste.

While doing research for this beer, I came across two recipes, Sean Paxton's and The Mad Fermentationist's, which were both inspired by the Hair of the Dog beer.  I decided to do something similar, which I modified somewhat.  After reflecting upon my final recipe, its funny that this beer is probably based more upon English ingredients than German ones.  However, I think it will definitely be interesting.  The aspect of the beer that I think it the most uncertain to me is the smokey part related to the peated smoked malt that I used.  I've never made a smoked beer so this is definitely a first.  I plan to age this beer in my barrel for awhile.  I'll probably draw some out of the barrel in a few months and bottle it and keep the remaining portion in the barrel for up to a year or so.

I also have been struggling with a way to keep primary fermentation temperatures down this summer.  My basement routinely maintains a temperature of 71 degrees. This means that during primary fermentation my beers have been maintaining a temperature around 78 degrees due to the heat created during the metabolic process.  These beers realistically should be fermented closer to the 68 - 70 degree range.  So in order to keep this beer a bit cooler, I decided to place my fermenter in my HLT.  I then place several frozen gel packs in the gap between the cooler and fermenter and filled it with water.  So far this has worked, my temps were at 68 this morning.

Never Fear, Adambier

	ype:	Calories: 388
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 4.84 Gal
	IBU's: 61.32	Batch Size: 4.00 GalT
	Color:   27.5 SRM	Boil Time: 90 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.111

		Estimated	Actual
	Brew Date:	-	08/03/2013
	OG:	1.120	1.092
	FG:	1.025	1.025
	ABV:	12.44 %	8.78 %
	Efficiency:	75 %	57 %
	Serve Date:	12/21/2013	/ /

Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	21 days @ 70.0°F	08/03/2013	08/03/2013
Secondary	120 days @ 72.0°F	08/24/2013	-

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage		Name	Time	Gravity
13.00 lbs	67.10 %		Pale Malt, Maris Otter	90 mins	1.038
10.00 ozs	3.23 %		Peat Smoked Malt	90 mins	1.034
1.00 lbs	5.16 %		Munich Malt	90 mins	1.037
0.75 lbs	3.87 %		Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L	90 mins	1.034
0.25 lbs	1.29 %		Fawcett Pale Chocolate	90 mins	1.030
4.00 ozs	1.29 %		Black (Patent) Malt	90 mins	1.025
3.00 lbs	15.48 %		Pale Malt (2 Row) US	60 mins	1.036
0.50 lbs	2.58 %		Pilsner (2 Row) Ger	60 mins	1.037

Hops
Amount	IBU's		Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	34.62		Galena	90 mins	13.00
1.00 ozs	19.92		aurora	60 mins	8.00
1.00 ozs	6.79		Tettnang	20 mins	4.50

Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Nottingham	Danstar
1.0 pkg	Safale S-04	Fermentis S-04

Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
1.00 tsp	Calcium Chloride	15 mins	Mash

Mash Profile

Medium Body Infusion In 60 min @ 154.0°F

Add 24.22 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 166.0°F

Sparge

Sparge 7.21 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins

HolzBrew

Hopped up and Red(dy)

It's been a real nice summer in Btown thus far.  Perhaps a little too much rain, but it keeps it cool, which has prevented me from overheating when I'm out on my bike, so no complaints here.  Mrs. Brew and I moved last week into a townhouse literally across the street.  Now, that most everything has been put in its place I figured I christen the new digs with a new brew.  I love hoppy IPA beers like almost every red-blooded american beer geek, but I don't brew a ton of them because there are so many great ones available commercially.  Here in Indiana I have FFF Alpha King (I realize that AK is technically an APA, settle down)  readily available all over the place.  Need I say more?  That being said, I usually get the itch around this time of year to brew something hoppy for late summer/early fall.  I have never tried my hand at an India Red Ale before so I figured I'd go for it.  For the unfamiliar, an IRA is essentially a red IPA.  The redness comes from some of the caramel, chocolate, and in this case, black malt additions.

One thing that I've never really mastered is water chemistry.  Here in Btown we have fairly soft/neutral water which works decently for many styles.  However, I thought I'd toe in the water by adding a touch of calcium chloride, which I frequently see added to RO water in hoppy IPA-esque recipes.  I was pretty conservative in the amount that I added and I am curious to see if I notice more bite in this hoppy ale.  I may not due to the low quantity that I added.  I'd love to hear from others brewing in Btown to see what they add to the tap water here for their brews.  

Also, I tried out a relatively new product that I've been interested in giving a whirl, the Hop Shot.  the hop shot is essentially a 5ml syringe filled with hop resin.  To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what hop resin is, but I've seen others on the net using it for bittering additions with great success.  I've heard it adds a mellow bitterness that is not overly sharp, which sounded perfect.  I used all 5 mls at 60 mins which adds approximately 50 IBU to a brew in the 1.060s (OG).  The word on the street is that Russian River uses something like this in their double IPAs for bittering.  I have no idea how it will turn out, but it smelled awesome when I added it to the boil, piney goodness.  The rest of my hop additions were late, which I have really been digging lately.  I've heard mixed results with using Summits, so I limited them to just a half ounce at 5 mins.  I've only used them once, but found in small quantities that they added a nice orangey aroma and flavor.

India Red Ale

	Style: Unassigned
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 203
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 5.83 Gal
	IBU's: 61.54	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
	Color:   18.8 SRM	Boil Time: 60 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.059

		Estimated	Actual
	Brew Date:	-	07/14/2013
	OG:	1.065	1.071
	FG:	1.010	1.010
	ABV:	6.94 %	7.50 %
	Efficiency:	75 %	78 %
	Serve Date:	08/04/2013	/ /

Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	21 days @ 70.0°F	07/14/2013	07/14/2013

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage		Name	Time	Gravity
11.00 lbs	85.11 %		Pale Malt (2 Row) US	60 mins	1.036
0.75 lbs	5.80 %		Weyermann Carahell	60 mins	1.035
0.75 lbs	5.80 %		Caramunich Malt	60 mins	1.033
0.30 lbs	2.32 %		Fawcett Pale Chocolate	60 mins	1.030
2.00 ozs	0.97 %		Black (Patent) Malt	60 mins	1.025

Hops
Amount	IBU's		Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	6.35		Centennial	5 mins	10.00
1.00 ozs	0.00		Ahtanum	0 mins	6.00
1.00 ozs	0.00		Centennial	0 mins	10.00
1.00 ozs	49.40		Hop Shot	60 mins	15.51
1.00 ozs			Centennial	7 days	10.00
0.50 ozs	5.78		Summit	5 mins	18.20
1.00 ozs			Palisade	7 days	7.50

Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Safale US-05	Fermentis US-05

Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
1.00 each	Whirlfloc Tablet	15 mins	Boil
0.25 tsp	Calcium Chloride	60 mins	Mash

Mash Profile

Medium Body Infusion In 60 min @ 154.0°F

Add 16.16 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 166.0°F

Sparge

Sparge 15.88 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins

Carbonation

(none)

Notes

i used danstar west coast ale yeast, not us-05

Bring the (d)Red,

HolzBrew

It's that time of year for Witbier

Oats? Check. Wheat? Check. Barley? Check!  Yep, sounds like a witbier recipe.  Two weeks in a row of brewing.  The tanks needed refilling and I am happy to oblige.  It was really an easy brew day.  No hiccups.  The only issue I had to deal with was some rain.  Accordingly, I largely brewed in the garage.  I found that the shelves in my garage substituted well for a brew stand.  To add some spice I went with lemon and orange zest as well as some indian coriander.  Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher sings the praises of indian coriander, so I was eager to give it a try.  I also chose to go with a saison yeast as I think it will enhance the fruity esters. 
 

Q.E.D.

	Style: Witbier
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 158
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 5.83 Gal
	IBU's: 19.71	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
	Color:    4.7 SRM	Boil Time: 60 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.046

		Estimated	Actual
	Brew Date:	-	06/01/2013
	OG:	1.049	1.048
	FG:	1.009	1.009
	ABV:	5.24 %	5.11 %
	Efficiency:	70 %	68 %
	Serve Date:	06/29/2013	/ /

Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	14 days @ 75.0°F	06/01/2013	06/01/2013
Secondary	14 days @ 75.0°F	06/15/2013	-

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage		Name	Time	Gravity
5.00 lbs	47.06 %		Pale Malt (2 Row) US	60 mins	1.036
5.00 lbs	47.06 %		Rahr Red Wheat	60 mins	1.037
0.50 lbs	4.71 %		Oats, Flaked	60 mins	1.037
2.00 ozs	1.18 %		Acid Malt	60 mins	1.027

Hops
Amount	IBU's		Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	17.12		Hallertauer	60 mins	4.80
0.50 ozs	2.59		Saaz	10 mins	4.00

Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Belgian Saison II	White Labs 0566

Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
0.40 oz	Coriander Seed	00 mins	Boil
1.00 each	Lemon zest	00 mins	Boil
2.00 each	orange zest	00 mins	Boil

Mash Profile

Full Body Infusion 60 min @ 158.0°F

Add 13.28 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 175.6°F

Alpha Sacch' Rest 15 min @ 163.0°F

Heat to 163.0°F over 5 mins

Carbonation

(none)

Notes

add 1oz of galaxy at dry hop

It's summer time,

HolzBrew

Been a long time ...

Wow, I can't believe that I haven't brewed since January.  This past semester at school got busy and crazy and brewing had to unfortunately take a back seat for a while.  Due to the long weekend, I was thankfully able to fire up the kettle.  I was provided fantastic assistance from my father-in-law, who participated in his first brew day.  We brewed the recipe below.  Everything went really well.  My only concern is that the Wyeast that we used had been in my freezer for months and despite creating a starter, fermentation has been off to a slow start.  Accordingly, I plan to pitch some freshly procured WLP500 this evening to help kicks things into a higher gear.  american malt dubbel

	Style: Belgian Dark Strong Ale
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 245
	Rating: 0.0	Boil Size: 7.91 Gal
	IBU's: 25.36	Batch Size: 7.00 Gal
	Color:   27.5 SRM	Boil Time: 60 minutes
	Preboil OG: 1.071

		Estimated	Actual
	Brew Date:	-	05/25/2013
	OG:	1.075	1.084
	FG:	1.018	1.018
	ABV:	7.47 %	8.65 %
	Efficiency:	70 %	79 %
	Serve Date:	07/06/2013	/ /

Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	14 days @ 65.0°F	05/25/2013	05/25/2013
Secondary	28 days @ 75.0°F	06/08/2013	-

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage		Name	Time	Gravity
18.00 lbs	82.76 %		Pale Malt (2 Row) US	60 mins	1.036
1.00 lbs	4.60 %		Caramunich Malt	60 mins	1.033
0.50 lbs	2.30 %		Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L	60 mins	1.034
4.00 ozs	1.15 %		Chocolate Malt	60 mins	1.028
2.00 lbs	9.20 %		Candi Sugar, Dark	60 mins	1.036

Hops
Amount	IBU's		Name	Time	AA %
1.50 ozs	16.49		Styrian Goldings	60 mins	5.40
1.00 ozs	5.92		Hallertauer	20 mins	4.80
1.00 ozs	2.95		Saaz	10 mins	4.00

Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Belgian Abbey II	Wyeast Labs 1762

Additions

(none)

Mash Profile

Medium Body Infusion In 60 min @ 152.0°F

Add 24.69 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 166.0°F

Sparge

Sparge 19.23 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins Belgian Love, HolzBrew

Still Cappin'

Today Señora HolzBrew and I bottled the english strong ale that we've been aging in a whiskey barrel for the last month.  I think these brews are at least one month away from initial tasting, but will probably be best in about a year.  I was excited to use my new custom-made bottlemark caps seen above!

-Holz