Mellody Brewing

Kegging and Bottling Today

The brown ale is ready for transfer to secondary, and the triple is ready for keg and bottle.  Going to be a productive afternoon here at Mellody Brewing, if I can get off the couch.

That was close...

See that hop reside at the top of the pot? That's what happens when you decide to sit in the other room and the lid slides shut and the foam from the boil rises up. I was about 2 seconds from a full fledge boil over.

Watch Dog

Barley intently watches as I brew the beer that will bear her name.  Brown-Back Tan-Ass Ale named after the made up breed I tell people Barley is when they ask.  She's a mutt, probably a mix of a beagle, or spaniel and lab - but I have named her my little brown-back tan ass - and that's what I tell people if I am with it enough to think on my feet when they ask.

The apartment smells of malt and hops, we're 10 minutes into the boil and all is well.  This is an easy beer to brew, I hardly have to pay attention.  In about 10 minutes we will rehydrate the yeast.  I'm using an English style dry yeast from Fermentis - at the suggestion of the owner of my home brew store.  He says it ferments fast and furious and has a nice profile for the brown I'm attempt to brew.  We'll see.

Old School Crush

I really need to get a grain mill.

The Hop Store Haul

Rye With Me Baby

I'm headed out to prepare for this weekend's brew session.  It's going to rain, snow all day and night so it's perfect brewing conditions.  We'll be getting some beers to sip while we brewing, starting the first fire of the season and settling in for a few hour brew session.  I've decided to make a Brown Ale, but with flaked rye and it will be dry hopped.  I may also add a few more fun things after the boil to see what happens.

Watch for brew day live blogging later and pictures.

American Triple Checkin

Transfered the triple today and boy does it look and smell great. Taste is right where I hoped as well, nice sweet taste with subtle carmel taste and hop profile. This will be a very sessionable triple just as I wanted.

I Want You To

It's been a few weeks internet.  The story is the same, real job bringing me back to reality and sucking away all fun and beer time.  I hope to emerge from this storm soon.  Not much to update on the beer front here, but I will be brewing tomorrow for a work party in December.  I'm trying to decide what to brew for this team - it's such a wide range of tastes and personalities.

I've also been contacted by Cricket Brewery in Fairfield, NJ.  Not sure where that is going yet, but we'll see.  I have to call John back, by now I'm sure he thinks I'm not interested in doing anything - but seriously man - the real job, it sucks my life away...

More to come, thanks for continuing to follow and read. 

Brew Day Update: Stuck in a fermenter with you

Yes, my first batch in almost a year and I make a rookie mistake...I didn't prep my yeast.  I didn't make a starter and with such a high gravity beer that was a big mistake.  We had active fermentation for about three days, then it just died.  I'm pretty sure it had to do with the cold temps in the apartment tied with a bad start to the fermentation.  So, I consulted with my local home brew shop owner and a few boards and decided first course of corrective action was the electric blanket to warm the beer back to ideal fermentation temp - 65-75 degrees.  That brought some small bubble action, but not enough.  Before we repitch more yeast, tonight I added Yeast Energizer.  Yup, a magical mixture of yeast nutrients that should jump start the process...think of it as a shot of speed or something I guess.  We'll see what happens.  We now have yeast energizer and the electric blanket at work - let's hope we get more bubbly action soon.

Brew Day: Fermentation

Barley wonders how long till it's ready?