beer

rob (recently returned from the frozen wastelands of the north) came over wednesday and we brewed a batch of beer - a bierre de garde from a northern brewer kit. the brew looked like it went well, but a check of the original gravity at the end of the boil came up with 1.132 which was well above the predicted OG of 1.063. if this is correct and we get complete fermentation then this beer will have an alcohol content around 16%, serious knock-out beer. come to think of it, i found my old hydrometer a while ago, so maybe i should double check the reading. either way, fermentation has started up and the rate of bubbling through the airlock is increasing, i'll give it a couple of weeks before i move it over to a secondary and give it a quick taste test.

while we were at it, we moved the tripel that i brewed with heather back in january over to a secondary, where it'll sit for a couple of weeks untill it's time to bottle. i was a little worried that it'd been in the primary for too long and might have picked up some off-flavors from the spent yeast and trub, but a sample revealed a very nice beer, tasted just like a tripel should. checked the gravity and it was down to 1.01, so it looks like we got a good complete fermentation.

while we were brewing we popped open a couple of bottles from the honey wheat that we brewed last year. i've been holding on to them since it's such a good summer beer, but i figured we've got drink a couple of homebrews while we're brewing. the flavor is doing well and the carbonation is decent at first, but it goes flat quickly. up next? some bottling (the tripel) and an english pale ale in the next couple of weeks, then some gardening. we're going to be growing some hops. i've ordered rhizomes of fuggle and golding hops to plant in the back yard. it i get a good harvest in the fall i'll have to use them to brew a good ESB.