Short Update

Life's been busy; very busy. As a result I havent been able to post as much as I would like. Either way, we've made a couple of beers and now have 2 beers on tap.....sort of; more on that later.

First, the hops are both doing very well. I will post a picture in the next couple of days, but needless to say, they've both reached the top of their respective trellis. The Newport still only has 2 bines, but they are already producing some small burrs that will eventually be hop cones. The Centennial probably has 6-8 bines and about 3 have reached the top. It is a much fuller "bushier" plant compared to the Newport, but it too has a few burrs.

On the 4th of July we brewed a Saison for the summer. I found a recipe online called Cottage House Saison that has been very well received. In addition to the normal malts (wheat, caramunich, pilsner) there is the zest of 1 lemon as well as 1.5 tbsp of fresh ground black pepper. We added both at the end of the boil so hopefully the aromatics will still be around in the finished beer. We are planning on cold crashing later this week and then bottling next weekend.

Next weekend we'll also brew our British porter. We have a ton of light colored hoppy beers and I thought a nice porter would be a good change of pace. That one should be ready to drink in about 3 weeks as well.

As for the beers on tap (Double Pale Ale and Black IPA) we've had some trouble carbonating the Double Pale. It has been on gas for a few weeks now and it's probably at 50% of where it should be. The heat wave could have been the problem in that the fridge couldnt stay cold enough therefore the set pressure on the CO2 tank would have been inadequate. But now that its cooled down I would expect it to carbonate more appropriately. We'll see when we take a pull or two in the next few days. It's still tasting good enough and the dry hop is coming through really well. A little bit of carbonation will help lighten it up and make it much better and I hope we get it right before we drink the rest of it.



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