Today I was off and was able to squeeze in a brew. We don't have much variety to choose from the malty-persuasion, so I thought it would be a good time to brew a Schwarzbier. We are going to do the same recipe that we had during my graduation and I hope this one is as good as that one. The water here in NC isn't as favorable for brewing dark beers due to the softness of the water, but hopefully the added carbonates to the mash from the baking soda and chalk that I added will make up for that. We probably won't drink this one for 4-5 months when Elise can start drinking again, so hopefully it will be very smooth after the long aging process.
As for the pale ale, it is a decent beer. It took a little longer than expected to carbonate and was therefore lacking any crispness, but now that it is carbonated properly, I am much happier with it. It's not overly bitter, but for a pale, I would like a little more "bite" next time.
I think the next IPA we brew will be much different than past ones. After reading a book about IPA, I saw a water profile a pro brewery uses and was surprised by how high their sulfate and calcium levels were. I am definitely going to start playing with higher levels of those minerals in our hoppy beers to hopefully accentuate the hoppy profile. We are also going to brew a few recipes from the IPA book like Firestone Walker and Stone before we try our hand at an original recipe again.
Hopefully we'll be able to brew 3-4 more times in the next 5 months before the little one is here. I am thinking an IPA, a dubbel, a brown, and maybe another saison, but who knows how much time we'll have.
#TeamDietrich
