A NIGHT WITH THE HOPS

Everyone drifts off in thought of other things on occasion.  I probably do it more than the average person or at least more than I should.  Today, I have decided to share some of the daydreaming I did the over the last few days since it was all about beer and brewing.

I figured that I could not really hurt myself with a rake, so I was able to let my mind process other things while cleaning up the yard for spring.  My mind would have been in another place as I raked leaves anyway, but the fact that I had brewing supplies on the way certainly gave me something to focus on.  Welcome to the obsessive part of my brain.

I can already smell the grains

It has been a few months since I have last brewed anything at home, so I have been anxious to get back into it.  Now that my reserves have been depleted and I have more than enough empty bottles, I am ready to jump back in.  After putting (too) much thought into it I decided that the next three batches will be:

• Black Ale – Inspired by the imperial version I had at the FBG Beerfest
• Hefeweizen – In response to requests by multiple parties and as a good base for fruit experimentation.
• Saison – My first Belgian and to have ready by summer.  I missed brewing in time for a spring seasonal and would like to get on track for future seasons.

Since I have only two primary and two secondary fermenters, this presents a planning challenge for me.  I have learned lessons from having all the equipment tied up in the past and would like to make it easy on myself this time.  That and I need to plan out what to sanitize now, what I can wait on, etc.

The empty bottles are waiting

Starting off I have to decide which one I brew first.  My initial thought was the Black Ale, but that presents a few problems.  I have plans to add some bourbon and vanilla to the secondary fermenter for that one and let it sit there a bit longer than normal (for me) before bottling.  So that would tie up a piece of equipment for more time meaning that I would have to wait to brew at least one of the others for a while.  Also it will be a pretty strong flavor and I don’t know that I want a Hefeweizen going into the fermenter after it.  Of course it would be cleaned and sanitized, but I am slightly neurotic like that.

OK, so what about one of the other two going first?  I have (at he very least) tentative plans to incorporate a new type of fruit (for me) into at least one of those batches, if not both.  That could very well mean that I split the batches after primary fermentation to get some fruit beer and some of the original, unaltered style.  So either way that would tie up both secondary fermenters for some time making the order of things more difficult to coordinate efficiently.

Splitting batches will be after primary this time.

With all of that under consideration, if the fruit component that I intend to use does not arrive or is not made available right away maybe the Black Ale wins by default?  Or maybe I just brew the Saison and forget about any fruit going into that one?  I suppose I could even go ahead with the Hefeweizen without the fruit.

Might need a replacement bottling wand to be safe.

I know I shouldn’t put this much thought into it, but I do.  Or at least when I have hours of yard work to do and plenty of time to daydream of more enjoyable activities!