2009 in homebrewing
Time to look back on what was brewing in 2009. It was a pretty good year with 19 batches, around 90 gallons. No drainpours or infections in the lot. I entered a competition for the first time (and won two awards!). I built & started using a new copper sparge manifold and increased my efficiency, at least marginally. I got to know Promash a lot better, which I really think led to improvements in quality.
I finally finished off my huge backlog of 2007 hops brewing a slew of IPAs. Tim and I brewed a Double IPA in February based on the Pliny The Elder recipe that appeared in the September 04 edition of BYO. The recipe wasn’t right to begin with and we made a whole bunch of hop substitutions. It turned out well but super bitter and without the complexity we had hoped. Still, it got me moving through the freezer full of hops I started the year with. Starting in June I brewed 3 batches of IPA to get through the last of those hops. They brews were good but lacked the vibrancy they would have had with fresher hops.
There were a whole bunch of Belgians too. 10 to be exact – yikes! I made a few Bretty beers – an Orval inspired beer and a Saison brewed with dregs from Fantome Black Ghost. Neither turned out how I had hoped, though the Orval-esque beer is pretty good. I had some success brewing an Abbey Single – something I’m going to tweak and brew again for next summer. I used the yeast cake from the single to make a triple which is still improving, but has a bunch of yeast & pear right now.
I brewed five sours. One Berliner Weisse, a Flemish Red, a Flemish Pale, a Lambic and a giant monster with 12 or 14 different cultures courtesy of Al Buck over on the Babble Belt. Nothing but the Berliner was ready to drink this year – the Flemish beers and the one with all the cultures should be drinkable in 2011, the Lambic will be ready in 2012. Patience patience patience.
Looking forward I want to brew more low alcohol beers & sours. I’m tired of stuff over 6 or 7%. I want to be able to have 2 or 3 bottles without feeling it in the morning. That said, I’m taking full advantage of the huge delivery of hops I got before Christmas and brewing a Pliny-esque beer tomorrow (with an appropriate hop schedule this time!). I’d also like to explore stouts & porters more. They are such great styles but so rarely done well. It wouldn’t hurt to try a lager either. On the technical side I’d like to get better about fermenting temperature and pitching rates. These are two relatively simple things that can really improve my brews.
Cheers!
Tags: Homebrew