Catch up time!

It's been almost 2 months since my last post, so believe me when I tell you I've been exceptionally busy. The Beersmith brewing log has been filled up with eight brews since April 21st.



I purchased a Barley Crusher from Midwest and promptly named her Beverly as promised. Being impatient, I  just couldn't wait for the great Crankenstein backlog of 2012 to get cleared. I kept the factory .038 inch gap and it seems to work well. There's no way I'll be hand grinding using this thing so I've been using a 1/2 HP hammer drill to grind the malt into a bucket. The cordless just doesn't have the oomph this work requires. Call me a weakling as needed.

All my bulk grain is now transferred to 4 gallon buckets obtained from the local Hy-Vee bakery. They held pastry cream and frosting previously and I managed to get 10 of them for about $2 each, with lids that have rubber gaskets. Once washed thoroughly with some dish soap and rinsed out well there's no residual odor to rub off on the grains. My kitchen did smell like a vanilla factory for a few hours afterward though.

I have amassed a nice selection of hops and specialty grains via online orders and we now have a new LHBS - www.biyhomebrewsupply.com in Marion, IA.  This is making things much easier and more  timely for all my brewing peeps.

There are three beers I brewed last fall that have not yet been documented in this blog, as well as the eight I've done year to date. As I can't backdate these posts I'll create new posting detailing the processes and recipes and brew days.

The aforementioned third runnings from the ABT 12 brew day were a bust so it got dumped. It tasted thin and tannic and I didn't bother to keep it. I do still have 6 gallons of cider from last fall in secondary and I'll bottle that probably in August.

Look for more postings shortly!