The secret alt
I think I’m sort of unofficially naming the altbier that we bottled* on Tuesday ‘the secret alt’ — I have to specificy that a beer I made has an unofficial name? I hope you see the depths of my self importance — because in stark contrast to the porter and raspberry wheat that I brewed last summer, I never blogged about it. Onoes! However will the internets (all seven of them) know what I’m doing?
It was my first partial mash, and I again got it as a kit from Niagara Traditions (they were very nice, by the way, and made one for me fresh because they were out). I wanted to get back into the swing of things before I made my own partial mash recipes, got one from Homebrewtalk, etc. Well, I got back into the swing of things. By saying ‘to hell with partial mashes, I’m going all grain!’ My theory was that I can get the equipment to mash and do it halfassed, or I could go all the way.
So, that lead to converting a 10 gallon Rubbermaid cooler ala FlyGuy, buying a turkey fryer (I suppose at some point I could also fry turkeys), getting 50 feet of copper tubing at the much cheaper CopperTubingSales.com… this Saturday it’s on, and starting around 7 am (which in reality will probably be 8:30 at the earliest) I’ll be starting up my first batch, five gallons of Bee Cave Brewery’s Haus Ale (ie an American Pale Ale). Mostly because I can, I’ve decided that in all likelihood I’m also going to be broadcasting the event live on Mogulus (if you visit that link before Saturday it will be extremely boring, as opposed to the only ‘very boring’ that 60 minutes of a Rubbermaid cooler sitting there will be).
Also, before I head out, I have to give a ton of thanks to Ethan and the rest of the Niagara Association of Homebrewers, as they’ve been incredibly helpful and friendly. The Amber Waves of Grain banquet seems like it’s going to be a rollickin’ good time (as though an event with a s’mores bar could not be!)
* Elizabeth filled them all and then was capping the second half (she’s better at bottling than I am, which means I need to start kegging immediately for my ego’s sake) when all of a sudden I heard breaking glass. She pushed the capper down (see fig. 1) and apparently used so much force that the top of the bottle was crushed instantly. Don’t mess with her.
