Next on Tap.....

Alright, back to some real beer after that horrible lemon hefeweizen. This weekend I brewed a "Big Honkin' Stout". I used an extract kit from Northern Brewer. It's going to be very hard to wait for this one - should be done in about two months just in time for christmas. And no matter how hard I try to do everything perfect during brewing, something always goes wrong. This time my siphon came loose while transferring into my primary, and I spilled wort all over the kitchen floor. Oh well, not too much was wasted and luckily we need to refinish the floor anyway.

After I move the Stout out of the primary, I'm going to try a California Common. I'm modifying my Bronwish Ale recipe a bit. Mainly using light DME instead of dark, and using California Lager yeast instead of the Irish Ale yeast. For those of you who haven't heard of California Common style of beer, think of Anchor Steam. Anchor trademarked the name "Steam" for their beer, but it basically is the style that the pioneers and 49er's made during the California gold rush. Since refrigeration and cooling was difficult back then in the hot California weather, brewers had to use a lager yeast but brew like it was an ale. The result was steam style beer. I'll post my recipe later when I start brewing this one.