And On Deck....

As soon as I clear out some of the backlog - which does not means after I go on my next drinking binge - it will be time to get the beer pipeline up and running again.

Right now, I'm drinking an Irish Stout and have a Vienna Lager that will be ready to drink by this time next week.  Then the Czech Pilsner, and after that is the Belgian Dubbel.  Not counting the empty I created on the Stout's debut night, that's ONE THOUSAND OUNCES OF BEER!

Well... 31 quarts is 992 actually ounces, but ONE THOUSAND OUNCES sounds so much more impressive!

At the rate of a pint a night, it will take me two months to burn through everything.  And since it takes a month from start to finish to brew up a drinkable batch, I'm about a month away from needing to get anything started.  So most of what follows is really quite unnecessary, but I just can help it.

The next beer that I'll be making will be a Blonde Ale I'm calling Nimblejack.  Nothing special here, just a standard Mr. Beer Blonde Ale kit.  But while making more complicated dark beers, I like to mix things up so that I've got a decent variety of brewskis to drink or share. I try to avoid brewing consecutive similar beers, and since the previous beer (Farty Monk) was a Class 5 Belgian Dubbel, brewing something from the other end of the spectrum should work fine. Stat-wise, it will measure 3.7% ABV, 3 SRM, and 18 IBU, which makes this a Class 1 beer - light and nimble.  Hence the name.

Following that will be the Browncoat Ale.  It is based on a stock MRB Pale Ale recipe but will also include the Pale Export UME.  This will add color depth and kick the alcohol up slightly, and will result in a Class 3 Ale - 4.6% ABV, 5 SRM, 22 IBU.  I'm kinda eager to get to this one - I really dig the label.

And to round-out the next three, I will be going off into uncharted territory to try an experimental beer.  I have recently been enjoying Guinness Black Lager and want to see if I can brew something similar.  Based on the success I've had with the Irish Stout, I am more than confident enough to give this a shot.

The recipe starts with the MRB High Country Canadian Draft HME, then adds the Creamy Brown UME and US Goldings hops to create a Class 5 Lager with 5.9% ABV, 28 SRM and 22 IBU.  But what I really want is a 40 SRM Class 6 Lager, so during fermentation I will be adding a liquid malt extract that should darken the beer without affecting flavor, body or clarity.  Essentially, food coloring for beer.

The name of this tenth beer will be "Ten If By Giant Robot", which makes sense only if you didn't sleep through your Revolutionary American History class - the part about the Old North Church in Boston and Paul Revere's ride and how very differently the War For Independence would have gone if the Tories had successfully fielded their giant, church-smashing robots.