equipment upgrades

it's been over a year since our last equipment upgrade. today, we are retiring the turkey fryer for a new blichmann burner, and to start the burner off it's another round if morita mascada(aka chipotle ale).

the new burner is fast and hot. one boilover just after mashout. it'll take some extra care until we get used to the new efficiency.

next up: chocolate, marsmallows and graham crackers going into a russian imperial stout

More Chipotle!

Due to high demand, another batch of chipotle is in the fermenter....
whole chipotles add smoke and spice to this ruddish amber ale

chip bottled

chipotle is done conditioning.... first crack for army-navy coming up soon

granny

10 gallons of granny smith are in the fermenters. og: 1.055

Sandy Marzen

With a hurricane day yesterday, I took the Marzen out of lagering and found some bottles for it.  It won't be ready for the October release goal, but maybe there'll be Novemberfest instead

Math

Catching up on some of the math:

Chocolate Milk Stout:
OG: 1.050 (8/12)  FG: 1.010 (9/4)  ABV:  5.4%

Strawberry Blonde:
OG: 1.050 (9/22) FG: 1.009 (10/13) ABV: 5.4%

Marzen/Oktober
OG: 1.050 (8/12) FG: 1.010 (10/29) ABV: 5.2%

Lock Gunk

The chipotle is being stubborn.  A 2nd airlock is gunked up.

Airlock Overload

Don't Panic, the Chipotle is ok, just a little overactive.  I went downstairs to get my laundry and decided to check on the chipotle fermenter.... the Krausen had invaded the airlock.

An airlock swap and it's all good again, got this one before it became a mess

bombs away

dropped 2 bottles today prepping for oumpkin carving party.. made a mess in the basement.  it was supposed to be a relaxing night

lagering

oktoberfest is still in the refrig. so much for beling ready in october. may bottle this week

chipotled

allgrain version of chipotle ale/morita mascada brewed today. 1.057 og

strawberry bottled

Strawberry Blonde part 2 is in bottle conditioning. five pounds of strawberries in the fermenter for 9 days have edged up the berry content a bit. two-three weeks of conditioning means this should be ready to accompany election day festivities.


by the numbers: 52 bottles, final gravitiy 1.009

Strawburied

The strawberries are in!... 1 week till bottling

oktoberfest

this year's marzen/steam beer is in the refrig. a month of lagering plus sime bottle time then it should be reafy before october ends

chocolate milk

choc milk stout is bottled..... 2 weeks to go

the results are in

we received scoresheets and feedback from malt madness. we didnt place in either category and have some focus areas for inprovement

brew day

with a sunday off, it was ti me to get b ack to brewing. Oktoberfest and Chocolate milk stout are now in the fermenter. Made with prganic cacao nob the stout will be ready early oxtober, while the marzen will be ready by late october.

Marzeb: 1.057@78f
Stout: 1.060@78f

Coming Soon

Supplies were purchased for two upcoming brews.  Lamb Day Lager will make a second Octoberfest appearance in a new allgrain recipe format.  This will again be a Marzen/Steam Ale style beer brewed and lagered as a 3 gallon batch.  This should be available after its lagering period in Late October.

All New, yet to be named is a Chocolate Milk Stout.  Made with lactose and Organic Cacao Nibs, this stout should be available late September.

competition

we dropped off our first entries into homebrew competition. Red Clay Redux and Khoyshekh are now entered into Lehigh Valley Homebrewers' Malt Madness.

Wedding Lineup

They're all done:

Khoyshekh - Dunkelweizen
Red Clay Redux - Irish Red Ale
Strawberry  Blonde - Not named yet
Buried Rogue - Maibock

Buried Rogue

Buried Rogue is bottled!... This maibock is the fourth/final installment for mike's wedding.  It is ready for bottle conditioning, and perhaps we will even sample it before the wedding.

By the numbers:
OG: 1.054
FG: 1.010
ABV: 5.8%

www2.buriedcastle.com/beer/buried-rogue

Red and Dead

Red Clay is bottled (18 April) and Buried Rogue (from Yooper's Rogue Dead Guy Clone) is in the Fermenter (14 Apr).

Targeted!

 Red Clay Redux was brewed tonight.  And as a special treat, we hit target original gravity!  (well, close to it, target gravity 1.049, measured OG: 1.048@76.4F = 1.0499)

Current inventory of the original Red Clay is down to 3 bottles.  It probably won't last until Redux is ready to go in 6-8 weeks.

Bottled!

Dunkelweizen (Khoyshekh)  and Strawberry Blonde are bottled.  Dhoyshekh @ 1.007, Strawberry @ 1.005

strawburied

It's been two weeks of fermenting for the strawberry blonde.  3.5 lbs of strawberries added this morning... 7-10 days till bottling.

Dunkelweizen ready to bottle soon too

Red Clay Redux

The recipe is ready, the ingredients are purchased.  Red Clay Redux starts this week.

malt & fermentables
% LB OZ MALT OR FERMENTABLE PPG °L 87% 8 4 American Two-row Pale 37 1 12.79 5% 0 8 Briess Carapils 34 1 1.00 3% 0 4 Briess Caramel 10L 34 10 0.56 3% 0 4 Briess Special Roast 34 50 0.50 1% 0 2 Biscuit Malt 36 23 0.26 1% 0 2 Chocolate Malt (US) 28 350 0.27 9 8 Batch size: 5.0 gallons	Original Gravity 1.049 / 12.1° Plato Final Gravity 1.013 / 3.3° Plato Color 9° SRM / 18° EBC (Gold to Copper)
Hops
USE TIME OZ VARIETY FORM AA   boil 60 mins 1.25 Fuggles pellet 4.5 2.99 boil 10 mins 1.0 Willamette pellet 5.5 1.85	Bitterness 19.0 IBU / 6 HBU BU:GU 0.39
yeast
Wyeast Irish Ale (1084) 6.95	Alcohol 4.8% ABV / 4% ABW Calories 162 per 12 oz.
misc
Top of Form USE TIME AMOUNT INGREDIENT boil 10 min 1 ea Whirlfloc Tablet Bottom of Form

Red Clay Redux

Coming soon: Red Clay Redux: the original Red Clay recipe was a 3gallon extract brew.  This edition has been expanded to 5 gallons and reworked in all-grain format.  Red Clay Redux is expected to be offering #3 for Mike's wedding in June.
Expected Brew Date:  Late Feb-Early March

www2.buriedcastle.com/beer/red-clay-redux

Name that blonde

Strawberry blonde is in the fermenter.... that means as little as 5 weeks till it goes in the bottle.  It needs a name still.  The original recipe author's name was Strawberry Alarm Clock, but that doesn't sound Buried Castle enough.  So what's it going to be?

www2.buriedcastle.com/beer/strawberry-blonde

Strawberry Blonde

Strawberry Blonde has hit the fermenter... no hot breaks, no spills, just a really low efficiency?  Measured OG 1.038, target: 1.054.  Strawberries go in in two weeks, then a couple more weeks to figure out how bad the efficiency loss affects the product.

Khoyshekh

Fermenting temp dropped to 60... airlock activity slowed down.  But yesterday it was giving off some nice aromas and bubbling well.  Fermenter moved out of the basement, trying to get it back to 64

Sweet Darkness

Happy Valentines Day... khoyshekh is in the fermenter!  1.050@68.1F... should be ready by spring break.

darkness and strawberries

Will and Jeff went shopping today.  We have all of the ingredients for Khoyshekh (aka Dunkleweizen) and Strawberry Blonde (AKA, we don't have a name for it yet).  Brewing to start in Feb.  These are the first 2 for Mike's wedding.... followed by... an IPA and Kipuka?

granga chuck

first bottles of granny smith cider were opened tonight. lightly carbonated, nice golden color and antarty apple flavor.... success!! coming soon: grammy crisp results

darkness

Khoyshekh (Yiddish for darkness) is designed.  It will be a dark wheat/Dunkelweizen:

Buried Castle brewers Jeff and William traveled to Sly Fox Brewery for Yani's birthday celebration.  Aside from helping Yani mark the event, we also sampled several Sly Fox offerings, including their Dunkel Weisse.  Khoyshekh is inspired by their dark wheat ale.  It's a malty, sweet beer made with Weiphenstephan Weizan yeast to give it banana and clove esters.  Translated from Yiddish, Khoyshekh means Darkness.  Khoyshekh is expected to be one of the selections for Mike's wedding this June.

Recipe at www2.buriedcastle.com/beer/khoyshekh

Brewing set to begin mid February

fintster veyts or khoyshekh

The dunkelweizen recipe is ready... the name is not.  Two possibilities coming from yiddish:  fintster veyts (dark wheat) or khoysekh (darkness).

ciders

granny smith and granny smith/honey crisp ciders are bottled... initial tasting is promising,m 2 weeks to wait for first taste