It's been a long, long time . . . .

. . . . and I've been a bad, bad blogger. I've been back in the beer world for a while, but haven't really been compelled to write much, mainly because I haven't been brewing. Well, I'm hoping to remedy both issues.

So what's to come? Reviews some MB beers, some beers from the Bearded Brewer, and a review of the 3rd annual Pints for Pets.

Stay tuned.

Cheers,

Dave

PGE: Mothman Barley Wine

I recently transferred to secondary what has been dubbed (thanks to Craig) the Mothman Barley Wine (MB0027). The gravity was 1.025 and, thanks to the simmering pre-boil (read about it here), there's a HUGE caramel flavor along with a big floral nose from the Cascade hops. It has a moderate to high bitterness, pushing this closer to an American Strong Ale, or dare I say and Imperial IPA?? We'll have to see in a month or so when it's bottled, but whatever this big beer is, it looks to be tasty.

In other news, Hwart's Bitter (MB0029) is going to be transferred to secondary later this week. It's been fermenting for just over a week and smells pretty decent. Even with all the issues on brew day, I'm interested to see how it ends up.

Stay tuned.

Cheers,
Dave

Guess What! I Made Another Session Beer!

Sunday was the third Brew Day in the past week. And for the third time in as many brew sessions, the beer of choice was a session beer. After experimenting with The Ultimate Table Beer last week, I opted for a more traditional style this time. Enter Hwart's Bitter (MB0029).

I have been trying my hand at Bitters for a while, with such attempts as the Eagle and Child Mild (MB0015) and the Ode to the Halper Bitter (MB0026). The recipe for the latter had been used, with some modifications, in Nate's brewing course in May and, most recently, by Eric for his second extract batch this past Wednesday. So, with my new found interest in session beers (more to come), I decided to revisit the Halper and make some adjustments to it.

The inaugural version of OttH got some good reviews, but the biggest criticism was that it was a bit too sweet. Since that version, every subsequent batch has used less caramel malt. Nate's class's version cut the caramel malt in half, which lead to it being a bit to bitter. For Eric's version, we lowered the lovibond rating and reduced the caramel malt by only a quarter.

For Hwart's Bitter, the caramel malt and the bittering hops were both reduced by at least 40%, hopefully evening out the malt/hop ratio while cutting the sweetness. We'll have to see. As for now, it's bubblin' away.

Coming up this week - A look at the Parti-gyle barley wine, some thoughts on all grain, and what's next for MB.

A big thanks to Nate and Joe for helping out, and to the former for continued use of this AG rig.

Cheers,
Dave