Relaxing

Well, after not brewing for damn near a month I'm getting a little anxious. In thinking about nice weather and being out side and all, I decided I wanted to make a good authentic tasting German Hef. Which I realized would be the perfect opportunity to try out my 10 gallon experiment. Because I have the mash tun for a 15 gallon batch, but a boil pot for only a 5 gallon batch, so I was thinking I could mash 10 gallons worth (or 14 total pre boil) and mix it into a large container then take off 7 gallons boil it, cool it and get it into the carboy with some yeast. Then take the rest of the wort and do everything exactly the same but with a different yeast. (since we all know it's the yeast that makes a weizen beer) I only have two hang ups: One, I'm kind of worried about that pre boil wort just hanging out for the nearly 2 hours after the mash. I know I'll be boiling it, but some of those nasty little infection buggers are tricky. Two, how the hell am I going to get the 7 gallons out of a giant container into the boil pot? 7 gallons is heavy enough as it is! But, I'm hoping and can figure it out and give it a try. Along with those I decided a wheat-a-thon would be fun. I've really wanted to remake my Wit with real coriander (not safeway bought preground crap) and have had a Weizenbock recipe I put together months ago laying around begging to be brewed. On that note I decided a good American Wheat would be fun too. But I was thinking about taking a simple American Wheat (Half 2 row half wheat with a dash of crystal and 1056) and stock it up on something more grainy and bready like munich or vienna and toss some orange peel and honey in to make a delicious American Imperial Orange Honey Wheat. In already made beer news: Tiger's Blood came out fantastic! I guess it's too early to really say that since I only drank one, that was luke warm and flat, but it came out just like I wanted it! It's got a fantastic taste and nose of caramel with out being over powering with a touch of hops and sweetness. mmm hm. mighty fine! I threw another one in the fridge last night to crack open tonight to see how it's still progressing.

OH! And also, I got Randy Mosher's new book "Tasting Beer" in the mail today. I read the first 10 or 12 pages and thumbed through the rest and am very impressed. I think it's going to be one of those books that every beer geek should have, and yet feel the need to suggest it to every person they know who has any interest, or even just an enjoyment, in beer

-Beer haunts my thoughts :)
~Kyle