For a long time the St. Louis area has had to endure a world without draught Bell’s beer.  It looks like out metro-wide nightmare is over.  Dave from Beer, Wine and Whiskey is reporting that Bell’s Oberon has been sighted at the Central West End location of Llywellyn’s Pub.  While Oberon may not be my favorite beer in the world, does this mean that beers such as Two Hearted (which may be one of my favorite beers in the world) will be far behind?  Let’s hope not.

OK, back to brewing this weekend after a 3 week break. I almost did an extract batch this weekend just to save a little time, but I couldn’t bring myself to spend the extra $20-25.This weekend will be another Two Hearted IPA clone. I’m extremely happy with how this last one turned out, even if it is a bit cloudy. It smells and tastes fantastic. I’m probably going to end up making it my go to brewing beer from here on ou, hoping to perfect it along the way.

Pictured in the photo to the right is my Mango Blonde, my Raspberry Wheat and my Imperial IPA. After working on the Mango for 4 years, I think this is my last attempt.  I just don’t get any mango taste or aroma that comes through so it seems like a waste of time and energy.  It was a worthy effort but it’s time to hang it up.

You may remember my brewing schedule that I set up back in January, here’s the list as it stands right now:

May
Russian Imperial Stout
Weissbier
Two Hearted Clone

June
Belgian Dark Strong
Oktoberfest

July
Pumpkin Beer
Chocolate Cherry Stout

August
Schwarzbier
Robust Porter

September
Dopplebock
Christmas Ale
Imperial IPA

October
80 Schilling
Southern English Brown

November
Belgian Dubbel
Oatmeal Stout
Two Hearted Clone

December
English Barleywine
Brown Porter

I originally was going to brew a Belgian Dark Strong this month, but the Belgian beers just aren’t doing it for me as much anymore. I find them a bit too sweet and I can’t drink more than one without wishing I had something a bit hoppier. So I’ve decided to move the Weiss beer up to May and I’m thinking about taking the BDS out all together and moving the English Barleywine up to June and finding something else to brew in December.

Also, if anyone is interesting in homebrewing and has never done it or if you just want to help, you’re always welcome to come over to the house and help out.

Just an update on some of my brewing from over the past few weekends.

• Brewed the Two Hearted Clone last Saturday.
  • OG finished a little lower than I would have liked, but nothing terrible at 1.062 (was shooting for 1.065)
  • Lag time of about 8 hours. Also added 8 drops of FermCap to keep down on the krausen.
  • Dry hopped with 2oz of Centennial hops this weekend and moved into the closest for one week on the hops.
• Moved the Pliny the Elder (Imperial IPA) clone from a carboy into a bright keg.
  • Unfortunately the pelletized hops clogged up my ball lock, so I had to just open the keg and rack it in.
  • Finished out at 1.014 from an OG of 1.088. I tasted it and was quite impressed. I had the girlfriend taste it and she said even at this point, it’s better than Hopslam.
  • Noticed a bit of fusel alcohol aroma as it warmed. Hopefully some of this will age off a bit.
• Brought the Mango Blonde down to 37° last weekend.
  • Transfered to bright keg this weekend and added 6lbs of mango. Looking back at it though, should not have moved this into the bright tank. I think I’ll just swap dip tubes.
  • Also, fitting 6lbs of mango into the keg lost me about a gallon of beer. Not a big deal.
• Chilled and carbonated the La Fin Du Monde clone.
• Bottled 20 bottles of my Oatmeal Stout and 14 Bottles of the Southern English Brown. Dumped the rest of the Oatmeal Stout.
  • Had a lot of foaming with the Oatmeal Stout, I think it was due to the keg being warm.

This weekend I tackled a Raspberry Wheat beer. 47.9% Pils, 47.9% White Wheat and 4.3% Crystal 15. One additional of Willamette at 60 minutes to bring it to 18 IBUs. I’ll add 3lbs of raspberry puree after primary fermentation has ceased.

I also did overnight mash for this beer. I’m trying to avoid brewing on Sundays and thanks to the awesome Repeal of Prohibition festival I was busy Saturday afternoon. So I began my mash right before heading for dinner on Friday night, came home and brought the temperature up to 174 with my heatstick and left it overnight. I woke up early on Saturday morning and began heating my sparge water. The temp on the mash dropped to 153 overnight, so I used the heatstick to bring it back up to 170. Did my sparge and then boiled. I was hoping this would make a 6 hour brew day only 3-4 hour day, but thanks to a 90 minute boil it was closer to 4.5-5 hours. Still made for an interesting experiment.

Oh, this was also my 6th batch in 6 weeks. Whew. Talking a Belgian Wit this weekend and then taking off a few weeks from brewing. I’m sure it’ll make Irene happy.

Had a couple of packages of beer arrive this week, though I’d share some pictures. The first is from my buddy Scotty who lives in Colorado. Luckily for all of us, we’re seeing more and more Colorado beers available in the local area, but Scotty sent me a few that we can’t get here quite yet. I’m sending him some beer from this area he can’t get there. I know that he wanted some Two Hearted and I have some things in mind, but do you have any suggestions?

• Bristol Brewing Company - Red Rocket Ale
• Bristol Brewing Company - Wet Mountain IPA
• Bristol Brewing Company - Laughing Lab Scottish-Style Ale
• Dillon Dam Brewery - Sweet George’s Brown
• Bristol Brewing Company - Winter Warlock Oatmeal Stout
• Oskar Blues - Ten Fidy
• Oskar Blues - Old Chub

The other two packages I received this week came from San Diego, CA, specifically from The Lost Abbey. A while back someone alerted me to the Sinners and Saints Club. Each club provides special and often sought after beers each month of the year. Here are January and February’s selections:

• The Lost Abbey - Red Poppy
• The Lost Abbey - Carnevale Ale

I’ll let Tomme describe both for you:

Carnevale Ale- Be one of the first consumers to sample our newest seasonal release called Carnevale Ale. Brewed to mark the Lenten Season before Easter, we expect this to be a great addition to our lineup of Specialty Releases. 

Red Poppy 2007- Our first release of this beer. Brewed in 2006 and aged in French Oak barrels for one year on Sour Cherries and wild yeasts. 

Sorry about the lack of content this morning, but I’ve got a pretty busy day ahead of me.  In fact, the entire week may be a bit hectic, but I’ll do my best to provide everyone with new information all week.

Paul over at the Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton alerts me to a Bell’s limited release that made it’s way into St. Louis, Bell’s Sparkling Ale. Here’s what Bell’s has to say about it:

Fill your glass and toast your friends with this special brew. Our take on a “glass of the bubbly,” Sparkling Ale is an American Triple - light in color with a subtle fruit body.

Only 56 cases arrived in St. Louis, so this is one that’s sure to sell out quickly. Paul also informed me that 5 liter mini-kegs of Two-Hearted ale arrived as well. If you’ve never had it, Two-Hearted is one of the best IPAs in America. This is the perfect beer to bring to one of your upcoming holiday parties.