figure out a hop filter/screen that works for my new system
streamline my cleanup process in the new brewery so I can be done sooner
judge in at least 2 out of town competitions
dial in/master my West Coast IPA - my regular IPA is more Celebrationesque - amber, maltier. I’m working on something that is more WC flared.
brew the following styles/recipes:
Wookey Jack clone
Blind Pig
Pliny (been a while)
Janet’s Brown Ale
Golden Bock
Double Stout
Baltic Porter
San Diego Session Ale
Of course I’ll be brewing many other styles as well, but I’ve been wanting to do all of these.
my goal is 12 beers in 12 months, same as my goal last year. i started strong, with seven beers in six months, but only brewed one in the final six months, sadly.
i’ve got a balcones barrel right now that i plan on getting a stout in before the end of the year. i also want to brew a beer or two with bugs in it, non fruited this time. i’ll probably brew an esb, a couple ipa and pale ales. i’d like to brew the white house honey brown (brewed the honey blonde last year, still have a case).
i need to get another fermentation fridge or freezer as my ‘old’ one now keeps the beer cold. i need to start kegging again. i need to start brewing all grain again by the end of the year.
Make a big dent in my hop hoard. I have 6 recipes for hoppy brews right now that will end up using at least 2 ounces of each hop variety in my freezer. That should take up most of my winter/spring brewing.
Brew a few 100% Brett beers. One of the above-mentioned brews will be a Brett IPA. Also thinking of doing a Baltic Porter and sour-wort Berliner Weisse as 100% Brett brews.
Take one yeast strain and brew every Belgian style with it at various temps to learn it inside and out.
Rebrew my roast porter a couple of times to really try to nail down the recipe I want for that.
Find the elusive session Pale Ale recipe that really suits my palate.
1) Attend my first NHC.
2) Work with Brett more including a 100% brett beer (this one will definitely happen as the starter is already going).
3) Enter a beer in each of my club’s monthly competitions (and hopefully win ;))
4) Brew more American ales to try out new hop combinations
I have a problem with hoppy beers that I brew. I seem to like them the first week, then my palate takes a turn and doesn’t enjoy them anymore. I’m sure it’s my palate and not the beer…but I don’t know. Hoppy beers tend to start tasting the same as the last one.
So I guess a Brew Year’s resolution for me would be to figure out how to brew a good IPA, it’s an elusive style for me, has been for a long time.
Drink and buy less commercial beer
Brew styles that I haven’t before - especially German styles!
-German Pilsner
-Vienna Lager
-Munich Dunkel
-Munich Helles
-Altbiers
-Schwarzbier
-Dopplebock
-Berliner Weisse
-Belgian Wit
-100% Brett Trois IPA
-Session IPA
-Belgian IPA w/WY3522
Judge/help in more competitions.
-Assist my local club as the assistant organizer for the regional NHC round
-Go/host continuing education classes for judges
Expand my sour beer pipeline.
-10 gallon lambic brew day
-Tart/funky saison?
Get REALLY good at saisons.
-I finally got a saison to turn out, so I must brew more! Perhaps a Saison w/ Brett % tart cherries? I was inspired by a fellow club member.
With you on all of the above, Jeff. Philly will be my first one. I have three beers that I believe are good enough for the NHC comp. I’m getting more picky with what I enter as well.
I forgot also: buy less commercial - I’ve been meaning to wean off commercial for a while now, and this year I’m going to do it!
May try and enter NHC if I have anything that meets the snuff test.
beersk - maybe try posting your recipes and water profile and we can help out - I make pretty killer IPAs that I am generally happy with until the last drop. I think the key many people miss is that you have to be literally gluttonous with the use of hops, especially late and in the dryhop. just a thought.
Enter NHC
Attend NHC (I have all sorts of reminders on my calendar so I hope to get a chance at both of these before they fill up)
Brew some sour beers
Malt my own barley (was going to grow it too but didn’t get it planted this year so that will have to wait till next winter)
experiment with gluten free grains.
start building a 1 bbl system
I’ll usually buy a few commercial style examples before each batch I brew. I’ll also buy bottles of something that sounds kinda weird or unique, to see if it’s worth trying to make 5 gallons of it. There have been a few years where I basically didn’t buy any commercial beer, and my brewing was worse for it.
very true - as much as I say I will do this, I probably won’t, but I should buy less. If I didn’t buy commercial (for home at least) I wouldn’t have been turned on to things like Green Flash’s Double Stout, which has turned me on to brewing one soon…
Perhaps I’ll start a thread about it posting a general water profile and recipe. I can’t help but wonder if there’s something small in my process that I’m doing wrong that causes IPAs to be “meh” or taste different to me after a week of drinking it. It’s weird, too, because my dad was over on Tuesday, he said the beer was really good. Then the next day it tasted funny to me and has since. This has happened a lot with my IPAs over the years.
I mean, it’s happened to me with commercial IPAs also, where I’ll have one that tastes good on one day, then another day, that same beer will taste “off”. It’s weird. I don’t seem to have this problem with non-hoppy styles.
Finish my yeast project
Brew all the beers on my brewing schedule for the year
Develop a larger collection of sour cultures
Continue to improve QC
Develop brewing schedule for 2014 (maybe all saisons and sours?)
Get my damn hops to grow more than a few feet (I’m a terrible gardener but working on it)
Think about expanding my sour projects to include two base sour beers for 2014 (maybe a sour blond/pale ale and a flanders red) along with my lambic solera and wild ale
Find somebody locally to accept some of my excess 12oz bottles so I don’t have to pitch them in the recycle bin
does 4.25 ounces of hops within the last 15 minutes and a couple ounces of dry count as gluttonous? reason i ask is, i’m on the fence about dry hopping the last beer i brewed, but i only brewed it tuesday, so i still have time. what’s holding me back is the fact that in only have two ounces each of amarillo and simcoe and i undertand they will be hard to find.
They’re both around from multiple sources right now, but I’d stock up while you can if you want them. You will see a noticeable difference if you use them as dry hops. Whether it will be hoppy enough for your palate without them, it’s hard to say. If it were me I’d put all 4 ounces in as dry hops, possibly in 2 stages. The hops will taste a lot better in your beer than in your freezer, and you can always experiment with some substitutes if you can’t find them later on.
