Christmas Brew Update

This year came to a close just so darned quick, that by the time I looked at the calendar, and figured back from Christmas to now, there just wasn't enough time to do another proper Christmas lager. I know, I know, I'm slacking....

So, on Saturday I ended up brewing a slight variation of my last brew, a Harpoon IPA clone, and try to have it finish hoppier. First, I went with Galena bittering and flavor hop instead of Clusters. Galena is a 10.5% AA hop versus Clusters which is 6.5% AA. Secondly, I intend to dry hop after four days in primary fermentation, with one ounce of my home-grown Cascade hop (unknown % AA) added to the secondary fermenter. One other variable was changed from the original recipe--I went with an additional half-pound of M&F light DME to try to balance the extra bitterness. I intend to say in the secondary fermentation for another four to six days and then bottle.

The wort chiller I picked up at the Beer Solution on Blackman Street, worked very well indeed and cooled the hot liquor down to 80 F in less than 10 minutes. This is probably a 30 minute savings over ice which I have hertofore used exclusively.