MT

Headed out to Whitefish in a couple days for some boarding with Nickbot. Pretty much the last of my winter activities before I shift seasonal gears.

Last time I was in Montana, I was in Yellowstone hiking amongst the buffalo, and then later, eating buffalo. Delicious. Also "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" is a grammatically correct sentence. All true stories.


New board.

The Elusive Aroma of Hops

I know, it seems like this slowly turning into a brewing blog, but whatever.

The Elusive Aroma of Hops is not my new band name, but one of my many brew difficulties. A sample of my IPA revealed an anemic hop aroma despite a generous late kettle addition of hops. Plus, I tasted a distinct non-hop bitterness and I noticed the fermentation itself had stalled.

Besides that ongoing semi-debacle, I recently brewed my second American pale ale. If it finishes properly, I think it'll be a big improvement over my first. Some changes: I used (nearly) all-grain, increased the aroma hops, increased the gravity a bit, and used a more accurate yeast pitch rate to deal with the heavy apple note in my first batch. We shall see.

Until then:

My American brown ale, this one came out pretty decent.

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Vines, snow

Brew Update

Finally drinking some of my brews and so far, so good. I was actually able to bring some up north for imbibing after snowboarding with Nick (good times), and while the beer is nothing spectacular, it was still tasty and immensely satisfying. I have learned, however, that "fully carbonated" does not mean "ready to drink." The beer continuously develops and it's interesting to see how the same batch improves over time.


American pale ale, 14 day carbonation test.

Drinking: American pale ale, American amber ale
Bottle conditioning: Robust porter, American brown ale, American wheat
Fermenting: India pale ale
Planning: American pale ale

Ride

Got some snowboarding in my future. It's been a while (years and years) so it's gonna be a bit sketchy, but hey, I gotta do something besides brewing beer this winter.

I'm feeling nostalgic:


Olympus 35mm p&s. Riding the steeps at Big Sky, MT, circa 1999.

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Fluid Power Automation

Blizzard

Huge snowstorm here. No big though...just hunkering down, listening to tunes, drinking beer, making stew. I'll take it.


Al