I've been brewing a lot since I got back to beer making. Last
weekend, I started my eighth batch since my amber ale. I brewed a
blonde, two stouts, an IPA, a Belgian Brown, an Orval clone, a wit,
and the latest, an American Pale Ale inspired by Sierra Nevada.
Brewing beer is easy. It takes some elbow grease to scrub and
sanitize all your equipment but if you can bake a cake, you most
certainly can brew beer. That's what I've been telling my friends and
I'm glad that a few of them have started brewing on their own.
Since brewing beer is easy, there are no reasons not to do special
brews for special events, just as one would bake a cake for a
birthday. You only need to plan a bit to take into account
fermentation time and your good to go.
It's Yann Larrivée of PHP-Québec who first pitched the idea of having
homebrews from members of the developers community at an informal BBQ.
So I brought a buckwheat Belgian brown at the latest PHP-BBQ and it
was a huge success. Beside the unexpected party suitcase keeping
the keg and CO2 cylinder out of sight, people really appreciated
the fact that they were drinking a brew that was prepared just for
them. That got me fired up.
As there are many thirsty developers in Montréal, got my stove into
high gear and started brewing seriously. As I write this, I have
three batches in various stages of preparation. From left to right on
the above picture, we can see:
- an Orval clone that is currently maturing with Brettanomyces yeasts;
- an American Pale Ale that I plan to bring to the next Montréal-Python;
- a Belgian wit that I plan to bring to ConFooBBQ, the BBQ for developers.
I like how the wit is clearing up. It started extremely hazy,
something that is to be expected when you brew with wheat, but after
five days in the secondary fermenter, it's cleared up a nicely with
only the bottom third exhibiting intense fogginess. I followed a
recipe that called for Irish moss, which help to clear up a beer. The
trick is that you want a wit to be served somewhat hazy so you have to
balance the amount to Irish moss so you don't end up with a crystal
clear drink. Let's see how it turns out at ConFooBBQ.
