Tuesday, February 23, 2010

State of the Brew-nion Address.


This will be a general update post.

I have been feeling kind of stunted in my growth as a brewer lately due to a lack of bottles in my possession. Empty bottles that is. For as much as I'm not a fan of bottling, Im even less of a fan of scrounging around for bottles. Buying new bottles is expensive, and reusing old ones can be a pain; Especially if, like me recently with my christmas beer, you have a batch that doesn't pan out and you decide to age it a year to see if it gets at least drinkable. Which all leads to me thinking about starting to keg.

Most homebrewers who keg go with the 5 gallon system, it fits a full 5 gallon batch and you are done. But personally I don't
drink most of my beer in my apartment. I live alone, and the layout of my place isn't exactly conducive to having people over. I like to grab a few bottles and head over to a mate's place. So Im thinking I could bottle half a batch and then 3 gallon kegs for the rest.

So thats on my list of upgrades. Iv been really meaning to get 3 items to help me out. Kegging system, oxygen canister o
xidization system, and a grain mill. I need to decide what to get first. Care to weigh in?
This leads into the fact that I have 2 beers I need to bottle, and until yesterday I didnt even have enough for 1. On Deck, Iv got the Blackberry DunkelKolsch is finally ready and looks fantastic and slightly purple. Next to it in the 6-gallon carboy is the famed "Kitchen Sink Stout". I never got around to doing a write up about it as Iv been real busy with the day job these past 2 months. Now I just need to decide which one gets bottled first!