The Roswell First Four

After a 40 day hiatus, we brewed 4 batches for 20 gallons in 2 days over 2 weekend days.  Briarcliff Brewing is officially operational on Roswell.  I have two batches in secondary fermenters and two in the primary.  We will have some good beer come June!

Brew Day highlights include: new tests/trials for pitching on yeast cakes, using turbinado sugar (sugar in the RAW!), carafa black malt for color, hop overload techniques, troubleshooting, Rain brewing under a tarp under the deck, and more!

1. Red IPA with carafa during sparge, Conan yeast

2. Citra IPA v7: vienna munich victory malts, US-05

3. Imperial IPA with Torrified wheat and caramel malt on Conan yeast cake, 18oz hops.  This one came out to 1.095 and started actively fermenting in under 2 hours!

4. Crystal Ninja: lightest ale yet, 14oz Crystal & Centennial hop showcase, racked on US-05 cake from citra and also fermented feverishly and fast.

Here are a few shots of the brewing action.

Heating the mash water (aka liquor):

Post mash and lauter, heating up for the boil:

My new wheelbarrow/portable wash basin:

Racking to carboy:

Hop sludge/trub - this batch was all whole cone Citra hops, which is somewhat of a mess:

Citra IPA pre-pitch:

Red IPA and the Citra IPA:

 The new hammock setup for monitoring the hops and relaxing during the mash and boil:

My brew box with supplies and ingredients:

Equipment in action:

My new grain mill:

 More hop sludge!

Cheers!

New Homebrewing Blog

I am now a homebrew blogger!  I own a domain name and hopefully will soon learn how to use it.  I have been homebrewing since January 2013 and at this time have over 40 batches under my belt.  I want to share my experiences and hope to get others interested in the hobby.  My initial ideas for the blog are:

• Brewing Equipment
• Brewing Process
• Brewing Logs
• Brewing made simple
• Brewing made easier, but more complicated
• Oxymorons
• Homebrew Forums/Podcasts/Resources
• Homebrew Competitions
• Homebrew Clubs: AHA
• Homebrew Suppliers
• Brew Days
• Fermentation
• Racking Days
• Bottling Days
• Cleaning
• Sanitization
• Operating Space/Storage Limitations
• Brewery Expansion
• Equipment planning/budgetary considerations
• GA Brewing Industry Laws/GA Craft Brewers Guild
• Brewing impacts on local economy, business & tourism
• Action-packed Pictures
• Time-Lapse Video Photography (pending a Go-Pro sponsorship)
• Other cool photo/video effects (see sponsorship above)
• Brew-themed excursions, including, but not limited to: 
• AtlantaAthensMaconKennesawAshevilleCharlestonTampa
• MarylandVirginiaD.C.PennsylvaniaNewYorkDelawareVermont
• MinnesotaMichiganColoradoCaliforniaOregonWashington
• AlaskaHawaiiGermanyBelgiumCzech RepublicUKIreland*
• *subject to change due to availability, prices and quantities
• How Google mysteriously knows my identity before I login
• etc.