Brewing

Since my daughter was born, my wife and I have found ourselves spending a lot more time at home, and in need of things to keep us occupied. Given our long time love of beer, brewing seemed like a natural new hobby for us to take on! And it sure has been a fun one.

Here are some of the things we have brewed:

Toasted S'mores Stout Style: Sweet Stout Approx ABV: 6.0% Description: Sweet stout with brown sugar, graham crackers, cocoa powder, whole marshmallows, and vanilla bean. Batch Notes on Brewfather

Allagash White Clone Style: Witbier Approx ABV: 5.1% Description: An attempt to replicate Allagash's wonderful White Ale. Adapted from a recipe in the July / August 2018 issue of Zymurgy magazine. Batch Notes on Brewfather

Juniper Mead Style: Metheglin Approx ABV: 13.9% Description: This is our attempt at making a Colorado Mountain spiced mead. We started out with what I would describe as "Juniper Berry Tea". To that, we added a combination of Clover and Alfalfa honey sourced from right here in the Rocky Mountains. We plan to split this in secondary fermentation into 5 different 1-gallon batches. One will stay just juniper; the others will have other spices added to see how the juniper plays with other flavors. Batch Notes on Brewfather

Rhubarb Berliner Weisse Style: Berliner Weisse Approx ABV: 4.3% Description: Our first from-scratch recipe, utilizing Philly Sour yeast to make a quick sour ale. Aged in secondary with a 1-gallon bag of rhubarb harvested from our home garden. Batch Notes on Brewfather

Oakarita Style: Gose Approx ABV: ??? Description: The same base grain bill as our Rhubarb Berliner Weisse, with the addition of salt & coriander to make it a Gose... and then lime juice and peel, orange juice and peel, agave syrup, and French oak chips soaked in a Plata tequila! Far from a traditional beer, and a totally unknown ABV due to the tequila, but a lovely interpretation of a classic Margarita, in beer form. Batch Notes on Brewfather

Dirty Blonde Style: Blonde? Pale ale? Beer. Approx ABV: 4.3% Description: This batch was a happy little mistake. I didn't end up getting nearly as much conversion from the grains as I wanted, and ended up a full percentage point lower on ABV than intended. So instead of using this as the base for a few more complex beer I had planned, this just got bottled off and turned into a lovely, absolutely crushable, lightly fruity, lightly hoppy beer. Blonde? Slightly hazy pale? Who knows? Who cares! It's delicious! Batch Notes on Brewfather

Southern Peach Style: Blonde Approx ABV: ~6% Description: This delightful little peach of a blonde is like a perfect slice of the south, but born right here in Colorado. With the smooth, silky juiciness of the peaches, and just a subtle hint of oak and bourbon, her rebellious side manages to peek out from behind her sweetness. Batch Notes on Brewfather

Lakewood Fermentation Club Bière de Garde Style: Bière de Garde Approx ABV: ~7.2% Description: Brewed in collaboration with Tom's Brew Shop, Propagate Lab, and members of the Lakewood Fermentation Club, this Biere de Garde is being held as a control batch to be compared with a barrel blend made from batches brewed by other LFC members. Batch Notes on Brewfather

Large Fluffy Clouds Style: Hazy IPA Approx ABV: 7.1% Description: This hazy IPA was the very first recipe I started creating, and by far the most complex grain bill. Turning out to be FAR too large of a batch for my system, it didn't come out quite as expected, but ended up being something with extreme promise and worthy of future iterations. Batch Notes on Brewfather

Funemployment Lager Style: American Lager Approx ABV: 4.2% Description: After being laid off in November 2023, I wanted to create something light and refreshing, and very inexpensive to brew. This used Mystery-X hops grown in my back yard as first wort hops, producing a very subtle hop note. This may have been an accidental clone of Bud Heavy. Batch Notes on Brewfather

Murphy's Scottish Export Style: Scottish Export Approx ABV: 6.3% Description: Attempting to re-capture the magic of an accidental amber we created long ago, we accidentally created this lovely Scottish Export ale instead. In fact it's so tasty that not only will we be re-brewing it soon, but it will be our first beer entered into a real competition: Sweetheart's Revenge 2024! Batch Notes on Brewfather