Fifteen Gallons Home Brewed Yum

Taking a short sabbatical last week from the blog postings, I failed to mention that Bill and I successfully kegged the last 10 gallons of homebrew requiring it. The dark steam smells incredible and has a hint of rich coffee in it's nose. The hefe tastes exactly as a true hefeweizen beer should taste -- wheat-injected and smooth. Both of these brews came out chock-full of alcohol to boot because we added an additional pound of corn sugar to each during the boil. Excellent.

While we were kegging, we took the opportunity to taste the skunked dry-hopped ESB that's been chilling and carbonating over the last couple weeks. Result? Pretty damn tasty! I was happily surprised that most of the buttery flavor had been mellowed out significantly since it had been kegged. Perhaps it was the 2 ounces of whole dried hops, stuffed in to a cheese cloth bag and popped in to the keg that did it. It could be that it just needed the hefe yeast to settle, and get some bubbles in it. Whatever it was, I'm thankful the brew is now completely drinkable and we look forward to breaking it out at this upcoming October poker night.

My hop harvest seems to have been stunted in growth this year, but that's to be expected the first year. I'm going to gather my current bounty and get them dried out for use in the next month. Dave had a banner year at the Becker hop farm. His hops vines have declared martial law on the South side of his house. They've captured most of the backyard and have been breeding with the house siding. The rain gutters are now trenches, filled with hop troops and ready to march on the human intruders exiting by way of the glass back slider. That shit is insane.

15 gallons of beer at my house. None of it with a name. The dark steam, to be named by Bill, is not to be opened until December. The hefe and ESB need names too. Homebrew can not be properly consumed without first being anointed with a proper boozing nomenclature. Even a temporary name will suffice in a real pinch.