All-Grain Brewing

It's been a long time since I have posted, but I'm still here. I recently was married, and had a great honeymoon. My brother, his wife, and their new son, Jasper, made it in for the ceremony and the reception.

I brewed three beers for my reception, and named them for my cats. Our manx cat, who was born without a tail and always looks sincerely surprised, had "Meow Meow's Incredulous No Tail Pale Ale." Our ginger farm cat had "Thomas Underfoot's Farmhouse Ale." Our little black female cat, who is ever so tiny, had "Violet's Purpleberry Wheat." They were all a success. The pale ale was an all centennial hop celebration, and it was pretty good, but not my best beer. The farmhouse ale was a light Cascade/Centennial hopped blonde ale in which I used Belgian Strong Ale yeast. It was probably my least favorite of the three, but I definitely drank my share. The Purpleberry Wheat, which went first and fastest, was a wheat beer in which I used Wyeast 1056 American Ale and then added 10 pounds of 5 different berries to the 10 gallon batch. It was brilliantly purple, and it was very good. These three beers were my last extract batches.

I'm in a New Venture Management class in school right now in which I am writing a business plan for a brewery. As I research it, I've realized jumping into a professional brewery with a 15 barrel system may be a bit on the risky side. Especially considering all of the rumors I've heard lately about a new brewery in the works in town.

I think I'd rather break into it more slowly, and grow my brewery more organically. I want to start brewing very small batches until I have my recipes just right, and concentrate on making amazing beer rather than just good beer. I want to dedicate my work to creating beer as art.

I'm starting this notion now, while I'm still in school and I'm still working full time. I am going to brew a few beers over and over until they are perfect and they are easily repeatable. I'm going to start with a pale ale based on the recipe my brother and I brewed the first time I brewed with my all-grain system. I'll be brewing it this weekend, as the second time I've ever brewed on my all-grain system. It'll be light gold in color, light on the alcohol, and hopped to balance really well.