Ale of Olympus Belgian Tripel

I may have finally gone too far. Several months ago when I suggested the idea to a few people of making a Belgian beer with saffron threads and chantrelle mushrooms, they were sceptical to say the least. But this idea wouldn't go away, and neither would the belief that it could be amazing, so after testing the waters with my first tripel The Unbeliever, I decided to go for broke.

Brewday - West Coast Belgian Pale Ale

My last Belgian pale ale was a traditional, to-style, by-the-numbers kind of beer. I was definitely happy with the finished beer that was clean and easy drinking with a restrained Belgian character and a sweet maltiness that was enhanced by the yeast and the low hopping rate. With that beer behind me I wanted to try and experiment with the style a little, brewing something similar to the beer I made with Ron Bradley at Moon Under Water.

Brewday - Return of the Harvester

It's been some time since I've gone back to an old recipe. I've been experimenting with new styles and techniques a fair bit lately so it's been awhile since I tried to reproduce an old beer. But as I'm preparing to brew a few different saisons soon, including a high gravity version, and my first 10 gallon batch of my saison du Sam, I would need an ample amount of yeast. One way to do this would be to make a starter, but a much more interesting way would be to brew a lower alcohol drinking saison and collect the yeast for the subsequent batches. And thus the way was paved for the return of the Harvester.

Stumbling Kiwi India Red Ale

I'm not sure exactly what to say about this beer. I wanted to make an IPA that featured some of the New Zealand hops my girlfriend brought back from a recent trip to the southern hemisphere. I also wanted it to be different from my other IPAs, something unlike most beers brewed in these parts. I figured a beer that said something about New Zealand would be the goal, a place with a great emerging beer scene. To me New Zealand is a land of stark contrast, of bold landscapes, tumbling seas and laid back inhabitants. It combines stunning beauty with a calm and relaxed pace of life to be envied, even here on our own little island paradise.

The Unbeliever Belgian Tripel

This is it. The big one. This is the beer I've been working up to for a while. I had a couple beers brewed on my new system, one of them a Belgian, my fermentation chamber was up and running, and now I felt ready to take on this beer that had been on my mind for ages. A lot of thought has gone into this, my notes on my goals for this beer are about three times longer than usual. A golden coloured beer around 9% but drinkable with a reasonably light body. Well attenuated without too much residual sweetness. High carbonation from bottle fermentation, with a dense white head. Clean flavour, not too bitter, low banana flavour, no fusels. We will see how close I get.

Belgian Pale Ale

Now that I had brewed a beer at my new location with my new system, a citra amarillo IPA, I wanted to shift back to Belgian brewing. The problems with my first brew were small and I felt ready, as well as excited, to get more experience with brewing Belgians. I figured I would start by trying to make an easy drinking Belgian pale ale, similar to the one I brewed with Ron Bradley at Moon Under Water, but with more traditional ingredients, and a lower, more traditional hopping rate. After that was done I would move on to brewing a Belgian tripel, a style I've been thinking about a lot recently. Both these beers would also benefit from controlled fermentations to keep the flavours of the Belgian yeast in check as well as reducing potential off-tastes, so it would be a great opportunity to try out my newly wired fermentation chamber.

Citra Amarillo IPA

I've been away from this blog for ages, due to a move to a new "basement" breweries and a broken internet connection at the new locale, but no more excuses, I'm back. Although this blog has been quiet I have been brewing some over the past couple weeks, and I've been busy upgrading some of my brew equipment, so I'll have to play catch up with my posting.

Basement Brewing at Moon Under Water

This past Sunday I spent a great day brewing at Victoria's newest brewpub, Moon Under Water. Don, Ron, and Bonnie Bradley, the proprietors of Moon, were good enough to allow me into the inner sanctum of the pub to help out with a bit of brewing. Ron and myself spent the day labouring over the incredible nano-brew rig (55L batches) constructed in entirety by Don (the elder Bradley), a contraption that just about any homebrewer would kill for.

Review - Jolly Pumpkin Weizen Bam

Its been awhile since I've posted a beer review, but during a quick trip to the Cook St. Liquor Village to buy my roommate a replacement beer after a recent party, I found myself walking out with Weizen Bam, from Jolly Pumpkin. For myself, of course.

Home Brewing at Hoyne - First BrewVic Meeting in the Books

The past weekend's inaugural meeting of BrewVic is all done and was a great success. Thanks to the hospitality of Sean Hoyne we were able to conduct the meeting at the brand-new, soon-to-be-pumping-out-stellar-beer Hoyne Brewing in Rock Bay. My brew system, as well as that of Dave and Dan from Beer On The Rock were in action for all to see. My brew system is somewhat ghetto compared to the boys' rig, so people could see a couple different takes on home brewing.