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Four Peaks Kiltlifter

Well it sure has been a while since I’ve last posted.  Buying a house and painting sure has taken up a lot of my time!  After moving work took me to Phoenix, Arizona.  Let me say, it was great to get away from the bitter cold -20F temperatures we were having in Wisconsin in exchange for sunshine and 70s!  While in Phoenix I spent some evenings with co-workers at local watering holes, enjoying local brews on the patio.  My favorite of the trip was by Four Peaks Brewing Company, the beer they call Kiltlifter.

kiltlifter3-logo

Kiltlifter is Scottish Style Ale that has a slightly hazy orangeish-amber color and a nice fluffy off-white head.  The aroma is quite malty, sweet and bready.  The flavor is, as expected, rather malty, just a bit of hop in there and finishes dry with some lingering bready/nuttyness.  If you’re in the western US or can find Four Peaks in store by you, pick up a 6 pack, it’s a tasty brew!

Check back again soon!  I hope to get back on the brewing horse at my new house soon!  I’ll probably update my Beamish Irish Stout with a review and some pictures.

Fitger’s Brew House

It’s been a while since I chimed in with my latest thoughts.  I meant to share this sooner, but better late than never right?  Here is the other beer leg of my vacation earlier this fall.

So after stopping in Chippewa Falls for the Leinenkugel’s Brewery Tour we reached our vacation spot of Duluth, Minnesota.  The Duluth-Superior area has some great hiking trails in state parks (Pattison State Park in northwestern Wisconsin has the 3rd highest waterfall in the US east of the Rockies), the shipping canal and harbor in Duluth is a great place to spend some time as well, especially if you’re interested by the Great Lakes shipping industry like I am.  There are some great restaurants in Duluth, Blackwoods and Pizza Luce are two favorites, but Fitger’s Brewhouse is by far my favorite Duluth watering hole and restaurant.

Fitger’s typically has at least 10 beers on tap, sometimes even more!  My favorites would be their Double Hopped El Nino IPA and their Big Boat Oatmeal Stout.  But seriously you can’t go wrong with anything you order.  I always get a sampler tray and follow that up with another pint or two of something that wasn’t on the sampler.  Hungry?  Well kill two birds with one stone.  Their food is awesome!  The hard part will be picking something off the large menu.  Also check out some live music during the evenings, with the University of Minnesota-Duluth campus nearby it has a fun, young vibe.  So your typical travels will probably not take you through Duluth, but if you’re ever around plan on stopping for at least a few pints, hell stay the night.

fitgers_brewhouse_link

Beamish Irish Stout Brew Day

As promised I’d share some more details about my Beamish Irish Stout brew from Friday.  I brewed the recipe given in Brew Your Own magazine from September 2008.  The recipe looked like this, which is very close to the recipe in the magainze.

6.0 lbs Maris Otter Malt

1.75 lbs Flaked Barley

1.0 lbs Roasted Barley

1.0 lbs Rice Hulls (for easier sparge)

1.0 oz Challenger Hop Pellets 7.6% AA – 60 minutes

0.5 oz Kent Goldings Hop Pellets 5.6% AA – 60 minutes

0.5 oz Kent Goldings Hop Pellets 5.6% AA – 15 minutes

Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale Yeast Smack Pack.

The mash went well, I got 82% efficiency on my mash and mashed at 152F.  The OG of my wort was 1.043 and calculated IBUs was 40.  I oxygenated the 5.5 gallons of wort in my fermentor for 45 seconds and pitched the yeast into wort at 71F.

Here are some photos I think a lot of you may enjoy.  Next week I’ll share a few photos of the fermentation process.  But now to the brew day photos!

Justin

beamish_grains

Here is a photo of the grains before adding to the mash tun.  The white specks are barley endosperm, the whiteish flakes are the flaked barley, the dark specs is roasted barley and you can see a great deal of barley husk and rice hulls.

Here is a photo of the mash shortly after doughing-in.

This is the mash after 60 minutes. Notice how the top watery portion of the mash has become clear compared to after doughing-in.  This is one sign of complete starch to sugar conversion.

Here is my boil setup.  The collected wort with a propane tank fueling the boil.  You can also see the big pot in the background, that’s what I use to heat my water for mash and sparges.

Not that is picture is especially exciting, but I thought it was neat with the steam rising.  It is the spent grain in a trash bag.

A wonderful photo of the boil.  You can see some flecks of protein and hop in the clear portion of the wort, lots of steam and on the left is protein hot break.  Occasionally I’ll skim some of this out and dispose.

……And finally the chilled, oxygened and yeast pitched wort.  I’ve got a blow-off tube in there just in case.  I’ll leave this post here for now.  I’ll post a few pictures of the fermentation process during the week.  An early update: fermentation is going well, I have a krausen head developing about 8 hours after pitching my yeast.

Goose Island Harvest Ale Review

Another beer in the fall seasonal group of beers.  This one is a little different than most.  Unlike making an Oktoberfest, Goose Island went a different route, making an American Amber Ale with a nice Cascade hop presence.  This is a great beer and the hoppy aroma gives a nice change of pace from all the Oktoberfest seasonals.

The beer pours a clear copper color with a white head that leaves a nice lacing.  The aroma has a moderate spicy, citrus hop character as well as a medium-low toasted malt aroma.  The flavor is moderately malty, some sweetness with a pronounced, moderate spicy hop flavor.  The bitterness is moderate.  The beer

finishes crisp with a lingering hop flavor and slight sweetness.  The body is medium-full and carbonation is moderate.  Overall a nice brew, an Oktoberfest meets an American Amber Ale.  I especially like the balance of very robust hop and malt flavors.

Victory Festbier Review

Victory Festbier

Fall is the time for Oktoberfests!  I love the Oktoberfest style!  Oktoberfests have a lot of range in terms of are they sweet or malty or a bit bitter, but all are equally delicious!  If you haven’t tried many Oktoberfests they generally fall into the amber color range, usually have a notable malt presense (toasty, bready, biscuity) and can finish from sweet to just a bit bitter.  A few Oktoberfests will even include a touch of spicy European hop flavor and/or aroma.

Victory Festbier is one of my favorite Oktoberfests.  I had one the other night and thought I’d share a few notes about it.  The Festbier pours a clear copper color with a thin white head.  The aroma is moderately malty, toasty, bread-like and slightly sweet.  The flavor is highly malty; bready and a bit spicy.  The hop bitterness is medium-low and there is just a hint of hop flavor at the swallow.  The body is full and carbonation is medium with a very smooth swallow.  Overall a well done Fest, smooth and a bit of a unique aftertaste!

Check out the Victory Festbier webpage and pick up a six pack tonight!

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Hi!

Thanks for signing up and becoming a member of the BeerEasy.com Blog.

What you’ll find here are some commercial beer reviews, an update on my latest homebrewing adventures, comments on the brewing industry and beer in general, and some resources any homebrewer may find useful.

I’ll be sure to post some of my favorite website for you all to check out.

Thanks again and Happy Brewing!

Justin