Things have slowed down at a bit since I have filled up my fridge and am lagering some beers. In August, I started a 6 gallon (30 bottle) Cabernet Sauvignon wine kit. This kit also had a pound of grape skins to soak in the wine during fermentation. That was interesting and a made a bit of a mess. I have the wine in bottles now. It is drinkable now but will be better after 2-3 months in the bottle.
I hadn't brewed a summer beer since things were busy with Charlotte so the last day of July I started on a lighter beer to drink with meals and by itself to compliment all the heavy IPAs and stouts. I had a 6 gallon fermenter available since my two five gallon fermenters had a wine and a beer. I couldn't let that extra gallon capacity go to waste so I modified my 5 gallon American Summer kit. I added a pound of honey and the zest of two oranges. I then just fermented it for 13 days and went straight to bottle. It didn't need the extra fermentation step since the yeast remains in the beer to add flavor.
I have been using the fridge to lager beers so they have been taking longer from fermentation to bottle. In July, I brewed a Christmas beer with my dad. It is a 7.1% spiced winter lager. I fermented it at 55 F for 12 days and then transferred to another fermented for 58 days. This gets the beer off the dead yeast and hop debris so it can clarify and stabilize. I bottled it and have been keeping it in the fridge since then. It has a nice balance of a malt front, then hops and spices finish with a hefty alcohol punch to warm you up when the weather gets cold (or rainy like it has been lately).
Right now I have a Czech Pilsner lagering and ready to bottle. This is the type of beer Budwiser and Miller claim to be but isn't watered down and has more hops. I'm excited for it since it is the first true lager I have brewed. It uses an actual lager yeast instead of an ale or hybrid yeast. It is ready for bottling one evening when everybody else goes to sleep. After the Pilsner finished primary fermentation, I poured the yeast into a separate bottle to use for my next batch. This is a kit that is supposed to be similar to Samuel Adams Boston Lager. That beer started fermentation on October 8 and should be ready for Christmas.
Next on my brew schedule in no real order:
Redoing a Spaatan Dopplebock clone. This has been my best beer but was over carbonated.
Vanilla Porter. Brittany gave me one last year that was really good and so I have been wanting to try to make my own.
Oktoberfest as a true lager. This is usually my favorite beer. I have brewed it 4 times but now want to do it as a true lager since I now have the refrigerator to do it.
A wine: Not sure what but probably should do another white since it takes 3 months for it to be ready. The Riesling might be about out by then so may just do that again.
