Year End

Once again another year has past.  We have definitely made some good progress this year.  Most recently the mash tun was completed, but we also finished the interior paneling and the boiler.  Don't forget that the siding is all painted and ready to go. As we now stand, the equipment is about 90% done.  The big part is finishing the building.

As usual we had several requests for home-brewed presents this Christmas.  Luckily, we were able to meet demand.  Several new formulas were tried and met with rave reviews.  I hope to soon be able to post some specifics of the new recipes.  

One recipe that was certainly not new was the cherry-cream stout.  This was one of the first beers I brewed after moving back to Alaska.  It was a great beer, but for reasons I no longer recall, I never brewed it again. For other reasons I do not recall, I decided to brew the cherry-cream stout again this winter.  

Once again the result were excellent, though very different.  The previous rendition had used pitted bing cherries.  This gave a cream stout character with just a hint of cherry.   This time I used tart cherries and ran them through a blender to ensure a more complete fermentation.  The result was a dark beer with a strong tart cherry character that dominated the malt flavor.  It bordered on being a dark kriek.  Maybe I created a new style: Kreik-stout!

In other news we passed 8000 visits to our blog.  It is truly unbelievable that so many people have seen fit to check in on our adventures and musings.  We are thankful for all the support and hope you will all stay with us as we complete our journey.

Once again, thank-you and Happy New Year!

Boiler Room

As of late, I have been concentrating my efforts on building the wood-fired boiler that will be the heart of our brewhouse.  This has been quite the adventure as I have, with some advice from 19th century brewing texts, designed the boiler myself, from the ground up.  Further, construction required the acquisition of bricklaying skills.  Fortunately, the good people of Whitcomb's were more than helpful throughout construction. Admittedly, this whole process was a bit scary, if I messed up here, going back would not be easy.  In the end, the results were better than expected and quite acceptable for a first effort, if I do say so myself.  And I do.

The bricks are standard fire bricks.  The cast iron door is from a barrel stove kit.   The tank is a stainless steel sap tank that was modified to my design by Perley Lund and  for which I had a lid constructed by Ray Britton Sr.  Both are excellent craftsmen..

The next step is having a scaffold built for the mash-tun!

The pictures below show the evolution of the boiler! Cheers!

The base of the firebox is in place.  Note the outlet with tri-clamp fitting that Perley welded on.

The boiler tank is set in place.

The brick work is finished and the cast iron door is in place.  Success!

Rear view of the boiler.

Good Reviews

A bit ago I was asked if I could brew up a couple of beers for the Orchard School's fall festival.  Things worked out and I had the time and managed to cook up two batches to donate to the cause.  One was my already-famous hemlock stout and the other was an experimental recipe using a lager yeast and dark roasted wheat malt.  I knew the hemlock would be good, but I worried about how the lager would be received by the crowd.

Well, not to worry.  Both beers received rave reviews.  Several people asked where they could buy some for home consumption.  Alas, I had to tell them that we are not yet a real brewery, so I could not sell them any.  Bummer.  

Still, the festival was a good time and I met many good people and got the word out about what we are trying to do here at the Belgian Mare.