Brew Report #1 - 16th Brew Followup

Marzen

The marzen brew turned out to be another good one. My starter ended up being a little short of yeast because I calculated based on an ale not a lager, so the started had two vials instead of 3. To make up for it I picked up 2 more vials at MDHB on Friday. The mash went perfect, sparge had one point where the water level was very low, but this was corrected quickly. The initial sparge gravity was around 1.075 sg and runnings were 1.012. We did a measurement post boil and got an approximate 1.050-1.055 sg when adjusted for temperature. I didn't get a gravity reading from the fermentor so this will have to do. The chilling process left us with 76 degree wort because the hose water was so cold. This meant I had to put the beer in the freezer for several hours before pitching. I believe I pitched around 8:00-8:30pm when the wort was at 54 degrees. Currently the ETC for the freezer is set to a cold 51 degrees. I also oxygenated Sunday afternoon because the beer hadn't started yet and my oxygenation was done following chilling. The marzen is bubbling now at a slow rate, but at least its moving. I can't get over how much slower the lagers are at starting than the ales.

Blueberry Melomel

The mead we made, which as you can see by the title was actually a melomel, went of without any real problems either. The main hurdle was getting the frozen blueberries thawed in time and getting the entire solution to the proper 65-70 degrees. Also had to do a little of ph balancing. Starting with a low 3's Ph so I added so potassium carbonate, which raised it into the 5's. Then I added lactic acid to drop it back to around 4, which is the target for mead.

The melomel was bubbling Saturday evening and continues to do so at a decent rate. Unfortunately I didn't get a gravity reading, so I have no idea what the final alcohol will be.

Saison On Tap

After a 5 week wait the Saison is finally on tap. I believe the consensus was that it was excellent because we already drank at least 3.5 gallons. It has a nice flavor, is dry but not extremely dry, and it tastes just as good when it warms up. When tapped it was pouring a with not enough carbonation, so I raised the pressure and shook it. Unfortunately the few hours in between drinks was enough for it to stabilize and we were pouring full glasses of foam for a while. It's under control now and has a decent amount of carbonation. I imagine this brew will only get better with age. I look forward to tapping the second corny in a few weeks.