Raspberry Honey Wheat/ESB
My Zymurgy Blogging has been lax. Two weeks ago we had a very enjoyable dinner out with our most excellent neighbors, after which we retired to Berglund Manor to brew beer. We made a raspberry honey wheat, which is due to be bottled on Monday. (Technically, it’s just honey wheat at this point, since the raspberry extract is added just prior to bottling, but the goal is well enough in sight.)
I’ve taken a fair amount of slack for brewing such a girly beer, so I decided my next one had better be a bit more manful. Well, there’s now a company picnic scheduled for July 3, which should be just enough time for this glorious ESB (Extra Special Bitter) to finish out and find its way into bottles, thus vindicating my manhood:
The hydrometer shows 1.042. Compensated for temperature (it was 75°F), this is somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.046.
And hey, if the fruit beer is a bit too…fruity, I’ve got a couple of customers lined up who insist they won’t complain.
NOTE TO ATF: When I say “customers,” I mean “wives of friends who will take homemade beer from me for free.”
Why so much brewing? Well, good question. First of all, it’s a bit of a pain to brew in the heat of the summer. Even with air conditioning, the temperature is still usually a bit too warm in the house to make it convenient, so I’d like to get the summer’s needs met before it gets too warm. Second, with the recent addition of the dedicated beer fridge (thank you, Jim), I’d like to accumulate a good variety in storage, so guests will always have their options open. A burst of brewing activity is required to prime the pump, as it were.
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- Posted by Tim on Saturday, June 5, 2004 at 11:02:17 pm PDT
- Category: Zymurgy
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4 Responses to “Raspberry Honey Wheat/ESB”
Oh Tim, you silly goose! I’m a girl and my favorite beer-like beverage is Guinness, which I would hardly call “girly.”
Furthermore, many beers, lambics, and other yummies brewed by monks are fruity and no one would ever accuse them of being…okay, bad example. Probably even worse joke.
One of my favorite college profs was a (presumably former) Trappist, and he was one of the coolest people I’ve ever known. Never tried any of his brew though. Thought I’d mention that lest anyone think I dislike monks. They be like my brothers. Ugh! What is it with me and bad jokes? Must be because I’m sober. : )
Love ya bro!
Comment Permalink | Posted on June 6th, 2004 at 3:04 pm |I’m in a bad place — the shelves in the work room are filling and the beer fridge is looking anemic. Soon I’ll have nothing left but those Way Too Strong Abbey’s (hardly a quaffer on a day like today), some old stouts, and sundry strong beers (like a 7-year-old barley wine — another great one to chug when the mercury hits 90). At least I can thank Jim, too, since you don’t lock your garage, and this blog keeps me up-to-date on which beers I can come purloin.
Comment Permalink | Posted on June 7th, 2004 at 11:29 am |(That first line was less than clear: the shelves in the green work room are filling quickly with EMPTIES. One man may look at those longneck soliers all biding their time, a battalion at the ready for future service. I’m just seeing a lot of beer that has been consumed & is no longer available for downing.)
Comment Permalink | Posted on June 7th, 2004 at 11:34 am |Fairchild:
Beer is good. Sobriety is better. It does a body good.
Adeodatus:
Yes, you should get yer brew on. Or maybe not, if drinking your inventory down to zero ends up being strategically prudent. (And I followed you on the thing about the green room shelves.)
Comment Permalink | Posted on June 10th, 2004 at 1:28 pm |