Brews and Blues Beer and Smokin’ Blues

29Mar/090

Homebrew – January Marzen

Homebrew - January Marzen

My January Marzen that I made back in January is finally coming of age.  This beer has a really nice head and a very dark copper color.  The color is actually darker than I intended it to be, probably because I didn't pay enough attention to measurements of my dark malts that went into this brew.  The flavor is very rich and the combination of dark malt extract with the roasted barley and crystal malt gives this beer a nice caramel flavor with a toasty finish.  This beer took a lot longer than I estimated to carbonate, but as you can see in the photo, that finally came around and looks really good.  The flavor and body is excellent also, but it will still mature into more than it is right now.  I plan to let this beer sit for several more weeks before I try another one, and I hope to save quite a bit of it to drink in October :)

18Jan/090

January Marzen

1/18/09 - Home Brewing

Today was brew day! I finally, after nearly 8 years of absence from this hobby, brewed 5 gallons of Märzen/Oktoberfest.

1/18/09 - Home Brewing

Everything went well and all the equipment is working fine with no hitches. I don't like brewing on the stove top, but I don't have my outdoor cooking rig ready to go yet. I still have to build my immersion chiller and get a propane tank. Does anyone have a 20lb propane cylinder that you want to donate to a great cause?!

1/18/09 - Home Brewing

This is how you have to cool your wort when you are cooking partial batches on the stove top rather than cooking full batches outdoors and using an immersion chiller.

1/18/09 - Home Brew

This is my hydrometer test jar and the yeast starter I used in this batch. The yeast was going nicely when I pitched it to the fermenter and my original gravity reading was 1.054, which was just a tad higher than my estimated 1.051.

CLICK HERE to view my brewing log. It contains the details of this brew...