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this week in beer news

3 items of interest

1) My american-style lager of choice Miller High Life is running 1-second ads at the superbowl, which goes along well with their unpretentious philosophy.

2) The aluminum can turned 50 last Friday. I am going to go out on a limb and say this invention truly improved life for mankind.

3) Since Jason already announced the legislative bid towards ridding the alcohol ban in Nebraska's state parks - I'll just go ahead and mention that there are just 37 days left until EXTREME BEERFEST!

Winter Lagering

I took some time off between batches. It was completely unintentional. I had a surpluss of beer over the holidays, but then waited too long to brew and now find myself without. My last batch, the Holiday Ale, was made at the end of November. I kept 12 for myself, which didn't last long, and gifted the rest away. Recently I finished off my keg of Dubbel. This holdover from last spring simply allowed me to procrastinate longer. The kicker was likely my recent tiptoeing towards all-grain brewing (bought a grain mill / still looking at mash-tuns). Feeling like I should be making the transition, but not quite ready to dive in, my internal struggle continued while I ran out of beer...

I brewed last weekend, Saturday to be exact. Still feeling like I should try something new - I did - Lager. After surveying my basement, I found that the winter time temperature holds anywhere from 45F in the coal room to mid/upper 50s in the main room. While this is way too cold for ales, it's perfect for lagers. So I figured why not take advantage and put this cold weather to some good use. I bought a Marzen kit at Kirks (Oktoberfest) and some dry lager yeast. Usually Oktoberfests are brewed in March - drank in October, but I decided to go the other way.


Single digit temperature, light snow, no-wind, combined with lots of beer makes for great brewing weather. I think the snow should make a nice addition to the beer. Couldn't see the wort with all the steam, aside from when it almost boiled over.


I'm sort of learning about bottom fermentation as I go. Everything I read says something different. From what I can tell, the primary fermentation is going to take a little longer -> 1-2weeks vs. 3-7days for ales. Then, you're supposed to do a 1-2month secondary, whether in the carboy or bottles. Then you wait another month or so to drink it. At somepoint after the primary and before drinking, you are officially lagering, but I'm still a little fuzzy on that.

I'm using my outdoor thermometer to monitor the temperature in my basement. The first couple of days I had the fermentor in the back-room (49-51F). According to the packet, the particular yeast I bought works best at a range of 50-59F. It seemed a bit sluggish so I moved it into the main-room (54-55F), and it started moving along nicely. At day 5, with the recent warm-up, my basement is now 56-57F. It's still bubbling strong, but if it gets any warmer I think I'll move it back to the back-room.

Chinese New Year's Resolution

Today being Chinese New Year's day, I decided to post on my new year's resolution - bike to work as much as possible. I've posted on this goal in the past (1, 2, 3), and I can honestly say I've fallen well short. This year I am really going to do it. I even bought some new old lights for my cruiser. Powered by me, the rear light has an old-school schwinn generator that powers it and the front lamp. Works like a charm unless I stop so I put a flashing LED light on back too.

So far not great. Between the bitter cold, snow, high winds and random errands/appointments - I've only managed to bike a handful of times this year. Hopefully change is coming soon.