Post by thepaintedman on Nov 5, 2010 19:21:44 GMT -5
Weyerbacher Update November 3, 2010
Riserva Release November 12, at a special time at the brewery, 5 to 7 pm. Also released that night will be Verboten (now year-round), the latest batch of Tiny and November, our latest one-off which is a Brown Imperial ale brewed with coffee. Free samples of these 4 beers only will be available that night and the store will be open for purchases, of course. If you can’t make it then, come by the next day from Noon to 3 and check it out.
This year Riserva is very sour, with a note of cider vinegar mixing with a significant berry palate. Carbonation is very low and won’t increase. Beer writer Lew Bryson was amazed at the depth and complexity of this year’s batch. We’re pretty excited about this! Hope to see you on the 12th!
Head Brewer Chris Wilson:
I hope y’all made it to the Lehigh Valley Brewfest last month. We went through over 2 barrels of beer including the World Premiere of "Mike", which seemed to go over well. We had a great crowd and great October weather. I like the event out at Hugh Moore Park here in Easton, but I heard a rumor that the fest will move back downtown next year if everything works out. That sounds pretty cool too! It was a great success for Weyerbacher and for Equilibrium. You can find out more about this great organization at www.equi-librium.org. See ya there next year.
Right now we are brewin’ us up a nice Imperial Breakfast Brown Ale. It’s going to be a lovely malty brew made with locally roasted coffee, five different malts and a dose of oats to make sure you get a good start. It will be the latest in the Brewer's Select Series and will be called "November". Given its name we had to make sure that it was released in NOVEMBER. This explains the quick release right on the heels of "Mike". The base beer is in the fermenter and is tasting great right now. We have not added the coffee though, as we plan on utilizing a process called cold steeping to add the coffee flavor. This process is the preferred method in the making of iced coffee because it does not extract as much of the harsh, astringent bitterness from the coffee that you get from traditionally brewed versions. We hope this smooth coffee flavor will be complementary to the rich roasty, caramel and toffee flavors in the beer rather than overpower it. Get ready for a holiday treat.
We are also working hard to keep everything else brewed. We are well on our way in making this year's Winter Ale and this year's QUAD. Oh yeah, and we have to keep up with Hops Infusion, Double Simcoe, Merry Monks, Blithering Idiot and Old Heathen… and Verboten… and can you believe that we already have Fireside, Heresy and Insanity on the brain? It will only be another week or two before we have to start brewing those. I think it's time for a vacation. Luckily we will be getting a new fermenter in the next week or two so that we can keep up.
Production Manager Chris Lampe:
Today will be a little bit about the cellaring process at Weyerbacher. Once the beer has been filtered (as I talked about it in the last newsletter), we have to clean the Fermenting Vessels. Here you can see Geoff Michalski (Production Supervisor) getting a tank ready for cleaning.
Next we purge with hot water and fill with a caustic (detergent) chemical. This circulates with a pump throughout the vessel at 170 degrees F. for 20 minutes. All of the ports are scrubbed out, as you can see Sean Anderson preparing to do here…
Finally the tank is rinsed with cold water, sanitized with an acid solution and readied for filling with cool wort from the brewhouse. Today we are filling with Winter Ale, which will be ready for the same filtering and cleaning process two weeks from now!
Cheers!
Chris