LAGER TIME!!!
Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 6:17 am
Due to space considerations, I make a limited amount of lagers. That, and the fact that I need to time them in synch with the pipeline so they get the proper amount of time before I drink them. So two, maybe three a year is my limit.
But I've planned on brewing Amber's Amber Lager this Sunday. Funny history behind this beer.
I threw the recipe together to make an amber ale to give to my friend Amber on her birthday, hence the name. The ale turned out quite nice, so I decided to keep the recipe. A few months after that, I acquired my lager fridge, and I decided, what the heck, I'll make this recipe, but use lager yeast instead of ale yeast, and Amber's Amber Lager was born. But the tale continues....
When my brother got a taste of this, he raved about it and told me I should enter it in a competition. I had my misgivings, having never entered a comp before, but I did a little research and found one in the vicinity, decided that the category must be American Dark Lager, and I entered it in Homebrew Alley VII. Turned out to be the third place winner in the Dark Lager category, behind a dunkel and a schwartzbier (which means, however many American Darks were entered, mine was the best American Dark). Third in a field of 13, and I have the ribbon proudly displayed above my keezer.
This batch I'm going to keg and have it condition in the keezer for a few months. In fact, this particular beer is the reason I spec'd the keezer the way I did; two taps, but room for three kegs, so the third keg can condition while the two working kegs rotate through.
Yep, it's lager time.
But I've planned on brewing Amber's Amber Lager this Sunday. Funny history behind this beer.
I threw the recipe together to make an amber ale to give to my friend Amber on her birthday, hence the name. The ale turned out quite nice, so I decided to keep the recipe. A few months after that, I acquired my lager fridge, and I decided, what the heck, I'll make this recipe, but use lager yeast instead of ale yeast, and Amber's Amber Lager was born. But the tale continues....
When my brother got a taste of this, he raved about it and told me I should enter it in a competition. I had my misgivings, having never entered a comp before, but I did a little research and found one in the vicinity, decided that the category must be American Dark Lager, and I entered it in Homebrew Alley VII. Turned out to be the third place winner in the Dark Lager category, behind a dunkel and a schwartzbier (which means, however many American Darks were entered, mine was the best American Dark). Third in a field of 13, and I have the ribbon proudly displayed above my keezer.
This batch I'm going to keg and have it condition in the keezer for a few months. In fact, this particular beer is the reason I spec'd the keezer the way I did; two taps, but room for three kegs, so the third keg can condition while the two working kegs rotate through.
Yep, it's lager time.
