15 Year Amber Ale

So, after reading the September edition of BYO magazine, I decided to make a special recipe in honor of our 15th wedding anniversary. The beer model agreed this was a good idea and said she would like to be an assistant brewer.

Click on this link for the recipe of Sheppy Brew's 15 Year Anniversary Amber Ale.

Saturday, we went to Golden to tour the biggest brewery in that town. Then, we went to Golden's 2nd largest brewery ... Purely for research, of course.

the 2nd largest brewery in Golden

Mr. Coors and the boys

a dinosaur in Golden

I preheated the tun early Sunday morning. I also had to bottle up the gold ale in Tuke to make room for our anniversary ale.

After church, the beer model .... errr... brewing assistant and I heated up our strike water for our mash. Unfortunately, I got distracted by the hot brewing babe's body and undershot the 150 mash temp. But, I used beersmith to calculate that I could add about a quart of boiling water to bring the 140 degree mash back up to 150. It worked great. This is actually the first time I have done this kind of adustment. Sort of cool that even when distracted by a hot woman, beersmith will help you get on track.

Anyway, the beer babe went to get groceries while I mowed the lawn and the mash converted sugars. After the hour and 15 minutes, we tried to get first wort, but nothing came out. I guess the braid got disoriented in a way that prevented drainage. I transfered to a grain bag and did a modified steep sparge. Our gravity was a bit low, so we added some extract to bring the gravity up a bit.

brew babe trying to collect first wort

The brewing babe did the first hops addition, and the Irish moss and the yeast nutrient.  She also added the finishing hops, and looked damn fine doing it.

brew babe stirring the wort

the ever important step:  drinking homebrew while brewing

Our OG came out right at about 1.050, which is pretty good considering we planned for 1.051 and had as many issues as we did.  We pitched very close to 60 degrees and will control fermentation temperature for a day or two, then let it go where it wants.

It was actually sort of fun brewing with the hot beer model.  Yes, the sexy body was distracting, but I think maybe with some practice, I can find a way to concentrate despite that distraction.  I need to figure out a better drainage system for the mash tun. 

I expect we'll try the 15 Year Anniversary Amber Ale sometime around mid-October.  Well, let's be honest ... I will not be able to hold out that long and it will probably be closer to the start of October.