The First Beer is Ordered

posted by Jon

An order was placed last night for the ingredients to make our first batch of club beer.

Originally the first batch was going to be an imperial pumpkin ale. After extensive research, we have decided to push the pumpkin off for a month. We want to use fresh pumpkin for our beer (rather than canned) and it is recommended that ripe or almost overripe pumpkin be used when brewing with it. These should be a bit easier to find a month or so from now, so look for the imperial pumpkin to be our October batch.

We then decided that a stout was the way to go. With our recent success of a Founder's Breakfast Stout clone, we thought we could just do that recipe again. At the last minute, we shifted gears again.

Our first beer will be a Black IPA. We tried a Mad Hatter clone last winter that turned out quite tasty. We will be doing a variation of the same recipe with two changes. First, we will use Simcoe, Summit and Amarillo hops instead of the Centennial and Columbus that we used for the Hatter. These three varieties are the same that Founder's Double Trouble is brewed with. Secondly we will be using a half pound of de-bittered black malt. This beer will taste like an IPA but look like a stout. Why? Because we can.

The next exciting announcement is that there will be a field trip some time in September for all Beer Club members. We will head to Siciliano's to pick up a new 6.5 gallon plastic fermenter tub. We will probably end up leaving with a few extra purchases as well, including this. After leaving Siciliano's we will sup at Buffalo Wild Wings before parting ways. Any Beer Club members are invited to come along. More details as they become available.

Finally, some reading for you all. Enjoy.