Long Time no Post

Just to clear everything up, the lack of posting is not due to the lack of activity.  Here is just a highlight of the few things that have been going on:

• Maerzen has been scrapped to make room for wedding rehearsal dinner beers.
• That's right, I said wedding rehearsal beers.  These include a traditional pilsner, hefeweisen, and IPA.  More to follow.
• Brewing competitions are coming up.  Stay tuned for more to follow.
• Ellicottville Brewing Company is having a Stein Brew on June 4th.  Covered in this post.
• Equipment review.  Details to follow after final testing.
• New labels have been drawn up.  To be posted shortly.

As I mentioned above, on Saturday June 4th, Ellicottville Brewing Company will be holding their 17th annual stein brew.  They will be brewing a spruce ale using hand picked spruce tips from a local homebrewer's property.  Tickets to this event are $25 or $20 for AHA members (guess I shouldn't have let my AHA membership expire) and includes a BBQ meal and 4 pints of beer.  Exact details about this event can be found on EBC's website.

For everyone that doesn't know, stein brewing is a process where stones (in the case of this one granite) are heated up over a fire for a few hours until they are red hot.  Then, they are added to the kettle in order to heat the water (this method can be used in order to heat the mash as well as the final boil).  The process was originally developed before the use of metal brew kettles when brewing was done in wooden vats which obviously could not be heated over a flame.  I don't know the exact method that will be used for this process but I will be posting about the event.

On Deck: Honey Toasted Oat Amber Ale (5/21)
Primary: Hefeweisen 2
Secondary: Hefeweisen (dry hopped with Sorachi Ace), Traditional Pilsner
Total for 2011: 44 Gallons