It feels like I’m losing touch….

So it’s been a while since I wrote about the journey that is my homebrewing experince…. and well there is a good reason I haven’t written about it.

I’ve been in something of a rut with home brewing over the last 18 months or so… process is down to the point that I can teach someone (as has been done multiple times) but for the most part I stick to kits which have the same basic process.

Heat to 155 for 30 with grains
bring to boil and cut heat
add malt
bring back to rolling boil
add hops at specified intervals
cool
place in carboy and pitch yeast.

It’s really pretty hard to screw it… you actually have to try. I’ve kicked around going to a all grain setup, but that seems to involve a bit more work then I really want to put into the hobby / I’m afraid of the dark path that will lead me down (NASCAR isn’t bad enough).

So with a somewhat heavy heart I must break with my Ale brewing roots….

I must purse “MAXimum danger” I must brew a LAGER! *queue ominous music*

Honestly the brew process isn’t that different… actually it’s the same damn kit just with Lager yeast instead of Ale yeast. What’s the biggest difference you ask? Well temperature is the biggest place Ale’s are are 65F to 72F where Lagers like to be between 50F and 56F. It’s a smaller window but doable, the bigger issue is finding a space in Arizona to accommodate that… turns out if you don’t have a digital control on your fridge the minimum temperature is 42 degrees. I did not know that until this weekend.

So with all of this written the brew is in the cooler the temperature stable at 54 degrees and me left contemplating a name….

I’m thinking “Max’s danger lager” is a good name….

It will have a picture of Curtis’s beard on the label.