Time for a beer?
I’ve been slacking. Haven’t brewed since late November’s Scottish Ale, hadn’t updated my notes page since mid-December, etc. I’ve barely had the time and energy to drink beer, much less brew it.
The Scottish ale turned out better than I expected. It’s somewhat similar to Summit Winter, but smoother and maltier. Definitely not bad for a recipe I threw together in a few minutes using a few odd ingredients.
Back when I’d brew two or three weekends a month, I would play around like that a lot to avoid getting into a rut. Now that I seem to be averaging a brew every couple months, I think I need to do a known-good beer every time so that I can have good beer on hand, and revisit some of my old favorite recipes. Working on a recipe by trying out several variations is right out. All I’ve got room for is rut.
This means I will have to abandon my quest to clone Uerige. My last attempt convinced me I’m on the right track, but I still have a long way to go. This beer appears to require fermentation temperature control and a way to do proper lagering: the basement in winter just didn’t cut it. Maybe I need to return to my more forgiving earlier recipes, which got me hooked on the style in the first place, after all.
Hmmm… maybe I should take a stab at an Anchor Steam clone. It’s kind of alt-ish, and I haven’t done a Steam beer in a little over 3 years.
