This weekend I was really excited to find Avery's 2009 Maharaja release out already! I had it at the Flying Saucer Austin on Saturday. Still slightly green on the hop nose, and with a noticeable alcohol bite (it WAS just kegged in February) but OHH so delightful. I also managed to pick up a bomber at Whole Foods on Sunday so I can compare with my clone when it is ready.

My Maharaja clone is entering its second of four weeks on the dry hops. I brewed up 10 gallons with a brew buddy on January 17th; full post. The recipe I brewed is the 2006 brewery recipe, but I subbed Zeus for Magnum in the flavor (30 minute) and whirlpool-equivalent (15 minute) additions. Recipe link

I have really taken a liking to the drier English ale yeast strains. They are slightly (but not overly) fruity fermented around 65*F, attenuate well, and flocc out completely when finished. The Cali ale strain, available in dry form as SafAle US-05, used to be my go-to yeast, but it has a few problems. First and foremost, it doesn't flocc out well when finished, leaving me with an extended conditioning period since I am not setup to crash cool. I aerate well, pitch plenty of yeast, and ferment in the 60's *F, so my balanced beers are ready to drink after only a few weeks, if only the yeast will drop out! Another beef I have with the Cali ale is that it has a tendency to overattenuate my beers, leaving me with a drier beer than I wanted, even if I mash high (155*F). The dry English strains seem to be more responsive to mash temperature, allowing me to control more precisely how malty the finished beer will be. I am a fan of the fruitiness you get from an English yeast -- I find the Cali ale to be too lacking in character. While I may want a completely squeaky clean American Barleywine, if I am making an American Pale Ale I like a little hint of fruitiness in the finish to balance out the hop flavor profile.

Back to the Maharaja clone, for which I used the Wyeast 1028 London Ale. I made a 2L starter which I split at high krausen into two 1L starters and stepped to 3L with additional O2. After the starters fermented out I decanted and pitched at 64*F. Keeping the fermenters from 64-66*F, fermentation was complete in just six days, dropping from 1.102 to 1.014 for 86% apparent attenuation. A month later the beer was crystal clear when transferring to secondary for dry hops. If I didn't intend to let it sit on the hops for a full month I would not have bothered to secondary this beer at all; London Ale floccs like a champ! The profile of the beer has the hint of fruitiness you find in the original from Avery's house yeast; it compliments the hop flavors quite well. And, the beer is just malty enough to balance out the insane IBUs that such an extreme double IPA can dish out. As far as double IPAs go, this one is going to be dangerously drinkable.

Inaugural post

After following Jason's blog I have decided to jump into the fray myself.

Many of you will find my blog because I'm Saccharomyces on the HomeBrewTalk forums. Everyone else will know me as Eric.

I have been home brewing since March of 2008. Like many others, I was introduced to home brewing as a hobby through Mr. Beer. The beer I made from their kits was undrinkable, but it got my curiosity up enough to find a homebrew shop. I bought a beginner kit in early March, and read through this E-book before brewing my first batch (I also own the hard copy now). By the summer of 2008, I was active on the HBT forum, brewing all grain on equipment I built myself, and planning the transition to kegging. As 2008 draws to a close I have brewed 21 batches of beer, and have almost all of the equipment together to brew my first 10 gallon batch in early January!

Home brewing has been the best hobby for me, not only because I enjoy it, but because homebrewers are a social bunch. I have made many friends through the local homebrew club, the Austin Zealots; through HomeBrewTalk; and even at Austin Homebrew, my local homebrew supply store.

Watch my blog for posts about big brew days, equipment, new recipes, and hopefully soon, awards from competitions!