Citral Pale Ale

This months homebrew is called Citral Pale Ale. It's a recipe that has an abundance of floral hops in it. I am also putting my new Father's day gift to use with this batch. My loving wife bought me a conical fermenter, I can't imagine where she got the idea from. But so far it's working pretty nice. The recipe has Centennial hops for bittering and lots of Citra and Cascade hops for Aroma. I can't wait to try this hop bomb!

Pumpkin Ale # 2

India Pale Ale

I just brewed my last batch before Pesach (Passover). I chose to make some good use out of my homegrown Galena hops and an IPA was the way to go. This brew should be nice and hoppy but well balanced at the same time. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: 4/15/15

Transferred to secondary fermenter and added another 1oz of my homegrown Galena hops to dry hop. As soon as I have enough empties ready, its off to bottling.

A Belgian Whitbeer brew is in the works

Before I brewed my Oktoberfest, I made sure to have an ale in the works. Everyone has been asking me to make a Belgian Whitbeer. I am not a huge fan of the wheat beers in general as I find them to be a little too tart for my liking, but I didn't want to let all my buddies down. So to all of you who have been asking for a Belgian... it's in the works. Naturally, I didn't want to make a plain Jane recipe so I decided on a Honey Wheat Belgian, brewed with barley and wheat extracts,  2lbs of clover honey, orange peel, coriander and lightly hopped. Sounds good to me, let's see what the fans have to say.
2/22/15- My apologies, the title of this brew is actually called Honey Weizen, which technically has German background, I modified it though to resemble a Whitbeer of Belgian decent with the orange peel and corriander seeds. Either way, I tasted it last night while bottling it and it has a really nice honey aroma, a bit of sweetness from the honey, orange and coriander and a warming feel from the extra alcohol attributed to the honey. I'm looking forward to the final conditioned product.

Oktoberfest Lager

Well I finally took the jump/challenge. I brewed my first lager. Oktoberfest is a traditional German style lager. It is always brewed as a lager and as a typical homebrewer, I do not have a dedicated refrigerator to use for lagering to keep the temp's down in the 45-50 degree range needed for lagering. Luckily, being that it is winter time, I have a room in my basement that isn't heated and the temps are right in the range for lagering. YEAH!! So the brew is now in primary fermentation and we have to wait and see how the first lager experiment works out.

UPDATE: 04/29/15

Well the verdict is in, after a LONG aging process in my basement over 3 month at around 40 degrees, I finally bottled my first lager. After a one week conditioning period, the initial verdict is so-so. The Oktoberfest pours a dark brown color and has a dark malty backbone, which is typical of this style. My only concern is the carbonation level is pretty low. I am almost certain that with time, this beer will only get better. therefore..I will let it condition some more and give it another shot.

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— Daniel @ Anchor Inn (@AnchorInnNY) January 14, 2015

It's Pumpkin Ale Season!

I'm getting ready to brew my annual seasonal adventure. Pumpkin Ale. I already have my oven roasted pumpkin and now just waiting for just the right style hops to be delivered from my supplier. My recipe scored very well in the annual Sam Adams Longshot homebrew contest. The judges made some suggestions on how I can improve the recipe and I'll give it another shot (submission) come May 2015. I used Galena hops for bittering last year, but i think they are a little too strong for this style ale. So this year, I am going to try using Czech Saaz (a noble) for bittering and Williamette for aroma. Let's hope its brews up nice and spicy.


1/12/15
So after a good long primary and secondary fermentation, I finally bottled my Pumpkin Ale #1 of 2014. I hope it comes out as delicious as it sounds.

Wyeast Laboratories, Inc. - Kosher

Wyeast Laboratories, Inc. - Kosher

Check this out!!

Homegrown Galena hops

Home grown Galena hops (currently air drying). I estimate about 5 ounces once dried. The Galena hops grow the best of the 4 varieties that I am growing in my garden. I am sure that my neighbors think that I am nuts, but aren't all homebrewers a little bit crazy to start?

More certifications: Whirlfloc, Kerry (Cork), and some Weyermann (malts, extracts and beers)

Thanks to some great legwork by Dr. Steve L. I am able to now upload certifications for Whirlfloc, Kerry (Cork), and Weyerman malts, extracts and "beers"). I have to admit that I have never hear of Kerry (Cork) products, but we learn something new everyday.