Rebrewing, and Birthday Brew, and Moving!!

 

So, I mentioned that I moved just recently, and I had two batches that weren’t ready to bottle yet.  I was hesitant to move them, but it’s been a few days and it looks like the effort was successful.

When I first started to move, things were amicable and we had made plans for me to keep the beer there through bottling.  But then things happened, and I wasn’t comfortable leaving it there.  Oh joy.  I guess I could have done some research on moving beer-in-progresss, but that would take all of the fun out of my awesome adventure that everyone else calls life.

Basically, I sanitized two 2 food lengths of plastic wrap and then stuck it between the carboy and the stopper.  Then I loaded them into the moving van, brought them into the basement of the house I’m staying in, and set them up.  It’s been over a week and nothing funky is growing in them, so that’s a win.  So… what did I actually move?

First, I had a rebrew of the Sam Smith Taddy Porter Clone that I wrote about before.  The plan was to add tamarind to it somehow, but due to events beyond my control ::cough:: I decided to just go with the original recipe.  I’ll make another tamarind porter soon, I have to as I’ve committed to providing a batch for a brewfest this summer!

The next batch was a New Zealand RyePA and my worst brew experience ever.  I guess it makes sense as I now realize the, I’m not kidding, oppressive stress I was dealing with at that time.  I only say that because, goodness, I feel sad but I feel so decompressed.  It’s like I did a magical two hour yoga session followed by amazing sex.  I’m *that* relaxed!

But seriously, the brew experience sucked:  I couldn’t keep my temperature steady to save my life, I forgot hops and tossed them into the primary, melted my BetterBottle, and basically made a huge fuckup of everything.

I used the BrewersBest recipe: http://www.brewersbestkits.com/pdf/New%20BB%20Recipes/1014%20Rye%20Pale%20Ale%20Recipe.pdf

But I swapped the hops out with … oh fuck it, I can’t figure out what I used.
Damn this recipe.  At least it’ll be ready in time for my birthday party.