Allstar Break, I'm back.

Wow,what a hectic month and a half its been.  Between work, moving, traveling, and brewing I have neglected you all and I feel terrible about it.  The MLB All Star game is upon us, and while the Cubs are sending Starlin Castro, really no one gives a care about the game.  Hopefully we will see a Josh Hamilton-esque performance at the home run derby.  Cubs are bad, so that takes care of baseball for the time being. Onto the brewing.

Lets start with the news that Crooked Number should have a logo soon, which will double as a label.  Once I get the finished product I will post it here, as well as add it to the banner on the blog.  When I last left you, I had mentioned I had finished brewing my first ever IPA for a coworkers wedding present.  The recipe is below:

• 14 lbs Pale 2-Row
• 1/2 lb Crystal 60L
• 1/2 lb Malotdextrin
• 2 oz Magnum
• 1 oz Cascade
• 1.5 oz Amarillo
• WLP 001 California Ale Yeast

This resulted in an OG of 1.070 and a FG of 1.008 for an ABV of 8.3%.  This beer is a dark golden color, and an IBU of 84.2 according to BrewTarget.  I will update you with a picture and tasting notes in my next post.

I also started a new tradition of brewing a Fourth of July beer, on the date rather than for the date.  I decided on a Fruit Wit beer for the summer heat.  The recipe is as follows:

• 3.75 lbs Red Wheat Malt
• 6 lbs Pale 2-Row
• 2 oz Saaz
• 1 tbsp Bitter Orange Peel
• 2 tsp Whole Coriander
• WLP400 Belgian Wit Ale Yeast
• 4 lbs fresh Illinois Peaches

During the brew day I ran into issues with my thermometers malfunctioning as well as a boil over for the 5 minutes I wasn't watching the beer.  The OG of the beer was  1.042, which is lower than I would have liked, I think due to my thermometers. Unfortunately, about 3 days into fermentation the beer exploded, due to a clogged airlock.  After closing the lid and cleaning the airlock, I added the peaches to the primary, to ferment for another week before I will rack to secondary.  The beer tasted all right, lacking flavor but I am hoping that the peaches fill that void.

So with the fruit wit on the way, I will begin to ponder my next recipe.  As always thanks for reading, see you soon.