Our first brew of 2017 is our Belgian style Tripel, Nebula. The name comes from the fact that the recipe is mostly a standard Tripel, but with the addition of Galaxy hops for aroma. The brew day was fun – we had additional help from our friends Andy and Clarissa. Clarissa is just learning about brewing, so she came along for the educational opportunities, and I’m sure the games and beers didn’ hurt the situation either!
We also recently purchased our own grain mill, because the grain we get from our LHS is never milled very well, unfortunately. We even ask that it go through the mill a few times, and our efficiency is still much lower than would be expected. To try to up that efficiency, we purchased our own… but unfortunately it did not come with all of the pieces we needed to get it up and running and we bought the wrong hardware. SO, back to the LHS to get it milled before we start.
The brew day had its ups and downs. First off, it was actually REALLY COLD here in San Antonio, to the tune of 20 something degrees when we first got started. For this recipe we decided to do a 3-step mash to help give the beer more body but still end pretty dry, and we think that the cold was throwing things off in the calculations. We were over our temp on the first rest (and never got it down to what it should have been), we were over on the 2nd step (but we were able to get it right), and we were almost under on the third, but in the ned we got it working. We will see how the mash issues affect the final beer. Who knows, maybe the rests that we ended with will be better than what we planned (it’s possible…)
On the good side, we were very close on our pre-boil gravity, we git plenty of wort, and we had some really active yeast that was spun up from a very expired vial. Also, we drank some great beers, and enjoyed some fun games. In addition to our standard Exploding Kittens (and a little Yahtzee at the end), Clarissa brought Cards Against Humanity which was a nice addition. Additionally, as of this morning (maybe 16 hours after pitching the yeast), the krausen is kicking, so we know those yeasties are excited to be in their new home. Nebula has one of the oddest fermentation schedules of any of our beers, so the next two weeks we will continue to adjust, and we will see what we get in the end. Delicousness. That’s the goal.
Brew Day Playlist:
Run the Jewels: RtJ3
Algorhythms: EELRIJUE
Inside Out: No Spiritual Surrender
That Handsome Devil: A City Dressed in Dynamite
TOOL: Undertow
Madvilliany 2: The Madlib Remix
Soul Coughing: The Brooklynites
Brazen BeXar Brewing 