Brew Day, Batch #303

The long-awaited (by me, anyway) rye peppercorn pale ale is being brewed today.

Doughed in.

Target OG is 1.052-1.056 from Briess 2 row with 15% light Munich and 15% flaked rye.

Running off first wort into the kettle. So far, so good. Time for a first beer- how about a wee ESB?

Commencing sparge. Might be time for a Maibock.

Kettle's about half full. Going to throttle back on the beer intensity and have a helles. Mmm.

All in the kettle, nearing boil. Think it's time for a 300A.

Boil established and stabilized, better do my hop calcs. Target is 35 BU from Nugget, with a small 15 minute addition of Nugget and 5 minutes of just a touch of Cascade. Plus 50g of crushed Tellicherry pepper at 5. Aww, yeah. Might also be time for a little schwarzbier....

Kettle hops in, and the schwarz tastes pretty fine.

Last hop/pepper addition in, about to strike boil. Must be time for some dunkel.

This wort smells indescribably good. See?

Chilled down now to a frigid 70F, the wort is running into the fermenters. OG looks to be 1.052. Must be time for some of that Imperial Pils!

Whoo! Extreme, dude!

Alrighty, two fermenters full of wort, pitched with the venerable and versatile 1056. Nothing left but swamping out the kettle, and grilling us some pork chops for dinner.

In about six weeks, this beer oughta rock, if past is precedent. For those who wonder what a beer made with peppercorns as a significant flavoring is like, and who are unable to join us at Chez Cicerone for one, I would recommend Dieu du Ciel's Route des Epices (Spice Route) which also has rye in the grist, and Short's Nicey Spicey, which has lemongrass, ginger, and black pepper.

And if it seems that the brewmaster has been somewhat of the lush during today's brew session, I would note that all of the above mentioned beers are on draft here at the brewery, and each beer was of about a 4 oz. serving size...

Cheers!