Homebrews #4 and #5

OK so it wasn't ALL work this days off.  We had one single day where the weather was warm-ish and not windy, so I chose to brew up a couple of batches of beer. 

I prefer to brew two 5 gallon batches back-to-back, because home-brew setup and breakdown both take me a fair amount of time.   Someday I will have a proper setup with a rolling cabinet, but that is not the case right now.  I have to haul each piece from storage to where I am brewing.  In this case, I needed to be near the garden hose.  Eventually I moved to a spot in the sun so I could keep warm :)

This first bach is called Cologne Kolsch.  The wife likes Alaska Brewery Summer Ale, so I am giving this a shot.


Below is the second batch, a Christmas gift I received, which is a Belgian Honey Wheat.   It comes with orange peel and coriander flavorings, and should taste similar to a Blue Moon, but with about twice the kick.

Here the grains are steeping for 30 minutes before bringing it to a boil.  The copper coil in the background is the wort chiller, which quickly brings the temperature down after the boil.  This allows you to quickly get the temperature down to where yeast can survive and then get it sealed up before airborne germs can infect the beer.