Making up for Time Lost

Kazoo Brew now has room to spread out! A rack in the kitchen devoted to beer equipment, a closet nook for busy fermenters oh my! To celebrate the advent of some cooler weather as well as the kickoff of the Steelers' season, a Tangerine Porter is gurgling away in the carboy. This was Kazoo's first foray into a big mash, weighing in at about 12# of grain. Still working out the best way to construct a mash tun from a water cooler, we just used a grain bag in a cooler to keep the temperature at about 156 F for 35 minutes. The result was a very concentrated, small batch of squid ink, smelling of hops and tangerine as well as other, darker notes. This will be perfect in November, so we quickly brewed a lighter, easier batch of Abbey-style Singel. Bypassed the mashing process by using a mini-mash + extract recipe and pumped this beer out in about 4 hours from grain infusion to yeast lob. Kettle Defoamer played a role in this brew to keep the yield high while fermenting in a smaller vessel. Should be ready in 4 weeks, +2 to bottle condition.