A productive spring
Fraz Wheat, Frosty Dog, Amber, Chasseur de Bruin
Man, it’s FINALLY warming up here in chilly Minnesota. It has taken so long to get to this point that coincidently I had a lot of time to brew these past few months. Further motivation was provided by the fact that my wife and I will be going to Europe very soon (my first time), and I don’t anticipate having much time to brew until maybe late-June, but more likely not until mid-July. As a result, I hit it hard in March/April, having brewed something crazy like five batches in seven weeks. Considering I did a total of only eight batches in all of 2010, this spring has indeed been quite intense. (more…)
Chasseur de Bruin
The name of this brew translates to “Hunter of the Bear” in some weird perversion of French mixed with the old term for brown bears in Eurasia, where it was common to bring strong ferocious dogs out on bear hunts. “Bruin” also has it’s ties to a style of beer brewed in the Flemish region of Belgium, Oud Bruin. My latest batch is not intended to be a sour beer like Oud Bruin, as I will not be adding brettanomyces bacteria or letting the beer age for extended periods of time. My intent with this batch was just to create a strong, sweet brown ale fermented with a Belgian yeast strain. It may actually come out most closely resembling a Dubbel.
After searching online for a while, I found this recipe, made a few modifications and here we are: (more…)