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First, an update, about last weekend’s Brew Day: It was successful (perhaps predictably so), despite the weather. It went from merely cold, to cold and rainy, to sleet, to slushy snow, to cloudy, to breezy, to sunny and actually warm. I’m sure a couple of weather types were missed, but there’s only so much time in a brew day.
The beer itself shows all signs of being good. There having been nothing darker than pilsner malt in it, it’s going to be light in color. I turned the heat on the kettle before running off into it, so the heat caramelized the first bit of running as it came in. This should add a bit of color, as well as creating some melanoidins for mouthfeel. The Nugget hops had a better smell than I remember from the last time I used them; They’ll add a (hopefully) good bittering, and a nice spiciness. The French Ale yeast seemed a bit slow to take off, but it was fermenting happily as of Tuesday.
In the meantime, I’m down in Georgia with my parents, helping out with a sick relative. I brought a pile of stuff to help with research into upgrading my Brew Rig. I’ve ordered a heating element for the heat-exchanger; I think I know what I’m going to use for the exchanger. The controller is going to be the difficult part; I’ve some ideas, though. This is going to be one of the slower equipment upgrades–the expenses for some of what I want to do could become somewhat prohibitive. But, I want to do this right, so–well, perfection takes time.