Two days before the wedding!

Did a lot of work this week and weekend getting things ready. One of the most important, of course was testing the beer out. The first three things on tap were the Haus Pale, the Kolsch and the Wit. Got the kegerator plumbed for all three gas and liquid sides and found what I will be using for labeling my beers. I still need to make that third tap handle soon!





For the porter, I decided to give those as gifts because they likely need more time aging. However, I do have a 6 month old growler of the same recipe that I am going to bring along for the select few that appreciate a good porter.

So that was bottled, and wax topped, and are awaiting the wedding labels that I will likely get done today or tomorrow.

Not brewing related... the toast beer is here!

Whew!   With 12 days to go - I got this in the mail today!




To put it in perspective - those are 5000ml and 2000ml beakers behind it.  This will be the wedding toast beer - it's not available anywhere near Texas.  Especially not in a 3L format.  Either way, the wedding party has no idea how lucky they are that the bride and groom have insane beer tastes. 

Getting excited now!  Almost everything planning wise is done.

Remaining work (short list)

1. Clean and box all the pints
2. Label and wax top the Porter - I decided I would gift these and keep a growler for our 1 year anniversary.
3. Clean fridges and kegerator to a presentable shine
4. Complete kegerator gas sides - simple once I take apart my charging snake!

Phew.  Wish us luck!

8 kegs wasn't quite enough

Upgraded the force carbing rig to add the additional 10g of IPA that finished dry hopping last night!

Only 5g left to be prepped - the Vanilla Bourbon Porter - easily the most complex of the beers we made.   I feel like this has been a massive task and it's finally winding down.

All that is left is that 5g, then figuring out the logistics of cooling and serving.

Completed most of the kegging this past weekend

We finally kegged all but 15 gallons of the beer we made.

Each carboy is 5 gallons, and we kegged two kolsch, three pale ales, and three honey hibiscus wits.  The IPA is dry hopping now, and the Vanilla Bourbon Porter is aging in vanilla with bourbon.

Getting ready and set up



About half done



One more keg to be done!




Yeast washed for more beer later!



Our force carb rig for 8 kegs.  Pretty neat.



8 kegs sitting at 30 psi

Dry hopping and racking!

Earlier this week, I dry hopped the 10g of IPA with 2 ounces of Yakima Golding whole hops, 1 ounce of Yakima pellets, and .5 of Amarillo Gold.



Looked and tasted great, and was a perfect 1.005 for a 6.5% ABV

Tomorrow is kegging day for 40 gallons of beer (8 kegs!)

15g Pale Ale
15g of Honey Hibiscus Wit
10g Kolsch

The IPA will get kegged next weekend.   I still need to add Vanilla/Bourbon to the porter, and then oak age it at least two weeks.  Due to time, I actually might skip the oaking to ensure carbonation.  The VBP is getting bottled since it is pretty heavy for on tap.