Brew-a-Day July
Howdy, Chris here.
Oh, July. When the weather in Numazu turns from cool and rainy to warm and sunny to hot and humid. Only this year, we skipped the ever-so-critical warm and sunny adjustment period and went straight to damn hot and freakin’ humid. No transition for the always sweaty, always hard working brewers at Baird Brewing.
And what a month it was in the brewery! We started with eight straight days of brewing, including one double brew day, before having a day off to clean the big brew system. The middle of the month was slower, relaxing almost, with a leisurely brew schedule and three days in a row off. Off from brewing, that is, not off from work. And then came the 17th. That’s when we started a period of ten brews in six days — our “best” record yet — a couple days off, and then eleven brews in seven days!!! Add it all up, and you get our busiest brew month ever, 35 brews during July. Whew! Let’s get on with it.
7/1: JTA-1.13 & HJA-3.13 (sb) We started the month with a double-banger — Japan Tale Ale, our annual ode to the Japanese Ume (a sort of plum), on the big system, and a small batch of Harajuku Ale. Preparing Ume in the background is labor-intensive, but without that effort, the beer wouldn’t be nearly as good. This year’s version was special for two reasons: Noisy Gordon contributed some of the Ume, and we added dry Ume to the conditioning tank. Mmmmm.
7/2: BashaAle 3.13 (sb) We fired up the small system again for the year’s third batch of Bashamichi Ale, that wonderful hand-pumped smoked brown ale.
7/3 & 4: SSA-1.13 (a & b) These two days saw a double batch of this year’s Yabai-Yabai Strong Scotch Ale.
7/5: I-6.13 Sixth batch of Teikoku IPA.
7/6: PA-10.13 With this 10th batch of Rising Sun Pale Ale, we’re on target for 40+ batches this year.
7/7: WA-6.13 Wheat King Ale is a wonderful thirst-quenching beer for hot weather. Here’s to keeping it in stock throughout this summer.
7/8: PlumSess-1.13 (sb) When we got our Ume, we also got enough regular purple plums to make a small batch. This plum session was fermented with our regular house ale yeast, nice and refreshing — and packaged in our new casks for hand-pump dispense.
7/9: No brewing, just cleaning the brewhouse.
7/10: IIPA-7.13 (a batch), WildBoar-1.13 (sb) Another double brew day. Big batch of Suruga Bay Imperial IPA, the first of a double batch, and on the small system, a slightly-smoked brown porter, specially brewed for Bashamichi Taproom.
7/11: IIPA-7.13 (b batch) Just what it says, the second half of a double batch of Suruga Bay.
7/12: AA-5.13 Red Rose Amber Ale, fifth batch of the year.
7/13: PA-11.13 And yet another batch of Rising Sun Pale Ale.
7/14-16: Three days of no hot hot steam = a slice of heaven for brewers in the summer.
7/17: VL-1.13 & AldIPA-1.13 (sb) Break time’s over, brewers! Large batch of Vienna Lager and a small batch of Aldgate’s Jack the Ripper IPA.
7/18: IS-1.13 (sb) & IS-1.13 (a batch) We need a lot of Dark Sky Imperial Stout, both for export and for our own domestic sales, so today we fired up both systems to get started on it.
7/19: IS-1.13 (b batch) Another 700 liters of Dark Sky, added to yesterday’s batch.
7/20: IIPA-8.13 & VHA-2.13 (sb) Double brew day again. Suruga Bay on the big system, Vivo’s House Ale (I think they call it Sunshine Street Pale Ale, or something like that) on the small.
7/21: BA-8.13 (a batch) & BA80S-2.13 (sb) Fourth double brew day this week! Angry Boy Brown Ale (1st half of a double batch) on the 10-hectoliter system, which the 2.5-hectoliter brewhouse saw action with Beer-no-Yokota’s Brompton Ale.
7/22: BA-8.13 (b batch) Added another 1000 liters of Angry Boy to the big fermenter today. Mmmmm.
7/23: No brewing, just cleaning the brewhouse and a thousand other tasks.
7/24: And the last day off from brewing for the month.
7/25: FB-1.13 (SB) & I-7.13 What else to do after a couple days without firing up the brewhouses? Double brew, of course. On the small system, the year’s first batch of Numazu Taproom’s Fishmarket Bitter; big system pumped out the seventh batch of Teikoku IPA.
7/26: PA-12.13 (a batch) July isn’t even over and we’re already doing our 12th batch of Rising Sun Pale Ale — actually the first half of yet another double batch.
7/27: PA-12.13 (b batch) Second half of the Rising Sun brew.
7/28: AA-6.13 Red Rose Amber Ale for the sixth time so far this year.
7/29: DS-3.13 & SessAle-4.13 (pb) We brewed our third batch of Shimaguni Stout today along with a small “prop batch” of Session Ale to get that new yeast going.
7/30: SessAle-4.13 And now it’s time to really get that yeast going with a big batch of Session Ale — it was pumped into the same tank as yesterday’s prop batch.
7/31: IIPA-9.13 & ESBA-1.13 (sb) We finished the month the same way we started: with a double brew day. Suruga Bay on the big system and an English-Style Brown Ale on the small.
And there you have it, 35 brews in the 31 days of July. What will August bring? Most sweat, more beers, more fun. Take care, beer lovers!
Cheers,
Chris
Posted: August 6, 2012 under Blog, In the Brewery.