What would Jesus brew? Sunday beer blasphemy

This is a question that remains unanswered. But since Sunday capped off an excellent weekend of brewing, hockey and poker, I think He'd be pleased with my accomplishments.

Friday was a cold one. I mean down-to-the-bone cold. I love this time of year. No bugs, no humidity. Brewing in the garage becomes more pleasurable when you don't have Mother Nature's distractions trying to kamikaze dive bomb into your mash. Of course, you shouldn't just rely on residual propane heat to keep you warm, especially when you are donning the suburban-dad footwear of black cotton tube socks and some knock-off Crocs. You have to be prepared.

That goes for setting up your brew day/night. Many times I don't really pre-prep anything. The day of, I'll decide what to make, go home, plan on hitting the ground running, only to get distracted by kids/food/wife/television. When I finally get my act together, it could be 6 or 7 p.m., and with a five+ hour brew ahead of me, you best be all in. Good preparation practices make for a good brewing session.

Like many things, I get an idea of what I want to make and then adjust the recipe to what I have on hand. That is what I did last week. I took Kal's recipe for his Electric Pale Ale (check out Kal's site here - it truly is amazing), subbed in what I had, and made my own 'unplugged' version. Friday night's brew was a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone. SNPA is widely known as one of the great American craft beer classics.

The pump problems I had before were resolved, and despite the wort coming out a little warmer than I would have liked, overall things turned out well.

The intent was to brew again on Saturday. Woke up to a pretty rainy and miserable day outside. Kids spent time with family, so Lisa and I spent a good portion of the day gettin' all romantic and watched Stephen King's "It" on television, followed by a kick-ass BBQ and a fun night playing poker. Brew plans moved to Sunday.

Hockey practice came early (7:30 a.m.) which meant a quick start to the brew day. Sunday was sunny and getting warmer. The brew gods were resting comfortably on my shoulder. I had decided to make an easy drinking blonde ale, in anticipation of the multitude of guests we end up hosting over the holiday season.

In exactly 5 hours, I had made, fermented, and cleaned with the rest of the day to spare. Everything that could go right in a brew day, did. It's the feeling that makes you wanting more. The question remains, how will it turn out?

There is exactly 25 gallons of beer currently sitting in various stages of fermentation in my basement (not including a stout and a pumpkin ale in the keezer) and I still have two new recipes I'd like to try.

The count now sits at:
Keezer - Toy Soldier Stout and Pumpkin Face Ale
Primary - Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone, Electric Pale Ale Unplugged, Southern Tier Pumking clone, Easy Blonde Ale
Secondary - Marctober Harvest Ale

Fellow MoBster Katy Watts of Ottawa Beer Events and Sheltered Girl Meets World will be profiling me as part of the upcoming Learn to Brew Day on Nov. 2 in Cornwall. She's profiling Ottawa home brewers of various experience. You should check it out.