Only a few days away now and you can tell how excited I am just by looking at my planner as it is filled with “to do’s” in order to get ready. Burn some music CD’s for the ride, pack the camera, wash the car… and lots more. (I’ve already bought my beer.)

Good beer, and trying new beer, is one of the themes at our fest. Sometimes, we even brew our own beer. (Al should have an update his homebrew soon, which I hopefully will be tasting as well.) We also plan on visiting a brew pub, for sustenance, more good beer, and hopefully the experience inspires many blog entries.

While I personally don’t have any porters or bocks to add to the mix, we usually cover just about every style out there. As the weekend progresses we line up one empty of each variety to visually see what we have covered. Note in this picture from a couple years ago is my keg of amber ale I brewed up just for the occasion. (Also, ignore the MGD.)

Of course, I have that recipe in my journal, so if you want to try one of my more successful home brews, try this, partial mash, copper/red ale I dubbed “The Dragon Reborn” after I almost quit home brewing only to try this one that came out excellent.

• Whitelab London Ale yeast (WLP013)
• 3 lbs Muton light dried malt
• 3 lbs Muton amber dried malt
• 1 lb crystal 60^o
• 1/2 lb cara-pils 12^o (dextrine)
• 1 lb American 6-row
• 1/2 lb toasted 2-row
• 1 1/2 oz northern brewer hops (bittering)
• 1 oz cascade (finishing)

Instructions       
• Toast the 2-row malt @ 350 for 10 mins
• Mash the grains (I have more detail if you need it)
• 1 hour boil, finishing hops go in for only the last 5 minutes

If you have any questions or comments on the brewing process of this, please ask. I will have more on Octoberfest in Part III.