Making a Mash Tun - All Grain Brewing

I've brewed 6 batches of been since January, all have been from extract kits.  Extract kits are great, they make great beer, and cut down on a few complex steps.  I've found it helpful to start with extract kits, it's good to cut down on the variables at first.  Lord knows enough can go wrong in the beer making process, why start complex and get frustrated?  Plus, all grain batches require a few more items, start up cost can be minimized by starting with extract kits.  Once you are ready to get more technical and get a taste of what a all-grain brewing is all about, pick up a Partial Mash Kit.  It uses a mashing process and some extract, you'll get a feel for what all-grain brewing is all about.  Northern Brewers Speckled Heifer is a good partial mash kit.

I'm at the point where I'm ready to make the switch to all-grain, so the first thing I needed was a Mash Tun.

GeoBrew Update week 3

It's been three weeks since I buried 5 gallons of Schwartzbier lager  in a hole near Waupaca WI.  I have NO IDEA what's happening with it!  The temps have been cool topside, which I hope translates to appropriate temps 4 feet below ground.  I need a temp of 45-55 degrees to get my Lager actively fermenting.  Ground temp was 40 when we put it to rest.



Next will be to get it out of the hole to get a Gravity reading, then a 48 hour warm up...  then?  Well, we're working on that.  I need to chill it down to the mid thirty's for at least two weeks.  I've been told to research the old Norwegian tradition of harvesting ice in the winter from lakes and storing it in sawdust and hay for use in the summer...  Must make that decision soon!

Cheers!
-Chris

Lemon Infused American Ale in bottles

I set aside 1.20 gallons of American Ale and dropped an entire lemon into the carboy for 2 weeks.  I peeled off strips of the lemon rind, then quartered the lemon before dropping it in.  After 2 weeks I tasted it, you could definitely taste the lemon, unlike the pear infused beer I tried earlier this spring.  In that batch I dropped two quartered and peeled red pears into the same amount of beer and the pear taste was subtle!

My impression was that the lemon flavor was too prevalent...  But we'll see what happens after priming sugar has been added and its had time to ferment.  I added a little extra priming sugar to give it a little more carbonation.  My thinking is that it'll make a great dog day summer afternoon beer..  Light, lemony, fizzy.  We'll see.  GottaBHot American Ale?

Cheers!
-Chris