Brewing on a "Real System"

Although my home brews are real beer, I can't call my equipment a "real system."

Friday morning started out a lot like my tenure at Boeing, early, but had a much different feel to it, brewing. I met Matt, one of the owner/brewers at Schooner Exact, a little before 6 AM and got the chance to help him brew a 7 barrel batch of their Gallant Maiden Hefeweizen. I am not going to give away the secrets to their beer, but it is a German Hefeweizen as opposed to the American Wheats that I have made in the past. It was a long hot day in the brewery, but it was great to get some work in on a real system. It was a lot better atmosphere to ask questions and share my thoughts compared to the other times that I had been at the brewery. As we went through the day, I could ask questions as they popped into my head and Matt shared multiple "things I would do differently" as he came across them. The experience really reinforced my level of brewing and brewery planning knowledge.

I will be brewing a 1/2 barrel batch of my Pale Ale on the pilot system at Schooner Exact this Wednesday. I am trying my best to keep the recipe tweaking at a minimum, so this one will be almost the same as the last Pale I made for my presentation. I am certain the beer will improve compared to previous batches because I will get to use a temperature controlled fermenter.

I need to remember to write down all of the genius beer names that I come up with, so here's one: Jackalope Belgian IPA, well I am not sure about the style (never made a Belgian IPA before), but I want to make it some sort of hybrid style of beer because of the nature of Jackalopes...hoppy as a jackrabbit and the reddish-brown of an antelope... This might need to be a seasonal or ale of no return, but I think this could be a really fun one. Any style ideas out there for "The Jackalope?"