Trying out first lager a Dortmunder Export. This German Lager did not have the requirement to ferment at 40 degrees. The basement in the winter is a pretty constant 60 degrees, which should work. Ground the two types of grain, the first was ground too fine, almost like flour. Made some adjustments to just crack the next bag of grain. The color was a nice pilsner shade while steeping. Boiled the wort in the smaller pot and John caught it just before another boil over. Added the two types of hops at three different times. The wort chiller on the inside and 30 lbs of ice cooled the wort down quickly. Poured the wort through a filtered funnel. Made lots of foam in the carboy, perhaps too much. Cooling 3 gallons of boiled, sterile water while we had dinner. Added the water to bring to about 5 gallons. Setup the big tube to allow the air bubbles to escape into a pan of water. A little clean up and we are done. A good brew day!

One of my least favorite parts of brewing is removing the labels from commercial beer bottles. Experienced home brewers like Mineral Springs Brewing understand the problem and win my top honors for being the most easy to remove (and most entertaining) bottle labels. Followed by Fat Tire Amber, my lucky beer (see Hole in One story), is easy to remove labels in one piece, with just some glue to easily remove. Rusty Red from O’so Brewing has just two glue lines, but are tough. Perhaps my favorite new beer (other than MSB Beer Wisperer Lager) of the year was the Staghorn Octoberfest from New Glarus Brewing Company, but the bottle labels are a real pain to remove.