Maine Brews

Double Brewday: Ordinary Bitter & American Amber Ales

Joel Mahaffey — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 04:35:22 +0000

This past Saturday, I brewed two batches in a single day, back to back. While this did make for a very long day, I was able to gain some overlap without any additional equipment. The way I did it, was … Continue reading →

Flanders Red Update

Joel Mahaffey — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 04:23:24 +0000

Back in September, I brewed my first sour beer, that is a beer with an intentional bacterial infection. That beer was a Flanders Red style beer, and after just a couple months of aging, it smelled amazing. I’ve still yet … Continue reading →

Table Saison

Joel Mahaffey — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:25:47 +0000

OK, so, I’ve learned some lessons now after doing two saisons. First, Saison yeasts are highly attenuative. If you build a recipe like you would for an American yeast, or even worse, an English yeast, and then use a Saison yeast, you’re … Continue reading →

Session beer weekend: American Pale and ESB

Joel Mahaffey — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 04:10:17 +0000

I brewed two quick and easy beers a few weeks back: a pale ale and an ESB. The pale ale was designed specifically to grow up some Cal Ale yeast, and the ESB is just because I like bitters, and … Continue reading →

Brewday recap: Dark Lambic #2 (pLambic) with Turbid Mash

Joel Mahaffey — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:01:34 +0000

This post is long overdue, but needed to be written. The weekend immediately following Lambic #1, I prepped a second wort for a sour pitch. I had an ECY20 pitch sitting in the fridge that needed to be put to … Continue reading →

Brewday recap: Lambic #1 (pLambic) with Turbid Mash

Joel Mahaffey — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:28:04 +0000

Last weekend, on MLKJr day, I brewed my first lambic. Technically it was a pseudo-lambic (or pLambic) because I pitched a culture rather than letting nature inoculate the wort. There are many ways to get a souring culture, one of the most … Continue reading →

Brewday Recap: Dark Mild

Joel Mahaffey — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 04:07:39 +0000

Last Sunday I brewed the first dark beer of the year, a Dark Mild. This style is unfortunately a dying style, and is almost unheard of in the US. The best way to describe it is the smaller, gentler brother … Continue reading →

Extra-Ordinary Bitter

Joel Mahaffey — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:40:51 +0000

Just a quick write-up on yesterday’s brew… Since last year’s vow of small beers (under 5%), I’ve become a little obsessed with a good English bitter, something that’s a bit of a rarity this side of the Atlantic. Yesterday’s was … Continue reading →

Homemade Sourdough Pretzels

Joel Mahaffey — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 21:39:15 +0000

It’s not really beer, but it’s sort of related, right? I’ve been talking the big talk about how I’m going to learn to make my own soft pretzels, and yesterday, I did. It took a bit of searching online to … Continue reading →

Brewday: American Saison

Joel Mahaffey — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 22:50:37 +0000

I’ve had a long-term love/hate relationship with Belgian beers, but this year I fell in love with Saisons. They’re often everything you don’t find in a typical Belgian beer, hoppy, dry and bitter [Note: I know there are some Belgian … Continue reading →