The latest creation, McHenry's Irish Draught Ale, is now bottled! My first foray into all-grain brewing. Original Gravity was dead on with what was expected. Pretty dark color right now, and taste tests reveal a very malty base. Can't wait to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with these!

Also this week, the second all-grain, and seventh overall batch was brewed and is now fermenting. It is a Belgian Dubbel style ale with a base of Belgian Pilsner and features Belgian Aromatic, Carapils, CaraVienne, and Biscuit specialty grains. It is a light-colored ale with Styrian Golding hops and is supplemented with fresh orange zest and cracked coriander seed. Should be an exciting early Summer beer!

Paladin IPA

Paladin IPA was served this week! A English-style beer with fresh floral hop aroma and bitterness balanced with sweet biscuity malt flavor. Opened a bottle after only a week of conditioning to sample, only to find it already had ample carbonation. Pretty malt forward at first but seems to have leaned towards the hop side of the spectrum throughout the week. Cheers!

Update + New Brew!

Smashing Pumpkin Ale has been a huge hit so far. Drinkers have said it is just right on the spices and isn't too sweet or bitter. Personally it is comparable to a weaker version of Weyerbacher's Imperial Pumpkin Ale. It has been nearly four weeks since it was bottled and seems to have hit its peak in flavor.

Paladin English IPA is currently being dry-hopped in a secondary vessel. It apparently has fermented out a bit more, with a final gravity of 1.013, putting the beer at about 6.9% ABV. Planning to bottle in a few days.

A new beer was brewed last week, a yet unnamed "Imperial" Mild Ale. The beer is brewed with a variety of specialty grains, and has a reddish brown color to it so far. After only 6 days in the fermenter, the beer has already reached a specific gravity of 1.012! Planning on letting this one sit in primary for four weeks total.

Smashing Pumpkin Ale

Smashing Pumpkin Ale is bottled, labeled, and nearly ready to go! All signs point to this one being a hit, a well balanced beer with strong but not overpowering spices. The label turned out great and showcases the new logo design. Two separate versions were created for 12oz and 22oz bottles. In other news, the Paladin IPA is still fermenting after 14 days in primary, with a gravity around 1.022. Was hoping to xfer to secondary this week but looks like it won't happen. Cheers!

Double Barrel Action

Today we introduce the Paladin IPA. Brewed with a mountain of Marris Otter malt, and a healthy dosage of UK Admiral bittering hops and UK First Gold aroma hops. Will be dry hopped with East Kent Goldings. Original gravity on target at 1.066, and pitched with a yeast starter of Wyeast 1945 NeoBritannia. Hoping this one comes out around 7.5%. This one looks like it'll be drinking the second week of November. In the meantime, Smashing Pumpkin Ale is going into bottles on Wednesday, looks like it'll be ready at a perfect time of fall and Halloween upcoming. Cheers!

Smashing Pumpkin Ale: Secondary Notes

On September 24, Smashing Pumpkin Ale was moved into the secondary fermenter after two weeks of primary fermentation. The OG was spot on at 1.054 and seems to have settled out at 1.010, meaning the beer will end up around the 6.0% ABV mark. During brewing, the recipe was slightly altered, doubling the amount of spice added at flameout. In addition, a healthy blend of spices was added to the secondary. Another tsp of pumpkin pie spice, 1/2 tsp of nutmeg, 1/2 tsp of cloves, and 1 tsp of cinnamon were added, bringing the total amount to 5 tsp. The addition of spices to secondary has added a wonderful smell to the beer that it lacked previously.

Intro

Welcome to Holy Mtn Brewing's blog. This blog will be used to post beer recipes, keep a log on specifics of the brewing process, and to track dates and releases. Cheers!