My Sparkling Beer finished up a couple weeks ago and is already running low (summertime does that) so I started my 16th brew last weekend, which is a coffee beer from an adapted Porter recipe.

The coffee beers I made previously were all Stouts, which is darker, and more like a Guinness.  I chose Porter this time to have a slightly lighter beer to compliment the lighter Brazilian coffee beans I had on hand.  If all goes well, we will be bottling the beer this weekend and will end up with a dark amber, Brazilian coffee beer that has a bit of a nutty taste.

Over the 4th of July we took the new car on our first family roadtrip, which was a nice 14-hour car ride to Grand Lake, CO and back.  Kaden didn’t mind the ride too much until the 13th hour or so each way.  BEER mom has a vacation recap and pictures on his site and hers.  I will post video once I covert the DVD.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Shortly after brewing my sparkling ale, I read through the recipe for the lager I planned on making next, and suddenly remembered a major difference between lagers and ales:

Lagers take about 3 months to condition while ales only take a week or two.

This time requirement is the main reason everything I have made so far has been an ale, along with the fact that it would require another 3 or 4 cases of bottles.

We bottled the sparkling ale Sunday and I went ahead and brewed the lager last night.  This way I have something to drink while I wait.

The ale, or sparkling beer, as I decided to call it, will be ready around the 27th.  The lager should be ready for bottling this weekend, so I will probably buy bottles from my local homebrew store tomorrow.

In case you are keeping track, the sparkling beer was BEER dad brew #14 and red lager is #15.

Tonight I will embark on a journey I call the BEER dad countdown.

Like a modern day Noah, but crafty, I have been saving two of every beer I’ve made.

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Something I once thought was impossible has happened. The wife suddenly decided she likes beer too and wants to brew 2 batches next time so we can make something lighter for her.

(Disclaimer: That was BEER mom 18 months ago when she was still pregnant.)

I am looking at kegs and additional brew pots to make the process a little smoother. If you have suggestions or homebrew recipes your spouse likes, let me know.

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