2013 Year in Review

I wanted to take a look back at my brewing from this past year. 2013 was a tough year for brewing. If you don’t count the days where I made hard cider (which consists of pouring yeast into pre-pressed apple cider), I was only able to brew two times. As our three children get older, we are involved in so many things and are often going in three different directions. 

Number of batches brewed: 6 (same as 2012) 

Number of gallons brewed: 24 (down from 38 in 2012) 

Number of brew days: 4 (2 beer and 2 cider) 

First brew day: 3/1/13 (26 days earlier than 2012) 

Last brew day: 12/1/13 (57 days later than 2012) Of course this consisted of pouring Brett into a gallon of apple cider, so it probably shouldn’t count as a “brew day”. My last beer brewing day was 4/27/13. 

Batch with highest alcohol: 6.7% B34 Cider with Brett (down 1.0% in 2012) 

Batch with lowest alcohol: 4.5% B30 Dunkelweizen (down 0.6% from 2012) 

Weighted average ABV of all batches: 5.20% (down from 5.62% in 2012) 

Favorite batch to brew: B33 Ordinary Cider and B34 Cider with Brett 

Favorite batch to drink: B29 Redczech Bohemian Pilsner 

Worst brew session: B30 Dunkelweizen/ B31 Vienna Lager/Ale / B32 Lambic It was a triple-header brew day and it lasted forever. 

Favorite name: Redczech Pilsner (I didn’t name anything else I brewed in 2013) 

Amount of grain used: 36 lbs 3 oz. (down from 87.6 lbs in 2012) 

Amount of hops used: 7.5 oz. (down from 20 oz. in 2012) 

Biggest equipment upgrade: refractometer 

Biggest trend: “brewed” 2 one gallon batches of cider and brewed two lagers 

Goals for 2014: 

1. Brew two more times than 2013 

2. Brew at least two lagers 

3. Brew at least one Flanders Red and           one Lambic 

4. Brew one BJCP style I’ve never brewed