This is the first day this year I’m brewing. Guess the gloomy winter darkness took all my inspiration. But today was a beautiful day and I got inspiration to brew something I can enjoy during hot summer days.

I’m using 玄米茶 Genmaicha tea, a Japanese tea with roasted rice. I also used Rye malt, Amber malt and Crystal malt. Mashing it in high temperature for a fuller body, I’m aiming for a ~3% ABV. The tea also adds bitterness so I’m not sure if I will only aroma hop and dry hop this one. I have to taste the wort first before I make the hop schedule.

Boiling; well the wort wasn’t that bitter so I’m adding 10 gr Galena Hops 20 min, 70 gr at 10 min, and 100 gr Centennial at the boil off. 20 liters boiling, 12 brix (SG1047), which means I’ll get my 25 liters pretty close to the target rate.

Cooled it down, and I got 17 liters with SG1052. I added 6 liters of water to get target OG1038, if the yeast stops at FG1016 I get a 2.8% ABV. The yeast is US04 which is pretty lame anyway. I won’t cry if it gets down to FG1012 or so, but I did mash in high temperature so it will be full body (sweeter). So it will have around 50 IBU which is about the same as the Brewdog Punk IPA. But this is much lower ABV beer. It will be bitter, but the bitterness is more from late hopping than early hopping, so it should be nice summer drink, I hope.

Now I just have to wait six weeks, which I probably can’t.

---

Edit 2012-04-05

FG was 1017 and it is 2.75 %ABV, well balanced. Maybe not really ready yet, I couldn’t not try it already.

“DRINKING AND DRIVING IS SO MUCH FUN!”