Last week was Spring Break around here. With winter weather arriving just in time for Spring (today), I am thankful that the brew crew had off last week and not this week. The warmer weather of yesterweek allowed us to do summerish things such as brewing, grilling and bike riding – and some not so summerish things such as tax prep. Some of the privileged also got to do some traveling to visit recent additions to the extended family: grand-babies. All in all, even considering the taxes, it was nice to get a bit of down time from the school setting and routine.
Keeping priorities, the first official day of Spring Break – a Monday – found the brew crew at Fieldpointe South. In attendance were: Mark, Branden, Greg and myself. “Who is Greg?” you ask. A better question would be, “Who is Branden?” We are still trying to figure that one out. Greg is an older acquaintance (much older than Branden) who brings wisdom to the group. To this particular gathering he brought Winter Wisdom!
Greg recently built a palace in Nebraska (go figure) and is in the process of constructing his own version of Fieldpointe Brewery – although I gather he will call his establishment something more appropriate to his environment. Anyway, this Nebraska beer is pretty good! Too bad the same can’t be said of the football there but both Mark and Greg a diehard Huskers.
Keeping in the Spring Break tradition, the beer to be brewed, without question, was the annual Maibock. As if warmer than usual weather wasn’t enough to “shake things up,” a new Maibock recipe was given a go – not that Maibock 1 or 2 were not worthy, it just seemed to be time to give another variation a try. Time will tell whether this was a wise move or not. That and Mark not bumping the fermenter off his Dorothy Door steps creating the catastrophe of the relatively young year.
Speaking of Dorothy Doors – God blessed us with a warm day filled with abundant sunshine. Enough so that the DDs were in full open status for the first time this calendar year. It also was the first time Mark’s charcoal grill (Weber) graced the mostly empty patio space and was put to good use. Mark made a run to Danny’s to secure some sausage delecacies which he grilled to perfection despite being “out of practice” for the somewhat cold / cooler / warmer months of winter – as I think they were to be. To be cautious and have a backup plan, Mark also included some good old franks. Not that the franks were old – just the concept of grilling and serving them – especially at baseball games – which are soon to commence as spring training is concluding and the regular season is about to get under way. Yea Summer! NCAA tournament be damned!
For those of you getting your knickers in a twist – relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew – I haven’t forgotten. Yes, the BMB was open per usual. Branden, being young and still working on brain development, committed a social blunder by opening a new bottle of Clamato before the “in use” bottle was empty. These young kids these days. Personally, I don’t think he has cleared the hurdle of being a full fledged member of the Fieldpointe Brewing Society. Pretty sure he doesn’t have a Fieldpointe T as confirmation / affirmation so we will have to monitor this one and see how he matures.
Per usual, I try not to reinvent the wheel – just try to make it, well, more wheelier. Being a member of the prestigious American Homebrewers’ Association (AHA), I nabbed a Maibock recipe from the site and tweaked it to make it uniquely Fieldpointe.
The brew session went well. Nothing was forgotten and there was no “Hey! I wonder what would happen if …” Provided that Mark keeps his mitts off it, Maibock Monday should turn out swell. (They still use that word these days? Kinda makes me think of Leave it to Beaver.)
With all that, here is the makings of this year’s Spring Break special: Maibock Monday!
Grain
- 10 lb – Pilsner Malt
- 1 lb – Acidulated Malt
- 1 lb – Vienna Malt
- 1 lb – Crystal 40° L
Hops
- 1 oz – Hallertau @ 60 minutes
- 1 oz – Hallertau @ 15 minutes
- 1 oz – Hallertau @ Flameout
Yeast
- 1 packet – Lallemand Lager Yeast (Diamond)
Anticipated Analysis
- OG – 1.067
- FG – 1.017
- Color – 12 SRM
- IBU – 28
- ABV – 6.7%
Happy Maibock Monday!