Magnabrew's Hop Monastery (Belgian IPA)

Brew day today. It's been a real long time, but it's good to get back into it. My favorite beers are IPAs and Belgian Beers (Abbey Ales, Wit Ales, etc). I came across a recipe for a Belgian IPA, and I figured that I should master this (not officially a style of beer) genre. I liked the fact that the style is still under development, which allows me to experiment with it a little more - as seen by my derivation from the recipe I was trying to clone. Hopefully it will turn out alright!

Batch Size: ~3.00 gal (Did not sparge nearly enough)
Original Gravity: 1.079 SG (19% brix)
Sparge Gravity: 1.061 SG (15% brix)
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Mash Time: 90 Minutes
Target Temperature: 149 deg
Strike Water Volume: 3 gallons
Strike Temperature: 164 deg


Ingredients
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Grain

5.00 lb German Pilsner (1.7 SRM)
3.00 lb UK Golden Promise (2.4 - 3 SRM)
2.00 lb Belgian Pale Malt (3.2 SRM)
0.75 lb Organic Brown Sugar

Hops

1.00 oz Hallertauer, New Zealand [8.6%] (60 min)
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [2.0%] (20 min)
1.00 oz Saaz [5.8%] (20 min)
1.00 oz Tettnang [4.7%] (10 min)
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [2.0%] (5 min)

Yeast

Wyeast 1214 Belgian Ale Yeast Activator Pack

I currently have this sitting in the primary fermenter at a temperature of ~66 degrees. Now all I have to do is sit and wait for the yeast to do its work!

Awesome Solaris Bug!

Certain Solaris SPARC Systems may Experience 95 Year Time Jumps

Hey T.O, Welcome To Buffalo!

Quite a shock yesterday when I heard that T.O was signing with Buffalo. Last week when ESPN had a run through of all the teams that were not interested in him (with Miami and 49ers being the only ones who were interested) and I jokingly mentioned that this is the type of guy that the Bills need to pickup. The Bills never seem to pay these high profile guys, and tend to veer away from those with even the slightest of character issues. Sometimes overlooking "character" issues for the short term can allow for on field success, which the Bills desperately need.

I think this will be great for Lee Evans who will, for the first time, have a second receiver that can draw away some coverage from him. Marshawn and Fred Jackson should benefit from this as well. T.O is still a good player, regardless of his off field drama, and is definitely better than our current number 1, 2, and 3 WRs. I'm feeling pretty excited right now, but time will tell.