Had enough of winter yet? Starting to rant and rave, or at least get a little bit cranky? Let’s face it, when you see dogs stuck to fire hydrants, while on the way to work in the morning, you have to ask yourself “What am I doing out here when I could be at home brewing”. The confinement brought on by the dark and cold of winter has a strange and unsettling effect on people living in northern climates and the effects of the elements have often led normal, rational folks down the path to strange, inexplicable behavior. A term that comes to mind is cabin crazy.

The dead of winter is the time when I usually brew my Lager. Certain corners of my humble hovel lend themselves very nicely to storing full carboys at lager temperatures. I have gotten into the routine of starting a yeast culture and giving it a little boost by introducing it to a half pound of malt extract in a growler a couple of days before brewing. This causes the yeast to begin to multiply and when it is added to a freshly brewed, five-gallon batch of wort, the results are immediate (usually just a few hours). After the initial batch of brew has fermented for a week, I rack it into the secondary fermenter and reuse the yeast. I often brew a double batch to fill my 16.5-gallon fermenter. When the big barrel is full, I transfer the first batch to a carboy and add the leftover yeast to the new batch. Once again, fermentation begins quickly. I have already done a couple of big batches of Brown Ale and Old Ale this winter with good results, so I decided to try my luck with some Lager.

I got my hands on a smack-pack of my favorite Lager yeast, #2124 Bohemian Lager and did the usual yeast starter. I brewed my usual Pilsner recipe, using 6 pounds of Extra-Light DME and 4 ounces of Saaz hop pellets. The Pilsner fermented out nicely and I decided to use up the rest of the Light Malt extract that I had left from a 33 lb jerry-pack to do a big batch. Up until this point, my big batches had yielded about 11-12 gallons when I transferred the contents of the primary fermenter to carboys. I blame the mid-winter confinement for my deciding to push the envelope a little to see if I could get a 14-15 gallon yield out of the big vessel. I did 2 boils, using up the remaining 21 lbs of Malt and threw in 3 lbs. of honey for good measure. 4 ozs. of Galena and 4 ozs. of Saaz hop pellets went into the pot. I filled the big bucket and topped it off at just over 14 gallons, added the yeast from the Pilsner, cleaned my equipment and went to bed.

The next morning, the airlock was bubbling rapidly and I confidently left on a 2-day road trip. When I returned on Friday evening, I stopped to see my landlord to pay the rent and collect my mail. I am sure you have all heard some family legend about the time that Grandpa tried to make some type of contraband alcohol with disastrous, explosive results. It was deja vu all over again as my wide-eyed landlord told me of the carnage awaiting me upstairs! “I heard it from way down here” he said. “I thought it was the furnace, and when I went up to check, that big bucket in your kitchen was spewing foam like a fire hydrant”. I dashed upstairs, expecting the worst and it did take me several minutes to find where the airlock had landed. The remains of mummified trub liberally decorated my kitchen cabinets and floor. The beer however had settled down and when I replaced the airlock, continued to bubble away in a lively fashion.

I cleaned up the resulting mess and took stock of the situation. Besides a bit of a mess, I think that the beer will be salvageable. It is still giving an occasional burp from the airlock several days later. And fortunately, no one was injured. If all goes well, this incident will pass on into family folklore and my “Old Faithful Lager” will fare well with the judges at this year’s 10th Annual Littleton Homebrew Competition on March 27th. Be there or be square! Until next time, HAPPY HOMEBREWING! And don’t forget to duck and cover.