Batch #125 - Summer Pale Ale

I admit that I'm a fan of bicycle road racing, and this July is the 99th annual Tour de France.  I'll catch up on my sleep in August!  Last year, British rider Bradley Wiggins crashed out of the Tour, but this year he came back with a well trained Team Sky, including great British riders Chris Froome and Mark Cavendish, to not only win the overall race, but to make history as the first British team to win this prestigious Bike race.  On Saturday July 28, they will race again in the London Olympics, hoping for a 2012 sweep of the best prizes in bicycle racing. Go Team Sky!
Summer must have at least one Batch of Pale Ale, and this is the first one.  Before the Summer gets away from us, I'll have to brew another!

MT

Batch #104 - American Strong Ale

Okay, perhaps I'm over-simplifying things a bit, by brewing with simple grains, just half a 50# sack of two-row malted barley, with a pile of Sterling leaf hops, and a strong American Ale Yeast, for a 10-gallon batch of beer.  Sort of like making Big Music with a three piece band.  My starting gravity came in at 1.078 for this ale, and the finish gravity at bottling time was 1.010, which resulted in an alcohol by volume of over 10%.

Well, here's a toast to my hero, Lance Armstrong, inspiration to athletes and cancer patients all over the world, as he rides in the Tour de France this July.  Ride safely, and we'll all look forward to seeing you on the podium in Paris.  Go Lance!

84 bottles, 1 mini-keg minted Saturday, June 26.

Postscript, Sunday July 11: Lance Armstrong had a very bad day riding Stage 8, suffering three crashes and falling back to 13 minutes behind the leader.  Lance told the press today that this tour is finished for him, but that he will continue to ride for his team.  My admiration for the man gets stronger still.