IPA and other stuff

I recently kicked the first keg of the IPA I brewed in november. Turned out to be great, really smooth bitterness. And the aroma of the big hop additions (amarillo) were really nice as well. A friend of mine told me it smelled like really good pot. I guess thats a good thing.

Also I helped some friends brew 10 gallons of a Helles style lager over the holidays. Heres a few photos.

He wanted to mash hop, so heres the mash with 8 oz. of Brewers Gold (grown on-site).

Heres my buddy Nate getting a whiff of the mash.

This is our host, Chris, Head Brewer (and farmer) at Valley Farms Brewing Co.

It was cold, and it being a farm and all, we used the stuff we had to keep the mash temp up. Its under there somewhere.

Nate lives in Syracuse, and brought us over some beer from Middle Ages Brewing. I believe this was a scotch porter. Heres me and Nate enjoying a brew.

I had to head out before things got finished up. But we may have overdone the mash hops. We'll see. Cheers.