Mehukas Pilot Batch Batch: 15 gallons Yeast: Omega West Coast Ale OG: 1.04 FG: Water: Vermont spring Grain Bill: Rahr Pilsner – 99% – 28lbs Weyermann Aciduated – 1% – 4Oz Hop Schedule: Azacca  4.8oz @ 0min Mosaic  4.8oz @ 0min Azacca  8oz @ 3d dry Mosaic  8oz @ 3d dry   Notes: We split the batch into 3… 1) Omega West Coast Ale 2) Omega WC Ale but with an oz on hop hash

Vermont Hop Project (1/3)American Style Kolsch American Style Kolsch We released over the weekend our first of three Vermont Hop Project brews, a series of single hopped beers from 12 Vermont breweries made entirely with Vermont grown hops. For this first release we used Crystal hops and combined them with traditional German ingredients for a Kolsch style ale. Crisp & malty to get the Spring started right! Kolsch is one of only 2 German styles of

Green Stand #1 The brew Green Stand single IPA was made with American Pilsner malt & a touch of White Wheat to soften up the body. Exclusively hopped with Citra from the Yakima Valley for light bitterness and a heavy dose of flavor and aroma. Drinks like a Pilsner, with the flavor of an IPA! Available throughout Ludlow & Killington, VT. Tasting notes Appearance: Good level of haze, no sediment in the can, good head

Green Stand #2, now with hops from the 802 Pilot batch – Green Stand #2 We shook up the Green Stand for batch number 2 by scaling down the Citra from 100% to 50% and adding 25% each of Vermont grown Cascade and Chinook from the fine folks at Champlain Valley Hops. In addition to tropical fruit / mango from the Citra, the Cascade & Chinook add a bit of citrus bite. We think you’re

Dry Hopped Italian Pilsner Batch: 15 gallons Yeast: 2124 Lager Water: Belmont well Grain Bill: Weyermann Pilsner – 99% – 26.4lbs Weyermann CaraMunich – 1.0% – 4.2oz Hop Schedule: Northern Brewer  2.1oz @ 75min Perle  0.9oz @ 45 min Spalter Select  1.5oz @ 0 min Saphir  0.75oz @ 0 min Spalter Select  1.5oz @ dry Saphir  0.75oz @ dry Notes We used our home grown Spalter Select hops in this one. Big harvest this year

Vermont IPA Batch: 15 gallons Yeast: Omega DIPA & West Coast Ale OG: 1.05 FG: 1. Water: Vermont spring Grain Bill: Breiss Pilsen – 92.9% – 26lbs Rahr White Wheat – 5.4% – 1.5lbs Weyermann Aciduated – 1.8% – 0.5lbs Hop Schedule: Citra  3oz @ 60min Citra  5oz @ 0 min Citra  10oz @ dry Notes: We were shooting for a OF of 1.055 so will add more grain next time.Mash started at 150f but

Hops   We have been growing Spalter Select and Styrian Golding hops for several years and this year planted a row of Cascade, Centennial & Mt. Hood. Here are the sensory descriptions of each when grown at 2,000 ft in Vermont! Spalter Select: Styrian Golding: Cascade: Centennial: Mt. Hood: Our hop yard LEFT – Mt. Hood (4) / Centennial (4) / Cascade (4) – RIGHT Spalter Select and Styrian Golding grow spearatly at the house!

American Pilsner Batch: 15 gallons Yeast: WYeast 2124 OG: 1.044 FG: Water: Vermont spring Grain Bill: Weyermann Pilsner – 88% – 23.76lbs Rahr 6-row – 5% – 1.35lbs Flaked Corn – 5% – 1.35lbs Weyermann Aciduated – 2% – 0.54lbs Hop Schedule: Mount Hood  4oz @ 50min Mount Hood  4oz @ 5min Mount Hood  4oz @ 0min Notes: Boiled 75 min vs 60 last time Mashed at 150f Dry hopped starting at fermentation with 0.5oz

American Pilsner Batch: 15 gallons Yeast: WYeast 2124 OG: 1.044 FG: 1.012 Water: Vermont spring Grain Bill: Weyermann Pilsner – 88% – 23.76lbs Rahr 6-row – 5% – 1.35lbs Flaked Corn – 5% – 1.35lbs Weyermann Aciduated – 2% – 0.54lbs Hop Schedule: Mount Hood  4oz @ 50min Mount Hood  4oz @ 5min Mount Hood  4oz @ 0min Notes: Mashed at 150f Fermented in the 40’s, strong sulfur production 5 days in, strong foamy krausen

Belmont Lager Dec19 Recipe December 23, 2019 15 gallons of wort MaltWeyermann Pilsner – 26 lbs – 97%Weyermann Aciduated – 0.5 lbs – 2%Weyermann Carabohemian – 0.3 lbs – 1% Hops50 min – Spalter Select – 6.7oz Process & Fermentation10 min decoction 148 mash FermentationWyeast 2124 Lager – 1 gallon batch was used to grow pitch of yeast. Pitched at 60f Omega C2C Saison – 5 gallon batch w no starter. Pitched at 55f and then raised to 64f NotesExtremely windy outside so

Cider Dec19 Notes We measured OG 3 times: 1) 1.059 2) 1.062 3) 1.054 We filled 3 carboys. They received either champagne yeast or wild yeast which was collected from a sweet cider bought at the Notting Hill farmers market. Fermented at 55 degrees. 5 gallons fermented with champagne yeast received 1 oz  of French medium+ oak cubes and approximately a pint glass of freshly pressed wine that was partly fermented. Tasting Notes The wild

Wine 2019 Mash & Sparge Historical harvest datesSep 8, 201318 brixSep 13, 201415 brixSep 8, 201517 brixSep 12-18, 201613 brixSep 24-30, 201715 brixSep 19, 201813 brix Sep 22-30 2019 12 brix Notes We fermented with 1) D254, 2) Bordeaux Red Wine Yeast & 3) MT Red Wine Yeast. #2 & #3 did not start fermenting so a Syrah yeast was added to #3. Still did not start fermenting so #1 was scooped out & added

Kevin’s Beer Recipe We brewed up a batch of Kevin’s Beer with wheat malt (not rye). We stuck to the recipe until flameout where we added an extra 0.6 oz of Styrian Golding hops. We fermented using three separate Norwegian kveik’s; #1, #2, and a sample of kevin I collected from Sjur in Voss. Fermentation We pitched at 95 degrees F and fermented at 90 degrees. Fermentation was complete in about 48 hours with a

Our Process Mash & Sparge We mash with 10 gallons of water and sparge with 12 gallons. Our string water is heated to 160 f, the addition of room temperature grain is important so that we hit our target 150 f. After 50 minutes we scoop out the majority of our grain and boil it separately for a five minute decoction. We do this for all of our light beers to give it a toasty

Norwegian Farmhouse Brewing History Historically, every farmer in Voss would make their own beer. Every farmer had a dedicated brew house which resembles a Finnish savu sauna (smoke sauna). When the beer was ready on the fourth day the farmer and his neighbors would gather in the dark and smokey brew house to drink the uncarbonated, warm and yeasty beer. This gathering was typically a time for only the boys to gather. Some farmers produced their

Pilsner About Over the weekend we brewed our pilsner recipe. This was the second batch on our new half barrel setup and the process went much better than the first. We kept the grain indoors overnight so the drop in temperature of our strike water was only 10 degrees, not 15. The mash stabilized around 150 so we expect this batch to attenuate very nicely.     The batch was split so that 10 gallons was

Water The water we brew with at Mount Holly Beer Co. is sourced from a well or spring, depending on the season. Mineral content is low with allows us to brew the malty light colored beers we are known for. Filtered Water Unfiltered Water Spring Water

Recipes

2018 Cider This year we made 17 gallons of late season cider which slightly dehydrated in storage, resulting in a a very sweet juice We fermented 5 gallons with BA2 wine yeast and 10 gallons with Premier Curvie champagne yeast. The champagne yeast begaen fermentation on a half zip lock bag of fermented and pressed marquette grape skins and then racked to secondary after a week.

Pilsner V3 December 2018 Batch size: 15 gallons Water9 gallons mash13 gallons sparge Fermentables26 lbs Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner Malt8.4 oz Weyerman Aciduated Malt8 oz Weyermann CaraBohemian Malt 75°L HopsSimcoe 13.7% AASpalter Select The Boil – 80 min 50 minutes:Simcoe 0.66 ozSpalter Select 3.0 oz 10 minutes:Simcoe 0.44 ozSpalter Select 2.25 oz 2 minutes:Simcoe 0.22 ozSpalter Select 1.5 oz After flameout:Simcoe 0.7 ozSpalter Select 1.5 oz YeastSaflager W-34/70 Lager Dry Yeast (fermented at 50 degrees)lallemand Belle Saison

Wine 2018 Historical harvest datesSep 8, 201318 brixSep 13, 201415 brixSep 8, 201517 brixSep 12-18, 201613 brixSep 24-30, 201715 brixSep 19, 201813 brix This years harvest went swimmingly despite a very rainy summer which continued into September. We encountered minor shrinkage due to a turkey infestation but managed to harvest about 16 gallons from our vineyard and 6 gallons from our neighbors vineyard in between rain showers. Brix values might have suffered a bit due to

June 9, 2018 Batch size: 10 gallons Fermentables 17 lbs Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner Malt 5.6 oz Weyerman Aciduated Malt 6 oz Weyermann CaraBohemian Malt 75°L Hops Hallertau 4.0 AA Spalter Select The Boil 50 minutes: Hallertau 1.5 oz Spalter Select 2.0 oz 10 minutes: Hallertau 1.0 oz Spalter Select 1.5 oz 2 minutes: Hallertau 0.5 oz Spalter Select 1.0 oz After flameout: Spalter Select 0.7 oz Yeast Saflager W-34/70 Lager Dry Yeast (fermented at 50

2017 Cidre Cider We are always keeping things fresh at Camp David and this year is no exception. After years of fermenting a mostly neutral cider with champagne yeast we decided to experiment with with a yeast from Portugal and the addition of new oak. We made about 45 gallons. That’s 1,703 deciliters. Yeast In addition to our usual Red Star and Lavin champagne yeasts we introduced BA11 wine yeast to about 14 gallons of

It is safe to say that 2016 brought its fair share of “champagne problems”. We produced 26.5 gallons of wine this year, up from 6 gallons in 2015. It may seem bizarre to be disappointed with a 5x increase in volume. This uncontrolled increase however results in an inconsistent ripening throughout the vineyard. Our measured brix of 13 is the lowest since we began keeping records in 2013! What seemed like an endless grape harvest this year is likely due

Cider Legend has it that Johnny Appleseed was a Bible wielding, apple seed dealing man who traveled around the US planting apple orchards in rural areas. We took advantage of Johnny’s labors and the season this year to made 60 gallons of hard cider. Our cidery produces dry, champagne like ciders. To achieve this we employ champagne yeast, both Lavin ec-1118 and Red Star Premier Cuvee are ones we like. After crushing and juicing, fermentation

Wheat Beer Wheat Beer A wheat beer is a great style to have regularly featured on even the most ambitious of brewing schedules. It is a style that lends itself to be brewed with either tradition in mind or experimentation, particularly with the addition of fruit. Today we stick with tradition and brew a traditional wheat beer similar to those found in Bavaria. Recipe Batch Size: 10 gallons The Ingredients Grain Selection 8.5lbs Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner

A visit to a German beer tap manufacturer The city of Düsseldorf is internationally known as the home of the Alt beer, a traditional ale style that has survived hundreds of years despite being in the heart of global lager production. Today I visited Düsseldorf and CMB Schankanlagen, a family owned business that is in the business of beer tap manufacturing. Hopefully we will get the chance to sample a few Alt beers as well!

A brewing rig will make life a lot easier on brew day. In this post we show you how we made ours. Our brew rig is a three tier system which means that each step of the brewing process (mash, sparge and boil) is done at a different height. This let’s you use gravity instead of pumps as you transition from one stage to the next. When drawing up the plans for our brew rig

In this post we outline three steps to help you convert a chest freezer into a keezer (a chest freezer for kegs). Step One: get your hands on a chest freezer All keezers begin their life as a standard chest freezer. The most important thing to consider before buying your chest freezer is to determine how many kegs you will want to have on hand at one time. We recommend a minimum of 2 kegs

Budweiser ruined it and the craft movement overlooked it. In this post we bring it back to the basics and show you some practical techniques to help you brew a traditional pilsner. It really comes down to two things: high quality ingredients and brewing process. While other beer styles are largely focused on arranging a more complex selection of grains and hops to achieve a unique flavor, the pilsner strives for refinement through simplicity. Simplicity does not mean