Breweries - Fountain Square Brewing Co. - Indianapolis, IN

Fountain Square Brewing Company was the last stop on our Indianapolis Brewery Tour (see bottom of post for list of breweries seen that day).  This brewery is new to the craft beer scene as it had its grand opening a week before we got there. You can still see they are getting their tap room and sitting area all set up, but I was not going to hold that against them at all. They had all of the beers you'd expect for a small craft brewery. A pale ale, an amber ale, a stout, a porter and so forth. All of the beer was really well done.

Here's a picture of the brewery...

There are a few more breweries in Indianpolis we'd like to see, but we had some time constraint this day. When we get back to those, I'll make sure to blog about it.

Indianapolis, IN Brewery Tour

Stop #1: Flat 12 Bierwierks

Stop #2: Sun King

Stop #3: Fountain Square

Breweries - Sun King Brewing Co. - Indianapolis, IN

The second stop on our Indianapolis brew tour day was Sun King Brewing Company. Many many folks think of Indianopolis and the local brewing scene they think of Sun King. Any by the amount of people in the brewery that day, the locals really enjoy it.

We were able to try out every beer (6 total) they had in their tap room. I was surprised that they didn't have anything really out there as far as styles or flavors that day. I know they have won some award for some outside the box stuff. They offered a lot of what I'd call "gateway" craft beers such as their "Sunlight Cream Ale" and popular "Osiris Pale Ale". They did have a beer they call "Malus Pi" that was made with locally grown crab apples.

Something I really liked about Sun King is that they can all of their beer and they self distribute. The self distribution limits their reach, but they are growing slowing and trying to expand to all 4 corners of Indiana.

After trying out the beers we had the chance to go on a brewery tour. Here are some pictures....

The Grain Mill

The canning line in the front with the fermenters in the background.

They use all rubber kegs in their company colors. They say they are lighter and stack much easier than its stainless steel counterpart.

The mash tun.

There are a few more breweries in Indianpolis we'd like to see, but we had some time constraint this day. When we get back to those, I'll make sure to blog about it.

Indianapolis, IN Brewery Tour

Stop #1: Flat 12 Bierwierks

Stop #2: Sun King

Stop #3: Fountain Square

Breweries - Flat 12 Bierwerks. - Indianapolis, IN

In the not so cold of winter, a buddy and I took a drive up to Indianapolis, Indiana and stopped by 3 of the local breweries. First stop was to Flat 12 Bierwerks. Though we didn't get in to see the brewery floor (they only give scheduled tours on Sunday's) we were able to try out a few of their beers in their tap room. They had a nice set up. Many of the styles that you'd expect from a small brewery. The beer that I found most unique was the Glazed Ham Porter. No, it didn't taste like ham, but it did have the caramel-ish flavor that you'd expect when you eat glazed ham.

For a "small" brewery off the beaten path, I'd give them a thumbs up and worth a try if you are ever in Indianapolis.

There are a few more breweries in Indianpolis we'd like to see, but we had some time constraint this day. When we get back to those, I'll make sure to blog about it.

Indianapolis, IN Brewery Tour

Stop #1: Flat 12 Bierwierks

Stop #2: Sun King

Stop #3: Fountain Square

Yes I have been Brewing Too

I was just noticing that it has been sometime since I've posted anything about actually brewing. Well I have been trying to brew around every 4 to 6 weeks. Since my last Brew Day post I've done an American Pale Ale, Robust Porter, Black IPA and the old staple Cream Ale (with a slight adjustment). I'm going to do another APA next. I always seem to do the Cream Ale and APA back to back because of trying to use up the small amount of hops in the Cream Ale. I pick up some grains and usually some Cascade and I'm good to go. For those interested, here are the recipes for

American Pale Ale
Cream Ale  - I wanted to get the adjuncts up to 20% so I adjusted the flaked corn to 1.75 lbs and the Crystal 10 to 0.50lbs to lighten the color.

Robust Porter
----------------
Batch Size (G):           5
Total Grain (lb):         13.500
Total Hops (oz):          2.00
Original Gravity (OG):    1.064  (°P): 15.7
Final Gravity (FG):       1.016  (°P): 4.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  6.29 %
Colour (SRM):             32.5 
Bitterness (IBU):         18.2   (Tinseth)
Boil Time (Minutes):      70

Grain Bill
----------------
10.000 lb Pale Malt
1.250 lb Crystal 40
1.250 lb Munich
0.750 lb Chocolate
0.250 lb Black Patent

Hop Bill
----------------
1.00 oz East Kent Golding Pellet (4.7% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes
0.50 oz East Kent Golding Pellet (4.7% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes
0.50 oz East Kent Golding Pellet (4.7% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes


Single step Infusion at 154°F for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 64°F with Wyeast 1056 - American Ale


Black IPA
----------------
Batch Size (G):           5
Total Grain (lb):         13.875
Total Hops (oz):          4.00
Original Gravity (OG):    1.074  (°P): 18.0
Final Gravity (FG):       1.015  (°P): 3.8
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  7.76 %
Colour (SRM):             28.2
Bitterness (IBU):         63.3   (Tinseth)
Boil Time (Minutes):      70

Grain Bill
----------------
11.000 lb American 2-Row (79.28%)
1.500 lb Crystal 10 (10.81%)
0.750 lb Carafa II malt (5.41%)
0.625 lb Special Roast (4.5%)

Hop Bill
----------------
1.00 oz Warrior Pellet (16.7% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
0.50 oz Cascade Pellet (6.4% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil)
0.50 oz Cascade Pellet (6.4% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
0.50 oz Cascade Pellet (6.4% Alpha) @ 2 Minutes (Boil)
0.75 oz Warrior Pellet (16.7% Alpha) @ 2 Minutes (Boil)
0.50 oz Cascade Pellet (6.4% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop)
0.25 oz Warrior Pellet (16% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop)

Single step Infusion at 150°F for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 65°F with Wyeast 1056 - American Ale
I dry hopped for the last 4 days that I had the beer in the fermenter.

Four Leaf Mash Paddle

Every gift I got for Christmas this year was beer related. I got a refractometer, a weldless fitting to convert a keg to a keggle and other miscellaneous stuff. But by far the coolest thing was my personalize mash paddle from my father-in-law. Its a 36" paddle made of unfinished maple. It has a nice long handle that would make stirring the mash a breeze. Can't wait to try it out in a few weekends.