Yesterday I kegged up the beer to be served at Steve and Jane’s wedding reception, five gallons of the Spitfire Ale clone.  I didn’t dry hop this keg, as I think the First Gold dry hops in the other half gave it a hoppiness that didn’t fit with the recipe.  The sample of this half was good without any dry hop, and it had a final gravity of 1.012, 4.6% ABV.

Today Steve and I kegged up the last carboy of Simcoe IPA, brewed back in August 2007.  The keg of Simcoe currently on tap is getting very low, so this is ready now, dry-hopped with an ounce of Simcoe.  Final gravity was 1.016, down from 1.019 when it was rack to the secondary.  The sample was less hoppy than the current keg, with a caramelly maltiness.  The dry hop should punch up the hop character a bit.

We also worked on setting up a portable draft tower for serving the beer at the wedding reception.  We will use a Ventmatic faucet mounted on the wooden tower and clamped either to a table or to the corny keg itself.