Join Karen’s Wild Ales and learn how to brew wild and sour farmhouse ales. This class can take many formats and is very easy to customize. Classes are held in my brewery in Fleetwood, PA. I work with you to plan a custom schedule. Here is a general format: Week 1: Meet for 2 hours …
This class is available for private and group scheduling, at any time of year at my studio in Fleetwood, PA. FYI, I offer a large group course every October during the fresh apple harvest. This is a longer and more extensive course than the private class outlined here. Contact me to plan and schedule by …
In 2011, I sold Karen’s Botanicals, a plant-based herbal products company and I wanted to start a new business. I had been homebrewing for several years, the craft beer revolution was well under way, and I had fallen in love with the unique flavors being created by small, independent breweries. I changed the plant ingredients …
Even though there are no new posts here, I have been busy this year. We moved to a new home in Oley, PA in at the start of the year and I have a beautiful new brewhouse and ceramics studio. In the meantime, I have been teaching numerous courses on Ceramic Crock Making and Vegetable …
Potter’s Field: A collaboration with Hidden River Brewing Read More »
Here are notes from my presentation “Bottle Conditioning with Brettanomyces” given to The Bruclear Homebrew Club on February 3, 2016. It covers commercial examples, cell counts of commercial Brett packs, recommended numbers of cells to pitch for bottling, yeast variety characteristics, and troubleshooting. Bottle Conditioning with Brettanomyces
Here are notes from my presentation “Brewing Wild and Sour Ales 101” to the Berks County Homebrew Club, given on 9/13/2016. It covers all aspects of brewing with brett and bacteria including GABF and BJCP categories, historical examples, sanitation, and brewing techniques. Brewing Wild and Sour Ales 101: Berks County Homebrew Club 9/13/16 BJCP categories: …
In November of 2014, I purchased a 60 gallon oak barrel that had previously fermented red wine. In 3 back to back double brew days, I filled it with a rustic farmhouse ale- pils, lots of unmalted grains, and a little special B to match the hardiness of the red wine oak. The barrel was …
It’s ready! This is a farmhouse ale aged for 13 months, Solera style, in a 60 gallon red wine oak barrel. Teeming with brett varieties and pediococcus, the first pull is bottle conditioned, and ready to drink. Here’s hoping for many years of wild, wonderful fermentation.
Homebrew competition was held in Phoenixville, PA on November 14, 2015. It was a small competition with only 324 entries. But I won 1st and 3rd place in category #16E- Belgian Specialty. First place was for my Sour Saison, batch #57 and third place was for Bitter Saison with Brett (formerly know as White IPA …
Sour Saison #57, released in November, 2015. This is the beer that just won Gold at the Stoney Creek competition. It is our Rustic Saison base beer fermented with saison yeast, McKenzie dregs, and my own lactobacillus cultured from fresh raspberries. It is a tribute to Nate Walter and his care of the famous barrel …
kpalcho@gmail.com | (610) 389-8316 | Fleetwood, PA
Serving the greater Philadelphia and Reading, PA regions
All photos courtesy of Karen