Feeling the growl again
You tasted my home brew. The least that I could do is taste your homemade wine. Sure.
Deal. Heck, if the box is big enough I will throw in a full bottle of white wine being bottled Sunday.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
Will Crew for Beer
I would not mind some of that myself...Upland big sours like this are lottery + allocation, typically however.
The Monkey Man is correct.
http://uplandsours.eventbrite.com/
Rule number one of a gunfight, bring a gun. Rule number two of a gunfight, bring friends with guns.
Prince of Fatness
Just bottled up a Maris Otter / Cascade SMaSH last night. Cascade is a lower alpha hop, so this one came out a little more on the maltier side. That's fine with me as I think that MO is my favorite base malt.
I will be brewing another stove top batch next week. It is time for a saison. Looking for something dry and spicy.
4 lb pilsner malt
1 lb rye malt
.5 oz US Tettnang hops 60 minutes (~6% AA)
.5 oz lime zest
.5 oz coarsely ground peppercorns
Add the lime zest and peppercorns late in the boil (haven't decided quite when yet)
Wyeast 3711 French Saison yeast
Mash 148 degrees for an hour, boil 80 minutes. Start fermentation in the mid 60s and ramp it up to the 70s in a day or so. That will give some good saison flavor. Package after 3 weeks or so.
My experience with this yeast is that it is a beast. Last saison I brewed with it fermented down to 1.000.
Should be a fun experiment.
Not at it at all.
My son in law came over last night and we bottled up the Mother's Milk Stout. OG 1.059, FG 1.023. This will be a sweet 4.75% stout. The higher FG does not worry me considering the half pound of lactose that I added during the boil. No cards designed yet but the due date is late June so there is still time.
My son in law came over last night and we bottled up the Mother's Milk Stout. OG 1.059, FG 1.023. This will be a sweet 4.75% stout. The higher FG does not worry me considering the half pound of lactose that I added during the boil.
No cards designed yet but the due date is late June so there is still time.
My little granddaughter was born Sunday! Mom and baby are doing well. That means that I need to deliver the Mother's Milk Stouts (came out tasty btw). My wife made out the tags for the bottles last week.
Congrats!!
+1. Enjoy (and not just the beer).
Thanks. Tags were nothing real fancy but they got the job done. There is a pic in my untappd check in.
https://untappd.com/user/MrFinn/checkin/35761042
Adding potatoes to the mash
Saturday is Potato Brew 2013. I won't be using these Purple Majesty's however. Probably Yukon Golds.
I will be brewing another stove top batch next week. It is time for a saison. Looking for something dry and spicy. 4 lb pilsner malt 1 lb rye malt .5 oz US Tettnang hops 60 minutes (~6% AA) .5 oz lime zest .5 oz coarsely ground peppercorns Add the lime zest and peppercorns late in the boil (haven't decided quite when yet) Wyeast 3711 French Saison yeast Mash 148 degrees for an hour, boil 80 minutes. Start fermentation in the mid 60s and ramp it up to the 70s in a day or so. That will give some good saison flavor. Package after 3 weeks or so.
I just got done bottling. This came out really nice. I think that I got the lime and the peppercorns just about right. I added them with about a minute left in the boil. I use an ice bath so they steeped in there while the wort chilled. You get a nice lime taste up front. The peppercorns come last, and the heat lingers. Tasty. That French Saison yeast got it down to 1.002. Nice.
Save one for me.
This thread is like my own personal brewing log. Heh.
The Lime Peppercorn Rye Saison came out real nice. I may have to brew that one again some day. Some nice lime and yeasty flavors complimented by the rye and peppercorns.
Potato cream ale was bottled last week. ~4.75% ABV. Sample tasted great. This should be a nice session beer.
Fermenting is a 2-Row / Sorachi Ace SMaSH. Can't wait to taste those hops.
I went to the LHBS and bought some oak cubes. Next up I am going to brew a small batch of a Belgian Tripel. After primary fermentation I will rack a gallon of the wort on top of some oak cubes that have been soaked in bourbon (Makers Mark is what I have on hand) and bottle the rest. I will use a quarter ounce of cubes. The guy at the LHBS said that an ounce per 5 gallons for a tripel would be good, so I figure a quarter ounce for a gallon. After 6 weeks I will take a taste and go from there. I could throw the bourbon in with the cubes but I do not think that I will. Not looking for a ton of bourbon flavor. This will give me a chance to compare oaked and unoaked versions of the same beer.
I think both your oak amount and soak time are going to be within the range. The bourbon flavor is a wildcard; how long are you giving the cubes to absorb the bourbon before you add them? I have never seen how wide across they are, for wine I have always used chips because they are easier to find and easier to wash out of the carbuoy.
The bourbon flavor is a wildcard; how long are you giving the cubes to absorb the bourbon before you add them? I have never seen how wide across they are, for wine I have always used chips because they are easier to find and easier to wash out of the carbuoy.
The cubes are not that big, about pea size or so. Should be easy to rinse them out of the carboy.
I did some research and if I really want to get a lot of bourbon I would just add bourbon to the secondary. I don't want that so I will drain the bourbon and just rack on top of the soaked cubes. I figure that I can soak the cubes while the beer is in the primary, about 3 weeks. I really just want to mimic bourbon barrel aging as best that I can.
I went with cubes over chips because everything that I have read says that cubes offer more complex flavors when compared to the chips. Also because they are thicker, I will want to age the beer on the cubes longer than the chips. I got the medium toasted cubes. Here is an article that explains it well.
http://byo.com/stories/item/1187-oak-alternatives
The cubes are not that big, about pea size or so. Should be easy to rinse them out of the carboy. I did some research and if I really want to get a lot of bourbon I would just add bourbon to the secondary. I don't want that so I will drain the bourbon and just rack on top of the soaked cubes. I figure that I can soak the cubes while the beer is in the primary, about 3 weeks. I really just want to mimic bourbon barrel aging as best that I can. I went with cubes over chips because everything that I have read says that cubes offer more complex flavors when compared to the chips. Also because they are thicker, I will want to age the beer on the cubes longer than the chips. I got the medium toasted cubes. Here is an article that explains it well. http://byo.com/stories/item/1187-oak-alternatives
I agree that cubes area a good choice, especially since you are soaking them in something and not just extracting the oak flavor. I am sure I will "move up" and try them in another year or so. First I am making sure I am getting exactly what I want with chips and working from an educated base. One has to be careful and take incremental steps when you only get one shot per year.
Spirals are intriguing, but probably more appropriate for wine than beer unless you are willing to age on it quite awhile.
First I am making sure I am getting exactly what I want with chips and working from an educated base. One has to be careful and take incremental steps when you only get one shot per year.
Yeah that's why I am only doing this with a gallon of beer. Not much risk really. Not much beer. Just sets me back a couple of months but I can try again right away.
Assuming that this gives me a good idea of how to do this my plan is to brew a 5 gallon batch Strong Scottish Ale and aging that on some oak cubes soaked in scotch. Most of the barrel aged beers are bourbon so I figure scotch would be something different.
The only thing that I will need to watch going forward is the style of beer. A heavy dark beer such as a stout would probably require more cubes to get the flavors that I want.