#neverforget

The cooked oatmeal, ready to go



The grain selection



Focus on the chocolate malt



Grinder setup, with a load of grain to grind



Heating the water for the mash



Pot of grains, including the pale malts and the cooked oatmeal



Let the mash begin!



Steeping the roasted malts and grains on the left, mashing on the right



An early check of the specific gravity



Draining the wort from the mash. Look at that inky blackness



Close in on the wort, right before adding the molasses



After the sparge, heating for the protein break



60 minutes of hopping with the Cascade and Golden



30 minutes of hopping with the Hallertau



A final check on the specific gravity predicts up to 7-8% alcohol in this heady brew



My house smells delicious!!

I've been slacking.  Time to brew again. The beer quoted is drinking well so I want to do another big beer SMaSH. I am taking this coming Monday off and will brew then.

 

The process will be the same as above with a change in ingredients. Malt will be Light Munich. Hops, German Tradition (3oz). Yeast, Wyeast German Ale (1007). I pitched a starter last night.

 

I expect this to be a malt bomb, an Alt on steroids.

Bottled this up Friday. Lots of malt but those Tradition hops balanced it out nicely. Really pleased with this one. FG was 1.012 giving me 9.7% ABV.

I still have a few bottles.

 

That beer ended up being aged in a carboy surrounded by mud after my house was smote by the big landslide in 2010, just a short time after I brewed.

 

Just saw the pic recently of when we stopped by and tasted the Mud Aged Stout.  I do recall it was very, very tasty.

Short answer: there is no way to know.

I have heard of people using 2 habaneros for 5 gal. I have heard of people using 1. I have heard of people using a handful. Alcohol concentration can influence this as well.

Also, extraction is better with dried peppers.

Also, no reason to pre-hydrate. Just dump it in.

Also, don't add anything until after fermentation is complete. You can get some off flavors and can lose some of the adjunct character if you add prior to or during fermentation. Beers are always aged on these adjuncts, not fermented with them.

Also, don't add anything until after fermentation is complete. You can get some off flavors and can lose some of the adjunct character if you add prior to or during fermentation. Beers are always aged on these adjuncts, not fermented with them.

Not looking for an argument but this is contrary to my experience.  I've always added adjuncts (and hops) at flameout and am really pleased with the results that I get.  My theory is that because I take my time chilling the wort the adjuncts get a fair amount of steeping time.  Pre-steeping is just something that I thought of doing as an experiment, just to see what would happen if I extended the steeping time.  Anyway, in the spirit of sticking to what works for me, that's what I'll do.

Likely I will go with the two peppers, split in half.  I was debating between one and two.  While that may make it hotter than I would like, I've read nothing that says that this amount would make it undrinkable.  In the end, it's just a batch of beer.

And of course when the time comes I'll send you a bottle and let you be the judge.

I believe you have tasted a bottle of the version I did.

And of course when the time comes I'll send you a bottle and let you be the judge.

Yeah, for mine I dried them and lightly roasted them in a toaster oven.