Bottle Time 8/26/2012

Bottled the breakfast Stout and the Mock Octoberfest today.  Bottling went pretty well and I had some partials to hold as samples and check carbonation. Getting the itch to put something in the fermenter, but can't decide what to brew next.

All grain mock octoberfest

Notes for Waber: brewed 8/3/2012 og 1.042 too much water in mash. Boil off wasn't as much as I wanted. Pitched on notty yeast cake from AG nut brown. Fermenter in 60 degree water bath

Busy day - stout and nut brown

Brewed another round if breakfast stout. Just waiting for it to get to temp so I can pitch my yeast.

Also bottled the all grain nut brown.  Now the long wait while it carbonates. 

Brewing on the new patio is a lot nicer than brewing in the driveway. Its a lot easier to move around and the shade is awesome.

Green's Gluten Free Dubbel Dark Ale

Product of Belgium. First thought was Belgium is known for some good funky beers. This isn't one. I think it suffered from low turnover and long transport. It could be the sorghum or it could be the transport but it had a distinctive twang that I couldn't get past.

The dark dubbel description was accurate. Nice dark brown color, high carbonation and 7% abv.  Had it not had the off taste, it would have been 7/10 as it was 3/10.

Barley Island

Friend Tyler and I went to Barley Island in Noblesville on Monday.  We had a great time. Beer was good and so was the food. I did a 9 beer tasting and really enjoyed the Old Ale. All the beers were well made and pretty yummy. The casked barleywine was especially fruity.
Ty and I both decided we would be going back for another visit.

Crazy Fun Beer Weekend

It's been a beer week here in Indianapolis. Indiana Brewers Cup results were last weekend.  This weekend is the beer bloggers convention, and Indiana Microbrew Fest.  I was not involved in the bloggers convention, but found a bunch of new people to follow on twitter.

Personally, I was able to attend 2 events.  Kahn's Fine Wine and Spirits had an Indiana beer tasting open to the public on Friday night.  As it's just a few blocks  from the house, I was able to head over on Friday night and try some local craft beers.  I was pretty selective and didn't stray outside my comfort zone.  Everything was wonderful

Beers I tried Friday
Upland - Nut Hugger Brown
Sun King - Cream Ale
Flat 12 - Pogue's Run Porter - Awesome - Must find and buy
Shoreline  - Imperial Raspberry

Saturday was Indiana Microbrew Fest

Thanks to Amy and Ty for the tickets.  Unfortunately They unable to attend, so he and Amy gifted both tickets to me.  I was able to take Cousin Ben and we had a great time.

Bob from Monarch / World Class Beverage had put the word out that World Class needed some volunteers to help out at some of the booths.  Since Ben was also meeting several of his friends there, I left him in good company and headed off to help out with World Class.  I was assigned to the Rivertown booth were I got to spend a couple hours meeting people and pouring some great beer.

I was between Schlafly and Atwater Brewing and got to know some of the guys from there as well.  Everyone was super friendly and great to talk with.  Also in my row were Bell's Victory, and BBC.

Beers I tried Saturday
Sat:
Barley Island - Nickleplate Apricot Wheat, Dirty Helen
Figure 8 - Northern England Nut Brown Ale
Atwater Brewing - Dirty Blonde, Helles Lager, Voodoo Vater Dopplebock, Cherry Wheat
Rivertown - Helles Lager, Roebling Imperial Robust Porter, Unit 6 American Hefewizen, Jenneke Belgian Blonda Ale
Schlafly - Kolsh, American IPA, Yakima Hoppy Wheat

Just an awesome day all around.  Loved meeting people, loved pouring beer, loved talking to the brewery people about beer.  If you have a chance to go, attend Indiana Microbrew Fest.

 Personal Top 5 for the weekend
Flat 12 - Pogue's Run Porter
Atwater - Voodoo Vater Dopplebock
Schlafly - Yakima Hoppy Wheat
Barley Island  - Nickleplate Apricot Wheat
Rivertown - Roebling Imperial Robust Porter

My Reward

This is what you get when you work all weekend outside around my house.  One of my homebrew vanilla oatmeal stouts + a great honking scoop of ice cream.

Best, dessert ever.

Sam Adams Cinder Bock

This is a good beer.  I must be predisposed to the Bock style, because this one really floats my boat. Nice amber brown color and some really good caramel and toffee notes.  Malty without being overly hoppy I believe it to be well balanced.  Feels like it has a decent viscosity in the mouth.

Its supposed to be a rauchbock, but honestly it's fairly mild. I can't pick out the smoked flavors. Of course I'm having it with lunch which includes a sandwich which features home smoked pastrami so it may just be overpowered.  The label lists it at 9.4% ABV.  Certainly it has some kick, but doesn't seem to have any alcohol bite or taste.

The label on the back of the bottle lists it as batch #1.  This is one I would buy again and would try to emulate. However, I don't have a lagering setup, so I guess I'll just have to buy it. 

Hobgoblin Dark English Ale

500ml bottle poured nicely with a short head that retained nicely. Beautiful brown color. Low carbonation and pretty malty. Unusual twang and aftertaste. On the viscous side and slightly chewy in the mouth.
I think I'd really enjoy this if it wasn't for the twang.  Its really distracting and I find myself reaching for some peanuts to get the taste out of my mouth. I may try this again to see if it is just an off bottle. If it is inherent to the beer though I'd say no thanks. 

Scottish Ale - revisited

Well after being bottled for almost 5 months, my Scottish ale isn't doing so well.  Its lost almost all it's flavor.  It's generically malty and not hoppy at all.  Carbonation is very nice and  1/8" head remains even after 2/3rds of the glass is gone.   It's not bad in any way, it's just not really great anymore.  It is simply beer.

I have about 6 or so bottles left, so I'll finish those off and move on to something else.  The honey wheat seemed to be well received last night.  I'd like to give that one another try with some slight variations.

Newcastle Mini Keg

I like Newcastle beer.  It's nice and malty and really fits the flavor profile I enjoy.  The problem, they ship it in clear bottles and it skunks really quickly.  Therefore, I only order it on draft.  Most of the time that works out pretty well.

About a month ago I found a 5L mini keg with integrated CO2 at the grocery store.  Price was a little high, but because it's in steel, it shouldn't be light oxidized.  It was great.  So convienient to just pour a glass whenever and it tasted fresh and wonderful.  A resounding success.

Last week, I made a beer run, stopped in the local liqour store where they have a good selection and what do I see on the bottom shelf?  That's right, a cold Newcastle 5L mini keg and it's $5 cheaper than it was warm at the grocery store.  Boom, in my cart.

Tapped it last night.  I am so dissapointed.  It must have been improperly stored at some time.  It's off.  It doesn't taste fresh and has some wet cardboard smell / flavor going.  Once again I'm going to have to get  away from purchasing Newcastle unless its on tap.  I'm so very sad.

I guess this means that I'm going to have to brew my own.  The English mild I brewed is actually pretty similar in flavor.  I'm sure a couple tweaks and some research and I could find a decent clone recipe.  Seems a shame though. It's good beer when it leaves the brewery. Too bad that some retailers can't store beer in a way to help it continue to taste good.

6/3/2012

Gravity was down to 1.009 so I bottled it up.  8 oz DME in 2 cups of boiling water for carbonation sugar, into bottle.  26 of the 12 oz bottles, 16 of the 16 oz flip tops and one bomber.  It tasted just ok out of the fermenter, but I should mellow a little after bottle conditioning.

Brew Day - Honey Wheat 5/24/2012

Another kit from the LHBS.  How lucky I am to have Great Fermentations close by.  10 am I decided it was a good day to brew, 11:00 am picked up a kit, 3:30 I was cleaned up and pitching yeast.  It really doesn't get much easier than that.

I also replaced the regulator on my jet burner that I use in the driveway.  Holy smokes, it throws some heat now.  Granted it was a 90 degree day, but I was up to a full boil with 5 gallons in less than 1/2 hour.  I was also able for the first time to maintain a vigorous boil and had to back of the heat a bit a couple times.

This is also the first time I've done a full 5 gallon boil.  Its a lot easier to get a boil over in a 7 gallon pot with 5 gallons of wort than it was with 3.

Honey wheat kit - pretty simple kit really.  I backed off the boil times to reduce the hoppiness and added orange peel to make it a little closer to blue moon.  I'm looking for something to keep really cold while it's so hot outside and my english mild isn't meant to be served that cold.

I hit my OG pretty well and the yeast took off quickly.  Activity in the airlock within 5 hours and a full krausen within 15 hours.  Very vigorous fermentation.  Wheat beers are supposed to finish quickly so we'll see how long this one takes.  I may carbonate upstairs to get a little quicker finish than the 6 weeks it's been taking in the basement.

Boulevard Smokestack Series - Dark Truth

Pours nice and dark with a deep tan head.  I used a gentle pour and got a small amount of foam which dissipated fairly quickly. That's good in my book. Nicely roasted dark grains with no burnt taste.  Very little hop flavor.  I find that to be a good thing as well.  The malts are roasted enough that there is just a hint of sweetness.

This is a pretty big beer.  Very low alcohol taste, but a whopping 9.7% ABV. I'm not sure if that puts it into imperial range or not.  It doesn't have the smooth mouth feel of Guinness on nitro, but if I had to choose, I'd pick the Dark Truth. Guinness is so bitter that I can really only enjoy about 1 per year.  I could drink this one once a month.  I'm really not a stout guy.

I should have waited until dinner to drink this one.  I just came in from doing yard work and I only had this, an IPA and my pumpkin ale cold. I probably should have chosen the IPA, as in my mind stouts need a little something to go with them.

I'd pick this one over most of the other stouts I've tried.  I think it's a little better than Samuel Smiths oatmeal stout as it's a little more rich.  I think it's a lot better than Guinness as it doesn't have the same crushing bitterness. Solid 8 on a ten point scale.

Another thanks to Bob Mack as he's the one who gave me this sampler that I have been enjoying so much.

Boulevard Sixth Glass

Sixth glass - Another gift from Bob Mack @ World Class Beverage
Immediate thought - Belgian , sweet, not too hoppy. Good balance. Some fusal hotness and a little spice flavor from the yeast. Medium body. Good carbonation. Good copper color. Little cloudiness. Refreshing when with rich food but a little strong to just drink alone. Good dinner beer.