Friday nights are being scheduled as brew nights from here on out... It gives us a chance to relax and not worry about being stressed out to start late and finish up because of plans on a Saturday night or having to get to bed to wake up for work if it's a Sunday brew.
We brewed one of our most complex and high alcohol beers, a Russian Imperial Stout. This beer has done pretty well in competition and I am very happy with the way it is evolving. The only problem I really have is keeping my hands off of it so it has time to age.
This particular batch was bumped up a little gravity wise and I increased a couple of the specialty malt additions. We ended up with a 1.110 original gravity from our usual 1.105, it's our most inefficient beer as we use 26 lbs of grain and only yield 6 gallons, our mash tun can only hold about another 5-6 lbs of grain. The 3 liter starter that was made proved to be explosive and the beer took off right away, blowing the airlock off the next morning. I could smell the sweet mess from outside the basement door :)
The 6 gallons that was yielded will be split in half, one getting put on a Stranahan's barrel stave I brought back from GABF soaked in whiskey, and the other half will get an addition of Theo cocoa nibs and a yet undecided local espresso. The whole batch will be bottles and left to age and condition in the bottle.
A great guy and great brewer, Tim Paddy has asked to brew this beer for The Powerhouse in my hometown of Puyallup. Along with Tim Hayner, we have scaled the recipe up and hope to brew within the next month or so. I was lucky to have been there when Tim Hayner brewed his awesome 16 Penny Pale for the ProAm competition a few years back, and I know Tim Paddy will do our beer justice. Now I just need to figure out how to get a full size barrel delivered from Denver.....
I'm planning on making another 6, hopefully 12 very soon,if we can incorporate another mash tun, and take it down to the National Homebrew Conference for club night.
Next Friday's brew will be a big hoppy IPA from all of the extra hops we have laying around, this batch will be split as well and aged on some very special wood that I am really excited about using. Stay tuned and cheers!
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6 comments:
Next Friday as in the 20th or next Friday as in the 13th?
I'm interested to see/hear what you guys have for brewing equipment. I've got a... 16? 18? I forget... gallon stainless steel conical fermenter that I've had for a couple of years and have yet to use. Hopefully Audin and I will break that in this spring. Also, I've picked up a couple of spigoted barrel-style coolers with the intention of turning them into mash tuns.
If your Friday brew nights are "open to the public" (or at least to the weird neighbor guy down the street), I'd love to swing by.
I really want to try the stranahan's version. Coffee ideas? I say use either Lighthouse or Stumptown. They're my two favorite.
Jason,I'm almost positive we will be brewing this Friday the 13th, just follow the smells and drop by
Kev, I think I'll probably go with Lighthouse but I'm also digging drinking Appasionato lately for the low acidity.
This is one of you and Yendor's great acheivements. I really like it! The two spins you are planning should be very interesting!
Are you still going to be brewing most friday nights? I'd love to get down there sometime and check everything out!
Kyle, we're trying to get a couple more brews here in March, we have a bunch of stuff that was just bottled and kegged so we're working on packaging that stuff up, but I will keep this a little more up to date so drop me a line if you feel like swinging by!
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