Boston Stock Ale Update

We tried the first taste of the dry-hopped Boston Stock Ale yesterday and both of us were surprised by how mild the taste was.  Not to say we didn’t like it, but for all the batches we have made this was by far the most mild and subtle in flavor.

It dawned on me that this batch was actually my problem batch so let me recap here.

After 24 hours in the primary there was no evidence of active fermentation at all and it was starting to concern me.  After some troubleshooting I determined that the room I use for my fermentation was too cold for the yeast in this batch.  I use a hall closet because its dark and usually nice and cool putting it right in the prime range for good fermentation.  This batch, however, called for temperatures greater than 65 and my closet was just a tad on the cold side for that.  With this knowledge I pulled the primary out of the closet and placed it in a dark but warmer part of the house to sit.  Thinking I had a stalled fermentation I was hoping that in a day or so that it would pick back up and continue as normal.  

Eight (8) hours after moving the primary I went to check on it and found a complete foam over.  The fermentation had kicked off all right and had produced enough foam to escape through the airlock and even puddle up a bit on the lid of the primary.  I quickly sanatized a new lid for the primary and a new airlock and replaced the lid and airlock on the primary.  

I watched and tracked the fermentation for the next few days as it continued rather steadily before racking to the secondary.  When I racked to the secondary I added the whole aromatic hops in a muslin bag to the carboy prior to racking.  I completed the remainder of the 14 days in the secondary and bottled using ¾ cups of corn sugar.  

This batch conditioned for a little longer than usual and when I first popped the topped noted it had good solid carbonation. Again the taste itself was very mild but it was quite drinkable and I could have easily had a few more.  Given that we are moving in a couple of days now these might be the perfect brews to provide as moving fuel for our helpers, mild and drinkable.

Sweet Oatmeal Porter

It was a day off work, so what better to do than brew up a nice batch.  I actually had to hold back on this one a bit to wait for my bottle supply to build up enough to bottle this batch when the time is ready.  It turns out that between traveling and the holidays that I have been quite a bit behind on my consumption rate.

So today’s brew is a sweet oatmeal porter that consists of:
5 lbs Dark DME
1 cup English Black Patent Malt
2 cups Crystal 120L
2 cups Flaked oats
1.25 oz Brewers gold pellet hops (bittering, 60 minute) (6.4 alpha)
0.5 oz Cascade whole hops (aromatic, 2 minute) (5.8 alpha)

This batch followed the recurring theme, dissolved the DME into 2 gallons of water over about 20 minutes.  Added the speciality malts for 20 minutes and heated to about 150 degrees F before adjusting the heat up to boiling.  Once boiling was attained I pulled the malts out of the wort and added the bittering hops to the boil.  I placed the malts in a strainer over the brew pot to allow any remaining liquid to drain down into the wort.  After 35 minutes I added a whirfloc tablet for clarification and continued the boil for another 25 minutes.  With 2 minutes left in the boil I added the aromatic hops. 

As soon as the boil was finished I removed the brewpot from the heat and placed it into an ice bath.  At the same time I removed the hops and placed the hop bags into the strainer over the brew pot.  (I had already tossed the speciality malts out.)  After about 20 minutes in the ice bath the temperature of the wort had cooled to around 100 degrees F.  Since brew day was a colder day I tested the temp of the water being used to bring my total volume up.  The combination of the 3 gallons of cold water with the 2 gallons of wort would give me a average temperature of roughly 65 degrees F.  Not wanting my wort to cool too much I pulled the brewpot out of the ice bath and poured the brewpot into the primary which had already been filled up to about 2 gallons with water.  I then topped the primary off at 5 gallons and pitched the yeast with a good vigorous stir to fully aerate the wort.

The initial SG of this brew was right on target at 1.051.  After 16 hours fermentation hadn’t yet started but thankfully when I returned from a weekend away the airlock was bubbling nicely.  I racked to the secondary on the 4th day.  By the time I racked the SG had dropped to 1.014 which was already within the target range for final SG.  Hopefully after another few days in the secondary this one will be ready to bottle and gear up for conditioning.  

Asheville Beer Review

I have always heard the rumors that Asheville, NC is a beer Mecca.  After a day or so there, I can attest that these rumors are all absolutely true.  Upon entering the downtown area we found our way to two different speciality beer shops that both had a rather large selection of micro and high gravity beers.  I left each shop with a box full of beer and will have to review them one at a time because to do any less would be a disservice to these magnificent brews.  Along the way though we made a stop off at a local downtown brewery the Lexington Avenue Brewery, or Lab.

My choice at the Lab was the chocolate stout which poured thick and creamy with excellent head formation and retention.  If you have ever seen a proper Guinness pour then you have seen the cascade down the side of the pint glass as the beer clears from a tan color to a deep black.  The taste was full bodied, smooth and of course chocolately.  My wife ordered the Oktoberfest brew which was also delicious.  This brew was crisp and full of sharp wheat flavor but also managed to be very drinkable.  This was probably the fastest my wife has ever downed a beer.

Day two of our trip was cut short by some thoroughly nasty weather but not before a stop off and a pint of Foothills stout.  Now its confession time, I had no idea what I was ordering at the time, it was the only brew on the chalkboard that I didn’t recognize and therefore had to give it a shot.  First off, I got a rich coffee flavor and aroma, the drink was smooth and robust but not aggressively so.  I would find out, thanks to Google of course, that what I got was from a different North Carolina brewery and their Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout.  This was the kind of brew that left me wanting more from that brewery so it succeeded in its goal and maybe Winston-Salem, NC needs to be added to the list of destinations. 

With all that said a trip back to Asheville is on the agenda already, with so many fine breweries in the area there is just no way we can resist the opportunity to have finely crafted brews with such a relatively short drive.