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.
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.
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