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.

Boston Stock Ale

I realized the other day that I have both a porter and a stout taking up space in my conditioning cabinets, and an ale that is destined for some family members...  But I have no lighter ales for myself.  So despite Christmas season being upon us, today's brew is a Boston Stock Ale.  To add a little punch, for the first time I plan on dry hopping this beer (adding the aromatic hops to the secondary during racking from the primary to the secondary).  This should add some good hop aroma to go along with the already hearty flavor this beer should have.

Today was a brew day the same as most others, though admittedly the outside temperature is much cooler than usual on a brew day.  It began with sanitation and then dissolving of DME into 2 gallons of water.  Adding the speciality (Crystal 60L) malts and heating the brew to 160-180 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes.  This heat time is longer than usual for a DME batch but since I am headed towards all grain brewing anyway its probably good practice.  After 40 minutes heat was adjusted to achieve a boil.  The approach to boil did seem to take longer this time thanks to the cool outside air and swift breeze stealing all of my good heat.  When boiling was achieved added the bittering pellet hops in a nylon hop bag and placed the speciality malts into a strainger over the brew pot.  I had to adjust heat up a few times more after this to maintain a good boil, again due to the cold weather, but I managed to keep a good low rolling boil going the entire time.  I added the whirlfloc tablet to the brew at 35 minutes into the boil and the flavoring hops 10 minutes later.

When the full 60 minute boil was completed I capped the brew and left it outside to cool.  My dog had chewed through the end up my wort chiller that attaches to the hose so it looks like some repair work is in order.  Once the wort had chilled I added 2 gallons of water to the primary bucket and strained the wort into the primary.  I brought the total volume up to 5 gallons and pitched the liquid yeast smack pack (Wyeast again) into the primary.  I locked up the primary with my airlock and set about to waiting until I could rack and add my aromatic hops to the secondary.  Immediately before pitching the yeast into the primary the γg of the wort was 1.054.

Recipe:
5 lbs Light DME
6 cups Crystal 60L

Hops:
1.25 oz Sterling bittering pellet hops (5.4 α) (60 mintues)
0.5 oz Fuggle whole flavoring hops (4.1 α) (15 minutes)
0.5 oz UK East Kent Golding whole hops (6.3 α) (added to secondary)