As I'm sure it is for most of you, its a busy time of year around the Bearded brewery. As of today, I am on winter break from school, so I hope to be getting some posting, drinking and brewing done over the break. I bottled the Bi-Partisan Coffee Porter last weekend and it smelled and tasted great. I'm really excited to see how this one turns out. I intended to bottle my Frozen Beard Winter Ale as well, after 2 weeks in the secondary it had mellowed out, but there was still quite an alcohol presence. This sucker clocks in around 7%, and right now its noticeable. I'm hoping that a week or so more in the secondary will smooth it out a bit. The flavors are great and I'm hoping the spiciness from the Perle hops come out in the finished product as nicely as they do now.
During the break, I intend to brew two beers, El Oso Brown Ale and another version of El Muerto, this time with some more citrusy hops; Cascade and First Gold. I liked the way it turned out before, but the hop profile still isn't where I want it.
El Oso Brown is a result of trying to get grains while my 1 1/2 year old daughter was tearing up the grain room at Northern Brewer. I was getting ingredients for the Bi-Partisian, and trying to keep her from grabbing handfuls of grain to throw on the floor. In the process, I accidentally scooped up a pound of Crystal 60 instead of Crystal 120. I realized it after I poured it in with all the other grain. I kept it and decided to make a brown ale out of the Crystal 60, 2-row and Chocolate mixture. I'm going to add some Munich or Vienna malt to it, and use up some organic hops I have. Its been awhile since I made a brown ale, so I'm excited.
Later today I'm headed up to Wisconsin, so hopefully there'll be some New Glarus gems available, including another of their Unplugged Series.
More to come.
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas
Bearded Brewer
4 comments:
What kind of yeast did you use for that Frozen brew? In my experience, those hot and heavy alcohol flavors need some time in the bottle before they'll mellow at all. It's usually a function of the yeast and fermentation temps that were used.
Can't wait to hear about how the coffee porter turned out. I'm going to be bottling my chocolate porter in a week or so, and I'm just as excited about that.
Sounds great! My boys are now past the age where I have to constantly corral them, but I remember those days!
Speaking of winter-y brews, our Sing For Your Stout has been in the bottle for 12 days and seems to be coming around - it's not the biggest, heaviest stout around, but it's what I was hoping for - success!
Happy holidays and a blessed new year to everyone!
Kevin,
I used Wyeast 1056, a very clean, reliable yeast, and fermented it around 64 degrees. I don't think those are the culprits for the "heat", but I definitely agree with you about the bottle aging. I'm going to bottle it next week and give it some time to mellow out.
Starlight- Chocolate porter sounds excellent.
Jim- Its always great when a beer turns out exactly how you want it, congrats on the stout! And I love the label for it too.
Thanks for reading guys.
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