Gringo 2010 and Stout Chocula update

Last year I was really happy with the second go around of my Imperialistic Mexican lagerish experiment, The Gringo. I had brewed a version in 2008 and while it had some decent elements to it, I tweaked it and was really pleased with the turnout last year. To give a bit of the background, I had the idea of brewing an "Imperial" Mexican lager. While the Gringo has never been high in the alcohol content, the "Imperialistic" tag comes from the overabundance of American hops, Centennial and Cascade. It's not exactly a lager because I use the California 2112, or "steam ale" yeast, which according to Wyeast imparts lager like characteristics in temps up to 65 degrees. I then lager it in a fridge for 10 weeks. Regardless of the finer points, the Gringo ends up being a very smooth, citrusy-hoppy cerveza that retains some slight maltiness and grainiess that one would expect in say, a Corona. Last year's twist was to add agave nectar, a honey like substance that really stayed true to the Mexican vibe, and also gave the Gringo a great sweet-honey aroma and nice finishing sweetness. Overall people really liked it and the reviews I got all seemed to hit what I was going for: a hopped up Corona. Aside from adding an additional ounce of Cascade hops the last minute, there were no real changes. I'm excited for this one to be ready around May. (Yes...my bastardized Mexcian lager will be ready right around the time of the Over-Americanized Holiday of Cinco de Mayo!)
This time around, fellow Twin Cities beer blogger Derek @ Beer This! came over to brew with me. It's always nice to brew with someone since I tend to brew alone. It was nice to pick Derek's brain on some things and fun to bounce ideas off of. And of course enjoy some good homebrew.
Derek brought over his wort chiller to try out an idea he had. We hooked up our immerison chillers, putting one in a bucket filled with ice. The end result was fantatic. Not only did we cut down the cooling time significantly (about 10 minutes cool down) we obviously saved a lot of water in the process. Instead of spending the money on a counter flow chiller, I plan to pick up a second immerison chiller to do this everytime. A great time saver and water saving resource; win-win for an extra $60.
On another brewing note, I bottled/kegged the Stout Chocula last night. I'm very excited as it smelled and tasted great. To back up a bit, last week I transferred it to secondary, and at that time added 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract, 4.5 oz of cocoa nibs (pictured to the side) and cold pressed decaf coffee. Not to sound like a coffee snob...but I am a beer snob, so why not, I added Fair Trade Organic Decaf from Minneapolis' Peace Coffee (an awesome company with great coffee, btw.) The aroma turned out great. For those not familiar with cold pressing at home, very simple, just add 1/2 lb of coffee grounds to a container, fill it up with 24 oz of water and let it sit overnight. Then strain it through a coffee filter (which yields about 10 ounces or so). Can't wait to drink this beer in a day or so when it's nicely carbonated.
I am running out of keg/bottle space, so there is going to be a slight hiatus from brewing for a bit, then I plan on revisiting my big IPA. I was very happy with the turnout of the Steelhead Slammer, but want to brew up another version of a big IPA, this time upping the bittering to try and get some more bite to the finish. Can't seem to nail that yet, so stay tuned.

Salud!
Bearded Brewer