Olde Dog New Trick

With my barleywine taking much longer than I thought it would to ferment, I've been a little worried about off-flavors due to a 6 week primary in a carboy.  I'll still bottle and age this batch, but I think I'll get a small conical for next time.  I probably could have taken it off primary earlier because my hydrometer read 1.005 at 70F...so with an OG of 1.100, my alcohol content is a little north of 13% abv.  The taste test going into secondary was a little scary; the smell of alcohol overpowered the rest of the beer, but the taste was very smooth with a nice malty flavor with little aftertaste.  I'm dry hopping it right now, so hopefully the aroma changes to something a little more citrusy.  Once it's aged, that alcohol taste should subside and let the rest shine through.

Tonight Athena kegs her IRS (I'm dubbing it "The Taxman Cometh"), so I'll be posting the verdict soon....and we still have everything to make up the Stone Ruination clone, so I'll probably make the starter tonight and brew that up sometime this weekend. 

Update: There is no update

It's been just over a month since my last post, so this is where I should list all the great beers I've brewed up, all the new stuff that was just racked to secondary, and all the plans we have for new ales....well, that would be the case, but my barley wine is still in primary fermentation and isn't anywhere close to being done!  I can't wait till this one is finally ready to drink...it will be epic.

Athena used my other carboy to make up a batch of Imperial Russian Stout (which is now sitting in secondary), and I still have everything to make a Stone Ruination clone...so my next update will be when those are kegged.

I had a Super Bowl Party yesterday and was hoping to have a few home brews on tap, but Athena and I went through a corny keg of her honey brown ale in about a week and the IRS was taking longer than we thought (first time brewing with Belgian Candi Sugar).  Not to worry though, because Tom came through with a quarter keg of Stone Arrogant Bastard and another of Stone Pale Ale.  I got to break out my new grill and BBQed up 16lbs of carne asada and adobada.  All in all, I'd say it was a success even without the homebrew.