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.

Barley Wine (Olde Dog / New Trick)

Today I made up a batch of barley wine which I'm calling Olde Dog (New Trick) Barley Wine.  Until now, the strongest ale I've made is my Chocolate Oatmeal Stout which was only around 7% abv, so this is a big step up.  The recipe I'm using calls for 10lbs of LME and a pound of Belgian Candi Sugar.  It also requires a high gravity yeast as a 2 pint starter fermenting for at least 24 hours.

When we were putting everything away from the brewstore, one of the bags of candi sugar ripped open, so I put it in a ziplock freezer bag.  The other two got a little wet, so the sticker with the price got wet and came off.  For some reason, I just assumed the candi sugar was explicitly for the barley wine and put all 3 bags in...only to find out that both the Imperial Russian Stout and Stone Ruination Clone require a pound each!  So that means I put 3lbs of candi sugar into a 5 gallon batch of barley wine.  My OG was 1.100, and potential alcohol content is up around 10-12%.  Here is a video of fermentation on the second day:

Athena was a little bummed when she went to make her IRS and there was no candi sugar left, but we hadn't made the yeast starter for her batch yet so it all worked out.

Right now we have Athena's Honey Brown Ale in Secondary, Barley Wine in primary, and the IRS yeast starter almost 24 hours in.

Christmas!

Christmas came early for me this year.  Santa (Athena) got me ingredients for a Russian Imperial Stout, Stone Ruination Clone, Barley Wine, and another Honey Brown Ale.  Athena also picked up a couple 1/2 gallon growlers for yeast starters and a new 5 gallon glass carboy for secondary fermentation.

Taste Test

Both beers came out great!  My chocolate oatmeal stout pours with a short, cream colored head that tends to settle a little early due to the cocoa powder added to the wort.  A brandy snifter is really the only way you can see the dark caramel color at the edges of the otherwise opaque brew.  It has a toasty, chocolatey aroma with very subtle hoppy undertones.  This beer taste just like it smells; slightly sweet at first from the roasted grains followed by a mild chocolate flavor.  The oats give a smooth mouthfeel making this high gravity stout almost too easy to drink. There is also a very satisfyingly bitter finish from the hops and cocoa that beckon you to take another sip.

Athena's honey brown ale has been the crowd favorite, and for good reason; I'll let her go into detail with her own review, but I'll still give a quick rundown.  It pours with a solid head typical of an English brown ale that keeps well throughout while drinking.  The roasted grains give it a slightly cloudy but deep caramel color through the center of a pint glass.  The aroma hops give it a citrusy bouquet and keep the bitterness to a minimum which lets the sweet malty taste of this beer shine through.  Athena used 2 cups of honey that really cut through the bitterness of the flavoring hops to make this beer my new favorite brown ale.  This one's a keeper and I'm sure we'll have a batch going year round.

Keezer Pics

Lots of updates

I've been really busy lately, so my chocolate oatmeal stout and Athena's honey brown ale have been sitting on secondary for three weeks or so.  In that time, I ordered the hardware/plumbing for the keezer and came up with a more conventional (cheaper) design and Athena even picked up her own Corny keg.

Keezer Hardware:

• Perlick Stainless Faucets with handles (x3)
• 4" Stainless Steel Shanks (x3)
• CO2 and Beer Hoses (12' of each)
  

Lid Materials:

• 3/4" Oak
• 1/4" Furniture-grade Plywood
• 2" Mold-resistant Styrofoam Insulation
• Weather Stripping

I got to hang out with my dad for the better part of a Sunday afternoon building the lid and staining it.  Later that week I sealed it with a couple coats of polyurethane coating, installed the insulation, and got it mounted to the freezer.

Athena came home today with her keg and I got my drip tray and rubber shelf mats in the mail.  We siphoned both beers into their respective kegs, slowly brought the pressure up to 30PSI while aerating over the coarse of about 30 minutes, then let them chill while we went shopping for dinner.  We cooked up some rib eyes with mashed potatoes and sauteed veggies just in time for our beers to get cold and fizzy.

Nothing like a home cooked meal with a home brewed beer.