AnOldUR

Recipes 

Digging through a closet over the weekend I came out with a Grolsch bottle with a #8 tag on it. (This past weekend was batch #96!) So, I go to my brewlog and find out that it's an Oatmeal Stout brewed with Mr Beer hopped extract, brown sugar, steeped oats and saaz hops. Stuck it in the fridge and drank it last night. For sure, it had that extract twang, but not too bad. Not a dumper and at 7.4% ABV, a good start to the evening.

The most remarkable thing is the time it took to brew this Mr Beer.

I screwed around with a decoction this weekend. Haul stuff from basement. Crush grains. 3-1/2 hour mash time. Vorlauf. Boil. Whirlpool. Transfer. Airate. Pitch. Clean-up . . . A good 7 hour brew day!

Compared to Batch #8. May be a half hour setting up and sanitizing. A 15 minute boil. Minimal stuff to clean up.

I spend almost that much time making a starter!

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Complexity is good. Complicated is bad. -- Mosher

IrregularPulse

Recipes 

But I bet your beer is 6 hours better than it was

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Tap Room Hobo

I should have stuck to four fingers in Vegas. :o - marubozo

AnOldUR

Recipes 

Yes, and with the wife gone for the day, it was quite enjoyable to spend it with this great hobby.

__________________
Complexity is good. Complicated is bad. -- Mosher

Droot

Recipes 

I found my recipe book from 1992. It sure brought back memories. Extract and bottles. Now its grain, farming yeast, kegs..... Pounds of hops....

David The Happy brewer

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Yellow beer (pale ale) in keg

Chocolate stout In keg

Front Porch Porter in keg

weat beer and fruit in the conical

IPA of some kind on Deck!


I get more out of it when I put more into it. :)

niquejim

Recipes 

Oohh, I found a bottle from last year. That's right you'll crack that one open Saturday at 8pm for a 50th birthday toast, correct

SavageSteve

Recipes 

Just reading through my old brewing logs from 1993... my first beer was an "Amber", complete with "amber beer grain mix" and some mysterious "boiling hops" and "finishing hops".

I even had a bad hydrometer reading for the OG! Measured 1.036, should have been 1.052.

Then, of course, I pitched the yeast into 86 deg. F. wort, because I was afraid of contamination after waiting a whole 45 minutes for the wort to cool. I waited three days on my batch last week before pitching a yeast starter into it!

Ah, the n00biness of it all... it really was a simpler time.

-Steve

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On Deck: Jamil's Vanilla Robust Porter
Fermenting: Orange Blossom Mead
Kegs: Element 56 Pale Ale, Ron's Belgian Blonde, Summer'n Saison, Furloughktoberfest '09, Grateful Pale Ale, Sam Adams Cream Stout Clone, EdWort's Apfelwein
Planning: n/a

Picobrew

Recipes 

The last bottle of my first batch exploded this weekend because my fridge got too cold! I was so, so, bummed. But then again, it was a pretty boring pale ale. The memories tho... they are gone down the drain. I do miss the quick in the kitchen brewing. Cheers to your batch #8.

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gallon counter:
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12/31/05 - 5
12/31/06 - 10
12/31/08 - 15
01/??/09 - joined HBT
04/10/09 - 80
03/12/10 - 335


hit me on the twit @g_pass

Ryan_PA

Recipes 

Why such a long mash?

wscott823

Recipes 

Sounds like a triple decoction or something.

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Primary: Nada
Lagering/Secondary: Nada
Micro Barrel Aging: H2O & Metabisulfite
Bottled: Sparkling Ambrosia, Chai Graff, Cerberus Barleywine, Jamil's Evil Twin, Chinook IPA
Planned Brews: Devil's Serum (Golden Strong Ale)

Make Your Own Belgian Candi Syrup

AnOldUR

Recipes 

Yeah. When the wife's not home I get to play. Can't say that the beer is any better, but decoction is an interesting process. Not something to be done routinely.

__________________
Complexity is good. Complicated is bad. -- Mosher