Recent content by bnuttz

well in 2006 a 100% vienna Oktoberfest won Nationals, so I would say yes. I've also brewed one in this manner and it turned out great. Much like Ayinger. http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/OfaceOfest

You don't make starters with dry yeast, which is why I just throw 3 pack of US-05 in there. It's easy, and repeatable. How big of a starter would you need to ferement a beer that starts at 1.125? I don't mess around with gallon starters, if it takes more than a qt and half, I just throw...

I've heard from friends locally that the new batch of bottles is better. It may have been that first batch with new hops and/or the new system that was different.

Here would probably be my next shot at it. I decreased the dark malts by a pound overall, and upped the base malts a bit. I had 3% lower efficiency than i was shooting for the first time, so that is to help make up for that. The long boil is to help concentrate the flavors. To be honest, I...

And, there is definitely an oxidative quality from the barrel that you don't get by adding bourbon and oak cubes to a fermenter (duh).

OK, just did another comparison. My batch is essentially a year old now, and comparable to bourbon county in age. I'm comparing it to a 2013 bourbon county, to try to get as close to apples to apples as possible. So, I would now say that bourbon county stout has more bourbon flavor than my...

Yes! I live about an hour from Decorah, and Sue is available to me on tap nearly consistently. The latest batches with the new crop of hops have a vegetal character that did not used to exist. This is probably the same onion thing you are picking up. I think it is due to the new hop crop...

I have some 2013 BCBS, and plan on doing another side by side in a month. My batch will be about a year old then, and it should be more apples to apples with the BCBS. I can tell you my batch has smoothed out considerably since July when I did the last side by side, so maybe this will be...

The Vienna Smash looks very similar to my ofest recipe with way more late additions hops, and british yeast. Should be tasty.

Bayview is where its at for good beer. Romans is also a top notch spot just down the road from the Palm. Those three are the best in Milwaukee easily, probably the best in the state.

First thoughts would be back the roast barley off to 1 lb and bourbon off to 750 ml. But I have no idea if that is enough on either. This beer is way to big to make blanket judgements, but that would be my first step. I will taste it again when the 2013 Bourbon County comes out, and see how...

OK, I am finally drinking a side by side right now. Here are my notes compared to a 2012 Bourbon County Stout. -Bourbon County is less roasty. Some of the dark grains could probably be backed off -Bourbon County has less overt bourbon flavor. The bourbon could probably be backed off some as...

My process was just to soak the oak cubes (~1 oz) in bourbon (half bottle) in a jar while the beer was in the primary. Then I dumped the whole lot into the secondary for 2 months. I then added more bourbon to taste (settled on 1 liter total). This raised the ABV by 1.7% per my calculations...

Well mine turned out quite good. It's huge. I haven't done a side by side yet, as I just bottled it last Thursday. I'll try to do a tasting this week. If I had to guess, right now i would say my version is roastier than the real thing, but I don't think its bad that way.

So I ended up dumping about a liter of bourbon in total to get the balance right. A beer that finishes this high could definitely take it. Its being forced carbonated now. I will do a side by side in about three weeks.