OK, it's 2:00 PM, not midnight, but still...
I've spent the morning getting caught up on a LOT of homebrew stuff that's been neglected.... and I kinda feel like I need to confess.
Remember BrewPastor's wonderful 777 Rye IPA recipe? I liked referring to it as "Resurrection," since the whole 777 creation process died horribly, until he singlehandedly brought it back to life.
Well, I just kegged it. I brewed it in May.
I was never really happy with it, I missed by target gravity, and missed my volume significantly. So, after I racked it to secondary and tossed in some dry hops, I left it kinda buried on the shelf. Didn't really want to bottle it, never bothered kegging it (my kegging stuff, until recently, was really disjointed).
So, it's been sitting with a couple ounces of pellet hops in secondary for about six months. And you know what?
It's wonderful.
I'll have to see what it's like when it's carbed up, but I can't get any off flavors from it now. It still has some good aroma, it's got a nice kick and a real nice flavor. It's DAMN GOOD. It truly has come back from the dead.
Also, I kegged my oatmeal stout. Now, this beer's only about six weeks old, but I never racked from primary. But, the bigger issue......
This was made almost entirely with OLD ingredients. Like, crystal malts and stuff that I've had around, crushed, for close to a year. Base malt that's not much fresher. I think the only thing that was fresh was the pound of flaked oats, otherwise, this was my "I'm way too cheap to throw out $8 worth of grain!" batch.
It, too - and this is confirmed by my wife - is really, really good. Nice and smooth. Doesn't taste old or stale at all.
So, the lessons here:
1. Do as I say, not as I do.
2. Really, you shouldn't do as I say OR as I do.
3. Beer's a helluva lot more resiliant than you would think.
OK, who's next? Who's got something they need to get off their chest?