FotHB III: Coatee-cha tu yub nub!

[fourfarthing]

OK. I guess I will deliver.

Oatmeal Stout. This is JZ's recipe, and my first oatmeal stout. It came out well enough that I entered it in a competition (you'll see a theme here) and it scored a 33, so a solid one. My wife liked it. She mainly drinks real pilsners, so it plays well with other palates.

Winter/Christmas. These are my annual British warming beers. Winter is loosely based off of an O'Dell's Isolation Ale clone, this year with Horizon bittering as an expirement that worked out. Creamy body and nice smooth caramel tones, balanced by some Cascade that really shines here. Entered in the same competition a bit young but it got a 26. The Christmas was racked onto some vanilla and Cinnamon for two weeks. That got a 30 in the same competition and is one of my favorite beers. I expect these to be really solid by the time they are recieved by whomever jumps in on this one.

@TBC got the three above in the last round and can likley comment if anyone needs some guidance.

The new guy this round is Harry, my Robust Porter. @JDXX1971 had one of my first batch of this in FotHB I. This is the favorite beer of mine, and for version 3 I played with some Pale Chocolate and the fermenter samples are amazing. This gets bottled this weekend. Loosely based on a Hill Everett clone, though that is getting more loose and less 'based on' as versions go on.

I have some others that will likely be included for fun, including a dark mild that everyone but me thinks is a good solid beer (I think there is too much chocolate malt, but it got a 28 in the same competition) and time permitting maybe an all Centennial IPA if the 'winner' is willing to wait.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

[*]Bourbon Chips are Magic - Russian Imperial Stout - This doesn't have any bourbon chips in it yet.

LHBS had a package of those chips. Awesome smell but went with the expensive option.

 

[JDXX1971]

Mmmmmm.........Bourbon chip/barrel aged.............mmmmmmm.........

Anyway, I set the time for the pick for 9:00 a.m PST Saturday 02/17/2018. I hope that will work for everyone (if not let me know, I am flexible).

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Sounds good!

 

[fourfarthing]

Thanks JDXX

 

[pshankstar]

Sounds good to me!

Edit - I’ll post details about my offers on Thursday when I have access to all of my notes. Cheers guys!

 

[madscientistbrewNq]

Darn it was hoping I could get in on this but still have too many beers left too brew. Hey pianoman 7 days wasn't enough on that fresh barrel? Sorry I led you a stray. I figured I'd better warn you when I saw you got that barrel but sounds like I might have made you second guess yourself... hopefully I get on this next time. I only had a coffee cake cream ale and mead. Pale ale dry hopping, quad aging, wee heavy aging... spruce tip amber coming along with some others red ale with omega hothead yeast, new zealand pilsner and lastly a raspberry sour blonde on deck. If this gets setup again I need in...

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Darn it was hoping I could get in on this but still have too many beers left too brew. Hey pianoman 7 days wasn't enough on that fresh barrel? Sorry I led you a stray. I figured I'd better warn you when I saw you got that barrel but sounds like I might have made you second guess yourself... hopefully I get on this next time. I only had a coffee cake cream ale and mead. Pale ale dry hopping, quad aging, wee heavy aging... spruce tip amber coming along with some others red ale with omega hothead yeast, new zealand pilsner and lastly a raspberry sour blonde on deck. If this gets setup again I need in...

It's still awesome! Truelly appreciate your advice! Probably would have it aging till June otherwise!

 

[madscientistbrewNq]

Good deal... I was hoping to hear big things from this stout. I had sent that maple bourbon barrel stout your way a while back and tried to throw my lessons learned if you will... we have to look out for each other

Next time..... I'm in on this if I don't have some major life event like another kid... or a move...

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Good deal... I was hoping to hear big things from this stout. I had sent that maple bourbon barrel stout your way a while back and tried to throw my lessons learned if you will... we have to look out for each other

Next time..... I'm in on this if I don't have some major life event like another kid... or a move...

@SailorJerry PMed me about how I did the maple stout. Said you were the guy to ask. Mine didn't come out so good...which maybe a tid bit of how you introduced the maple would be cool.

Edit: Found your PM...nice details!

 

[madscientistbrewNq]

Finings prior to transfer to barrel. Add potassium sorbate to keg and after about a day or two add maple to the
keg to taste. Goal was to get as much yeast out of suspension and then try to keep them at bay so they are t chewing through the Vermont maple. Also used the dark stuff for more flavor. Probably could have added sorbate in primary prior to adding to barrel. When the keg was kicked admittedly I had some maple crud and the bottom of the keg. I needed to remind myself that adding to taste prior to carbing is always different. I'll think it's perfect and then once carbed I feel like the flavors etc are a bit more than planned.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Finings prior to transfer to barrel. Add potassium sorbate to keg and after about a day or two add maple to the
keg to taste. Goal was to get as much yeast out of suspension and then try to keep them at bay so they are t chewing through the Vermont maple. Also used the dark stuff for more flavor. Probably could have added sorbate in primary prior to adding to barrel. When the keg was kicked admittedly I had some maple crud and the bottom of the keg. I needed to remind myself that adding to taste prior to carbing is always different. I'll think it's perfect and then once carbed I feel like the flavors etc are a bit more than planned.

I thought along those lines but others added to post boil kettel. It didn't make much sense to me but there always has to be a learning experience...I don't recommend doing this way. Thank you!

 

[pshankstar]

Here are more details on my offerings. I hope this info helps

NE IPA:
ABV - 7% IBUs - 56 SRM - 4.9 All based on Beersmith
Grain Bill - 2-Row (52.3%), Pilsner (19.6%), Wheat (19.6%), Flaked Oats (6.5%), & Honey Malt (2%).
Hops - Bravo (bittering charge 1oz), FO/DH1/DH2 hops - Citra, Amarillo, Mosaic and Belma (15oz total between all of these hops)
Yeast - A blend of WY1318 & OYL-052

Cider (Tastes like apple pie):
ABV - 6.3% before back sweetening
Yeast - WLP008

Graff (original recipe found here):
ABV - 5.51%
2-Row - 3lbs
Paul's Dark Crystal - 0.75lbs
Wheat - 2oz
German Hersbrucker Hops - 0.4oz 2%AA
Nottingham - Yeast

One gallon of wort and four gallons of fresh apple cider from our local apple farm purchased earlier that day.

Coffee Stout (made from a seconds running from a RIS):
Forgive me for not having the percentages of the malts, but our home brew club did a RIS and the second runnings together as an event. I have seemed to lost my notes too, but going off some chicken scratches I found from this brew day.
ABV - 6% (+/-)
IBUs - 48 (+/-)
Grain Bill: 2-Row, Maris Otter, Paul's Medium Crystal, Chocolate Malt, Debittered Black and Flaked Oats.
Hops: Warrior and Sonnet Goldings
Yeast: I don't recall but I want to say it was either BRY-97 or S-04
After the beer fermented out, I added 16oz of cold brewed coffee I made. The coffee was from a coffee shop in DE that sells hop infused coffee beans, but they don't know what hop variety it was infused with. What I will say when making coffee with these beans, I had to blend it with something else b/c the hop character was so strong. I added the cold brew coffee to the keg and then transferred the beer onto of it.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Got my top picks....please please..[emoji15]

 

[TwistedGray]

Got my top picks....please please..[emoji15]

3rd place is a good spot to be in

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

3rd place is a good spot to be in

Where is the thumbs DOWN when you need it![emoji2]

 

[fourfarthing]

What time are the picks?

 

[TwistedGray]

What time are the picks?

Tomorrow morning, 9am PST I believe

 

[pshankstar]

Tomorrow morning, 9am PST I believe

Ok good to know. I was thinking it was 9am EST. Phew!

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Here is the pick order fresh out of the randomizer.

1. jerbrew
2. DadeO
3. TwistedGray
4. fourfarthing
5. Thorrak
6. PianoMan
7. pshankstar
8. GaBrewZoo
9. JDXX1971

Here you go..

Mmmmmm.........Bourbon chip/barrel aged.............mmmmmmm.........

Anyway, I set the time for the pick for 9:00 a.m PST Saturday 02/17/2018. I hope that will work for everyone (if not let me know, I am flexible).

 

[JDXX1971]

Tic, tock.....

 

[jerbrew]

I'll share some deets before the draw, what I can.

First and foremost, pomegranate cider is kaput. I had about a half gallon left in the keg (I do 2.5-3 gallon batches of cider) and a leak in the out line made a mess in my kegerator. Bummer for all, especially the clean up crew (me).

Hibiscus cider came down to 0.998 SG (I have picture proof). It is a bit funky, slight tartness, and boozy when warm and still. I am going to carb it up nice and expect it will loose its booziness.

This Porter is one of my favorite recipes. This is the third version with the addition of rye/ chocolate rye and I am very pleased. I love the brown malt flavor and earthy Willamette hops, the rye is a nice touch too.

The NEIPA is the 4th time I've brewed this recipe. It comes out fantastic. Grist is credit to the NEIPA thread and the Galaxy, Mosaic, and Citra pickup truck of hops can't be beat. Brewing this weekend and should be ready by a homebrew festival in early March. Fermenting with Hansen Ale Yeast from the vault. Did a split batch last year, Hansen vs WLP007. Pretty noticeable difference, sorry no triangle test or P values, with Hansen being the better fruitier beer.

Dark Saison is something I've always wanted to brew. Recipe inspiration courtesy of Michael Tonsmiere's (The Mad Fermentationist) book "American Sour Beers". I don't remember his HBT handle to give him credit but I'v seen him around. Not going to do any additional microbes beyond saison yeast. I want to get a good base down for it first.

Dark Saison with red wine soaked oak chips has the same inspiration as above.

 

[TwistedGray]

Ready



Errrrr nap time

 

[JDXX1971]

So it begins!!!

 

[GaBrewZoo]

I'm here. Hey, where is everybody

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Let's ROCK!

 

[pshankstar]

Let the selections begin, right?

 

[JDXX1971]

First up @jerbrew

 

[JDXX1971]

Let the selections begin, right?

Yes.

 

[JDXX1971]

Jerbrew messaged me last night and he picks @PianoMan