KingBrianI
Well-Known Member
I'm so glad I started homebrewing. Last night I took gravities on my Traquair House clone, my Murphy's Stout clone and my Hobgoblin clone (which were 1.020, 1.012 and 1.018 respectively, if you cared). I of course had to taste the gravity samples and wow! The Traquair House clone is about a month old and really nice now. The Murphy's clone, which was a recipe I kind of threw together without much information, is awesome! I was amazed at how much it tasted like the real thing. I only wish I had a nitro system for it. And the Hobgoblin clone, of course, tasted great. Still got a little fermenting to do but it's always a pleaser.
Fast forward to today. Kegged the Traquair House clone this morning. Ran to the LHBS and picked up some grains for a nut brown I'll be making in a couple weeks and some yeast and sugar for apfelwein. Picked up apple juice at the grocery store, came home and whipped up a batch of apfelwein. It's bubbling away right now.
Tonight I had the pleasure of toasting my own brown malt. The LHBS didn't have brown malt, which I plan on using for the nut brown, so I decided to make my own. Read How to Brew - By John Palmer - Toasting Your Own Malt and went to work. Soaked a pound of maris otter in water for 30 minutes, drained, and spread out on a foil-lined baking pan. Put into a 350 degree F over an gave it a stir every 15 minutes or so. Also took samples at 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes to compare for future use. It was actually a really informative and fun experiment (and the one-hour sample tasted amazing!). According to Palmer, 2 hrs is supposed to closely mimic brown malt, so that's what I went with. It's sitting in a brown paper bag right now mellowing for the nut brown in two weeks.
I love this hobby!
Fast forward to today. Kegged the Traquair House clone this morning. Ran to the LHBS and picked up some grains for a nut brown I'll be making in a couple weeks and some yeast and sugar for apfelwein. Picked up apple juice at the grocery store, came home and whipped up a batch of apfelwein. It's bubbling away right now.
Tonight I had the pleasure of toasting my own brown malt. The LHBS didn't have brown malt, which I plan on using for the nut brown, so I decided to make my own. Read How to Brew - By John Palmer - Toasting Your Own Malt and went to work. Soaked a pound of maris otter in water for 30 minutes, drained, and spread out on a foil-lined baking pan. Put into a 350 degree F over an gave it a stir every 15 minutes or so. Also took samples at 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes to compare for future use. It was actually a really informative and fun experiment (and the one-hour sample tasted amazing!). According to Palmer, 2 hrs is supposed to closely mimic brown malt, so that's what I went with. It's sitting in a brown paper bag right now mellowing for the nut brown in two weeks.
I love this hobby!
