Day 1 of 2

Well, I'd say today was a good brew day! I made the Imperial Stout and I think it should be good. I made a starter of 1098 (because the homebrew shop was out of 1084) last night for this beast and pitched it today. It looked like it was more than ready to take on the task!

I also had to sub Magnum for Columbus hops (which I think ultimately I'll be happy with) and Cascade for Northern Brewer. The one thing I'm worried about though is that I decided to put 2lbs of molasses in to add a little sweetness and boost the OG, but man..it really smelled bad. I'm hoping that it won't take over too much of the beer (at 2lbs I'm nervous) because I did not like the way it smelled. After the boil though I ended up with a little over 3 gallons so I topped it off to 4 gallons with cold water and the gravity read at 1.100 (which should finish it around 9-10%) on the dot. It's a little higher than I wanted, but what the hell. note: I actually just got up to grab a beer and it looks like the happy little yeasties are already getting to work! YAY!

After the stout was nice and cozy I got a starter of 1056 started for the Barley Wine tomorrow. I had to also do some subs on the hops for that one, but nothing too drastic. I'm sure it will be awesome. I should also be making the cider with Alli tomorrow too which I'm really excited about. We're going to put together a nice simple cider and then down the road dose it with Alli's secret spices to make it an instant holiday classic :)

Until tomorrow, Cheers!