Hello again, it's been a while eh? I guess I've been busy? It was the holidays - I don't know. Anyways, I've still been brewing though not as frequently as I would like.. About 3 weeks ago I brewed up a new version of Barack Obeera. In this one I toned down the chocolate malt and added a half pound of Crystal 80L to get a darker caramely flavor to it. I also upped the wheat malt for some nice creaminess and upped the IBUs with a lower alpha, neutral flavored hop to cut the sweetness a tad and keep everything balanced out nicely. I bottled it a few days back and I'm thinking it's going to be a mighty tasty beer :) Blitzen's HolidALE (name in progress? hahaha) came out really well!! I think I definitely made the wrong choice not getting fresh ginger and something to grind it with. I used pre ground ginger and even 1/2 tsp seems to have been just a little bit over-powering. The beer overall came out great though! I mashed in a little bit too high so it came out pretty thin and watery but the breadiness came through well and the spices were subtle and complimentary. The stout ended up coming out alright as well! I can't for the life of me get it to taste as good as that first time, but it's still a tasty brew.
The future is still begging for a barley wine. The Penthouse from last year is tasting AMAZING. Very good brown sugary, oxidized, carmelly sweet deliciousness. The really strong anise flavor it had around month 7 finally fell mostly out, which I'm pleased about. I'm not a fan of that flavor. I still really need to make the '08. The plan was to make it on the 29th of December, but it was a busy and expensive month so it didn't get done. I'm going to hopefully get it together this weekend though. Same recipe as last year but all grain (with 6 pounds of extract so as not to totally waste everything in the mash tun). Then I would really like to get a Belgian Pale Ale together. I have been thinking about these since NHC this year. They were all over the place and absolutely DELICIOUS! I have a recipe together I just need to find the time and money, as always.
I suppose that's all for now! There's a club meeting on Wednesday I'm taking my Holiday Spiced Ale to, I hope it's well recieved. The Penthouse was adored at the last meeting. It was very cool to see so many people light up after a sip of something you created. Belgian Fest is also right around the corner. I'm thinking that'll be a good time.
Next time: Brew Years Resolutions! Plus: A recap of if I followed through with last years!
-Kyle
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