It has been a while, but not to worry, i have not slowed brewing, just gotten too busy to post. I've been putting in a lot of work on the Iced Mocha Stout, discovered a brewery has pilfered the Evil Twin from my Evil Twin IPA, and got my Liquid Amber to taste a bit like Boddingtons (wait til I get the faucet and nitro mix!).
I did a pretty decent Pumpkin Ale that I will add to the holiday docket, although i did not do a Holiday Ale this year. I have two bottles left from last year, one of which I'd like to open and try some time soon. The initial offering, which included ginger, orange peel and cinnamon, came out a bit heavy on the ginger flavor due to the use of fresh ginger. Next time the orange peel will be fresh too. Curious too see what happens after a year in the bottle. Will the ginger mellow out, or will it become more dominant?
I am taking advantage of the colder weather to lager. I have an East Coast style (think Boston) Lager going in the garage getting ready to go into secondary. I also have the latest versions of the Evil Twin IPA and Iced Mocha Stout going.
Evil Twin
The ET is based on a modest quantity of strong bittering hops, with the nice flavor combination of Cascade and Amarillo. I had upped the quantity by an ounce each (in a 5 gallon batch) and a bit more malt to balance things out, and the outcome was solid- the best batch yet.
So the batch in the carboy now has another ounce of a different hop, which i believe will add a bit more depth of hop flavor.
I've also been experimenting with roasting my own grains. For this batch I have increased the roast by 1/4 lb of English 2-row, that i roast lightly toasted for 10 minutes.
Brewing operations were improved by the acquisition of a small electric drill-powered mill that i got for a steal. It was returned to the store because the user couldn't get it to work. The free roller has a tendency to loose traction with the grain and stop spinning. With the help of an allen wrench to start the motion again, all is good.
The IPA will transfer to Keg around Jan 20th, and be ready to go by the 27th (in time for the Superbowl!!)
As i mentioned earlier, I've been putting in a lot of work on the Iced Mocha Stout. I actually was working on posts the last two batches, but never managed to finish them. So for the next post I will add some of those notes, along with notes from the most recent batch. I will drop one hint: Oatmeal may be involved!
