Updates

Not a lot has been happening around here lately. I've been sick and am on antibiotics so I have slowed down on my consumption of beer (read: stopped). I finally transferred the Rye IPA to a keg and set it outside in the fridge to cold crash. Smelled fantastic! I also submitted my Oatmeal Stout and Ordinary Bitter in to the Babble Brew-Off Homebrew competition. I have high hopes for the stout, but am a little concerned for the bitter since I bottled it from off the tap, a method which has been known to have oxidation issues (leads to pretty off-putting flavors).

I haven't gotten around to brewing the Scottish Wee Heavy since I've been sick. But now I also want to wait until I get my fermentation fridge moved from the garage to the basement so I can properly control fermentation temp on that brew. It's pretty important the yeast doesn't produce any esthery/fruity flavors, so a low (64 deg) fermentation is pretty key.

All's Well

Although I didn't really want to brew yesterday, I muscled up and got to it. I managed to hit all my numbers (mash temp, OG, volumes) spot on, so I'm pleased with that. I transferred the "red" to a secondary and racked the stout onto the yeast cake I had used for the "red". It started fermenting within a matter of hours, and has a nice creamy head of krausen at this moment. It's fermenting at a steady 68, although I would have preferred 64-65. Oh well, a little more ester production never hurt.

My next brew is a big one, and I'm really looking forward to it. A Scottish Wee Heavy. Five gallons of approximately 10% ABV Scotch Ale, mmm mmm! 19 lb of grain, a one gallon starter, and nearly one year of aging.