The Bar Towel

grub wrote: last years batch started at an OG of 1.089 and finished up at 1.008 (just shy of 11% and 90% attenuation!).

Was that the one with the Calvados? I thought it was phenominal.

Derek wrote:

grub wrote: last years batch started at an OG of 1.089 and finished up at 1.008 (just shy of 11% and 90% attenuation!).

Was that the one with the Calvados? I thought it was phenominal.

Yeah that was the Calvados oak aged batch, my half of it anyways. I still have some left if you want another bottle. Thanks for liking it!

viggo wrote:

Derek wrote:

grub wrote: last years batch started at an OG of 1.089 and finished up at 1.008 (just shy of 11% and 90% attenuation!).

Was that the one with the Calvados? I thought it was phenominal.

Yeah that was the Calvados oak aged batch, my half of it anyways. I still have some left if you want another bottle. Thanks for liking it!

When you brought over that bottle we drank on the balcony a month or two back I woke up to find some left at the bottom. It made a truly awesome onion gravy for my brats!

matt7215 wrote:i have a quad thats ready for bottles and a pumpkin beer that 2 weeks from bottles.

Gedge wrote:I've got a pumpkin ale made with the Wyeast Unibroue yeast in primary

Which hops did you guys use for your pumpkin ales? I'm going to brew one in the next few weeks and haven't decided what to use for bittering yet, but I've got a fair bit of Saaz on hand that I'll likely use for aroma.

Did you use canned or cooked/cubed fresh pumpkin?

cannondale wrote:

matt7215 wrote:i have a quad thats ready for bottles and a pumpkin beer that 2 weeks from bottles.

Gedge wrote:I've got a pumpkin ale made with the Wyeast Unibroue yeast in primary

Which hops did you guys use for your pumpkin ales? I'm going to brew one in the next few weeks and haven't decided what to use for bittering yet, but I've got a fair bit of Saaz on hand that I'll likely use for aroma.

Did you use canned or cooked/cubed fresh pumpkin?

i bittered with tradition and used fresh squash that i caramelized. i didnt use any finishing hops at all and got all of my spice from the caramelized veg and yeast strain. it tasted really good when i transfered it to secondary last saturday.

cannondale wrote:

matt7215 wrote:i have a quad thats ready for bottles and a pumpkin beer that 2 weeks from bottles.

Gedge wrote:I've got a pumpkin ale made with the Wyeast Unibroue yeast in primary

Which hops did you guys use for your pumpkin ales? I'm going to brew one in the next few weeks and haven't decided what to use for bittering yet, but I've got a fair bit of Saaz on hand that I'll likely use for aroma.

Did you use canned or cooked/cubed fresh pumpkin?

Last year I used Perle, and year before Magnum. I suppose it depends on what IBU's you're looking for. I just quarter the pumpkin, cover it in honey or agave and some spices then roast it. Then just peel the skin off when its ready.

The recipe was:

10 lbs. 2-row
1/2 lb. special B
1/2 wheat
4 lbs. canned pumpkin puree added to mash
1/2 oz. Hallertau @ 60 min.
1 oz. Hallertau @ 30 min.
1 tsp. Irish moss @ 15 min.
1 lb. demerara sugar @ 10 min.
1 1/2 tsp. allspice @ 10 min.
1 1/2 tsp. nutmeg @ 10 min.
2 cinnamon sticks @ 10 min.
2 cloves @ 10 min.
2 tbsp. freshly grated ginger @ 10 min.
2 lbs. canned pumpkin puree @ 10 min.
Mash @ 148°F for 60 min.
Wyeast 3864 Canadian/Belgian Ale (from starter)
Target IBU: 20

I moved this to the secondary last night and there was a TON of sediment in the conical and there is still a lot at the bottom of the secondary today (though the beer is clearing out to a nice colour). I am tempted to decant the beer off the sediment into another carboy but I'm thinking the sediment is mostly from the pumpkin puree and may add to the flavour or at least won't harm the beer.

Derek wrote: Though I must say, the hopping is probably covering up some of the fermentation byproducts. Right now it tastes more like a black DIPA than a big stout.

I personally don't care for flavour hop additions in darker beers. I would have added most of them at the end of the boil to get that awesome aroma without the flavour bite.

grub wrote:last years batch started at an OG of 1.089 and finished up at 1.008 (just shy of 11% and 90% attenuation!). it was supposed to be bigger bit didn't boil off as much as expected. first brew of it in '07 went from 1.104 to 1.028. i preferred the first year as it was a little fruitier, which i'd mainly attributed to it fermenting a couple of degrees warmer (that yeast is more fruity at higher temps), but it could have been partly due to the extra sugars present too. have to watch the mash temp this time and make sure it stays up.

Interesting.

My batch from 2 years ago went from 1.100 to 1.025. Despite the so-so attenuation, it is really nice. Had a bottle last night, and it is tasting better than ever, like an aged Gouden Carolus Cuvee Van de Kaiser.

My batch from earlier this year went from 1.098 to 1.015. This is the batch I sent you a bottle of. It's too dark/dry, so it is missing the rounded sweetness and dark fruit notes. For next year, I'd like to keep that attenuation, but dial back the dark syrup. I still think it will get better in another 6-12 months, so I haven't given up hope yet.

markaberrant wrote:

Derek wrote: Though I must say, the hopping is probably covering up some of the fermentation byproducts. Right now it tastes more like a black DIPA than a big stout.

I personally don't care for flavour hop additions in darker beers. I would have added most of them at the end of the boil to get that awesome aroma without the flavour bite.

The Boundary Bay Imperial Oatmeal was my inspiration:
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/70 ... pr&start=0

It's a big, flavourful stout with chocolate & citrus flavours that reminded me of a Terry's chocolate orange. I went a little bigger than their 1.070 though.

I was hoping to get some good citrus flavour, but still have a roasty, stout aroma. The 4 day sample was dominated by hops... but their intensity will probably diminish.

I just sampled the 'cool-runnings', and it's tasting more like a porter than a dry stout! I really thought they would've had more roasted character... Perhaps the full pound of oats is cutting the roastedness a little?

Derek wrote:I just sampled the 'cool-runnings', and it's tasting more like a porter than a dry stout! I really thought they would've had more roasted character... Perhaps the full pound of oats is cutting the roastedness a little?

I have found second running beers to always be a little thin tasting, especially with a relatively low gravity like yours. You did cap it, which helps, but with only 2oz of roasted barley, I can see why it might not be overly roasty. Should still be a fine beer though!

markaberrant wrote:I have found second running beers to always be a little thin tasting, especially with a relatively low gravity like yours. You did cap it, which helps, but with only 2oz of roasted barley, I can see why it might not be overly roasty. Should still be a fine beer though!

Yeah, that was the first time I had a large enough tun & enough malt to even consider a partigyle. When I do a big brew again (the frugal-environmentalist in me just can't leave all that unused sugar behind!), I'll probably sparge less & boil more.

Derek wrote:Yeah, that was the first time I had a large enough tun & enough malt to even consider a partigyle. When I do a big brew again (the frugal-environmentalist in me just can't leave all that unused sugar behind!), I'll probably sparge less & boil more.

When I was making second running beers, I was collecting 5 gallons, and boiling down to 3 (I have a 3 gallon carboy). Won a best of show with a hop burst double IPA made this way (even reused the hops from the original barleywine as a FWH).

Second running beers are fun to make, but I stopped doing them, and now I just boil my big beers longer (3 hours or more).

Gedge wrote:The recipe was:

10 lbs. 2-row
1/2 lb. special B
1/2 wheat
4 lbs. canned pumpkin puree added to mash
1/2 oz. Hallertau @ 60 min.
1 oz. Hallertau @ 30 min.
1 tsp. Irish moss @ 15 min.
1 lb. demerara sugar @ 10 min.
1 1/2 tsp. allspice @ 10 min.
1 1/2 tsp. nutmeg @ 10 min.
2 cinnamon sticks @ 10 min.
2 cloves @ 10 min.
2 tbsp. freshly grated ginger @ 10 min.
2 lbs. canned pumpkin puree @ 10 min.
Mash @ 148°F for 60 min.
Wyeast 3864 Canadian/Belgian Ale (from starter)
Target IBU: 20

Did you have any trouble with with your run-off and sparge when putting the pumkin right into the mash? I threw my pumpkin into the boil because I thougt it'd be a bit fo a fight to sparge.

jaymack wrote:Did you have any trouble with with your run-off and sparge when putting the pumkin right into the mash? I threw my pumpkin into the boil because I thougt it'd be a bit fo a fight to sparge.

we've done pumpkin in the mash for every pumpkin beer we've made (half dozen or so now) and never had a problem. roast it for a while in the oven, remove the skins, then mash it up and throw it in the mash.

how did it work out in the boil? boiling pretty much any fruit is gonna set the pectin and give you mega haze (not to mention boiling off the aromatics and likely some of the flavour).