Filed under Small Batch

Big Oatmeal Stout: Tasting Notes

Big Oatmeal Stout: Tasting Notes

From the brew day last March, finally, here are the tasting notes to my Big Oatmeal Stout (the link to the brew day is here). This one came out great and has been folding up well with age. Coming in at 6% ABV, this beer isn’t that strong across the stout spectrum (Imperial stout, for … Continue reading

From the Archives: Red IPA

From the Archives: Red IPA

One of my first Partial-Mash homebrews was an American-style Red IPA.  It was my first big beer, which I called #7, since it was 7% ABV. I was experimenting with hop blends, this one being a 50/50 mix of Centennial and Tettnang hops. The idea was to try to get a strong floral aroma by combining … Continue reading

2013 Summer Solstice Brew: Blonde Barleywine

2013 Summer Solstice Brew: Blonde Barleywine

If you haven’t noticed, I like to brew big beers to celebrate the changing of seasons. For the 2013 summer solstice, I brewed a big English-style barleywine with a twist: using only Maris Otter malt. Hence Blonde Barleywine! After aging for 6 months in bottle (fairly young for a barleywine), I gave this one a … Continue reading

Palisades American Bitter: Tasting Notes

Palisades American Bitter: Tasting Notes

The Palisades American Bitter (a British-style bitter malt profile with 100% Palisades hops and fermented with Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast) has completed fermentation and bottled-conditioning. Starting at 1.033, this ale finished fermentation down to 1.008, attenuating around 75%. Fermenting around 66 F, 1056 showed typical characteristics of West-coast ale strains, taking close to a month for … Continue reading

Big Oatmeal Stout: Brew Day

Big Oatmeal Stout: Brew Day

Last weekend, I was hit with a craving for a big, malty stout, but had none on hand, nor had any ageing in the homebrew archives (gasp!). So, to remedy this problem, I decided to brew up what was on my mind, and came up with a recipe for a big (or big-ish, 1.060+) Oatmeal stout. … Continue reading

2012 Mayan Apocalypse Ale: Tasting Notes – Fresh Edition

2012 Mayan Apocalypse Ale: Tasting Notes – Fresh Edition

Nearly two months after the epic 2012 Mayan Apocalypse Brew Night, the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse Ale has completed fermentation and is bottle-conditioning. Starting at 1.068, a strong ale of sorts, this puppy fermented down to 1.014 using S-04 (impressive). Fermenting around 68 F, the S-04 was quite a monster, coming to terminal gravity quite fast (high … Continue reading

Mayan Apocalypse Ale: Brew Night

Mayan Apocalypse Ale: Brew Night

To commemorate the possible 2012 Mayan apocalypse, I planned a last-minute brew night.  Whether it was zombies or a comet, I figured if the world was ending, I might as well go down while brewing some beer (with a good baseball bat in short range, just in case). Fortunately, the world did not end, and I was left … Continue reading