Stock Ale

So here's the good and bad about Sunday's day of brewing:

The Good: Efficiency was better than expected, which was even more surprising given the gravity of the beer. Typically, efficiency suffers with bigger beers. But patience wins: I extracted about 8 to 9 gallons of wort from my grain and had to boil it down over three hours to 5 gallons (actually 4.5), which meant a lot of caramelization of the wort (a good thing for this style) and a lot of propane...

The Bad: It was a windy and cold afternoon, so I gave my propane burner stand a good wrap with tin foil to protect from the wind. Turns out I turned it into a Dutch oven, and scorched a good square foot of our back deck. Nah, not scorched. Burned. In fact, it's a rapidly widening black hole. Dangerous. Whoops.

But of course, all is worth it for a good final product. You won't hear much about this one for awhile; at 11% alcohol by volume, it will need significant aging in order to taste smooth. A primary fermentation on a small addition of steamed and toasted oak chips will emulate that cask-conditioned character in a bourbon barrel. If you forgot, this batch is a single-malt, single-hop lesson in simplicity. Cool fermentation temperatures will minimize yeast character (of my already neutral and beautiful house yeast) and let the malt (Light German Munich) and hops (British Challenger) prevail, with simple secondary flavors of oak and alcohol. It should end up a deep red, crystal clear beer, with a floral and fruity dry-hopped aroma that effectively covers up the immediate presense of alcohol, which should appear as warming in the finish, like whiskey.

And hopefully the burning treated pine boards of our deck won't add too much smokiness to the beer.

63 Gallons of Beer on the Wall...

...or in my closet. Seriously: upon yesterday's bottling of 15 gallons (Champagne Lager, Fair Trade Stout, Bastogne Tripel...all smelling/tasting very good, especially the lager), there are now 50 gallons of beer, give or take a few gallons for short cases, hanging out in my closet...20 cases of over 10 varieties. Further, my hard cider is still fermenting slowly in primary, while 5 gallons of Big Sky IPA/Pale Ale and 3 gallons of 7 month old Ella is hanging out in secondary. PLUS I'm brewing this Sunday. Shnikes.

On Sunday's menu is the Stock Ale I've been writing about. Finally a free day from work without other obligations so I can brew for the first time in three weeks. I apologize for my prolonged absense from the brewlog. Hopefully it never has to happen again.

Tried some Annabelle the other day with my folks, and it was great. Even better fully carbed this week. Needs a bit of aging to get some of that great vinous character only attainable by a bit of cellaring.

But, anyway, back to those 63 gallons. If you want some, please ask. At this point, I can't drink it nearly fast enough before it reaches it's peak and starts to go bad. Here's what's available: I'm happy to just give it away, even ship it if you want to pay for shipping (which is under 8 bucks for a 12-pack if I go from work). Just ask. PLEASE. E-mail me: ignitehardcore@hotmail.com. Here's what's available and a quick description in hopefully not too haughty beer terms:

Bastogne Tripel: Sweet, fruity, high-alcohol but light-colored Belgian ale.
Annabelle - Scotch Rye: A dark, full-bodied, alcoholic Scottish ale, lightly smoky/earthy flavors under a huge caramelly, rum-raisin, dark malt canvas.
Champagne Lager: My first attempt at a lager is a well-balanced but strong light lager, crisp with light malt flavors and excessively drinkable.
Fair Trade Stout: A robust stout, strong but not overwhelming, spiked with Bold French Roast coffee.
Eva - 10-Malt Brown Ale: A dark and complex American brown ale with lots of toasty, toffee, and bready flavors balanced by a domestic hop tartness.
Rachel - American Amber Ale: Citrusy and hop driven with a malt sweetness to back it up.
Hannah - American Wheat: Effervescent with coriander and orange spices. Unfortunately a little thin and off target, but perfect for Blue Moon drinkers.
Mikaela - Irish Ale: Molly's badass brew. Cool fermentation temperatures yielded a totally smooth and crisp, creamy and malty medium-bodied beer.
Belgian Annabelle: Whoops. Pitched Belgian Trappist ale yeast instead of my house yeast, but 4-5 months of aging have actually yielded a great Belgian Dubbel: a little smoke, lots of sweetness, and yeasty fruitiness. A slow sipper.
Amarillo IPA: Hoppy hoppy hoppy, but not excessively bitter. A little overcarbed and a bit soapy, but definately drinkable for IPA lovers.
Blackstrap Brown Ale: Don't worry about this one. Tastes like liquid aluminum the longer it sits. Not sure why I'm wasting the closet space.

Plus a few extra bottles of last years Chai Porter (Holly) and Kolsch (still good). But,like I said, if you want FREE BEER, just ask. How many times do you hear that in a lifetime?

Until Sunday...