Although today isn’t as busy as next week will be, it still seems a fairly busy brew day. First and foremost, we have an Oatmeal stout update. It would seem that some of my changes to increase the body of the original stout have paid off. At this time it is roughly 4.75% alcohol. This is still a bit higher than I wanted with this beer so I will have to make a few more changes to bring it more inline with what I am looking for. It doesn’t seem to have the sharp espresso notes of the dry stout. Instead it is more of a robust rich coffee flavor. I am anxious to see how this one finish when it is fully carbed (it will go into conditioning next week).
Currently sitting in the mash tun are the grains for the Kolsch. This one will have a fairly long road ahead of it after the yeast are pitched tonight. I am planning a week in primary and then two weeks in secondary (and secondary will be done at lager temps). I guess its good that I am patient.
Next week I will begin work on Emo IPA. Im going to go a little odd with it though. My current plan is to propagate the Kolsch yeast to use with the IPA. But this will be treated as any other ale I brew and it will not receive the same lagar type conditioning that the kolsch will receive. The interesting thing about this yeast is it is supposed to highlight the hops flavors but also ferment fairly clean. So my english style ales shouldn’t have as much diacytel left over as they would with some of the english yeasts I have enjoyed using in the past.
Well, at this time I have work to do. I guess its time for a pint…
