It’s time for cold conditioning. Last night I racked the Oatmeal Stout and IPA into the secondary fermentors and dropped them into the basement beer fridge at about 42 degrees F. I love the smell of freshly fermented beer. It’s obviously warm and flat, but you can get a pretty good idea of what it’s hopefully going to taste like when you crack that lid.
Oatmeal Stout on left, oak-infused IPA on right
You may recall both of my brews underwent violent fermentations, with the stout exploding plumes of frothy krausen out of the air lock. When I opened up the stout primary, I was greeted with the comforting smell of sweet and cinnamon-spicy oatmeal, as well as a little bit of Starbucks Breakfast Blend (which I tossed into the mix after I cooled the wort, about 16 liquid ounces). The aroma was fantastic. I siphoned off the ale into the glass carboy, watching the toffee brown liquid gently spill into the container. It almost looked like Nestle Quik chocolate milk. And I’m not talking about the standard one-scoop version mom would give you. Oh no, this stuff is strong enough to make the rabbit blush. I think it’s going to be a very good beer.
By design, the IPA was a whole different story. Floral hops wafted from the primary (I used 3 ounces of Glacier, Columbus and Goldings), and the brew was a perfectly golden amber color. Exactly what I was hoping for. It has a final gravity of 1.018 (about 6.1% ABV based on my original gravity), and is supposed to come in at about 70 IBUs. This one should have some kick. The other interesting tidbit is that I charred about 4 ounces of oak wood chips on my outdoor grill and dropped them into the secondary. The hope is that they’ll impart a slightly smoky quality to the IPA, similar to the oak casks used by the British when shipping to colonial India. We’ll see how it turns out.
Both of these will marinate for at least a couple weeks. The stout will probably go longer. I’ll keep you posted on progress. Until we’re ready to keg, I’ll have to bide my time posting more reviews…
August 27, 2008 at 4:50 pm
For us dopes that don’t know anything about homebrewing, could you briefly explain to me how you predict and measure FG, ABVs, and IBUs.
August 27, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Here’s a good article that breaks down the calculations:
http://byo.com/feature/1315.html
But, in short, I basically use a hydrometer after the wort is cooled to measure the OG, which gives me the density of the liquid (i.e. how much fermentable sugars are there for the yeast to consume and produce alcohol). When the wort is fermented out (now called beer), you take a second hydrometer reading to get your FG. Subtract one from the other, and multiply by a constant of 131 (don’t ask my why), and you get your ABV.
IBUs are a function of the alpha acid units in your hop schedule combined with the hop utilization ratio (aka time in the boil) and volume of wort. In other words…hops like Simcoe are high in AAUs (about 14%), and will dramatically kick up your IBU rating if, for example, you boil 3 ounces of them for 60 minutes in a 5 gallon batch. Other hops, like Cascade (about 4-8% AAU) wouldn’t have the same overall impact. Ever had Bell’s Hop Slam? I think they use a ton of Simcoe, probably dryhopping too.
August 27, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Have only had Bell’s Two Hearted. Had the Weyenbacher Simcoe recently though.
Next dumb question: where does one buy hops?
I’d love to hear more about how you got into homebrewing, your great successes, great failures/disasters, and craziest shit you’ve ever brewed. Would make for good articles.
August 27, 2008 at 11:25 pm
I get mine at my local home brew supply store. There’s a couple in my area. I’m probably spoiled. I think most homebrewers get them in concentrated pellet form, but they also come as fully dried leaves. I’ve used both, primarily leaves for dryhopping. I’m planning to plant a rhyzome in my backyard next spring and see how it grows. One of my homebrew buddies has a Cascade vine going, but I hear it can take a couple years to get a decent harvest. Good ideas on the posts, I plan to address all that at some point.