That's never happened before

but it seems like it should of.

Saturday of the Memorial day weekend I spent brewing my Whiskey Barrel Stout.
First off I discovered that the oak chips are added during the fermentation stage, cause I really wasn't sure when they would be added.  I read something about adjuncts in beer that gave the distinct impression that this one is going to sit in the secondary fermenter for at least 3 weeks.  The longer it sits the more of a whiskey taste I will get. 

In the same book, "The Joy of Home Brewing", I was reading up on whole grain brewing when I read something interesting.  In the beginning there is grain.  (Most kits are partial grain partial extract.)  This grain behaves way differently in different conditions while attempting to leach all the sugars and enzymes from it.  Bases on what I read if I lower the temperature at which I am steeping the grains I will get a better alcohol content with a lighter body.  Since this is supposed to taste like whiskey anyway I would assume that higher alcohol content would be a good thing. 

While steeping the grains the enzymes in the grains are working to convert germ in the grain to the usable sugars and nutrients that would be needed for germination, if I wasn't about to boil the hell out of it.  The longer I let it sit at the lower temperature the more ferment able sugars will be produced and there by the higher the proof of the beer will be.

So taking this knowledge I keep the temp lower while I was steeping the grains in this kit.  I usually try to keep things about 150 F but almost always get over 160 F.  I kept the temp down to 130 F this time around although actual temp was probably closer to 135 F, I didn't keep the thermometer in the wort long enough to for it to stop moving totally but it was slowing way down by 130 F.

Now that it has been in the fermenter for 5 days the bulk of fermenting is over and something happened that was different.  The fermentation was so strong at points that I wound up with beer yeast blow off in my air lock.  This has never happened to me before, but given what I remember from the few brewery tours I have taken it suddenly seems strange that it has never happened before.  From the few brewery tours I have taken I have seen many a fermenter bubbling out foam and undissolved yeast along with the CO2 by product of fermentation. 

I would like to say that this change to something that more mimics what I have seen in bigger commercial breweries is a sign that I did right by lowering the temperature, but for late May in Michigan it has been shockingly hot, I already have had my first sun burn of the year, so the exceptional temperature of my apartment may also be playing a role in the fermentation.

P.S.  Michigan is not back to normal for this time of the year.  It is 70 during the day, 40 at night, and overcast and raining.

Why is it still flat?

I have to admit I was really anticipating my latest brew creation.  I really like Hobgoblin Ale and wanted to try my attempt at copying it ASAP, but I bottled it on a Monday and was opening up my first bottle of it that Friday.  4 to 5 days is not long enough for this beer to be carbonated and ready to drink.

I opened up a second bottle of it today, after 12 days, and this was much better. 

The beer still did not have the flavor I was really going for but it is okay.  I tell that I put in way more chocolate malt then I should have and I actually think this is a good comparison for what an extra 4 oz of chocolate malt can do.

My next brew is also going to incorporate something new that I have not tried before, Oak Chips.  This is a kit and is called Whiskey Barrel Stout.

On a related but altogether different note....

I bought a 5 gallon paint bucket from Home Depot a while back and had been tossing all my spent grain, as well as orange peals apple cores and other "organic" trash, in to this bucket.  Like three weeks ago I bought some live worms from Wal Mart's fishing section to add to the bucket.  I was outside today working on my inner city garden, the planters and window boxes on the balcony to my apartment, and happened to look in the bucket to notice those worms have eaten through most of the grain and other compost ables I had in there.  In fact I scooped some of it out of the bucket to add to a new hanging planter I bought and saw worm larvae, a sure sign the worms are reproducing and healthy.

It might be a lame thing to be excited about I am excited that my worm compost idea is working.

Whiskey in my beer.

I am about to bottle my second attempt at Hobgoblin beer but had a set back when I noticed none of my friends were rinsing out there bottles after helpping them selves to my fridge.  So I spent my entire Sunday cleaning out caked on mold and bacteria from bottles and boiling them in water.  Not happy was I.

When I went to the local supply store for priming sugar I was looking around and found a new beer kit that caught my attention.  Whiskey Barrel Stout! 

I am a little unsure of when I will try to brew that one, what with mothers day weekend coming up, but I am intreuged.  I have not used oak chips in any brew so far that I have attempted so this kit is going to done very strictly by the included instructions, but I really want to know what the flavor comes out like.

Another kit that caught my attention but which I did not buy was something called Milk Stout.  I box says it uses lactose to give the beer a richer creamy body and head and has me wondering about that flavor as well.

I love Irish Cars when I go to the bars.  For thosethat don't know it is Guiness, Whiskey, and Irish Cream wish the whiskey and cream in a shot that you drop in the Guiness.  I am wondering what the Whiskey Barrel Stout and Milk Stout taste like because I am wondering if I couldn't mix the oak chips with the lactose and some coffee flavoring to make a stout beer that tastes like an Irish Car.