Upcoming fall/winter brews

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I am planning an oktoberfest this weekend, and then aging it til March (kind of the reverse of normal).

Just got all moved into a new house and thus I couldn't brew on 9-9-09 so I thought I'd do a reverse O-fest since it'll be easy to lager in the cool garage.
 
Pumpkin Ale is the only out of ordinary brew I have planned. Other than that it's the normal IPA's and Pale Ales
 
I brewed the pumpkin ale and it barely had any spice flavor. I guess they were all driven off during primary since. I ended up steeping the same amount of spices in 1/4 of water, filtering it, and adding to the keg and it's perfect now. I think I'm going to do this from now on with spices including the coffee I plan on adding to the previously-mentioned breakfast stout.
 
I just did a pumpkin ale last weekend. the recipe i used did suggest doing spices (as a steeped 'tea') when you went to secondary.

on the coffee, try to do a cold brewing of the coffee. it'll pull fewer volatile oils outta the coffee that could ruin head retention.
 
we are doing a rasp. chipotle wine. keeps ya warm when you need it. that and iti'll clear the sinuses right up!
 
I'm looking forward to making my first lager. I've been making ales for years, but had no way to really keep the temp down for lagers until recently. So, if I can find a free day this month, I'm going to try to make a Munich Dunkel for next year.

I usually make my holiday beers in the summer so they can age and be ready for the holiday season. I've got a few 9+% brews on tap now that I made back in March. :D
 
Ok, tried the chocolate breakfast stout after 2.5 days of force carbing. It's got a harsh taste to it, a bit "hot" (it is 7.8% ABV), I'm hoping from being young. seems like the flavors need to meld together more. Leave it in the kegerator for another month and re-visit? Will a month be enough time?
 
At 7.8% abv, it definitely needs more time for the flavors to integrate and the alcohol flavor to subside.

Trying it again in a month is a good plan.

If it were me, I'd wait 3 months. I make my holiday ales (usually 7.5 - 10% abv) in the spring and leave the kegs in my cellar to age until Thanksgiving. Then I bottle up a bunch for gifts and put the rest on tap for the holidays.
 
I could stand to plan better :\
But I will drink a stout any time of year :)

Should I keep it in my kegerator to mellow or put it in my basement (~63 degrees)?
 
I also drink stout year-round. I don't buy into the "summer beer"/"winter beer" thing. I just like to make special high-abv beers for gifts and as winter warmers. They also give me a good reason to experiment with spices and interesting beers that I wouldn't want to drink 5 gallons of. LOL

I'd store it in the cellar. The warmer temps will help it age a bit quicker. Plus, that leaves room in your kegerator for something else to enjoy while it ages. ;)
 
+1 :b

Listen to you talking about "winter" beers in Long Beach...
 
LOL... yeah, it got down into the 40's this morning. I had to put on the big jacket to ride my motorcycle to work.

Hey... there's got to be some reason I live in this crazy place. :sp
 
Having shoveled my car out of 24" of snow yesterday in Philly, I'm not amused.

;)
 

Latest posts

Back
Top