Upcoming fall/winter brews

[Mike]

I'm excited to brew some cool beers in the near future, a pumpkin ale I'll brew on Columbus Day and a chocolate coffee stout sometime later.

 

[Malkore]

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.

 

[smurfe]

Pumpkin Ale is the only out of ordinary brew I have planned. Other than that it's the normal IPA's and Pale Ales

 

[Mike]

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.

 

[Malkore]

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.

 

[Mike]

Thanks for the tip, Malkore.

 

[Midwest Vintner]

we are doing a rasp. chipotle wine. keeps ya warm when you need it. that and iti'll clear the sinuses right up!

 

[TheTooth]

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.

 

[Mike]

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?

 

[TheTooth]

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.

 

[Mike]

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)?

 

[TheTooth]

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.

 

[Mike]

+1

Listen to you talking about "winter" beers in Long Beach...

 

[TheTooth]

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.

 

[Mike]

Having shoveled my car out of 24" of snow yesterday in Philly, I'm not amused.