Saturday, November 17, 2012

Patience is a virtue

If I've learned anything since I've started brewing, it's that patiences is indeed a virtue.  I used my lack of it to advantage with my first brew. It was a honey wheat that I started drinking within 2 weeks of brewing and only a few days in the bottle.  I was able to learn how the flavor changed over time.  I was lucky in that I hit the right amount of ABV, remaining yeast in solution and bottle conditioning to have every bottle well carbonated by the time I popped the cap.

My second batch was an oatmeal stout. The original recipe called for a cold steep of coffee to be added to the secondary fermentation vessel, which I omitted.  That, combined with a bit of over hopping,  produced a very hoppy stout that I hesitate to call an oatmeal stout. It's more like a Imperial Stout or Russian IPA.

Here's where the patience part comes in.  I bottled this batch over a month ago. Almost every bottle that I've had or given away has been moderately flat.  I attributed it to not using enough priming sugar when I bottled.  Last night, however, I opened one and poured it into my favorite glass. I was rewarded with a rich, thick, 2 finger head that lasted for the entire glass.  I'm going to ensure that I'm not subject to an outlier and crack another tonight and see if it give the same result.  If so, I'll make sure to update my notes to allow for 4-6 weeks of bottle conditioning next time before sending these out the door.

Brewing side note:

In Primary:
Strange Brew - Killer Kolsch

On deck:
Dry hopped ESB
Northern Brewer - Houblonmonstre Tripel IPA

2 comments:

Author Denise Kawaii said...

I had no idea you had a blog. WEBSTALK!

Abyssleaper said...

Haha. I've had it forever but can't seem to keep anything in my head long enough to write consistently. :D