Pints: Stout #2 (Oatmeal)

I like stouts...and I like oatmeal stouts.  Why not make one?  I needed to build up my Wyeast 1968 to save anyway.  I also wanted to try using coconut sugar in a brew; its light coconut and heavy caramel flavor seemed like it would compliment a stout.  I kept the recipe similar to my first stout, substituting the rye for flaked oats.  The LHBS only had pale chocolate malt though, which left this batch a little lighter than the last.  Overall, I think it was a good batch, definitely room for improvement and tweaking though.

Sweet, delicious wort

A small glass of the finished product

NOTES

• Malt:
  • 4.25# Maris Otter
  • 1/2# Flaked oats
  • 1/4# Dehusked Carafa 3
  • 1/4# Pale Chocolate Malt
  • 1/4# Caramel 120L
• Hops:
  • 1/2oz Fuggles @ 45 minutes
  • 1/2oz East Kent Goldings @ 30 minutes
  • 1/2oz Fuggles @ 5 minutes
  • 1/2oz East Kent Goldings @ 5 minutes
• Sugar:
  • 1 cup Coconut Palm Sugar
• Yeast:
  • London ESB Ale Wyeast 1968 (1 pack)
• Water:
  • City water treated with Campden

~35 IBUs
Mash at 153F for 60 minutes
70% efficiency assumed.

1/24/2016: Brew Day.
51.5f at 9:27AM
153f at 10:42AM
Boil started at 12:03PM
Rolling boil at 12:39PM
Dumped into fermentor at 2:16PM
Brix at 13.2 after mash. Forgot to mash out...doesn't seem to have caused any problems though.  Added 1 cup of coconut palm sugar as it was coming up to a boil.  During cooling the drill pooped out because I forgot to recharge it from the day before.  Was able to run icewater through the chiller for about 5 minutes.  That should have gotten the temperature below 170F at least.  Cooled in a water batch the rest of the time.  Gravity is 1.062 @ 75F, so efficiency was better than expected.  Added fermcap as well.  Aerated with the immersion blender until volume per foam was increased by a quart.  Wort doing into the fermentor had a great flavor... chocolate caramel.

1/25/2016: vigorous fermentation stated overnight.  Fermcap that was just added on top of the aeration foam seems to be working well...

1/28/2016:  gravity is 1.02. Added 1/2 tsp of fermax dissolved in water to give it a boost.

2/1/2016:  gravity is 1.02.  Gave it a swirl to rouse the yeast.

2/5/2016: gravity is unchanged

2/7/2016: kegged with a bit of sugar

2/12/2016:  put on gas

2/25/2016: tasting
Appearance:  dark brown, not quite black.  Tan head that quickly falls away, but leaves lacing.
Smell: cacao, slight caramel and alcohol.  Some roastiness
Mouthfeel: full mouthfeel with maybe a bit too much carbonation.  Somewhat dry.  Not creamy.
Taste:  very little bitterness or astringency. Some dark chocolate and roast flavor.  Bit of burnt sugar.  Hops are not obvious.  Maybe a hint of caramel.

3/20/2016:  sidenote, boilermaker with kraken rum is excellent.

3/29/2016:  keg kicked.  242oz served.

Pints: Mostly Azzaca IPA

After the azzaca hops test batch I made, I really wanted to do a more heavily hopped version to really bring out that flavor.  I also wanted to use it up; they weren't getting any fresher sitting in the freezer.  The recipe below is the result. 

One issue with it was the yeast.  My LHBS did not have the Wyeast 1318 yeast I wanted to use, so I settled for Wyeast 1968.  After reading a bit about it, it sounded like a decent yeast to use in IPAs.  Maybe I didn't do something right, but I was not that impressed with it.  The hop flavors were kind of mild, and there was a bit of a toasty/buttery note that did not work.  This yeast is known for needing a diacetyl rest, so maybe I didn't yet it do long enough.  In any case, it was definitely drinkable, and i might have even enjoyed it.  Just was a bit of a disappointment.

On a side note, I think this was the last batch I brewed with the Anova...more on that later

It never got any clearer than this, but that's okay I guess.  Head was very persistent.

NOTES:

Mash

• 3.5# 2 Row
• 1.5# Maris Otter
• .25# Honey malt
• .25# Caramel 120L
• Mash at 149F for 60 minutes

Boil

• Boil for 45 Minutes
• Add 1 Cup table sugar @ 0 minutes
• .33 oz of Jarrylo hops (14.2%AA) @ 30 minutes
• 1 oz of Azzaca hops (10% AA) @ 55 minutes
• .33 oz of Jarrylo hops (14.2%AA) @ 55 minutes

Fermentation

• Pitch a 1/2 cup of goop from Oatmeal stout (Wyeast 1968 ESB) and aerate with immersion blender.
• Leave in fermentor for about 2 weeks
• Start at 64F, gradually increase
• At 10 days, dry hop with 2 oz of Azzaca hops (10% AA)  for 2 days because the study said so.

2/7/2015: Brew Day.  Starting gravity was 1.062.  Added some fermcap after aeration.  Vigorous fermentation had started by nightfall.

2/9/2016: gravity is about 1.019.  Gave it a swirl as well.  No longer under temperature control.

2/10/2016: gravity is 1.012

2/14/2016: gravity is about 1.01.  Has kind of a popcorn taste...worried about diacetyl

2/16/2016:  sampled.  Popcorn taste seems to be gone...guess the yeast cleaned up after themselves...

2/17/2016:  dry hopped.  Weighted down with a shot glass so it sinks.

2/19/2016:  kegged.

3/17/2016:  tasting
Appearance:  muddy dark tan color, persistent thick, white head
Smell:  tropical fruit hops apparent. 
Taste:  slight toasty popcorn type flavor.  Fairly restrained bitterness.  Tropical fruit flavor. A bit of spiciness.  Bit of sweet honey as well.  Relatively thick mouthfeel, did not dry out as much as I would have liked.  Slight tartness.
Overall impression:  a little disappointed with it, the toasty flavor is not welcome.  I'll gladly drink it though.

3/28/2016:  keg kicked.  232oz served.