So there's been some serious brewing action this late winter/spring though I havent posted b/c my computer crashed on me - at home we have been using my wife's old laptop and with photos etc just made too difficult - so anyway, i will back post once i get a new comp up and running - we are looking to get an iMac this time out, just been super busy, no time to actually make the deal. But soon. In the meantime, here's whats goin on:
INFINITE DOOR Imperial Stout - Best beer I've brewed yet. Came out just like I hoped it would. It's going to be hard not to tap into the reserves of this, but I plan to move the final box (with the 22 oz. bottles) to the cellar soon, to make them harder to get to.
TRAPPE DOOR Dubbel (Batch 2) - Major improvement over the first batch. I changed up the malt profile a bit, and like it much more. Tasted it last night for the first time (almost two weeks in bottle) and was somewhat blown away. Exactly what I was going for. Nails the Dubbel style and super flavorful. Dry, nutty, caramelly. More detailed post to come.
MONTICELLO DOOR Pale Ale/Saison- A recipe I had been working on for some time to brew on Thomas Jefferson's b-day (April 13). Was to be an American Pale Ale using only Fuggle hops. Didnt get to it by the 13th, but brewed that weekend. Actually turned into a cross between an Orval and an American Fuggle Pale Ale. A friend of mine who is from Virginia, came over to help brew, as we are going to tap this bad boy at his birthday in a few weeks. We ended up Belgianing it up a bit by adding 1.5 lbs of Turbinado Sugar and I used the White Labs Bastogne yeast, b/c the vial I had actually had the "best if used by" date of April 13. I like how random things like that can influence a beer. Anyway, the attentuation was something like 83%, fermenting right at the onslaught of a heat wave, beer got up to 78 degrees. After about a week in secondary, we put half into the Party Pig, and then bottled the other half after adding a bit of Brett yeast I'd kept from the dregs of a few Orval bottles. Will be interesting to see how those bottles turn out. If they sour up at all, etc.
THE POWER AND THE GLORY Mexican Dubbel - this was my last inspired idea... I brewed it up right after racking Trappe Door 2, and pitched onto that yeast. A similar beer profile to the TD, however I used a bit of chocolate malt and some other different grains. PLUS I added some ancho and guajillo chiles to the boil, at the end. This sucker fermenteted FAST, but due to all of my equipment being used by all these brews, it sat for a few days over a month in the fermenter. I then took another bag of guajillo (actually a friend of mine did this as I cleaned the carboy), took out the stems and seeds, put them into a muslin bag and steamed them for a good 15 minutes to sanitize and bring out some juices. Smelled really nice, of tobacco somewhat. Put that into the carboy, then racked the brew onto it. I sampled it and the chiles are working superbly with the beer. I'm planning to leave it sitting until the chiles are almost a bit much, knowing that in bottles, it will fade some. I like the idea of having them right up in your nose and tongue, but in a good, inviting way.
Next up, the GREEN DOOR IPA. Most likely my last beer of the spring.
Back-posts with photos etc coming as soon as possible.
