Monticello Door Batch 2 (aka Monty)

My 2nd batch of this brew.

I left the malt bill alone, mostly; I added another 1/2 lb. of extract, mainly b/c some extract always gets lost in the shuffle, still stuck to the side of the bucket etc. Still all Fuggles hops, same amount. Main diff this time is that I used White Labs Abbey Ale vs. the Bastogne. And I didnt do the Orval yeast in the bottled portion either. This batch was brewed up as a "drinking batch" - in other words, I wasnt planning on aging any of it long enough to develop any sourness etc.

That first batch of Monty, I can remember drinking the last bottle. I think it sat around about 6 months. The sour tinge was there, perfectly. So while I definitely plan on doing that again in subsequent batches, this time I just chose not to deal w/ it.

Since I havent brewed in some time, I am more interested this year in focusing on a few brews/recipes. The below photo shows this batch w/o a crucial growler that was also filled. Half of the batch into the Party Pig this time (holds about 2.5 gallons = a case).

Monticello Door (Batch 2)
-------------------------

Malt
----
6 lbs Malt Extract
2 lb 2-Row
.75 lb Crystal 20L
.75 lb Crystal 40L
.5 lb Carapils

Hops
----
3 oz Fuggles (4%)
[60 1oz, 30 1.5oz, 20 .5 oz]

Yeast
-----
White Labs Abbey Ale WLP530

Etc
---
1 lb Washed Raw Sugar (.5 lb 30, .5 lb 15)
Whirfloc tab (15)
Servomyces (10)

Used my basic process, which has turned into this:
1.75 gallons H20 to 160, add grains, 60m rest w. towel covering, recirculate initial pull, sparge w/ 1.75g @ 170. Then 60 min boil, I usually do half extract before boil, then the rest @ about 10m.

I got a really amazing OG w/ this, surpisingly more than the first Monty batch, & more than you would think from just 1/2 lb more extract. Definitely more. I was pretty patient w/ the mash, so that may have something to do w/ it.

OG: 1.070
FG: 1.014

Alc/Vol: 7.3% (howoever after i took the last reading, it caught fire for another day or two suddenly, so there are probably a few more points in there, 7.5-7.7ish?)

Brewed: Sat, January 15
Racked: Thu, January 27
Bottled: Sun, February 13

Braddock's Defeat Wee Heavyish

This brew was inspired by the historic event of Braddock's Defeat @ the beginning of the French & Indian War. I had recently re-read Pynchon's Mason & Dixon, so was thinking of doing a Scottish style brew. Never done one. My friend Shep came over for the brewing.

Grains used in the mini-mash.

Sparging the mini-mash.

A while later, a nice, healthy boil. I actually boiled this one for 2 hours, versus one, to really cook the malt.

This one took a looooong time to carbonate. Honestly, I wasnt getting good carbonated bottles until about 7 or 8 months after brewing. I also noticed an odd film on the tops of the early bottles (in older ones it eventually got worked out of the beer) - I wasnt sure what it was, but it didnt affect the taste @ all. I was thinking it may have been a food born bug transferred from my wooden spoon, but just not sure.

This was also my first time using Wyeast yeast, a smack pack. I much prefer White Labs.

Braddock's Defeat
-----------------

Malt
----
12 lbs Extract
1 lb Two-Row (Maris Otter)
.75 lb Crystal 90L
.25 lb Roasted Barley

Hops
----
1 oz US Goldings 4.9% (90 mins)
1 oz US Goldings 4.9% (60 mins)
1 oz US Goldings 4.9% (30 mins)

Other
-----
1 Whirlfloc tab @ 15 mins
1 Servomyces tab @ 10 mins

Yeast
-----
Wyeast Scottish Ale Yeast

Mini-mash one step @ 160 (45 min rest) - sparge water @ 170. Gentle boil for 2 hours.

OG: 1.085
FG: 1.026

7.6% alc/vol - This actually fermented a bit more after I took this reading, so most likely a bit higher, also I think it fermented a good bit more in bottle, eventually.

2010 RECAP

So I didnt brew that much in 2010, for a number of reasons. Hoping to get back into it this year, & therefore kinda revamping the blog a bit, a bit @ a time. Though I didnt brew, I did drink a good bit of homebrew as I had full batches of both Bilbo's Brandywine & Braddock's Defeat. I plan to post about the Braddock's Defeat brewing sometime this week, a Heavy Scottish Ale, kinda like a Wee Heavy. It came out well. Here's a picture of the final bit of it, from a growler.

As for Bilbo's, here is a shot of the next to last bottle that was cracked on the night of Christmas. It was super good, & beautifully carbonated, unlike a lot of the early bottles I drank, which were much more syrupy.

And speaking of carbonation, that was one of my main lessons for the year. Both of these beers were pretty heavy (Braddock's was 1.085 OG & Bilbo's 1.096 OG), the biggest beers I've done up to this point, so it took patience to let them sit until well carbonated. But for the bottles I did let sit, it was definitely worth it.

Also, I had to throw out a batch this year for the first time. I brewed up Trappe Door batch 3, but had a mishap, when cooling the wort, a floating thermometer broke, releasing a bunch of metal balls into the pot. Ends up, those bad boys werent sanitized, & though I filtered them out, after fermentation, the beer tasted a bit like nail polish remover. Dump.

Anyway, I brewed up Monticello Door batch 2 last weekend, so I plan to post about both that one, as well as Braddock's Defeat in the coming week, going from there.

The Vitality of Yeast

If you were to search the web wondering "how long does yeast last" you will hear "maybe a few months, but anything over that, throw it out". Not true.

I have had a stoppered jar of used White Labs Bastogne, from a Monticello Door batch Spring 2009, sitting in back of my fridge, for almost 2 years... A few days ago, I worked up a 2 c. wort & made a starter, pitching some of the jar after allowing it to near room temp. As you can see, two days later, as temps conjealed, a nice krausen developed, yeast as live as ever. This makes me happy, b/c I stored a few other strains this same way, & also, this particular strain, is hard to find. It was a limited edition to start w/ (& produced wonderful results).

I will put it to good use soon.