Brewer's Log - 5/09/2014

The Orange Belgian and the Neapolitan Ice Cream Stout have been bottled and carbed.

I'm pleasantly surprised at how the Belgian turned out. It tastes a LOT like Blue Moon, which I guess was kind of the goal. A friend's brother likes mine better than Blue Moon, and while I appreciate the praise, I realize it just comes down to opinion. The style is there and that's what counts. This is also the first batch that doesn't have that "made from extract" taste to it. I hope that's more a testament to my abilities than to the kit I used.

The Neapolitan Ice Cream Stout... didn't turn out as expected. The strawberry flavor is barely there at all, and the vanilla is, as far as I can tell, nonexistent. However, in spite of all this, it is still a really good chocolate stout. If you concentrate on strawberries you can get a hint of them, which is nice. Almost like eating just the chocolate off of a chocolate covered strawberry. I think the vanilla is probably imparting a smoothness of flavor overall, but you would never be able to point out the vanilla itself.

I've also been reminded why I switched to kegging. Bottling is a stressful pain in the ass. BUT! It has been very convenient for giving it away to friends, which for me balances the whole thing out.

Nothing currently brewing right now since I've been caught up in other things. I have some raspberries in the freezer, so it might be a good time to make up a batch of the Raspberry Hefe everyone seems to love so much. I have zero time this weekend to brew it though, and I really wanted to try my hand at all-grain via BIAB (brew in a bag). Perhaps I'll grab an extract kit and whip it up after work and save the BIAB adventure for something like a cream ale.

Brewer's Log - 3/28/2014

Primary
     None
Secondary
     Neapolitan Ice Cream Stout
          A chocolate milk stout extract kit steeped with chocolate malt grains and cocoa nibs. My plan is to also add strawberries tomorrow after letting the cocoa nibs sit for a week. At bottling I'll add vanilla extract. The idea is to replicate Saugatuck Brewery's Neapolitan Milk Stout.
     Orange Belgian
          A simple Belgian extract kit. I added orange zest and coriander at flameout.
Bottle/Keg Conditioning
     None
Drinkable
     Pumpkin Ale
          This is from Christmas time, and I personally didn't find it all that great. Others did. It's at the end of its life and should be finished off soon.
In Planning
     Cream Ale
          Just a simple all-grain recipe used as an into to all-grain via BIAB. Perhaps an IPA would be a better choice to get my feet wet due to the hops hiding the defects. I think I'd rather notice the defects so I know where I went wrong. I also like adding adjuncts, and cream ales are nice for additions like fruit.
     Raspberry Hefeweizen
          Probably from extract. This is the beer everyone seems to get excited about. Perhaps I should make a double batch? 5 gallons in keg, 5 gallons in bottles?