Brew Batch #110 50PSI gIMPY Brown Ale

Into the keg on 11/30 with 6 ounces of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee dangling in the center (uncrushed). Pulled a sample and 3 days was plenty!! Still hanging on to a brown, albeit a darker shade of brown with prolific roast notes, I'm not sure we'll be able to pass this one off as a Brown Ale. The residual roast leftover after being the spawn of Reinke's Reserve has only been amplified by one of the top 6 coffees in the world. So what was to be a malty slightly thin brown-ness is now a coffee roast dark-ish browness. FG 1.014+0.000@ 64F to make it a gentle sipping 9.2%. Either way, a great beer to reminisce with The Enabler over, which is how the name came to be....

Brew Batch #112 Southie-12 v2.0

What was a totally revamped version of Southie from last year to be one of my best attempts at a Belgian Dark Strong, may end up as a Dubbel. Grain bill redone, use of continental everything where available with sprinkles of character malts that was to be an OG 1.097 ended up at 1.066+0.001@74F upon cold break and rack on to 3787 Trappist yeast. Yeah, bummer to say the least. Even with a 75 minute mash and adjustment down to 62% for BE, I still ended up at 60% on a grain bill only 2 pounds lighter than my last hazy. I don't get it. To the point I've already sanctioned more Belgian pilsner and dark candi syrup. Not panicking yet, I can still enter 26D at 8%abv but it'll have to do some dropping. (My next Reinke's PITA, pain in the neck!)

Brew Batch #111 Out of a Sheep's Teet

Kegged this morning before work and smelling luscious! FG 1.016-0.001 @53F to yield a 5.9% lactose laden version of Shepherd's NEIPA. Got it on 40psi so that I can get it into Happy Holidays next month and compete with 649 other entries as part of the Midwestern Championship series. If you've never had milk from a sheep's teet, this may be your bevvy?

Brew Batch #111 Out of a Sheep’s Teet

Since January I've done 8 batches of something hazy, with Shepherd's leading the charge and being responsible for me diving deep into water chemistry and how that one facet changes a beer's identity. So for #9 I returned back to the favorite and added lactose. The LA3 was a 4th generation pitch sitting on an OG 1.060+0.00@ 66F. Let's see if typically unfermentable sugars make a noticeable difference on this crowd favorite. 

Brew Batch #110 50 PSI gIMPY Brown Ale

And then there was the foray into parti-gyling. So since first runnings were used for Reinke's Reserve, it seemed only appropriate that instead of throwing out the leftover sugary (gyle) that we brew something along the same path yet slightly different. A process given to us by the British and still incorporated by Fuller's in London to produce up to 3 brews at a time. This was an exciting "peach-pit" passing experience for me.  We collected the second runnings that sparged for roughly 20 minutes and ended up with roughly 735 gallons pre-boil with a pre-boil gravity of 1.055+0.008 @117F, or 1.063. After a very coordinated 60 minute boil with RR Reserve on an 80 minute boil, we ended up with OG 1.076+0.000@ 66F with no additional LME or grain added. This gyle had 2oz of Cluster at 60 minutes but no lactose addition. Hopefully it turns out to be less roasty than the father brew but we're also adding 16oz of maple syrup to thin it out and give it a potentially sweeter body in a few days. And so Reinke's has an offspring....

Brew Batch #109 Reinke's Revenge 2018 (Reserve)

Oddly enough Reinke's Revenge, the almost annual RIS brewed at Beat-12 was bumped a little this year due to weekly brewing for AUfest. However, in a strange twist of timing it fell exactly on International Stout Day. As this year's recipe started out being simply an attempt to qualify last year's AG batch, RP at OTB threw me a curve ball and asked for Reinke's Revenge Reserve. So during a tornado watch laden storm front we took the 1st mash runnings only and created a potentially mind blowing wort that could yield at 12-13% beast instead of the usual 9-10%. OG 1.110+0.00@ 66F and cooking a healthy starter of 1056. Needless to say, my controlled fermentation chamber will be tied up for 10 days. 

Brew Batch #108 Creekbed Cream Ale

Kegged today at 1.004+0.000 @60F to yield an unexpected 6%abv. Wonderful light color with a very traditional hop profile of Cluster only. My last cream ale was misunderstood by judges I believe as I attempted to dry-hop and start a series of local hop offerings. My last being Hemerodromos, with a Mediterranean hop feeling. This one more traditional with all but a 6-row offering on the grain bill. So I chased the BJCP judges on this one. Either way, I've got a good sipper for a few weeks. I haven't ruled out doing a Commie cream ale of Jarrylo but let's see how this keg empties.