Oatmeal Stout – Round 2
Just cracked the first of the latest batch of oatmeal stout, and it was a pleasant surprise. Our first attempt tasted like an aggressively hopped half-stout half-brown ale, so the number one priority was just nailing the style. This was much better – the hops were much more appropriate for a stout, and really allow for some of the dark specialty malts to show their stuff. The oatmeal adds a nice smooth mouthfeel as well. That said, the body still leaves something to be desired – I’m looking for a beer I can drink with a fork, and it still leaves me wanting in that regard. But the Road to Beertown has just begun. In round 3, we’ll work on that…
Spreadsheets and art
Last Monday was our second attempt at a partial mash, this time the goal was 5 gallons of the “Breakfast Stout.” After spending the previous week pouring over Ray Daniel’s “Designing Great Beers” I had begun constructing what is evolving into a true work of art – the beer spreadsheet. Just enter a few parameters, and it spits out water volumes, GU’s, IBU’s, etc. For some reason, I never looked at an Excel spreadsheet as a blank canvas, begging for life and meaning. But there’s something about a table which automatically populates my grain bill that has changed all that.
In all seriousness, it has become clear to me that making beer is a remarkable balance of art and science, and I have much to learn about both. And I think that’s why I’m having so much fun brewing.
Bloggerific!
Hey kids.
Wow, this is weird. I feel like I’m having some sort of out of body experience. Like I’m floating high above the room, seeing myself typing about myself. You see, this is my first time blogging. Ever. Isn’t this a big deal or something?
I guess I’m supposed to write about beer. Hm. Beer…ok, I think I’ve got it. I spent the past two weekends in Asheville, N.C., home to some fantastic brews. The problem is that Asheville is such a laid back town that I don’t think anyone who makes said fantastic brews feels any particalar need to share them with anyone outside Asheville. A few examples. Highland Brewery makes some incredible beers – my brother Stephen has dubbed Gaelic Ale “the best liquid in the world” – but I have only occasionally seen their beers here in Atlanta, a mere 3.5 hour drive away. And I think Asheville Pizza (www.ashevillepizza.com) has some amazing beers, plus the whole idea of having a brewpub/pizzaria/movie theater is just plain cool. They also have a video arcade, and last Saturday night (after a couple pitchers had beer taken care of), I got to see my mom and dad square off in the most bizarre Dance, Dance Revolution contest I have ever seen. It was truly a battle of the ages.
On a slightly different note, I brewed a batch of IPA with my dad, brother and brother-in-law over Christmas that we bottled on Monday (New Year’s Day). I changed around the specialty malts a bit in hopes of making a more American style IPA (not that I have anything against the Brits, aside from their dental hygeine). I have all the fixins for another batch to try with the MNB guys soon as well. I’m hopeful that we are well on our way to a really solid beer.
Ok, one more thing before I go. Contests. I’ve become convinced (for no real reason) that we need to start entering some homebrewing contests. At our party in the summer I want to be able to make up little cards that say something like “Our IPA, which won a silver medal at the Northwest Central Utah Homebrewers’ Club Contest, etc, etc”. I mean come on, wouldn’t you be more likely to try a beer with the words “silver medal” in front of it?
But enough. My general intuition is that blog entries are not supposed to be so verbose and self reflective. (Yet even as I write this, I realize that that, in fact, is the ENTIRE point of blogging.)
More soon…