So Much For 28P

10/21: Imperial Stout!

10# Great Western 2-row
10# Hugh Baird Marris Otter
8# Munich
2# Black Patent
1/2#'s each:
20L & 120L Crystal
Cara-Munich
Chocolate malt

Gave me 5 gals. 25P wort for the Imperial Stout and 5-ish gals. 10P wort for a small beer.

The Imperial Sout took 1.5oz 15.8% alpha Magnum, 1oz 16.8% alpha Columbus and 1oz 13.3% alpha at 60 and 30 then 1oz each Amarillo, Columbus and Simcoe at end of boil for a bit of a steep.

The small beer took .5oz of the Magnum and 1oz of 3.5% alpha domestic Tettnanger at 60.

Pitched the Pac Man yeast I'd saved into the Impster. A good 2qts or so. Smelled sweet and yeasty, so it appears to have held up well enough. I was doubtful at first. Check it out:

Pitch + 6 hrs = No Action.
Pitch + 12 hours = No Action.
Pitch + 18 hours = One quarter sized flocc on the surface, no gas.
Pitch + 24 hours = Thin head up on 2/3s of the surface, no gas.
Pitch + 30 Hours = Modest Head, no gas.
Pitch + 36 Hours = Glad I have this sitting in the shower in the downstairs bathroom. If we were filming in black and white you'd swear someone got chopped up, blood everywhere. Wish I'd set this up for blow-off. At least the shower will be easy to clean up.

I pitched a dose of Wyeast California Lager yeast into the small beer.

The Impster should end up a pretty intense glass of beer. We'll have to wait for the finished beer, of course, but tasting the gravity sample was interesting. The beer is solid opaque, inky black, intensely bitter/hoppy, huge black malt presence with the ash in the finish. And sweet, duh.

The small beer should end up a Mild Porter or so. After tasting that gravity sample I get the sense that once the beer finishes it'll need something to boost the body and add some sweetness. It'll definitely need something to add some dimension and balance to a very intense malt character. I believe I'll be adding some lactose when this goes into the tank. That should do the trick.

I'll plan the Barley Wine for 28P. It'll require the big mash, running off extract for the one beer and a long enough boil to get down to the brew length. Yeah, that's the ticket. Hmmm, Marris Otter with a touch of Honey malt, hopped just to balance with British Kent Goldings and fermentated with the 1098. Yummy.