Foremost Brewing Forums

Getting ready to bottle my cream ale tomorrow morning. My OG was 1.048 and I should end around 1.010. each is about 4 or 5 points below the target for the recipe, but should still be okay. This is my NFL beer - to get me through the reswt of this year's Sunday afternoons. I'm thinking oatmeal stout next - something with a little body for the holidays/early part of winter.

Steelers77:

Glad to hear we're finally getting a few supplies stocked in town. I used to have to time my brewing around trips to see family near Milwaukee, so I could get supplies. A few years back a store had opened in Rockford but they closed after a year or so, as the husband got a new job out of townand the couple/owners moved. Fortunately, my current travels get me up to Madison more frequently, so I can hit Wine&Hop.

Is Basics located over near the Rock Theater?

My Dunkel is done and turned out pretty good.  A little too hoppy for my taste but others have really liked it.  Next time I'll lighten up on the bittering hops.  I also brewed my wheat this past Sunday.  Pretty excited.

Jaemie 

 My Belgian Pale ale is gone :( 

But I've tapped into my DoppelBock (10% ABV) - it's quite good but the alcohol is too forthright.  But it gets you smiling quickly.

Also - recently tapped my Belgian Tripel - a little to "estery" for me.

I took my Hoppin' Honey Metheglin (spiced mead) to the wine club meeting in Milton last night.  One gal comments... "Ooh, it's breathtaking".  That wasn't a good comment -- she's a sweet wine drinker.

I like it.  It's not as think & honey-ish as most meads - and the hops add a very unique flavor to it.  Beer drinkers will like it more than wine drinkers any day.

Even though last Saturday was beautiful out, I had to spend at least the morning inside - making beer. The recipe was for Sand Creek Brewing Company's "Oscar's Chocolate Oatmeal Stout" featured in the November 2005 edition of Brew Your Own.

I'm slightly concerned as my OG only registered 1.047 while target was 1.056. However, the steps recommended very little aeration in order to hit a high 1.020 FG. So, I didn't stir/mix near as much as I normally do. Hopefully I just sampled a thin portion of wort from the upper portion of the carboy. Yesterday's sample was 1.019. If I can finish around 1.015 I'll be happy.

After relying on dry yeast the last few batches (and having it work well) I went back to a Wyeast smack pack. The one issue I have with them is, you never know how quickly they will swell. I've had cases where the package had barely risen after 12 hours (yes, I check the dates and try to get as fresh as possible). So I never know if I should activate it late the night before or as soon as I get up (I always brew first thing in the morning and am usually ready to pitch before Noon).

This time I activated at 11:30PM and, sure enough, by 2:30AM it was well on its way. I put it in the fridge to slow it down and pulled it back out once I had a boil going. That seemed to work, as I could clearly see krausen starting to form after only 4 or 5 hours.I've really come to appreciate using dry yeast, both for the timing and cost concerns. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of variety when it comes to dry yeast.

Got my oatmeal stout bottled on Saturday. FG was 1.014, so not too bad considering my lower OG. Alcohol is around 4.5% so it's not too far off the target of 4.75. I'll find out in a couple weeks if it's got enough body, since the target FG was 1.020. After I was done and had my final reading, took a sip from the hydrometer and the flavor wasn't bad - so I'm encouraged. We'll see how it goes.

Have several relatives coming over tomorrow for T-giving, and have my cream ale and some Amber-geddon from the Ale Asylum in Madison ready to go. As long as the Packers add a win, it oughta be a good day.

How'd the cream ale go over w/ the relatives?   Amber-geddon is a good brew and should go over nicely!

Any of you know the guy who's stocking Basics w/ homebrew supplies?  I stopped in there Friday and was AMAZED at how much it was expanded from my last visit!  Big Congrats! 

If any of you know him - have him contact me - would ya?  I sure appreciate it!  I want to get him/them listed on here and want to make sure I get the info right.  I'm sure he'd have a different contact email and such!

Andrew,

Look up at 22nd of Sept.  He's listed as Steelers77 on Foremost.  If he doesn't respond on here, I will be going into the store soon, so I will ask for his contact.

I'm in!  I should have a growler of wheat and a couple bottles of my "nut so naughty" x-mas brown ale.  We'll beable to see just how far a tsp of spice goes in a 5 gallon brew.  Hopefully not to far!