September Updates

Today I did some spring keg cleaning. I had four empties, a record for me! I then kegged up Chernobyl Stout and Big Nose Blonde. Here are my thoughts:

Chernobyl: this beer finished at 1.040, locking in a good 11.3% ABV. Lower than the 12% for which I was shooting, but not surprising considering the below-average attenuation my big beers tend to achieve. The oak is a nice touch and I think 16 days was a pretty good amount of time. I think 3 weeks might have been the max, based on what I'm tasting now. I am told the oak fades over time, though, so I'll reevaluate in a few months.

Big Nose: the nose is, as expected, big. Dry hopping lasted only about 6 days, but I needed to get this guy into the keg for tailgating on Saturday. My hop bag also had a tendency to float in the secondary, so my dry-hopping usage efficiency was probably low, but the 3 ounces I added probably makes up for this. The nose is awesome, though the flavor leaves a little to be desired. There was no traditional flavor addition in this brew; only a bittering addition and lots of aroma hops at 5 plus dry hops. Should be an interesting experiment.

Both of these beers used re-pitched yeast from batch #47, the Irish Red. All three of these beers lack any kind of distinct yeast character (although they also lack off-flavors). I think I am done with 1084 Irish Ale for now, unless I really want to brew something with little to no yeast character and just a smooth texture to serve as a palate for some kind of flavorant, be it hops or fruit or whatever.

On a last note, I've switched from Iodophor to Star-San. It's more expensive, but it also seems a little less toxic (and, my LHBS was out of Iodophor in the Io-Star squeeze-measure bottles). Foam is an issue. Don't fear the foam.