On today's menu I had planned 2 stouts: a coffee and donut stout, dubbed Death By Breakfast, and a clone of Founder's Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS). I started with the former and the recipe's grain bill was about 2 lbs 14 oz, only when I actually weighed the milled grains it was 4 lbs 2 oz. I have absolutely no idea what they gave me, which means that my recipe was worthless... Well, I know what grains they gave me, but obviously not the quantities. This is the second time it happens. Due to the increase I decided to double the volume to 2 gallons. It's not like the 1 gallon would have been accurate anyway. It's a stout all right, but even if it was the best one in the world I wouldn't be able to recreate it. Thanks LHBS! Anyway, it should be interesting. It had additions of ground coffee (Allegro Espresso Sierna) and coconut flakes.
The KBS has Belgian bittersweet chocolate (from Trader Joe's - it's imported Callebaut), ground coffee (Allegro Espresso Sierna from Whole Foods) and unsweetened cocoa nibs. It smelled delicious, but the wort was a bit astringent. This would be from the added coffee grounds. Fortunately the fermentation and bottle conditioning will mellow that out completely.
I now have 6 fermentors going downstairs and I'm running out of them. The KBS will need to sit in the fermentor for 2 weeks and then I'm going to add oak cubes soaked in bourbon for another 3 weeks of fermentation. Then comes the hardest part of brewing: the waiting game. The bottle conditioning will take about 5-6 months. I plan on not opening any bottles until May 1st, 2015. That's almost excruciating! Fortunately, we'll have other porters and stouts to try.
This is what I have so far for the labels:
The KBS has Belgian bittersweet chocolate (from Trader Joe's - it's imported Callebaut), ground coffee (Allegro Espresso Sierna from Whole Foods) and unsweetened cocoa nibs. It smelled delicious, but the wort was a bit astringent. This would be from the added coffee grounds. Fortunately the fermentation and bottle conditioning will mellow that out completely.
I now have 6 fermentors going downstairs and I'm running out of them. The KBS will need to sit in the fermentor for 2 weeks and then I'm going to add oak cubes soaked in bourbon for another 3 weeks of fermentation. Then comes the hardest part of brewing: the waiting game. The bottle conditioning will take about 5-6 months. I plan on not opening any bottles until May 1st, 2015. That's almost excruciating! Fortunately, we'll have other porters and stouts to try.
This is what I have so far for the labels:
Totally not brewing-related, but it's too beautiful to pass up. This is an area in our neighborhood which is practically showing every shade of fall color out there!