Eagle Face Oatmeal Stout 1.2

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I’ve brewed my house oatmeal stout recipe twice previously, and both times it has been a winner. Looking towards my keg rotation, I thought it would be nice to roll this one out for 2016. I’ll note that this is the third time I’ve brewed this one in essentially the same form–probably a record for my home brewery.

The primary minor change to this batch versus the others has been to use “old fashioned oatmeal” out of the pantry instead of the flaked oats from the brewshop. Based on my reading, they are essentially the same thing. Many brewing forums tout using oats from the grocery store as cheaper–however, I think this is fairly overstated, particularly for the amounts of oats used in most recipes. In some cases, even, the brewshop oats are cheaper! And ever in the worst-case scenario, it’s a savings of a few cents at most. Thus, the “wisdom” of grocery store products being a massive savings over the homebrew shop products is not entirely correct here. I think the primary utility is as a quick alternative if you need to add oats flavor but forgot to buy them with the rest of your grains.
Eagle Face Oatmeal Stout 1.2
  • 8.5 lbs. 2 row malt (Great Western)
  • 1.25 lbs. old-fashioned oats
  • 1 lb. 80° L crystal malt
  • 1 lb. Victory malt
  • 0.75 lb. chocolate malt
  • 0.5 lb. roasted barley (Simpsons)
  • 0.3 lb. rice hulls
  • 1 tsp. Irish moss, 10 minute boil
  • 1.1 oz. Northern Brewer hops pellets (9.9% alpha, 4.5% beta), 60 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. English Ale yeast (White Labs WLP002, 0.9 L starter)
Procedure
  • Three days before brewing, I began a 1.5L starter (191 g of extra light DME and ~.5 tsp of yeast nutrient in 1.75L of water, for a target gravity of 1.040). After 48 hours, I decanted 0.6L for future use and cold-crashed the rest of the starter.
  • I mashed in with 5 gallons of water at 170°, and hit 156.5° for my mash-in temperature. The mash had dropped to 155° after 30 minutes and was down to 153.4° after 50 minutes.
  • After 60 minutes, I added 0.5 gallons of 162° water, let this sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the first runnings. Then, I added 3.75 gallons of water at 185°, which raised the mash bed to 162°. I let this sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the remainder of the wort.
  • All together, I collected 6.8 gallons of wort with a gravity of 1.049, for a mash efficiency of 72%. I note that the relatively small quantity of rice hulls seemed to be just fine for this recipe.
  • I brought the wort to a boil, adding the hops and Irish moss as scheduled.
  • After 60 minutes of boiling, I turned off the heat and chilled the wort to 75°. The final yield was ~6 gallons of wort with a gravity of 1.060. I decanted most of the spent wort from the starter, and pitched the yeast slurry before sealing up the fermenter.
  • I brewed this beer on Sunday, January 3, 2016 (first brew of the year!). It will be fermenting at 68°.

Alt-Alt Ale Kegged

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On Wednesday, January 6, I kegged the Alt-Alt Ale. It had been fermenting for 11 days, and was down to a final gravity of 1.008. This equates to 5.8% abv. In tasting, I definitely pick up the honey malt. The yeast leavings were pretty remarkable–this had a high, hard, and foamy krausen, which ringed the fermenter more than just about any other yeast I’ve seen. This was fairly bizarre for WLP001, so I think it is a good decision to end my particular culture there, and reculture the yeast for next time I use it. The beer is now carbonating under high pressure, and will condition until the next keg in my keezer is kicked.

Jarrylo Session IPA

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For my last brew of 2015, I’m making a session IPA that is a modest departure from my previous session IPA. This is primarily to adjust for and use up ingredients on-hand, but also in order to try out a new yeast strain with some promise for session beers (“Conan”). I used WLP002 (English ale) for my last session IPAs, and liked it, but thought that the potentially low attenuation of Conan also has promise for a session IPA. We’ll see how it works!

The other twist on this brew is that I’m using Jarrylo hops, a relatively new variety. They’re not particularly intended for IPAs, but an IPA seems like a good way to showcase hop character, particularly in the late additions and dry-hop. Because Jarrylo is described as having notes of banana, pear, and spice, I figured some more citrusy/fruity varieties would meld well for the bittering and flavor hops additions. So, Citra and Mosaic are also in the mix. When smelling the Jarrylo hops pellets, I get a fair bit of pepper and maybe some fruitiness behind that. Perhaps it’s a mistake to dry hop with this one for an IPA, but that’s what homebrewing is all about!

Jarrylo Session IPA

  • 5.25 lbs. 2-row malt (Great Western Malting Co.)
  • 3.75 lbs. Borlander Munich Malt (Briess)
  • 0.5 lbs. caramel Munich 60L (Briess)
  • 1 oz. Citra hops pellets (13.2% alpha), 15 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Mosaic hops pellets (12.8% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 2 oz. Jarrylo hops pellets (14.2% alpha), 2 minute boil
  • 2 oz. Jarrylo hops pellets (14.2% alpha), 2 week dry hop
  • 1 pkg. Vermont Ale (“Conan”) yeast, The Yeast Bay (prepared in 1L starter)
  • 1 tsp. Irish moss (10 minute boil)
Procedure
  • I mashed in with 3.75 gallons of water at 169.8°, to hit a mash temperature of 156°. The mash was down to 153.5° after 25 minutes and 150° after 45 minutes. After 50 minutes, I added 1.1 gallons of water at 190°, to raise the mash temperature to 156°. I elected to use a shortened mash procedure in order to add a tiny extra bit of body to the final beer (per the session beer workshop I went to at AHC). So, only 60 minutes passed between when I mashed in and when I collected the first runnings.
  • I vorlaufed and collected the first runnings, and added 3.75 gallons of water at 179°, which raised the mash bed to 166°. I let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the remainder of the wort.
  • I collected a total of 6.9 gallons of wort with a gravity of 1.037. This equates to an extract efficiency of ~75%.
  • I started the boil, and added the hops per the schedule above.
  • After 60 minutes of boiling, I turned off the heat and chilled the wort to 70°. Then, I pitched the yeast and set the beer to fermenting, at 68°. I brewed this batch on 30 December 2015. Starting gravity was 1.047.
  • Note on the yeast starter: Because I am liking the Conan strain, I overbuilt my starter. I made 1.6 L of a 1.040 gravity, and set aside 0.6 L for my next batch (~100 billion cells, approximately).

2015’s Homebrew Highlights

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My beer of the year, Citra Blonde Ale

Looking back, 2015 was a banner year for my brewing. Speaking immodestly, I produced some excellent beers. Just as importantly, if not more so, I really stretched myself in terms of new styles and techniques.

  • Favorite Batch
    • Citra Blonde Ale
      • This blonde ale nailed every single aspect–in fact, I might say it is one of the best beers I’ve brewed over the years.
  • Least Favorite Batch
    • I didn’t have any batches that totally went south, but I did have some that were just not quite where I wanted them. My Live Long and Porter was squarely mediocre, as was my attempt at an Old Speckled Hen Clone. The former was mostly a result of recipe–the latter was, at least in part, the need to age for way longer than I was willing to give it.
  • Experimental Recipe with Most Potential
    • Pannotia White IPA
      • I’ve done two iterations of this recipe now, and each time have dialed it in just a little closer to my overall goals. One more, and I think I should have it where I want it! This is my “brew to watch” for 2016.
  • Most Fun New Style/Recipe to Try
    • Berliner Weisse
      • I’ve long been hesitant to brew a sour beer (and truth be told, I think that sours are a bit overdone), but I couldn’t pass up a chance to try kettle souring. It was super easy, and the result has been pretty tasty!
  • Best Technique Added to Repertoire
    • I tried a lot of new things this year (different hopping schedules, session IPA’s, kettle souring, brew-in-a-bag, and oaking, to name a few), but I think the biggest addition to my toolkit has been kegging. I absolutely love the convenience–so much less scrounging, scrubbing, and sanitizing–and it also makes hosting people easier (no more piles of bottles on the counter). I’ll admit that the “cool factor” of a few taps on-hand is nice, too. It’s nice to be able to just have a few ounces if that’s all I want, rather than committing to a full 12, 18, or 22 ounce bottle. A win all around!
  • Most Frustrating Technique/Tool to Master
    • I would say that mastering my refractometer has been among the most frustrating aspect of brewing this year. It is a handy little tool, but wow, is the scale off major time. It took quite a few iterations and the development of an instrument-specific equation to get it to the point where I feel comfortable with it.
  • Best Ingredient Added to Repertoire
    • I have to say that WLP400, White Labs’ Belgian Wit yeast, is probably one of the most enjoyable strains to work with, in terms of quality of the results. I’ve used it in both of my White IPA batches, and I’m hooked.
  • Favorite Book
    • Hands down, it’s Gordon Strong’s Modern Homebrew Recipes. Every single recipe I’ve tried or modified from there has been excellent. It has also helped me to really think about my process, and the effects that process can have on each batch (e.g., late hopping, adding dark grains at the vorlauf, etc.). A close runner-up is Mastering Homebrew by Randy Mosher. Not only is it informative, but it’s got the best (and most helpful) graphics of any homebrew book I’ve seen yet. Strong’s book has pushed my technique the most, but Mosher’s has solidified the basics the most. They are a good duo of publications!

Beer Tasting: Transatlantic IPA

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My Transatlantic IPA seems to be at its peak–no better time to give it a close look!

  • The Basics
    • Original gravity = 1.064; final gravity = 1.015; abv = 6.5%; estimated IBU = 64
  • Aroma
    • The aroma is very hop-forward and pleasant, but not overwhelming. I pick up citrus (orange) and floral aromas, with a hint of fresh apricot. There is a faint malty aroma that comes through as the beer warms up.
  • Appearance
    • Relatively clear, with a minor bit of haze. The head is quite prominent, white in color, and fine-bubbled, with excellent retention. The beer itself is a beautiful gold color.
  • Flavor
    • This is a pretty well-balanced IPA. There is a low degree of malty flavor, with a slight caramel note to it, but not enough to take it out of character for what I intended. The hops are of course prominent, tending towards the floral and piney side of things. The bitterness is strong but not over the top, and it definitely has a piney and slightly resinous finish. I detect a very modest ester background, perhaps some of the stone fruit (peach/apricot) that characterizes the yeast strain.
  • Mouthfeel
    • The beer has a medium body, with an appropriately moderate degree of carbonation. The finish is slightly dry, but not ridiculously so.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • Yes! This is a really nice “winter IPA”, and nails pretty much everything I was hoping for in the beer. I really like how the Conan strain plays against the hops and malt. Additionally, the hops combo stands up pretty well too. It’s complex, but not muddled. The beer is probably a bit heavier than I would want outside of the cold months, but that isn’t a flaw in my view. I was a little curious when formulating this recipe as to how much the Maris Otter base malt would show through–not much, in the end! It provides a good base, but doesn’t get in the way of the other ingredients.
  • Overall rating
    • 9/10