Out of the Bottle: Old Man's Chest

After much waiting, my Old Ale is finally ready for the light of day. It looks great coming out of the bottle. Clarity is good and there's a nice dense head that leaves a fair amout of lace behind.

I can tell right away that I went a little nuts with the number of grains I used. There are six of them in all. They each bring a different flavor to the party. Throw in the brown sugar and hops, and the beer gets busy in a hurry. I'm not saying I don't like the result, but this beer won't be winning any subtlety awards.

The overarching theme is that of toffee and rum that's been bolstered by tobacco and black tea. There's a bit of a roasted note too, but it's in the background. The sweet/bitter balance is good. Even with an ABV of around 8.5%, the alcohol is well masked and doesn't add much warmth. The beer's body is dry, slightly heavy and has nice soft carbonation. The black tea and toffee flavors linger through the finish.

My overall assessment is that of a beer that's a bit too busy, but perfect for a cold winter night. I already have my sights set on a new Old Ale recipe that will thin the grains down from six to three, but still feature brown sugar and Fuggles hops. Now I just need to figure out how to fit it into my brewing calendar.

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Out of the Bottle: Oak Aged La Petite Orange

I said in my previous post that I'd saved some of Northern Brewer's La Petite Orange kit to age with Sherry Infused Oak Cubes. The aged beer is ready to go, so let's see what the Oak and Sherry did. I've had more than a few Barrel Aged beers that were completely dominated by the wood and whatever alcohol (Rum, Bourbon, Sherry, etc) the barrel originally contained. In my beer, the oak and sherry are subtle. That's what I was shooting for, so I'm quite happy with that. The flavors and aromas from the original beer are still present. There's no point in revisiting them. What I really care about is the changes the wood made. Vanilla is the most significant contribution. There's also a very mild almond note at work. The Sherry really cuts through in the aroma. It provides an extra helping of dark fruits, plus a little more alcohol heat. The beer is definitely more wine-like than before. On a side note, I took my own advice and bumped the priming su

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Kitchen Brewing Part 3: Sparge and Boil

The mash emerges from the oven. Now that we're finished with Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, it's time to Sparge. As you can see from the photo, the grains have absorbed a lot of liquid. In a traditional all-grain setup, your Mash Tun has a valve at the bottom to release the first running of Wort. The grains are then rinsed with the sparge water to extract any remaining sugars. My stove-top method doesn't afford such luxury, so a different method is called for. The grains have gained a little weight. There are a couple of choices at this point. One choice is to lift the grain bag out of Pot A and place it into the sparge water in Pot B to steep for 10-15 minutes or more. The other is to lift the grain bag up, put a colander under it and slowly pour the sparge water through the grains into the original pot. I prefer the former, because I get a better extraction rate from my grains. All that absorption means that the grains weigh a lot more than they did going i

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