Stout Experimentation

Today I'm taking one of the stout recipe's that I love and experimenting with it with the hope it will turn out just as awesome as it sounds in my head....

Here is what I'm doing:

Using as my base I have recipe from The Good Brewer for an Oatmeal Vanilla Stout which I'm planning to turn into an Oatmeal Vanilla Cream Stout.  I'm making 5g, but I plan on separating 1g into it's own secondary and adding bourbon soaked american oak blocks which I'll bottle.  The remaining 4g will be kegged.  With luck I'll have 2 very nice tasting beers where one is just a little "richer" than the other...

I'll keep everyone posted on the results.

Updated - I decided to make the full 5g with the oak blocks.  The batch came out delicious - nice and creamy, not to heavy with a good whiskey like aftertaste.   It is a keeper for sure and something worth drinking on a colder night by the fire.

Building a Keezer

Now that I have a kegging system I decided it was high time I built a unit that could both store and dispense my beer.  I reviewed the options of building a keggerator vs. a keezer and ultimately decided I'd go the keezer route.   Why build a keezer vs. a keggerator?

There are a few reasons I decided on the keezer:

• I really liked the look
• I liked the idea of having better temperature control
• I felt the cost would be lower, while potentially giving me more space
• It's all about the room - the particular space I was putting this in would better fit a lower to the ground form factor (it's not a very tall space).
• I would have the potential for cold storage for lagering.

I built my keezer the typical way as found here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHWy_Vlw3J4.

STOPper NO! - Averting Disaster

Today I decided I'd do two brews at once.  My thinking is that one is a cider and simple enough as it's mostly just prep work and the other a lovely porter.  I figured it would be a simple thing to do and while it was easy, a slight mistake was made at the end I just barely averted a disaster :)

Bye Bye Good Brewer

It was a sad day when I heard the news, yes that is correct my friend Daniel has closed up his lovely little shop here in Livermore and the Good Brewer is no more.   With our local shop gone what is a Livermore home brewer to do???

Kegging

It's been awhile since my last post, but seeing as I am brewing up a new beer I figured it was time to update the blog.

Over the holiday's my wife bought me a kegging system, so now I'm upgrading from bottling to kegging.  The only problem is that I have a small "dorm" sized fridge which won't work to keep the kegs cool.  So, I'm on the hunt for a cheap fridge that I can use to store the kegs as well as have some shelving room for bottles. I've been scouring craigslist and freecycle looking for the fridge.  There are options available on craigslist, but nothing that I quite want - side by side, large ones, overpriced, etc...  My problem is that I've got a spot in my garage where the fridge will go, so the dimensions have to be right.  I guess I could go buy one....