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.