So this is the new year, and this is the first Homebrew Sunday post of 2012. This week I bring you bullet points:
- Last week I moved the KK into secondary and added an ounce each of East Kent Goldings and Bramling Cross for dry hop purposes. I also racked the 2 gallon all-grain barleywine into two secondary vessels. One is unadulterated while the other has 5 grams of oak cubes that spent the last month soaking in Lagavulin whisky. In related news, I discovered that soaking oak cubes in Lagavulin for a month might be the only way to make Lagavulin undrinkable.
- I tasted the Belgian brown that’s been souring for three months with dates, oak cubes, and Russian River Consecration Dregs and it was not at all awesome. Tasted somewhat like fruity paint thinner. Perhaps more time will be the savior.
- Yesterday was brew day, and I’m happy to report there are five gallons of Calypso Pale Ale bubbling away in my closet right now. It’s a straightforward, sessionable (~4.5% ABV) American pale ale made with only Calypso hops. Ultimately, it’s an experiment to see what Calypso hops are like, and hopefully it’s a very drinkable experiment.
- Today we bottled the KK. It’s a lovely light brown color, which is much, much lighter that intended. So it goes. The important thing is that it tastes good, and while there’s still a bit of the extract/invert sugar tang, I imagine that will mellow with carbonation and time.
“fruity paint thinner” — yes, that is surprisingly accurate. O_o