Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Starless Night Imperial Stout

So I finally brewed my Starless Night Imperial Stout. I got the ingredients a few days ago, but I've been too busy. Had a fourteen-hour day today (between working two of my three jobs and class), but I got home around seven, and figured brewing/having a few brews would be a good way to relax.

It's obviously too early to tell anything, but the wort is a little bit lighter than I would have liked, so I'm a bit concerned. I'm hoping it darkens as it ferments, but we'll see. My theory on why is that I ordered everything online, and all of my specialty grains came in one massive grain bag, precrushed - and that's something like 3 pounds of grain in one bag. I think it's possible that the grains in the middle of the bag didn't get all of their sugars extracted as well as they could have, and therefore the color didn't darken as much as it should have. Of course, if all of the sugars weren't extracted, then obviously the flavor can be affected too. We'll see. My apartment does smell nice, though - I've forgotten how much I love the smell of boiling wort and fermenting beer.

More likely than not, this will be my last batch for awhile. I'm going to be out of town all summer, back with the parents, so I probably won't be brewing anything. If I get really adventurous, I might bring one carboy home and try to brew something over the summer, but I doubt the parents will appreciate the smell as much as I do. Besides, I'd still like to have both my carboys full over the summer.

I still am tentatively going to brew my winter warmer/barleywine before I leave, and let that sit in secondary all summer. I won't be leaving til the end of May, so obviously that's a bit away. However, last night I tried Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout for the first time...and it got me thinking...

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I've always wanted to brew something with maple syrup. Originally the idea was a maple porter...but...something like the KBS (already with bourbon, coffee, and chocolate) with maple syrup added could be nothing less than phenomenal. That would also be something I'd like to have fermenting for awhile, so we'll see.

The two styles of beer I drink the most are Imperial Stouts and Double IPAs, and I've already tried my hand at a few stouts. I've been wanting to brew an IPA/DIPA for awhile. Once I tasted Bell's HopSlam, I decided that when I brew my IPA, I want to try to clone that. That's obviously going to be a pretty intense project, and I'd like to refine my brewing technique before I tackle that one, but that's something I'm excited about.

When I transfer the Imperial Stout - which, I've named Starless Night, and I think that's a pretty sweet name for an Imperial Stout - to secondary, I'm going to age it over vanilla beans. Starless Night is pretty heavy on the roasted flavors, and I think the vanilla could add a nice smoothness and an awesome finish. I hope it darkens a little bit...if anyone has any opinions/other things I could add to darken it at this point, I'm all ears.

No comments: