Update

Sorry I haven't done much blogging recently...school's been keeping me busy, and I haven't really done any brewing.

Actually, the really isn't necessary. I'm pretty much out of bottles, and instead of buying more, I might hold off brewing anything new until I'm sure I'll have somewhere to put it. As it is, my Nightshade Ale is still sitting in secondary, since I have nowhere for it to go. I still don't have the money for a kegging system, so that's going to have to wait as well.

I did try a bottle of my raspberry-chocolate stout the other day. Right now, the raspberry flavoring is still a little strong and overpowering, but I'm hoping that will mellow out a little bit soon. It's good though - a little bit thin for a stout, but still good.

On another note, it looks like the Chocolate Porter I brewed somehow became infected. I pulled out some of the bottles the other day, and that tell-tale ring seems to be forming around the neck. It's odd, though, because that's been bottled for a month-and-a-half now, and this is the first time I've noticed any problems. It still tastes fine, so I don't know *shrugs*. Hopefully it's a harmless infection. On the upside, I guess, I was a little disappointed with the brew, so it's not a total loss.

I'd still like to brew my English Pale Ale and a Maple Porter soon, but again, my lack of bottles has caused me to rethink my philosophy. A buddy of mine is in a similar boat, and he solved the problem by brewing a Belgian that he knows will take a long time in secondary. I know the Maple Porter would probably take a long time to do, but that got me thinking about a couple of other ideas.

I've been intrigued by the idea of brewing a barleywine for awhile now, and that'd obviously be something that would have to sit for quite some time. However, over the last few months I've fallen in love with Imperial Stouts, and that's another beer I'd really like to brew. There's a chance I'll be out of town all summer, so the tentative plan is to have both of those brews in secondary then, when they'll just sit and ferment for 3 months. However, I might get started on one of those sooner rather than later, since a) I'm not able to brew as much as I thought I would, b) I have limited space, and c) It'll give more time for all of the flavors to come together and mellow out.

So we'll see. Hopefully I'll be updating more often soon.

English Pale Ale & Maple Porter, Raspberry-Chocolate Stout Update

I bottled my raspberry-chocolate stout this morning, and everything went smoothly. Had to finish off one of my previous brews to have enough bottles, but that's life for ya. I say every post that I really need to start kegging, and I'll say it again - if for no other reason than I'm running out of bottles, and really don't want to buy more. I would still like to bottle some of each of my batches, so I can bring them over to friends' places and what not. Overall though, I want to keg - it's easier, and it's cool to have beers on tap at my house.

The raspberry chocolate stout looks like it's turning out pretty good. There wasn't much of a raspberry aroma, but it was definitely noticeable in the taste. It did overpower a little bit, so I'm hoping it mellows out in the bottles. I added a tablespoon or so of dark cocoa powder to the priming sugar, so I'm hoping that adds a little more chocolate flavor to the brew. For flat, warm beer, however, the sample I tasted did taste pretty good. I'll probably crack open the first bottle on Valentines Day, so that'll give it two weeks or so to condition.

So of course, now I'm thinking about my next batches. I think I want to brew an English Pale - I want something thats a good session beer, and easy to drink. I'm not a huge fan of American Pales, because to me, they for the most part taste like watered-down IPAs (And I love me a good IPA...). I'm going to look at the ingredients in the kit my friend brewed a few weeks ago, and tweak it a little bit.

For the batch after that, I plan on brewing a Maple Porter. Incidentally, this was the first beer I wanted to make when I started brewing, but I decided to start simple (and I'm glad I did). I think it'll be a good transition into Spring, when the weather's still kind of cold, so you get the heavyness of a winter brew with the maple syrup flavors of February/March. The chocolate porter I brewed taught me a good bit about how to better balance a beer, so hopefully I'll be able to carry that over into the maple porter.

I haven't checked in on the Nightshade Ale since I racked it to secondary, but there's not much I can do with it now. I'm out of bottles, and I don't have a keg, so until one of those problems is rectified it's going to continue to age in secondary. Not that there's anything wrong with that.