Well, it's been 2 years since my last brew. I'm off this week, so I decided to brew up a nice big stout, my Irish Car Bomb Stout. I've made it twice before, with great results both times. It's basically a Guinness clone with Jameson, vanilla beans, and Kahlua in the secondary. This time I used a variation of BierMuncher's Guinness clone Ode to Arthur, with higher OG:
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6 gallon batch
11.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) UK
3 lb Barley, Flaked
1.25 lb Roasted Barley
1 lb Black Patent
0.25 lb Acid Malt
3.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (60 min) Hops 31.2 IBU
post-boil gravity: 1.072
yeast: WLP004, 2L starter (18 hours)
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I wound up using too much sparge water (was trying for a 5 gallon batch). The only fermenter I had available was a 6 gallon bucket, so I poured about 5.25 gallons in and pitched my starter at 68*F.
Despite my garage being 55*F, I had active fermentation within 2 hours and had to switch to a blow off tube - unfortunately the hole in the bucket lid wasn't big enough for a decent sized blow off tube so I had to put a 3/8in tube in the stopper. Woke up this morning to the lid completely blown off and about 4 inches of krausen rising above the top of the bucket. Appropriate, for a car bomb stout I suppose!
I sanitized the blow off tube and used it to scrape off the extra krausen, and put everything back together. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures. Lots of krausen still coming through the blowoff tube so I might get another chance at pictures. What a great welcome back to brewing :cross:
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6 gallon batch
11.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) UK
3 lb Barley, Flaked
1.25 lb Roasted Barley
1 lb Black Patent
0.25 lb Acid Malt
3.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (60 min) Hops 31.2 IBU
post-boil gravity: 1.072
yeast: WLP004, 2L starter (18 hours)
---
I wound up using too much sparge water (was trying for a 5 gallon batch). The only fermenter I had available was a 6 gallon bucket, so I poured about 5.25 gallons in and pitched my starter at 68*F.
Despite my garage being 55*F, I had active fermentation within 2 hours and had to switch to a blow off tube - unfortunately the hole in the bucket lid wasn't big enough for a decent sized blow off tube so I had to put a 3/8in tube in the stopper. Woke up this morning to the lid completely blown off and about 4 inches of krausen rising above the top of the bucket. Appropriate, for a car bomb stout I suppose!
I sanitized the blow off tube and used it to scrape off the extra krausen, and put everything back together. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures. Lots of krausen still coming through the blowoff tube so I might get another chance at pictures. What a great welcome back to brewing :cross:
