Red Storm Stout

Date: 6-02-08
Brewing Music: IPOD on shuffle


Brewing Beverage: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

I ordered the supplies and recipe for a Chocolate Raspberry Sout. I know that the idea seems a little strange now, but I'm very excited to see the results. Because of my last effort in brewing, I've made EXTRA sure that I'm following the recipe step by step and following the brewing procedures closesly as well. Currently, the grains are steeping at 155.

The unique part of this recipe is that instead of adding finishing hopps, you add cocoa powder. And just before bottling, you add raspberry flavoring.

I usually like to brew on the weekend, but my beer delivery got crushed so I opened a sticky cardboard box of malt when it got to my house. So today when the replacement malt arrived, I was more than ready to brew. No problems thus far other than had to make an emergency run to the grocery store for cheese cloth.

I have an ice bath ready for the wort when it's done boiling so I can avoid my yeast problems from last time. I will be following this very closely to make sure nothing goes wrong because I plan on brewing again in a couple of days. I have the ingredients for a Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout clone recipe that I ordered during Austin Home Brew Supply's annual 10% off sale.

Thanks again to whoever it was that commented on this blog and directed me to Austin Homebrew. They have been fantastic and their customer service is great.

It's been a while

Well, it's been quite some time since I've updated this blog. There's good reason for it. I haven't brewed anything in the past 2-3months. And the reason for that is my IPA bombed horribly. It was the perfect storm of neglect. I killed the yeast because I pitched at too high of a temperature. I used the wrong kind of water (maybe). I waited FOREVER in secondary before bottling the beer. Too long. And the result was, instead of a nice imperial IPA, I got 50 bottles of something that looked like caramel and tasted like bleach.

On a positive note, the Apfelwein was excellent and I've started to really enjoy the taste when it very very cold. I think I'll make more and see how I can get a little more carbonation next time.

In closing, here's the official reaction when trying my flawed Imperial IPA: