Should I Brew That?

Archive for February, 2009

Thanks to James Spencer and Steve Wilkes over at Basic Brewing Radio I was motivated to attempt my first 1 gallon batch of barley wine:

.1 lbs Briess Caramel 90

1.5 lbs Amber DME (@60 min)
1.5 lbs Amber DME  (@15 min)

.4 oz of cascade
.2 oz Willamette

US-O5 yeast

Before fermentation began, I took a refractometer reading which clocked in at a whopping 30 (1.116)!  This one should be  a monster. I also used the entire 11.5g of US-05 yeast which started bubbling away almost immediately. I can’t wait to see how this one turns out, might be one chewy beer!

The Imperial Stout is currently in the Fermenator and bubbling away. OG of 1.080, 1 week in and the gravity now stands at 1.030. I will be keeping this batch in primary for about 3 weeks until I dump off the yeast for secondary fermentation.

As described by Northernbrewer, the HopShot is CO2-extracted hop resin that can be used for bittering or late additions to boiling wort — treat it just like leaf or pellet hops added during the boil. The HopShot syringe contains 5 milliliters of extract. One milliliter of HopShot yields approximately 10 IBUs in 5 gallons of 1.050 wort when boiled for 60 minutes. Test batches indicate that this bitterness may be slightly less agressive on the palate than your average hop addition.

Anyone have any thoughts, opinions or experience with the Hopshot? Let me know!