Tight Skirt Stout redux

Patrick brought a couple of
beers we don't get in the KC market

On Saturday, June the 11^th I brewed Tight Skirt Stout. Our friend Patrick, who we know from “The Saucer”, came out. He was the brewer’s assistant for a day.  This is the second time I have brewed this stout. The first time this beer was brewed it was a 2.5 gallon boil with make up water added to total 5 gallons. The beer was good enough that I felt encouraged to keep brewing. That first stout is the reason I started using a blow off tube on the primary fermentation tank. It was quite a mess when the fermentation overwhelmed the airlock on top of the pail. I tweaked the recipe a little from the initial recipe. But much like the first time the fermentation was quite vigorous, with foam traveling through the blow off tube. I am not sure if it is just coincidence or something about this recipe causing such a strong fermentation. The OG is not extremely high at 1.067. If it turns out to be any good I may enter it into a home brew contest. Win or lose, a contest is a good way to get an objective opinion, in a blind taste test, from people who know and like beer. I have a few weeks to decide.

3C IPA, 2 brew assistants, and 1 beautiful day

My second brew on the new stove is my first IPA. It is called 3C IPA (Cool, Calm & Collected). Its name originated from the 3 hop varieties being used, all starting with the letter “c”. Often I find myself brewing solo, my wife, Teri, helps when I need an extra set of hands. Today I am fortunate to have 2 brew assistants, Dustin and Tim. My brewery has no automation so most of the brew time is spent monitoring the time and temperature, adjusting the heat as needed. However, there are times when extra hands are a huge help. It’s also nice to be able to share the brewing experience with others who also enjoy brewing and beer.  After the brewing was done and the beer was
in the fermentation tank (pail) we shared a bottle of Boulevard’s 2011 Imperial Stout. I thought at the time that the taste was a little sour for a stout and not exactly what I expected. I found out a couple of weeks later why my bottle from batch number 2 was a little funky. It was still a good beer. I have a second bottle I will age for a while. I think it could go either way, really good or really bad. Only time will tell. But as for this brew day, it was 1 beautiful day.