15 birch moon 2012
Brewed under the full of the Birch moon and blessed by the owl, the brew gained otherworldly strength…
Grain Bill
- 10 lb 2-row pale malt
- 1 lb roasted barley
- 1 lb crystal malt 60L
Hop Bill
- 1 oz UK Northdown ( 7.2% Alpha)- 60 minutes
- 0.5 oz Brewer’s Gold (~ 10 % Alpha)- 60 minutes
Yeast
- White Labs Dry English Ale yeast
The brew store in Salt City did not have any proper Irish yeast, so I had to go with what there was. An insult to be sure.
Mash:
- 16 qts Adirondack spring water
- Mash in. 130F. 30 minute protein rest
- Raised to 150 for a two hour rest
The books say that a stout does not need a protein rest, but I have always done one and the stouts have turned out wonderfully. It ain’t broke.
Sparge
- Sparged with 5 gallons of Adirondack spring water
- Did the sparge indoors due to the cold temps outside
Boil
One hour boil with all hops added as soon as the wort broke a rolling boil. As the wort boiled outside, brother owl came to visit and hooted his blessings from the trees.
Starting gravity: 1.082!
I have used this same recipe many times and never gotten a gravity over 1.060. I am not quite sure how to explain the extremely high gravity this time. I do normally sparge outside, and in this case I did it inside, so perhaps it held the temperature better and got a better extraction. This is the only thing I can think of. But still, this is a very extreme difference. I have to chalk it up to the blessings of the owl.
I had made a started the day before and pitched the yeast immediately after cooling the beer down outside with owl. Normally, I wait to pitch the yeast the next day, but after the last fiasco, I wanted to get some fermentation going as soon as possible.
Racking Primus:
Birch moon 20.Gravity: 1.028
This is a huge drop in only five days. This beer can’t wait to begin slaughtering brain cells. I added some yeast nutrient and am giving it a few more days to see if I can get it lower.
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It took me all day today, but i gathered up enough ambition to keg this thing. Final gravity was 1.024, and this was after pitching a champagne yeast in there when Huck and I brewed the scotch ale to try to clear it. It just ain’t going any lower.
Tastes very nice, though heavy and sweet. This is not going to be a dry stout by any means.