Fantastic, beautiful day. Sunny, a slight chill in the air. The sun sits slightly different in the sky relative to the time, since we switched back to standard time. Great day for brewing.
This is another experimental beer. It has one pound of toasted oats. Toasted in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, and 300 for 30 more. The oats took on a slightly more golden, amber appearance and a toasty, perhaps acrid aroma. That acridness seemed to dissipate as they cooled. I've read that they're supposed to rest for a few days before using, but other folks claim they've had no problem tossing them in the mash right away, so that's what I did. To add to the experimentation, I'll be using Vic Secret hops for the first time. I'll round out the beer with 7.5 pounds Avangard german pale ale, a half pound of non-toasted oats, and two pounds of Munich. This beer will be fermented with the same yeast that I used to ferment the beer that will be kegged today.
That beer is my first northeast-style IPA. I just checked the gravity for the first time and tasted it for the first time as well. It's a semi-smash beer with 100% galaxy hops, 91% 2-row, and 9% oats, fermented with Wyeast 1318 London Ale III. This is my first time using galaxy hops and first time using that yeast. The gravity sample was quite delicious. I've had issues lately with hoppy beers using US-05. Again, I question: is it the better bottle--some contaminant that I'm not able to kill? Old hops? Oxygen getting in somehow? The yeast (which was a fresh pack and which has never created issues in the past)? The galaxy beer, however, was fermented with a different yeast, fresh hops, and a different fermenter. And tastes and smells amazing. So much so that it brought a smile to my face. I can't wait to try it once it's carbonated and dry-hopped. OG was 1.060 and FG is 1.014, putting it at right around 6%. It definitely has a creamy, soft mouthfeel, but it's hard to say whether that's due to residual sweetness or the oats. It's very clear too, with just a touch of a mostly-transparent haziness.
It's interesting, too, to think about yeast and hop interaction. At some point during fermentation, the hop aroma transforms. The rawness mellows out, and no longer smells like a bag of hop pellets.
Vic Secret beer:
OG 1.062. Pitched yeast at around 73. Vigorous boil this time, so ended up with right at five gallons. Racked onto galaxy beer's yeast cake. I've found that oats make for a really thick, sticky mash, which really extends the brew day, since it takes so long to drain the mash tun. Did the toasted oats add much? The ones I chewed on didn't have an especially prominent flavor. But maybe it will be more apparent in the finished beer.
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