Spiced Winter Ale

I brewed a spiced winter ale at my wife's request Friday evening.  Hopefully it will turn out well.  I thought about making a winter warmer, but not being a fan of them, I thought this lower gravity recipe was a better choice.  The spice additions made the house smell wonderful.  I used my single kettle e-BIAB setup with a 2 gallon "dunk sparge" and it was perhaps my easiest brew day ever.  I hit all my numbers on the dot and could not have been more pleased.  S-04 took off like a rocket by the next morning.

Grains Additions Results 11# 2-row 1.2 oz EKG 5% at 60 7 g pre at 1050 .5# aromatic 1/2 tsp cinn at 1 min 5.9 g post at 1060 .5# c-40 1/4 tsp ginger at 1 min 77.8% efficiency .5# c-120 1/8 tsp allspice at 1 min 60 m boil  .25# special roast 1/8 tsp nutmeg at 1 min fg 1014 mash at 154 s-04 at 68 og 1056
Vista, CA Water Profile Water Adjustments (tsp) Ca=57 .854 Epsom Salt SO4=136 .825 Baking Soda Mg=22 .155 Canning Salt Na=71 1.254 Gypsum Cl=88 Carb=147 Hard=233 Alk=122

Taddy Porter

With nothing in the pipeline, I needed to get something in a fermenter asap.  That meant some late night brewing.  I am a big fan of Taddy Porter and have really wanted to brew this recipe for some time.  I used my single kettle e-BIAB setup with a 2 gallon "dunk sparge" and overshot my intended pre-boil volume by almost a half gallon.  That meant for a longer boil off before my first addition and a fairly late night.  I pitched my Notty and unfortunately 48 hours later, nada.  I pitched another package and got some mild activity.  Notty is turning out to be rather spotty for me, either it takes off like a madman, or piddles along.

Update (11-20)-Did a side by side with the real thing and this beer is extremely close.  With a few more weeks, I think it will be perfect.  Very nice roasted coffee character, needs a little more head and mouthfeel right now though.

Update (12-12)-This beer just got amazing, a really, really good beer.  The strong roasted flavor has mellowed a bit from 11-20 and is now perfect.  The mouthfeel and head retention has developed and the lacing is spot on.  This is a great beer and I am going to submit it to a homebrew competition and see how it scores.

Grains		Additions			Results
9.5 2-row		1.25 oz fuggle 60 min			7.4 collected at 1040
1 brown malt		.5 oz fuggle 10 min			7.0 g pre at 1044
1 c-40					5.5 g post at 1055
10 oz choc malt		notty at 67			Efficiency 76.6%
mash 152		OG 1056			60 m boil

Mosher's Ideal Stout
.172 Epsom Salt		Ca=57
.608 Baking Soda		SO4=44
.113 Canning Salt		Mg=13
.596 Calcium Chloride		Na=69
.025 Gypsum		Cl=128
RA=69		Carb=143
Cl/Sulfate 2.91		Hard=194
Very Malty		Alky=118