Yet another belated update

Why do i bother stating that my blog is behind the actual brewing activities? It's pretty much a given at this point.

Session Ale

The Session Ale remained at 1.011 adjusted gravity for its final reading, which means I can drop the pretense and just call it an IPA at 5.3%ABV. It's now conditioning in the keg until i hook it up to the Angram for some yummy cask action. When I had racked it to secondary and did the dry hop, i'd been a bit afraid that i had missed my hoppiness target. It was the right bitterness, but the flavor was a bit subdued. However, the Simcoe plugs did their job, not only imparting that wonderfully floral aroma, but also accenting the flavor. Can't wait for a pint of that.

Winter Spiced Ale

I also racked the Winter Spiced Ale to secondary. OG was 1.062 @80F or 1.065 adjusted. At secondary, i got a specific gravity of 1.016 @66F or 1.017 adjusted. That gives me 6.5% ABV. I didn't rack any of the wort, so i don't anticipate much of a change there by the time it gets kegged. As you can tell from the gravity, the sugars were pretty much converted. The spices are fairly subtle now (subtler than i had hoped, to be honest) and the Roast Barley really imparted a strong chocolate flavor. It's almost more a chocolate Porter than anything. The Spiced Ale will get kegged this coming Sunday.

Spiced Winter Ale

This past Saturday was the Carlsbad Pizza Port Strong Ale Festival, which as usual was a lot of fun. One Ale i really enjoyed was the Left Hand Snowbound, a spiced strong ale that just put you in the holiday spirits. So on Sunday, I gathered ingredients and decided to improvise my own spiced winter ale. Here's what I came up with:

Steep, 30min @160F

• 0.5# Biscuit
  
• 1# Honey Malt
  
• 1# Roast Barley
  

Boil @ 60 min

• 6# Light Malt Extract
  
• 1 oz. East Kent Goldings pellets
  

Boil @ 15 min

• 8 oz. Dark Brown Sugar
  
• 16 oz. Honey
  
• 1 oz. East Kent Goldings pellets
  
• 1 oz. Cascade pellets
  
• 1 tbsp. Irish Moss
  

Boil @ 0 min

• 1 oz. Cascade pellets

Pitched at 80F with White Labs California Ale yeast.

Session Ale, once again

Time to play post catch-up and that means starting with the more IPA than Session 4th edition of my session ale. This time it came out to about 5.3% ABV, so really not quite session material. But it'll rock on the Angram. Since I change my recipe every single time, let's get to that first:

Steep, 30min @160F

• 1# Carapils
  
• 1# 10L Crystal
  

Boil @ 60min

• 2 oz. Magnum pellets
  

Boil @ 15 min

• 6# Light Malt Syrup
  
• 1 oz. East Kent Goldings
  

Boil @ 0 min

• 1 oz. East Kent Goldings
  

Pitched with White Labs English Ale Yeast at 80F. Primary lasted for a week, at which time I racked it into secondary with 2 oz. of Simcoe plugs. It's still in secondary now (second week) and I'll let it sit at least the full second week before racking to the keg.

Initial gravity was 1.048 @ 80F or 1.051 adjusted and gravity at secondary fermentation was 1.010 @ 72F or 1.011, which gives it a current ABV of 5.3%.