Last weekend we brewed 8 gallons of our brown ale; 5 gallons were treated normally, and the other ~3 gallons are going to be treated quite differently. First, the normal batch should be different than previous brown ales we have made simply because we have stopped using the hop screen and it should therefor seem hoppier than previous versions. Elise is looking forward to this as she says she "likes a true American-style brown ale" which is more hop-forward than British-style ale.
The special 3-gal portion was pitched on top of 100% Brett B yeast as well as an oak spiral. Oak and brett is a very classic combination, especially in Belgian lambic beers. Normally, we have been oaking for about 10 days after fermentation has been complete, but this time we added the oak with the yeast. We added a smaller amount of oak compared to the volume as the oak will sit in the beer for upwards of 8 weeks. Hopefully this one will taste as good as the previous one.
Cooper is finally here, and Elise has been enjoying small samples of beers over the past couple of days. Coop's beer (Raspberry Imperial Stout) is also tasting very very good right now, and I'll hopefully post a formal tasting of that brew later. Right now it's time to hang with Mr Cooper!
