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11/3/2021
this brew came out tasting funky again. submitted to JRHB dominion cup they said umami and i think that is correct. This is the third time this has happened to varying degrees, I previously thought it might be bad ingredients but I think hothead and/or too much roasted malt is to blame.
reworking this recipe into a new one :
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1214819/mona-lisa-late-2021
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5/1/21
Not sure what happened only came to 1.100 OG even after the 2 hour boil and DMe. It was 1075 before the DME.
Last minute adding 2 lb base malt and reducing DME. Gonna play by ear how much dme to add
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4/30/21
booting this back up for big brew day with ryan tomorrow. we are doing two 5 gallon mash sparges into my 15 gallon kettle to boil all at once so that could change things. im expecting better efficiency even without the dry malt extract. plan to boil 90 minutes, check gravity, then potentially add 3 or 6 lbs total DME for the 10 gallon batch. i think we will need 14 gallons to start, boil down to 11 or 11.5, leave 1 behind for trub.
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5/25/2020
FG 1.036 (cold sample)
appears the starter wasnt necessary and didnt do anything anyway. Hit an official 10%
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5/11/2020
SG 1.036 - made a 2x starter from a new hothead pack and tossed half of it into the batch.
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5/2/2020
SG 1.041
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4/27/2020
SG 1.045 fermented like crazy the first couple days just off the kveik pack no starter.
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4/16/2020
brew day. Idk what just happened I hit 1.112 and high volume really, couldnt tell exact because of the foam but maybe it was only 5. I guess eff prob goes up if u add a lot of DME. This could be disaster or awesome
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4/15/2020
just changing the batch size from 6.5 down to 5.5 and taking the 2row down from 15lb to 12lb to still arrive at 10%. considering using kviek yeast for this....
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3/24/2020
revamping this for another attempt. shamefully adding dme and predicting over 70 eff to land at 10%. other than that no real changes. worried it might be too bitter hoppy? would like to NOT split the batch and just do 2 vanilla beans. bourbon oak would be nice but i feel that the failure of the last batch was from trying to do too much at once.
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9/30/19
brewed this on the road, came out with more than 6 gallons at 1.080 which was a mistake shouldve boiled longer. also used some old hops which may be putting off strange flavors.
9/23/19
base recipe is Stone RIS clone found in byo magazine. recipe is scant, and doesnt really add up : https://byo.com/recipe/stone-imperial-russian-stout-clone/ . posted recipe is for 65% efficiency so actually less efficient than my system but i added a pound more base malt anyway to try to get over 10%abv. yeast is a little unclear wlp002 listed 65-70% attenuation so we will have to be perfect and hit 70% to get over 10%abv. but then this amounts to 1030 FG, recipe is listed at 1020. could use wlp007 english dry ale if hittin FG was a concern but i think extra sweetness in this beer is going to be ok.
==========MISC NOTES=============
mona lisa stout
ORANGE
austin homebrew
http://austinhomebrew.com/assets/images/RCPPDF/09611.pdf
1/4oz bitter
1/2oz sweet
https://brewgr.com/recipe/59297/chocolate-orange-stout-oatmeal-stout-recipe
fresh orange peel and juice
(essentially a whole orange)
mrbeer
https://www.mrbeer.com/barleys-brew-chocolate-orange-stout
4oz bakers unsweetened chocolate
2 medium oranges
take off the skins but not too much pith
they soak skins in 1/2 cup vodka, adding allof it
maybe use a thin glass so the vodka covers more
final thoughts
use the brewers peel sweet and bitter, soak in vodka with vanilla bean
use thin glass
add the whole thing
optional : plus the orange juice
CHERRY
austin homebrew
http://austinhomebrew.com/assets/images/RCPPDF/02071.pdf
cherry flavoring
AHA
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/choc-full-o-cherry-porter/
frozen sour cherries
HBT
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/chocolate-cherry-stout.326884/
cherry juice concentrate
might be better in reducing sugar and other flavors....
final stand
a) i guess prob just use frozen cherries. not sour! sweet/dark any other kind than sour
b) cherry juice concentrate? how sour?
Dark cherries. Aha recipe calls for 5 to 10 lb per 10 gal batch. I think I will go with 5. For split batch 3.333
