Averagely Perfect Beer #2, Pre-Poll Part 2

No can do. I live in an apartment, in a densely populated city, with no access to a backyard or porch of any kind to brew outside. So yeah, I'm limited to what my kitchen stove is able to bring to a boil... which is about 3.5 gallons of water.

 

I don't understand what happened -- I made a starter and everything.

 

Yeah, and it was hard keeping both kettles in sync - as far as getting them to mash temps, boiling, etc at the same time. Made for a stressful brew day, and I ended up with a much lower OG than expected.

I'm perfectly fine doing 2.5 gallon batches, and not doing any big beers on my system. I've got a system that really works for me now, with 75% efficiency (not bad for BIAB) so I'm sticking with it.

 

"I thought this was America! Huh? Isn't this America? I'm sorry, I thought this was America."

 

I do the split boil approach and manage it OK. Of course, I've done about 100 batches this way, including on a tiny apartment cooktop (sucked) and a more powerful gas range. It's still a long brew day, but feels OK to me because I brew infrequently.

As for your BIAB, it seems like there are still ways to enhance your gravity, if that's an issue. Augmenting with extract is probably obvious. What about a double mash BIAB, where after you pull your bag, you empty it, add more grain, and immerse in the liquid from the first? I'm sure it would boost your gravity (and kill your efficiency, but it's homebrew, so who cares?).

 

I truly hope that you're referencing your initial suggestion of a group mild. Because that's pretty damn brilliant.

 

Looks like this should be an American Oatmeal Stout.

 

Yes, I was thinking of my original suggestion. But I'm surprised you picked up on it - I planned on being anonymously self-satisfied, but really, you earned credit with an assist.

Makes up for the next few times that I will appear obtuse (because, let's face it, that happens too).

 

We need the recipe!

 

Oatmeal stout, looking forward to the recipe!

 

Tight race with only a few hours left... either one would be good, American or Oatmeal.

 

remember everyone: you can put oatmeal in an american stout.

 

Blasphemy!

 

Can we have another soon? Please? We love you VikeMan!

 

Saison!

 

I second this one. One caveat, yeast is up to the brewer on this one (like I won't go with my own pick even if out voted). So many wonderful yeasts out there with the specialty strains fro WY & WLP, new strains from ECY and YB, why be limited to 3711?

 

Looking at this early poll again, it is clear why the design of this beer looked so much like a hybrid of American Stout and Oatmeal Stout. Those two styles were separated by one vote and neither became completely embraced throughout the rest of the polls.

 

I predict the poll for fermentation temperature will breakout into 7 different subpolls.