Brewz anewz

I know, Constant Reader, I know.
I have been neglecting this blog, and you along with it, for far too long. And while my beery exploits in the months past have been diverse and many, time to yack about them has been scarce and without plenty.

Also this.

But hark! Rather than banter about other peoples' beer, I'll banter a bit about my own while I have time to spare.

So far, my supply of home brew has been dwindling swiftly. In order to correct this skewed situation and prevent my cellar from becoming a place of dry and dreary sobriety, I have decided to step up my brewing activities. Brewing is not a summery activiity per tradition and we can't mess with tradition now can we?

Unless tradition involves running from a herd of enraged bulls whilst wearing something red.

Bottled just this weekend, the prototypes of the Zwarte Madam are getting ready for sampling. I hazard that in about a week's time, I should be able to crack one open and reach a verdict. 

Bottled Bliss(*)

*) math-savvy Constant Readers may realise I am still nowhere near a point where I can confidently predict my final volume of brew. While I think I can account for most of my losses, I'm still not brewing a full 5 gallon batch.

From what I accidentally gulped down during bottling, the basic version is really smooth and chocolatey. More a slick porter than the top-fermenting ersatz-schwartzbier I had in mind, but very tasty even in its unfinished state. The three bonus batches I'd set up to test my various mystery ingredients were a mixed bag. One showed a lot of promise, the other forced me acknowledge my over-enthusiasm where dosage is concerned, and the last one...well...let's keep that last one our little secret until it mellows down a bit.

So far, we're dealing with a pitch-black robust porter of about 8% ABV and about 17° Plato. After bottling and maturation, I'll need to present to the Silsombos crew to see if it makes any sense to them. Even if it doesn't (porter isn't a common style over here), I'll have learned a thing or two again, and now I have a lovely basis for Porter à la Moi. 

So yay me!

The other brew is a cloning experiment, set up to get Beer Buddy Bert started on the road of Making-a-Mess-in-the-Kitchen-Whilst-Doing-Beery-Things. We went for Brew Dog's Libertine Black, a potent and ballsy black IPA, brimming with Simcoe hops. 

Brew Day went splendidly, and if I had a beer for every time someone mentioned hot cocoa after seeing our mash, I'd need another cellar just to store the labels.

Hot cocoa!
Idiots.

Brew Dog were kind enough to list (hopefully all of) their ingredients on the Libertine Black's label, so we slammed together something with a least a chance of approximating the original, and are now fairly certain we'll get a drinkable black IPA for our efforts.

Now dry hopping with what looks like not enough Simcoe.

Will it resemble the real thing? We'll have to wait and see.

Until then,

Greetz

Jo