That’s right, we’re still cranking on FF and for December, it’s a kind of free-for all on days, but that works for me. I’ve been hit or miss with them anyway. For this FF, the question was about our favorite holiday homebrew.
For me, this brings up an interesting point because I am actually brewing a holiday favorite of mine this weekend! I’ll get to that in a minute. For the holidays, I would say there are three beers that stand out to me. The first was my doppelbock. This was a great beer and I personally credit a lot of this to the fact that I decoction mash. Before you jump in and tell me that modern grains are modified and don’t need a decoction mash, I know. However, I would argue that there is some caramelization of the sugars in the process that contributes some unique qualities to the flavor. Plus its a cool process that pre-dates thermometers, how many things do you do today that do that?
The second brew for me would be the Wilford’s Best Oatmeal Stout I just brewed. I’ve already killed a keg of it! I don’t like that fact, but it’s a stout I am still not sick of. This is a great beer that is easy to drink and a nice little winter warmer.
Finally, my Bobby Brown ale that was the first brew Nick and I made together (shed a tear). This was one of the earlier beers I all-grain brewed and it was my first 10 gallon brew. At the time, we were really happy with the brew, but about a year later we cracked open a flip top of it and it was still awesome! That’s why I am brewing it again this weekend:
Bobby Brown this time around:
- 20.5lb US2 row pale
- 4lbd Crystal 60L
- .75lb Chocolate malt
- .25lb Black patent
- 2oz Norther Brewer 60min
- 1oz Cascade 30min
- 1oz Cascade 15min
- 1oz fuggles dry hop
- Irish Ale Yeast (reused from some of my earlier brews)
The yeast is different on this one, but everything else should be the same. This will also be my first time using my pump and my newly installed sparge-arm so hopefully everything functions.
Hey, I’m writing mine up right now. Thanks.
Good luck this weekend