Thinking back to some of my favorite books that were made into movies, I have to think of Lord Of The Rings. Of course if you have read the books or seen the movie you can’t help but think of Gimli, the Dwarven Warrior. I think that if given a choice of a Oatmeal Stout or a light lager or pale ale, he’d probably go with an Oatmeal Stout. It’s a hearty drink that is filling and can fortify a warrior who is heading out to battle or rejuvenate one that just returned. It is also a drink that will keep old man winter at bay. So in honor of Gimli and all the other warriors out there, I give you my rendition of an Oatmeal Stout. It is dark, chewy, and has a strong deep dark chocolate presence in both the nose as well as flavor from start to finish. Best if mashed at 156-158F (I normally mash for 90 minutes)
Toasty Nuts Brown Ale
One of my favorite beers from England has to be the Nut Brown Ale. When I was in Europe they were fresh and tasted great. Sadly one of my favorite brown ales is New Castle and for some reason they use clear bottles. Hops reacts to UV light causing the beer to get “Skunky” and that doesn’t make it a good beer. As a result I don’t buy New Castle anymore. SO what am I to do? Brew my own of course!
Eleventy In Da Woods IPA
Here’s a little back story on this beer. I brewed this one to be more like what I felt an IPA would have been like when it was shipped to India via sailing ships. It was basically a standard Pale Ale that was brewed stronger in both alcohol and hops bitterness. The extra alcohol and hops helped ensure the beer would spoil during the 5-7 month ocean voyage to India. It was transferred into casks that had a generous amount of hops (dry hopping comes from this practice) as hops were a natural anti-bacterial source. Now today we all know (or should know) that over time hops bitterness decreases. Most IPA’s sold today are extremely bitter as they are very very young beers. Original IPA’s traveled for 5-7 months. During that time it became less bitter. That was my goal for this. An IPA that wasn’t as bitter as the current commercial versions. Malty and higher in alcohol than a pale ale yet enough bitterness remaining to balance the malt. A massive hops aroma (caused by dry hopping).
The name for this one comes from the fact that it was brewed for a camping trip I took with some friends. That trip was on 11-11-11, so Eleventy In Da Woods was born…. I hope you enjoy this as much as we did. btw, after a few months its a killer APA.
Here’s a quick video of a cream ale I brewed today. I racked it onto a yeast cake from a Kölsch I brewed a few weeks ago. This is an example of why I always use a blow off tube on every single beer I brew.
I started using a blow off tube back in 1999 when I brewed a batch of blueberry mead. I came dangerously close to having blueberry mead all over the walls, ceiling and floors. The airlock plugged up with yeast and thankfully I was using a plastic bucket for a primary. The lid was bulging so much the airlock was in a 45° angle. Had I been using a glass carboy as in this video and plugged the air lock, there would be 2 outcomes.
1. The bung blows out and a fountain of yeast hits the ceiling.
2. The bung gets stuck and pressure builds until the glass breaks. The pressure involved could seriously injure anyone nearby with flying glass.
Do yourself a favor, use a blow off tube for each beer/mead/cider you brew. Its simple cheap insurance against a mess or injury.
MM
Today I received a package in the mail all the way from Ireland. Inside was something I had waiting patiently for, a brand spanking new grain bag. This grain bag was custom made to the measurements I requested by Mareth Magrath at CustomBIAB. This is a small company that is just getting it’s feet wet and so far has inundated with the demand for this type of product. Currently This is a one woman business but if it keeps growing like it is, that won’t last long. What exactly does CustomBIAB make? They make grain bags to be used in the BIAB (Brew In A Bag) method of All Grain beer brewing. In BIAB a grain bag is placed in the boil kettle which is filled with a predetermined volume of heated water and crushed brewers malt is added. This replaces the Mash Tun and Hot Liquor Tank portion of a traditional all grain brewing setup. After the mash is complete the bag and 
grains are removed leaving behind the sweet wort which is boiled with hops and then fermented to produce one of the most wonderful beverages in the world, BEER!
When my package arrived I quickly opened it up to inspect the bag. One thing I quickly noticed was the company name embroidered into the nylon webbing that completely surrounds the bag and provides the four (4) handles. Handles are a great idea with any BIAB grain bag, I’ve wished for them several times on my current bag when lifting a large grain bill out of the water. For those that use a
pulley of a winch, the handles offer a built in lift point, just connect with a carabineer and go. Along with the webbing and handles, there’s an adjustable cinch string sewn into the bag allowing you to snug the bag to your brew pot during the mash or close the bag when lifting. The weakest point of any bag is going to be the seams. Rest assured these seams are sewn together with a high quality thread on a serger. The seams that comes in contact with the grain is smooth as it has been folded and top stitched. This is to prevent grain particles from getting stuck in the bag. The junction between the side and bottom pieces has reinforced stitching adding to the bags strength.
Since the bag was made to the measurements I provided, It fits my keggle like it was made for it. Which is a good thing since it was! For those that are setup with an electric heating element, there’s a Plimsoll line sewn into the bag to indicate where the bag should rest on the rim to keep the bag free from the element or the bottom of the kettle. At this time I use a propane burner and adjusting to the Plimsoll line would have excess fabric hanging over the edge in an area that could get a little to hot. However, I do have plans for converting to electric in the future so my bag is ready when I convert. 
With BIAB it is a generally recommended practice to size the grain bag to be large enough to fit your brew kettle into. This ensures that the bag will fill the entire kettle space and allow ample room for the grain and water to interact converting the starches into fermentable sugars. As you can see, my keggle has no problem being fitted inside the bag. The bag when inserted into the keggle fills the interior space perfectly and when my custom made lid (3 layers of foam board) is inserted it seals the inside with ease. As soon as I install my pickup tube the keggle will be going into service and I will either retire my 40 quart aluminum kettle or use it for 
small batch beer brewing.
Included with the grain bag was a hops sack. Anyone that has used pellet hops without a sack knows about the thick layer of goo that ends up in the bottom of the kettle. This hops residue either clogs the pickup tube of gets transferred to the fermenter. Using a hops sack eliminates that problem by keeping it all enclosed and easily removable after the boil is complete. The hops sack included is a basic sack with a nylon string sewn near the top to allow the bag to be tied off. This is
the ONLY area that I could see as an improvable area. On my previous hops sack the cord was sewn into the sack similar to how the cinch strap is on the grain bag. This allowed the bag to be closed and then tied off to a handle. With the current design of the included hops sack the string is there to tie around the sack leaving very little if any to attach to a handle. The design on the other hand would work perfectly with a Hops Spider. Maybe this is a hint that I need to build one!
My overall impression of the grain bag and hops sack is this. If you are getting into BIAB brewing or looking for a new sack and either can’t sew or don’t want to sew, Drop Mareth an email from her site and order a bag. You won’t regret it. Hopefully my bag will get it’s maiden run in a few weeks. Maybe with a Black IPA! This will give me time to get the dip tube added and build a hops spider.
My thanks go out to Mareth and her husband for answering a much needed call for custom bags for BIAB home brewers. The work is excellent, the prices are more than fair and They are 2 wonderful people to deal with. Check out their website and/or follow them on Facebook
CustomBIAB website has some care and handling instruction available if you go back in some of their older posts but it’s just basic information that anyone should be following as it is. These are their instructions.:
It is recommended to wash or rinse your bag before first use, to remove any residues that may remain from the sewing process, i.e. tailor’s chalk etc..
Rinse after use to remove grain/hop residue
Machine Washable
Do not tumble dry
Contents will be hot when in use, handle with care
The drawstring is intended to secure your bag around your brewing vessel, it IS NOT weight bearing
DO NOT twist the drawstring!
Due to the possibility of sagging when loaded with grain, we recommend that if you are using the new style bags in a vessel that has an element, you should fit a cake rack or similar to your vessel, just above the element to prevent the bag and element from touching.
Prost!
MM
Well crap. My first carboy looks like it needs to be retired. While cleaning it today in hopes of
using it this weekend for a beer I plan on brewing, I noticed what appears to be either stress cracks or very deep scratches. A couple look like they might go all the way through. Right now I have it full of water to see if it leaks but I don’t think I can trust it for fermentation anymore.
Even if it doesn’t leak, it’s a weak spot in the glass that could break through at any given time while fermenting (there is a small amount of pressure there and if the airlock ever plugged….). Even if it didn’t leak and if it never failed, if that crack is on the inside, then bacteria could hide out there turning every batch 
fermented in it bad. Sadly I feel that it’s life of fermentation is at an end.
I remember when I bought this carboy. I purchased it from Marietta Homebrew (no longer in business). The owner there was a great guy and helped me piece together my first setup. Carboy, primary bucket, bottling bucket, capper, corker, bottling wand, floating thermometer (broken years ago), hydrometer (recently replaced due to breaking it… Hmmm is this a trend) and autosiphon. The carboy was shiny and new and just begging to be filled. So I did. I made a tupelo mead for my first batch of anything fermented. I ended up buying a second carboy because this one was tied up for 11 freaking months while it Sloooooooooooowly fermented. Then I bought a third carboy.
I think it’s about time to start replacing glass with Better Bottles. Plastic doesn’t break if dropped, it doesn’t crack if bumped and it weighs less.
MM
Many years ago I ran several forums. One was for brewing and mainly dedicated to making mead. I had closed that forum done due to lack of activity and converted all my posting on brewing as a blog. Now, I feel like giving the forums another shot. My blog will still be here and will be the primary place I post my beer and mead recipes. In fact, all posting from the blog will also post to the forums. That said, I hope that people will register (its FREE) and post there. I don’t have hidden areas that require membership fees. I don’t charge vendors that want to advertise. Everyone is treated the same there. So go to the MysticBrewing Forums ( <— click the link ) and let me know what you think.
Prost
MM
After my recent reviews of the Carboy Cleaner™ and the Keg Cleaner™ I was sent a Private Message over at Homebrewtalk.com letting me know that they really liked the reviews. They also told me that I would no longer need to swap the keg pads and carboy pads as they were sending me a complete Keg Cleaner™! Well today my friendly postal carrier showed up with a familiar shipping tube in her hand. A HUGE thanks to the fine people at Carboy Cleaner. You guys rock!! If any of you have EVER thought about buying one of their cleaners, head over to Brewmaster Warehouse and DO IT!!! You won’t regret it. 
Click these links for the reviews of the Carboy Cleaner™ and Keg Cleaner™
Prost!
MM
