jonjon

We actually have a 10bbl system, but we have a couple 5bbl fermenters that we brew half batches in for our specialty beers (such as in this case)

I'm a big fan of Firestone Walker Parabola, and I've read some posts from their brewer about the challenge of brewing a big beer like that, and their process, so I've followed their lead. We will be putting an entire 55lb bag of flaked oats in the mash, this will thicken things up pretty well. We also mash low (144 degrees) in order to help the fermenability of the wort, as this will be quite a monster for the yeast with an OG of somewhere between 1.100 and 1.125 (we've set the goal posts wide here since this will be the first we are brewing this on this scale). To get the gravity up this high we are going to add an entire bag of Muntons dark DME for gravity boost. We'll check gravity near the end of the boil to see if we're in the range, if too low we'll boil longer. I'd like to get the final gravity down in the 1.030 to 1.035 range, if possible. It will be a monster pitch of US-05 dry yeast. This will give us a beer in the 11-13% abv range without being too cloying. We also add the dark malts to the mash for just the last 10-15 minutes of the mash (not the entire mash time) to cut down on astringency. I think that sums it up. I'll be glad to answer any other questions. Jon

Didn't think of that lol. That would be one hell of a party!

Just ordered 4 emptied Buffalo Trace barrels. Imperial Stout going into them next week. Thanks for the inspiration!

Never enjoyed pumpkin beers much myself. The tough part of owning a brewery is putting out beers you don't like in order to have a somewhat broad portfolio of options for everyone that visits. But I'm a big believer that you are the best at what you truly have a passion for. We obviously started (and still continue to a somewhat lesser extent) as a hop-heavy brewery. But in the last couple of years I've really gotten into Trappist and other Belgian style beers, so now we are putting out some cellared Belgian Dubbels, Tripels and hopefully soon a quad. We're getting into barrel aging as well -- going to be doing some stouts and an English Barleywine that way soon. But you won't find anything pumpkin here.

Leaf Peepers Festival going on here in Davis this weekend. Lots of good color, although maybe a little behind some of the recent years.

It did get down to the upper 30s last night in this area.