Waiting for Snow...

Getting antsy to ski, even if it is only the middle of November. Today I am brewing up a Christmas (Holiday, if I have to be P.C.) Beer. I am brewing a larger batch than normal today so that I can split the beer in secondary fermentation and try out two ideas for this beer. I guess you could call this laziness, but this way I can have two similar beers side by side to see what works and what didn't.

Milk Stout
Malts: American 2-Row, Chocolate Malt, Lactose, Roasted Barley
Hops: Galena (gotta love hops named for Idaho landmarks)
ABV: ~5.5% - 6%
Playlist: "Run This Town" (puts me in the mindset for what I am trying to do in Boise) then "Real As It Gets (best song on the Blueprint III) followed a jump to Micky and the Motorcars "Live at Billy Bob's Texas" (I know, big change from Jay-Z, but I'm in charge)

It is a rather simple Stout recipe because a lot of the flavors are going to come from the ingredients that the beer is aged on instead of a complex malt bill. The lactose will make the beer sweeter and smoother, it should also compliment the cocoa better than the bitterness of the roasted barley (and hops, although the IBU's of this beer are pretty low).

Taking the first wort and pre-boil gravities

The specifics of the two different batches are tentative right now and I will put up a new post once I have done it, but here are the thoughts for right now.

Peppermint Chocolate Stout
~ Age with peppermint, vanilla beans and cocoa nibs

Huckleberry Chocolate Stout
~ Age with huckleberries (if I can't locate any then probably cherries) and cocoa nibs

I mentioned putting coffee in one in an earlier post, but I don't like the idea of having coffee and lactose in the same beer. I will just have to make my "Cowboy Coffee Stout" at another point.

As of me typing this, I am calling this beer "Belschnical," but that is still subject to change. I will save an explanation of the name for a later date if you don't already know what it means.