F11-01-01-23: The Mudline imperial stout

Label Inspiration: So I work on a dredged material placement facility where we see and receive a lot of mud. Maybe it looks like a stout. Maybe the dredge creates a mudline that we have to watch...for fear that it might come too close. 

Based on the Rum Runner 1 gallon recipe kit from Northern Brewer, part of West Oak Brewery’s Inflow Series©

I used a Mr. Beer fermenter due to all the research on this recipe. Apparently, a lot of the one gallon jugs used by customers overflowed/exploded everywhere because of the wild fermentation. One guy used a Mr. Beer fermenter- which is about 2 gallons- so I decided to try it myself.

Ingredients:

Rum Runner steeping Grains (4 oz Belgian Special B and 2 oz English Roasted Barley)

2 lbs. Dark dry malt extract powder

14g Centennial hops

Safale S-04 brewer’s yeast (half package)

Fizz drops- for carbonation

Sprinkle of irish moss (added 5 minutes before end of boil)

Fermacap-S added to boil soon after malt extract and hop addition

Followed instructions for Rum Runner.

SG: 1.092 (9% beer when finished)

June 4, 2015. Brew day. Pitched the yeast at around 66 degrees (based on my infrared thermometer)

Actually had a mishap…poured wort in while Mr. Beer fermeter was open (spigot). Sucked. I lost a bit of it.

June 14,2015. Temps hit 72-74. I bottled today. Not sure what was wrong but I apparently only had about 77 ounces in the fermenter, enough for only 3.5 twenty-two ouncers. Yeah. I think I’ll probably brew that one again, maybe next month. I’m sure it’s screwed up but I’ll keep them. FG was 1.073, which doesn’t sound right at all. I think I screwed up something with the refractometer.

July 1, 2015. Placed the .5 bottle in the fridge today for testing tomorrow.

July 2, 2015. Nasty. Threw it away.

July 23. 2015. Threw one in the fridge. Not sure when I’ll try it.
September 10, 2015. Tried another one. It was VERY thick and alcohol-y. Too thick. I poured it out. I think I'll save the last one for whenever. I'm not thrilled.

Overall score: 4 out of 10.