The Spoils, an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Stout (F11-05-01-26)

Label Inspiration: Continuing with the Inflow Series...No one really calls the dredged material "spoils" except one guy. The spoils aren't great, but this beer is...

Based on the one gallon Oatmeal Stout recipe from the Brooklyn Brew Shop
*ONE GALLON, ALL-GRAIN*

I didn’t take any gravity readings. ABV: 4.5%

Ingredients:

Grain mix (unknown)

Golding hops (2/3 at 30 min, 1/3 at 45 min)

Brooklyn Brew Shop yeast

1 cinnamon stick

1/8 C raisins

¼ C brown sugar

Boil time: 90 minutes

Brewed on July 2, 2015. I followed the directions for making Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Stout. I mashed in at 160 degrees and managed to hold the temps between the desired range- 144 to 152 degrees. The instructions called for stirring the mash every 10 minutes during the 60 minute rest. I had to put the pot on the stove once to bring it back up past 144 degrees, but it didn’t take that long.

Oatmeal raisin cookie stout mash rest

The boil was 90 minutes. I lost a little liquid by the end so I just topped the jug off with water to bring it to around 1 gallon. I placed the one gallon jug in a plastic storage container- I'm using it as a "swamp cooler." Based on my experience with The Slurry, I used a blow-off tube and a glass loaf pan filled with StarSan. Hopefully the wild fermentation will be done in a few days.

Oatmeal raisin stout

The temperature fluctuated a bit for the next week or so, slowly creeping up to 71 from a 66 reading I got the day after brewing.Whenever the temps crept up, I'd add a frozen water bottle to the water in the swamp cooler.

Bottled the Spoils July 15, 2015.

FG: 1.020 (hydrometer)

ABV: 4.5 (based on the recipe).

August 2, 2015. First taste of it. Slight head on it. About a ¼ inch. Smells spicy. Very nice. Raisin-y, light. Slight bite to it, which I hope will mellow out. No homebrew taste, really. Slight alcohol-y taste but not too bad. Maybe too much carbonation at this point. A little thin in terms of body. Good, though. Will not give up on this at all! So far, I’ll give it an 8.

August 10, 2015. I had another one while on vacation and it was really good. People thought it was a store-bought craft beer! I have 4 left but a few of them are already meant for other people. I'll have to make another batch this winter.

Overall score: PENDING