I apologize again for the slight inactivity, as I have been busy with work and studying. Will try to review some beers during the weekend, post some updates on the homebrews as they come along, and finish the final part of the Hop Science mini-essay during next week. Today, I will be dry-hopping the American IPA with some Amarillo, Cascade and Simcoe, tomorrow we will be bottling the Weisse Katze Hefeweizen after two weeks of primary fermentation (I will aim for about 3 vols carbonation), and on Friday its time for another brewday, as we are going to brew up an Imperial Porter for Christmas.

We are brewing the Imperial Porter a couple of months in advance, to ensure that it has matured (at least somewhat) until Christmas. The malt bill will consist of Pale Ale, Munich, Crystal, Special B, Chocolate and Black malt, and it will be hopped with Nugget and Magnum. We are aiming for an OG around 1.090, an ABV just under 9%, IBUs around 90, and an EBC above 100. After fermentation we will let the beer mature on some vanilla beans and maybe some bourbon-soaked oak chips, to give it some complexity. I have never really been a fan of ‘christmas-spiced’ beers, so will not use any ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, etc., and instead play with the mixture of roasted coffee, chocolate and vanilla, which I though worked well in the Brandy-Vanilla Porter I brewed about a year ago. Will post the recipe and brewday pictures on/after the brewday.

I also have plans for a lot of different batches (the Brett IPA, a Belgian Blond, a Quadrupel, and a low-ABV session IPA), that I hopefully will have time to brew during the autumn. Friday is also my last day at my current job, after which I will start working on my master’s thesis. I’m very happy and excited that my master’s thesis will be about beer fermentation (more specifically diacetyl production during fermentation), so stayed tuned for some scientific posts about the topic as well (depending on what kind of information I’m allowed to publish).

PS. Two new online shops for homebrewing supplies have opened in Finland: Brewcat and Lappo.fi. I have already tried out both, and can highly recommend both of them!