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Monday, March 21, 2011

Let's get it in the barrel!

After 3 weeks of fermenting, I finally put Townie Brown into the oak barrel and keg! I fermented in two 5 gallon batches and it ended up around 1.022 gravity at about 11.8% ABV! He's a big boy. One of the 5 gallon batches was slightly more dilute because of the water chase we did coming out of the brewery into the fermentor. That batch finished up around 1.022 and went into the keg. The other batch which was full strength went into the barrel and was still around 1.026. I think the 6-9 months at 55-60F in the barrel will let it ferment out a bit more though and it will finish around 1.022 as well. Enough throwing numbers around...this stuff was tasty. It has a nice, sweet malt and brown sugar backbone to it that I think balances out the high alcohol really well. There is a slight British hop aroma, but not much bitterness. The one in the keg will be carbonated in about 10 days, so we'll see how it tastes poured into a glass...a very small glass though. I have a feeling this one will be on tap for some time.

Get into the barrel, Townie Brown! You can see what's on tap as well
The other beers are pouring and they are quite delicious..at least to me. Some might find them a little hoppy for there liking, but I think they're great. I might have to stop pouring some of them so I can bottle them up for the NHC competition. I'm entering an Imperial IPA, English Old Ale, American Barleywine, and two Specialty Beers (Imperial Red and Imperial Brown). I'm excited in only the way a beer geek can be, to bottle these guys up with my new Blichmann BeerGun. It will make it a lot easier to bottle.

The Lowell.Brewing strong ale festival will have to be planned soon so I can clear the taps and make room for some new brews. There will be some more sessionable beers in this next phase, maybe try to keep them under 7%! Now why would I want to do that?....

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can I have a glass on Friday?

Andrew Lowell said...

Ohhhhh, maybe. The one in the barrel will age for 6-9 months, but you can have the one on tap in the keg if it is carbonated! Can't wait

J.Goss said...

Townie Brown was great. A little sweet, but not overwhelming. Perfect for a night cap or sipper. Nice work Andrew.