Moose Drool Ale - Spit n' Image

It's brown, it's named after a large North American ungulate, and its name suggests oral incontinence. Ah, we market product with our minds, but we drink beer with our mouths! Which is why this American brown ale is your new favorite session beer. Dense layers of malt, caramel, baking chocolate, and a hint of light-roast coffee give way to reveal a hop character you'll be surprised to find if you're used to drinking English brown ale. The finish is complex but balanced, and the gravity is not so high as to keep you from having another.

Sunday.
MattT and I at Walker's place. Another remote brewing on Walker's new turkey burner that seemed to flame out every 15 mins. Used a pair of Northern Brewer Caribou Slobber knockoff kits, but swapped out the Windsor for dry Nottingham (one packet did 10 gallons marvelously well), and added a honey bear to the second 5 gallons just to see what can happen.

Steep Grains - 45 mins up to 170 degrees, in two bags
.5 lbs Briess Caramel 80L
.5 lbs Fawcett Pale Chocolate
.25 lbs Black Malt

Fermentables
12 lbs Amber malt syrup
2 lbs Amber dry malt extract
1 lb Honey late addition (5 min boil)

Hops
2 oz US Goldings (60 min)
2 oz Liberty (45 min)
2 oz Willamette (15 min)

Not too much to report on brew day. All went easily and well. OG: 1050 without the honey, 1064 with - shooting for an OG of 1052..

Fermentation took right off, and the weather was just right for keeping the corneys in the garage at 60 degrees overnight, up to 72ish in the afternoon. In fact, with the locks open, we got a good puddle going and I belatedly moved them into the pantry washbasin. Should have put them there from the get go. Wow, still learning something every time.

Shut down fermentation on Thursday morning. Gave the tanks a shot of 20# Co2 and chilled them at 45 degrees. Sunday night, one week after the boil, we racked both corneys out and back into their original tanks. FG for both: 1012. Right on the mark.

See you after a month of conditioning.

One Month Mark:
Saturday, I watched UFC at Firehouse and sipped Moose Drools all night.
Sunday, Walker got a taste of the brew and said, "That's great." I tasted and said, "Ugh." Dry, bitter, no mouth feel. So, Walker leaves and leaves half a beer behind, and, half an hour later, I take a sip before dumping it down the sink.
Cha-ching.
Once the stuff had a chance to warm up and the chill haze to melt down, sure enough, we had a spot on Moose Drool - tasted, looked, had all the mouthfeel and stuff of the Firehouse draughts.
Now to waste a couple gallons on MattT.