Out Of Key Brewing

The sticke bock nuts has been brewed and looks promising. I collected 9.5 gallons of 1092 wort and pitched the 2206 this morning. Deep ruby in color. Sample exhibits strong maltiness with very mild bittereness. The final recipe:

28.00 lb Munich Malt, Dark (12.0 SRM) Grain
2.00 lb Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain
1.00 lb Carstan (37.0 SRM)

3 oz Willamette FWH
2 oz Hallertauer 60 minutes

I am going to ferment in the garage using the temp controller, a water bath, and an aquarium heater. The target temp is 50 degrees.

The grain bill may be a bit non-traditional, as wheat is not typical in the style. Ive added it in this case to try an aid in some head retention. Id love to see this beer finish in the around 1020, however that will probably take some real coaxing. I will be adding Fermaid K towards the end of the week (pitch + 5days). This beer is more of a Doppel Sticke rather than a dopelbock, however given that I am fermenting as a lager it will probably exibit more lager characteristics.

My brother and I will be attend the Night of the Living Ales on Saturday night.  They are scheduled to have 40 casks of real ale on hand from Dogfish Head, Emmett’s Tavern & Brewing, Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery, Gordon Biersch, Goose Island Beer Company, Goose Island Brewpub, Lagunitas Brewery, Lakefront Brewery, Lunar Brewing, Magnolia Pub, Mickey Finn’s Brewery, Moylan’s Brewing, Piece Brewing, Rock Bottom Chicago, Rock Bottom Orland, Rock Bottom Yorktown, Rogue Ales, Surly Brewing, Three Floyds Brewing,  and Two Brothers Brewing.

Additionally they are scheduled to have a cask of popskull on hand.  This is a colobration beer from 3F and Dogfish Head.  The beer was brewed in late January, so it is young and quite fresh.  Perfect for a cask beer festival.  There are currently no reviews at beer advocate so this may well be the first tasting of this beer.

The beer is described as:

“Old School, German Brown Ale with Palo Santo Wood and Botanicals”

So what is popskull?  The urban dictionary defines it as:

Poorly made moonshine that causes a severe headache, or any cheap, low-grade booze or rotgut that makes you sick the next day.

Interesting name, but for some reason I think the Urban Dictionary is probably wrong on this.

I will post my experiences next week.