Batch No. 18: [To Be Named] Stout

Formula: Shillelagh Stout Recipe: 1 can St. Patricks Irish Stout HME, 1 can Creamy Brown UME, 1 packet Northern Brewer pellet hops, Safale-04 English yeast
Brew Date: September 17, 2011
ferment time: 21 days
Bottle Date: October 8ish, 2011
conditioning time: 6 weeks
Open Date: November 19, 2011

Brewing process:
- Bring approx 4 cups of water to a boil, remove from heat.
- Stir HME and UME into mixture
- Pour wort into keg. Bring the volume of the keg to the 8.5-quart mark by adding more cold water
- Add Pellet hops, stir vigorously to mix well
- Add yeast

Batch No. 17: It's The Great Pumpkin Porter

Formula: Pumpkin Porter: West Coast Pale Ale HME, 1 can Creamy Brown UME, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 can cooked pumpkin puree, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Brew Date: August 7, 2011
ferment time: 28 days
Bottle Date: September 4, 2011
conditioning time: 6 weeks
Open Date: October 16, 2011

Brewing process:
- Bring approx 4 cups of water to a boil, remove from heat.
- Add 1/2 cups of brown sugar, 2 tsp. ground cinnamon and 1/2 tsp. nutmeg. Stir to mix well.
- Stir HME and UME into mixture
- Pour wort into keg. Bring the volume of the keg to the 8.5-quart mark by adding more cold water
- Add pumpkin puree, stir vigorously to mix well
- Add yeast

Some temperature issues in the fermenting process; Tried to keep the batch in a cooler with frozen water bottles for the most part. It stayed between 72-26 degrees, for the most part, although at times was down to the lower 60s. The constant temperature fluctation is bad, but a necessary evil of summertime brewing.

Of course, fall brews have to be done in the summertime, so I'm going to have to figure that out. Having two batches going (Bullseye and this) simultaneously meant only one could be in the cooler at a time. I'm going to have to time the fall/winter batches so that doesn't happen again.

Fortunately, after this weekend, it's supposed to cool down, so I should be able to have multiple batches going.

9/2 Update: Put the keg in the fridge to cold-crash before bottling. Tasted a sample. It was full of pumpkin trub, even though the keg has been tilted to the back in the cooler the entire time. Bottling is going to be tough, I think.
It tasted . . . strong. We'll see.

Might be another give-away-er.

Don't know if I'm going to brew double mellow next or start the christmas brew . . .