I think I'll be brewing a steam beer tomorrow night after I help S2 move a couch into their new place. For those who aren't familiar, steam beer is a malty, agressively hopped offering made with lager yeast that are fermented at ale temperatures, then cold conditioned prior to bottling. I think the storage areas under the eaves of my house now remain cool enough for the secondary, and I want to give this a run before I try to make a bock for the spring. Really, I just want to have something working and this seems to be a good project.
Sometime in between the holidays, I'll organize another major gathering (perhaps with a tasting?) where we can brew something dark and perhaps even the whole hive mead I keep threatening.
Update: Well, not so much update as addendum, and that for a specific reader... c_m_i, this is the page I mentioned in passing that sells oak products for conditioning. It looks like the bourbon oaking is something we'll have to do in secondary, but it does seem to have promise.
c_m_i, this is the page I mentioned in passing that sells oak products for conditioning. It looks like the bourbon oaking is something we'll have to do in secondary, but it does seem to have promise. 