I didn’t post about it, but I bottled up the oatmeal stout I made last month. And because I can’t do anything the same way twice, I used one of those five liter keg thingies. The not-entirely-local homebrew shop here in Jersey carries them, so I picked up a couple. The stout went filled one minikeg and two 12 ounce bottles. One bottle to test and one to give to a friend of mine. The test bottle was cracked a week ago after about ten days of conditioning and it was tasty enough, so that was nice.

Then I threw a party.

The party was a small beer tasting party for about a dozen of my friends. Everyone had to bring some winter/holiday beers to share and I tapped the oatmeal stout.

Thar she is.  Not too much carbonation, obviously, and no head to speak of. Once it came up to cellar temperature it was pretty good, though. A little roasty, smooth mouthfeel, and a lingering oatmeal flavor that I really liked.

The next day it was damn tasty, too. It was left in the fridge with the bung still open, so it decarbed a bit and started to oxidize just a little. It’s probably about at its peak, if you’re into real cask ale. If not, then you’d probably think it sucks. Too bad for you, but since I’m the only one drinking it, it doesn’t really matter. This needs to get finished in the next day or so before it really turns. There’s only about a pint or so left, though, so it’ll be gone tomorrow.

In summary: beer was good, brewing was fun, minikegs are easy and handy if you’re throwing a party. I don’t know how I’m going to continue to use them in the future. If I figure it out, I’ll post about it.

Oh, also I brewed again a week ago. There’s an IPA fermenting with some Wyeast British Cask Ale yeast. That will go into bottles or a minikeg or something in another week.

And if anyone was wondering, the best beers of the party were the Iron Hill Winter Warmer and the N’ice Chouffe. No surprise on the last one.

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