Monthly Archives: March 2024

Morganna’s Mystical Merkin (M3): A Bourbon-Oaked Imperial Stout

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Today I brewed the M3. This is the sixth iteration of this one. My friend, Mike, and I brewed the original of this one back in 2018. This was on my old brew set up. His recipe was out of this world. We really enjoyed that beer … my only problem was I couldn’t find the recipe the next time I wanted to brew it! Haha.

I didn’t get around to brewing it in 2019 (I was still enjoying all the bottles from the previous batch). I used Maker’s Mark Bourbon in this first batch and all following batches. In that first one I used “small french oak” blocks I was given from a local supplier. I soaked the chips (but didn’t char them).

In 2020 and 2021, I crafted a recipe and bounced it off Mike. He said it sounded good–I used my French Oak Blocks again in 2020 but I made a mistake and bought pre-soaked (bourbon) chips for 2021. I found that I had the wrong kind of oxidation in that batch. They both were so big that they blew out the fermenter each time! I brewed these two batches on my old system. I think the 2021 batch was the last one before the new system arrived!

In 2022, I brewed it for the first time on the new system. This time, I made my own “oak staves.” I bought some American Oak, cut them to length, and then charred them on my grill. I soaked them in Maker’s Mark and then dropped them in to the secondary fermentation. I found that 3 days was just about the right length of time for that. I used those staves in 2023 and plan on using them again on this batch.

In 2022, I put 20 pounds of grain in my new brew system to make the Imperial Stout–it was too much! I was lucky to have some DME to use in the boil to boost up my gravity to make it an imperial stout. Last year and this year, I used around 18 pounds of grain (still too much) and added 3 pounds of Traditional Dark DME.

This year’s batch definitely has the viscosity appropriate for an Imperial Stout. The gravity was up around 1.095 … pretty happy all the way around.

About 3 weeks, and the sixth iteration of the Merkin will be available for all to enjoy! 🙂

Beer Mentor

La Prugna — A Lambic-style Beer with Plums

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As stated in a previous post, I started brewing a lambic-style beer in December 2021. In December 2022, my friend gave me a bag of Italian Plums from the tree in his backyard … I used a couple of gallons of my wild-fermenting lambic-style beer as a base and, bottled in March 2023, La Prugna was born! Another 6 months later (October 2024), and it was ready to drink. Here it is March 2024 and I’m down to two bottles remaining. However, no need to worry that I will run out … I’ve bottled the next batch! This batch is from the December 2022 wild-fermenting lambic-style beer. Unfortunately my friend’s plum tree didn’t produce in 2023–again, no worries–I was able to obtain some locally grown plums again!

Here’s a couple of photos of the “initial pitch” of plums … It’s sitting in my “Lambic Cellar (under the stairwell).” It looks pretty plain with some initial fermentation activity — this was from 13 Dec 2023.

In the background of the photos you can see my “wood staves” to be added to my lambic (my simulated cask staves …)

I pulled the fermenter out of my Lambic Cellar a couple of weeks ago planning on bottling it, but it kept fermenting. I felt the gravity could go a touch lower, so I left it sitting in my “brewery.”

You can see the plums are pretty “squishy” looking — I know I got full sugar conversion on them, even without cutting them up or pulping them. I didn’t pit them either — my friend thought it would help with a “tannic” characteristic.

I bottled it on 16 March 24. Ended up with close to 1.75 gallons (about 18 33cl bottles). Really like the color and the flavor of this Fruit Lambic — the brett is evident but well supported by the plum. Now to wait 90 days or so for it to carbonate …

I hope you enjoy the process discussion!

Beer Mentor