Oisin Owl Irish Stout (Batch 371)

I brewed this past Sunday.

This was already my 4th batch of beer of the year, and if I'm counting correctly, my 371st batch of beer I've ever brewed.

Of course, if you've been following along on this blog, you know that this year I'm concentrating on brewing BJCP styles that I've never brewed.

In the 16 years I've been brewing, I've brewed at least one beer in all 34 categories in the BJCP Style Guidelines, but now I've decided to check off most of the individual styles.

If you're curious, you can see which beers I've brewed in each category / style as of 2024 Update on the 2021 BJCP Goal.

And ... the beer I brewed this past Sunday was the 3rd new style in 2025 I've been able to mark off the list.... (4th if you count Tasman Devil Pilsner (batch 368))

Oisin Owl Irish Stout

Although I have the Roll-a-Style list, I planned Oisin Owl Irish Stout knowing that St. Patrick's Day is coming up soon.

I also had harvested yeast from Merida Scottish Light Ale (Batch 369) that I wanted to use.

And, so, I started Sunday's brew day by making a yeast starter on Saturday. I also got the water all prepared Saturday night with that Foundry timer set to warm up the water to be ready Sunday morning.

I was up around 6am getting the grains into the mash and recirculating.

I also put a Pork Butt on the Weber Kettle.

As has been my usual process lately, I got the mash done in time to get the basket drained by the time I was to leave for church.

That way, I could set the Foundry to heat up to just under boiling while I was away.

Both my pre-boil gravity and volume was low Sunday. I need to figure out why I seem to be inconsistent with my mash efficiency.

Sunday, I added about half a pound of DME to get the gravity on track.

I also boiled a little longer than planned.

The boil itself went as planned. Everything was added right when the recipe called for it.

I pulled the butt off the kettle at some point and put it into a crock pot to finish up by dinner time.

Chilling the wort went nice and quickly. I did end up right on plan for OG and really was not that far low on the volume.

Thanks the the yeast starter, the yeast took off before bedtime and was rocking the next day.

I got a bike ride in later in the day. 

The pork butt was wonderful as always.

And ... the beer will be ready to drink in plenty of time for St. Patrick's day. I'm sure if you follow along, you'll probably find out what I think of the beer.

I'm expecting that I'll love it.

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Go Avalanche!