Time to try a bitter

I just got done making a starter for Sunday's brewday. I'll be brewing Jamil's Best Bitter (minus the aromatic malt since I'm mini-mashing with Maris Otter) and smoking a pork shoulder at the same time. Should be a good time. It's been a long time since I made a starter! I've been using US05 so much that I actually had to look back at an old blog post that I made about starters and check the Mr. Malty site. I ended up using Wyeast 1028 London Ale instead of the 1968 ESB that Jamil recommends but the LHBS doesn't stock it. Oh well.

RAZE meeting tomorrow night, woot! Lots to talk about too, upcoming brewery tours of Mantorville Brewing Company and Pearl Street Brewery, plan for the hopgrowing season, and figure out what we're doing for Big Brew Day. We've got more members trickling in, which is awesome since it's always good to talk to other brewers and beer geeks like myself. I must admit I'm also stoked that I'll be able to drink Hopslam on tap! I'm still trying to decide if it's worth dropping 16 bucks on a 6er, when I can just about brew 5 gallons for that, not a fine DIPA of course, but still, 5 gallons.

The Hopsicle IPA is tasting mighty fine right now. I just tapped the Oatmeal Stout and am drinking my first pint right now. It's a little young, but it's got a nice roasty chocolatey flavor with a little hop bitterness in the mix too. I'm happy! Here's the Hopsicle recipe (partial mash)if you're interested:

• 3 lbs Golden Promise
• .5 lbs C60
• .25 lbs C120
• .25 Vienna
• 6 lbs Briess Pilsen DME
  
• 1 oz Nugget @ 60 minutes
• 1 oz Simcoe @ 15
• 1 oz Centennial @ 10
• 1 oz homegrown Cascade/Centennial/Zeus mix at 5
• 1 oz homegrown mix at flameout
• 1 oz Columbus dry hop

1.070 OG, 1.017 FG (a little high, but the bitterness balances it out), 77 IBUS, 6.9 ABV.