It seems like an age since I last brewed.
I can't believe that February almost passed by without a brewday, so on Thursday I'll be braving the cold and having another crack at R.I.P., a beer I brewed last October.
The main reason for revisiting this recipe is that I didn't mash the dark grains last time, I simply added them to the mash tun prior to sparging. I'd heard on some American podcast that this was a better way to extract the sugar from darker malts, without getting any acrid roastiness. The process was likened to a coffee pot, where the first cup of fresh coffee is better than one from a pot which has stood on the heat for an hour.
I had no trouble extracting the sugars, but the process meant the dark malts didn't add much in the way of colour. So, the upshot is that I want to brew this again to compare the beers side by side. Exactly the same recipe, but the chocolate and roasted barley will be added at the start of the mash this time.
Original recipe here.
