Ketchup

So of course summer has gotten the best of me and I have failed to keep up with the blogging of the brewing. I finally managed to get a hold of the brewing kit. So far I have made 35 Bottles of what I am calling a barleywine from a kit (Woodforde's Headcracker Kit) that came with the brewing supplies. It was a full extract kit and I only did a primary fermentation. It has bottle conditioned for 5(?) weeks now and it has turned out pretty bitter and not very tasty but rather high in alcohol. I also have made 58 bottles of an Irish Red which I did as a partial extract mash. I did a primary and secondary fermentation and it has bottled for 2 weeks now. It is rather good if I do say so myself. Its relatively smooth with some coffee aspects to it. It tastes a bit watery but that might be in part to the almost complete lack of carbonation. I added the needed priming sugar but I might have waited too long on the secondary fermentation. I have also made 52 bottles of an Oatmeal Stout as another partial extract mash. It has gone through its primary and secondary fermentation and has bottle conditioned for 1 week. I tried some last night and it is rather watery and weak. I hope that it bodies up a bit while bottling. I am about to make a full batch of a Raspberry Wheat beer. All of the notes from these brews I will put on in later posts. I also have ventured into hobo-wine brewing (what I gather is a mortal sin among brewers). So far it has produced some deliciousness and I don't see what the fuss is about. Those processes will also be innumerated in following posts.