Have I mentioned that AT&T sucks?

More brewin'

I'm in the midst of a brew day right now. I just finished the boil for a new and improved version of my strong ale; new, improved, and slightly improvised!

My mash wasn't as efficient at I had hope, so I goosed up the OG with 2 pounds of brown sugar. I also had to play around with the hops. I didn't have as much of my chinook as I thought I did. So, I lengthened the boil by 10 minutes to pick the IBUs back up. Some people might have gone into freak-out mode at all that, and I might have too, but it was kinda fun figuring out these work-arounds on the fly.

This is all going onto the yeast cake from a batch of a new and improved version of Pooh's Blustery Ale.

With both of these, I did decoction mashes. I really like that rich, malty sweetness that this technique gives. (Technically speaking, the process yields melanoidins which give rise to this flavor.)

An update: OK... So the added sugar may not have been necessary. I forgot to calculate boil-off into the equation. My 5 gallon boil yielded about 4 gallon. So that SG of 1.072 that I thought I had turned  into 1.095.

Oops.

This is gonna be an ass kicker of an ale.