Zalig Kerstfeest!

Christmas greetings in Flemish, there, for you all. Last night I brewed St. Crispin's Agincourt Ale. Using a variety of Belgian caramel malts (Special B, Caramunich, and some Aromatic), as well as some heavily caramelised raw turbinado sugar, I brewed quite a potent dark ale using some choice European hops (Hersbrucker and Saaz). It is bubbling merrily away with a Belgian strain of yeast (Fermentis T58) that is likely to give it fruity, spicy, and estery flavours. The initial output was boiled down to a very strong gravity, 1.098, but I cut it with water to reach a more temperate gravity of 1.086, to ensure that the fermentation would not "stick". I want it powerful, but moderation is key, and balance is ever so important with a Belgian ale. Besides, I want to test out the T58 strain first, make sure it can handle something so high in gravity. I am considering, when it is finished, bottling it in corked Belgian beer bottles...perhaps you've seen them, with the wire cages as on a champagne bottle. I have the proper corker for this now, thankfully! It is expensive, however. 65 cents a bottle, just for the corks and cages!

Now I am in a "tending" stage, where I must manage my remaining fermentations before worrying about new ones. I have three meads in various stages...one of which is ready to be bottled (I am reasonably certain), and the other two are sitting in secondary with their "flavourings" (fresh ginger and tart cherries). Still got an overly sweet IPA that I don't know what I'll do with, exactly. Might bring it upstairs in an effort to jumpstart it. But after things mellow down some, I've got a braggot to start...basically I am brewing a base beer, a medium strength stout-style beer with black patent malt, dark crystal, and maybe a few more various malts. At the end of the boil I am going to add nine pounds of honey, making it essentially mead strength. This will be a sort of cross between a honey mead and Imperial stout, bottled in 12oz bottles and held for a long time (like my barleywine, bottled after several months of aging in October, and I won't be touching it for a long, long time).

Had a minor feast on Christmas Eve with family, preparing a variety of English foods, from scones with blackcurrant jam, to Cottage Pie, to Welsh Leek Soup. Also Carbonnade a la Flammande, a Belgian beef stew made with a good Dubbel-style ale (Ommegang Abbey Ale). Went over pretty well, I think. Still have some leftovers...