This week Skip Schwartz, the head brewer at WeldWerks brewing joins me to discuss brewing barrel aged stouts.
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Topics in This Week’s Episode (48:19)
- This week I welcome Skip Schwartz. Skip is the Head Brewer at WeldWerks Brewing in Greeley, Colorado. Skip has a long history as a professional and home brewer, and managed WeldWerks barrel aged and innovation programs before becoming head brewer.
- Skip shares a bit about his brewing background and history in pro brewing.
- We talk a bit about the innovation going on at WeldWerks brewing.
- Next we jump to their barrel aged stouts program and Skip explains the base style for barrel aged stouts which is an Imperial stout.
- Skip shares what a typical grain bill might look like for the stout, and we also look at his preferences for hops, water and yeast.
- Skip tells us how they do a triple mash and 20+ hour boil to get a very high gravity beer. We also talk about some of the oxygenation and yeast challenges working with a very high gravity.
- We discuss fermentation profiles and when they typically move their stouts into barrels for aging.
- We discuss the Bourbon barrels they use and how they manage their barrels and prefer single use instead of multiple fermentations in a barrel.
- Next we talk about how they manage batches and barrels of different age and how they decide which barrels to consider for bottling and final packaging.
- Skip explains their blending program and how they choose beers to blend for final release.
- Skip shares his top tips for making a great barrel aged stout at the homebrew level
- He shares his closing thoughts.
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