We are right in the middle of the heat of summer. I dont really have a problem with ferment temps, its the 90 degrees and 80% humidity during the mash and boil.
Of course I can just wait till later on and brew closer to dark when its a bit cooler. Yea right. Mosquitos the size of golf balls will quickly drain you of all fluids.
But we are getting pretty low on supplies and will need to brew soon in order to not run dry. What a perfect time to try and fix some of the recipes that didn't quite end up like I wanted.

I haven't had any real disasters, just a few tweeks here and there. The first one I am going to mess with is the Fogger Stout.
When I first made this beer, I can say that I was pretty disappointed at first. Even in the fermenter it looked deep dark red, not black. And the taste wasnt what I wanted. I dont know if it was the hops, but something was not right. But I will chalk this to the cluster hops. First time I have used them in a stout. just wasnt expecting them.

But I do gotta say that after letting this sit in the fridge for a few weeks, it really came around. I would be more than happy to leave it as is except for 1 thing. Its fairly thin, and even though its a “dry” stout. its pretty dry. Although I forgot to take an FG.
So what I want to do with the stout is get a bit more body, and maybe slightly sweeter. But mostly body. With 2 lbs of flaked barley, my thinking was that that would provide all the body I would want so I mashed at 152. I think if i raise mash temp to 155 I will solve both. More body and sweeter.

As far as color goes, I want this black. Not dark dark dark brown. Black. But I dont want ashtray either. So I think we are gonna cold steep some black patent. I'm thinkin about 1/2 lbs in the cold mash water before heating should give me black but no, or very little roasty.

Next I'd like to work on the “mild”. It wasnt supposed to be a mild, but rather a southern brown.
I think I have the basic formula down. But am going to adjust to more special roast, and instead of special B gonna sub in crystal 120. Maybe bump it up another 1/2 lbs. I think thats all that I need to move this into the Southern Brown range.
Thats about all I got planned till it cools off a bit, but will be ready in case I see a cool spell a comin.