Oskar Blues Gordon

[TheMadHopper]

What's up with the "Carastan"? I am new to all grain, but I have looked at MoreBeer, Midwest, and Northern Brewer and I can't find it. Does it go by another name?

[nahthan]

What's up with the "Carastan"? I am new to all grain, but I have looked at MoreBeer, Midwest, and Northern Brewer and I can't find it. Does it go by another name?

Hey there Madhopper,
It's British crystal malt, generally a little different/deeper caramel malt complexity than the American equivalents. Here's a link to buy it from B3 and/or NB:

http://morebeer.com/view_product/17140//Carastan
http://www.northernbrewer.com/grainmalts.html see "#G503", Simpsons Caramalt.

Cheers!!

[rbowser]

Thanks for posting the recipe, I just caught the CYBI episode today. Although I have never had this beer, it looks really tasty. I will be brewing it this weekend.

To the person looking for Carastan, you could use a similar crystal, but I would go and find it. I have used it before and it adds a toffee flavor that I love.

Off to find Northern Brewer. Can''t wait to brew it. Thanks to Nathan, Tasty, and Jamil (and Jason of course) for the show.

[Rick500]

Just brewed this yesterday, with the suggested tweaks to the original recipe. Thanks for posting the recipe and changes.

Ended up with a 1.091 SG, but otherwise everything went great. I planned for 65% efficiency but got 72%.

I guess it'll be imperial Gordon.

[mookie1010]

I guess it'll be imperial Gordon.

Oh my!

[pdbutts]

Brewed this on Monday and hit my gravity and volumes dead on. I listened to the podcast of the Sunday Session where Nathan discussed dry hopping techniques last night and will be using the techniques he described when dry-hopping the beer. I have both leaf and pellet Amarillo and I generally prefer using leaf hops for dry hopping. Should I do anything different if I choose to go with leaf?

I live on the east coast but am luckyenough to have a sister who lives in Boulder. My first Gordon was fresh from the taps in Lyon's and I look forward to having some more fresh Gordon at the new tap room in Longmont this summer. It will also be my first chance to try Pliny as they don't ship it anywhere near me.

[mookie1010]

Brewed this on Monday and hit my gravity and volumes dead on. I listened to the podcast of the Sunday Session where Nathan discussed dry hopping techniques last night and will be using the techniques he described when dry-hopping the beer. I have both leaf and pellet Amarillo and I generally prefer using leaf hops for dry hopping. Should I do anything different if I choose to go with leaf?

I live on the east coast but am luckyenough to have a sister who lives in Boulder. My first Gordon was fresh from the taps in Lyon's and I look forward to having some more fresh Gordon at the new tap room in Longmont this summer. It will also be my first chance to try Pliny as they don't ship it anywhere near me.

My wife ordered me a Gordon shirt for my birthday that never arrived and when we called a month later to find out what was going on with the order, they found a problem with their order system and it had gotten lost. The girl I talked to was really nice, felt really bad and shipped me out a bunch of other things since the shirt was out of stock.

A four pack of Gordon was included, and the canned on date was like 2 weeks past. Fresh as could be and man, that's when it tastes best.

[MF Tyler]

FWIW the boulder water report is no where near what I got back from Ward labs and I live only a few miles from Oskar Blues here in Longmont.
Here's what I got back from Ward on 11/17/2009:

Water Profile
-------------
Profile: Longmont
Profile known for:

Calcium(Ca): 0.0 ppm
Magnesium(Mg): 0.0 ppm
Sodium(Na): 11.0 ppm
Sulfate(SO4): 3.0 ppm
Chloride(Cl): 2.0 ppm
biCarbonate(HCO3): 12.2 ppm

pH: 6.60

When I called the local water utility (prior to getting this report) they told me our water was essentially distilled and I didn't believe them so I spent $16 proving them right.
As far as why the water is so different 11 miles away - I don't know - hippies maybe?