Brewing Boost for Xmas

I wasn't able to make the vanilla stout I wanted to make before I left to visit family. I forgot that my local store was closed when I was planning on going to get ingredients. I didn't remember until I pulled into the parking lot. I am planning on doing a double brew day with this recipe and something else to be decided when I get home.

I did get a little help for Christmas and my brewing. I received a couple books from my wife and one from my parents. My wife gave me The Complete Joy of Homebrewing and How to Brew. My parents also gave me The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, but I am exchanging it for Brewing Classic Styles. I didn't get any of the equipment I asked for, but I did get some money I can spend on it. Overall it was a good day for my brewing.

Recipe Scaling

I am going to make a vanilla stout that I found on HomebrewTalk.com. The recipe is for a 5 gallon batch, but I am going to make a 2.5 gallon batch. I don't have any software to help scale the batch down. I have done some reading and I think I can just divide everything by 2 and come pretty close.

Anyone have suggestions for a better method of scaling this down?

I will have more tomorrow from my brew day!

Bottling Fun!

Sunday night I had some help bottling. A couple friends were in town and really excited to bottle my apfelwein for some reason. It is amazing how quickly bottling goes when you have a bottling line set up. We got through 61 bottles in about 30 minutes. I forgot to add the priming sugar when moving the apfelwein to the bottling bucket so the first 7 or so bottles will be flat.

I am starting to piece together my next project. I am going to try my hand at a Vanilla Stout. I want to get it brewed so it finishes fermentation by the time I get back from visiting family for the holidays.