Session Stout Test Batch

Most of my homebrews have this odd plastic aroma and taste to them that some people (especially me) can detect. I have narrowed it down to either being Chloramines in my water or to the malt extract that I was using. I decided to try a one gallon test batch using a Campden tablet to treat the water and a different brand of dried malt extract. Campden is potassium metabisulphate that binds to Chlorine and Chloramines.

I decided to brew a stout because I have never brewed one before. I wanted it to have notes of dark chocolate, coffee and some dark fruits thrown in for good measure.

The recipe:
1 lb. 0 oz. Munton's Light Dry Extract
1.6 oz Roasted Barley
0.8 oz Chocolate Malt
0.8 oz Caramunich 60
0.8 oz Caramel 120
1/4 tsp Gypsum
0.1 oz Warrior hops @ 60 minutes

OG: 1.045
Projected FG: 1.011
Projected ABV: 4.4%
Targeted IBU: 30.5

Hard Cider/Apfelwein Experiment

I was recently given a bunch of empty one-gallon wine jugs from my wife's grandmother that I was really excited to fill with random test batches of beer/wine/mead/cider/whatever I could think of. Last night, I decided to make a few batches of hard cider. I made two using Musselman's Apple Cider from Walmart and another batch following EdWort's Apfelwein recipe that I found on a homebrewing website.

Batch 1:
1 gallon Musselman's Apple Cider
1/20 of a teaspoon Pectic Enzyme
1 tsp. Yeast Nutrient
Red Star Montrachet Yeast
1.054 OG

Batch 2:
1 gallon Stop & Shop Apple Juice (not from concentrate)
.4 lbs corn sugar
Red Star Montrachet Yeast
1.064 OG

Batch 3:
1 gallon Musselman's Apple Cider
1/20 of a teaspoon Pectic Enzyme
1 tsp. Yeast Nutrient
Red Star Premier Cuvée Yeast
1.054 OG

I have the jugs sitting on the stairs to my basement at a reasonably constant 62 degrees (ambient). In a month, I will either rack them to a secondary vessel or bottle them, depending on how they look at the time. They will be ready for consumption in 9 to 12 months.