Beer Brewing Blog

Enough said.

The Chocolate Cream Stout came out well I think but not perfect. It has a nice body and good lasting head. The nose is initially slightly chocolaty but the hops are noticable. The first taste has a dark chocolate beginning with the lactose sweetness mixing in for almost a sweetened coffee taste. Toward the end you there is an acrid bitterness to comes slowly but becomes stronger from the black malt used. My thoughts would be to use less black malt and less lactose should I do this recipe again. The alcohol on this batch was low, just under 4% ABV which I assume is attributed to the less active yeast and abundance of non-fermentables in this particular recipe. I’m tempted to try this maybe with some dark chocolate although I think it may hinder the taste of each. While drinking more, I’m akin to comparing this most to chocolate mousse. It is definitely a big beer but not in all the ways I want.

A few months after bottling my Wheat Beer, the mistakes I made on the batch are clear.  Initially I thought the batch may be ruined by an off smell I detected coming from the starter wort but while still a bit present, this off flavor has subsided.  I’ve had a few bottles over the past month or two and there was something that just seemed a bit off.  It isn’t a bad beer per say:  I don’t mind drinking it.  What I was noticing is that after a glass or so, the taste just seemed to become more off the more I drank.  After listening to one of my homebrewing podcasts, I realized what the problem with this beer was - not enough hops.  The purpose of the bittering hops is to compliment the sweetness of the malt and if you do not use enough, the sweetness of the malt with eventually overpower the tastebuds.  As it was described on the podcast (I can’t remember which one) you will drink the beer but not have the urge to drink another due to the subtle oversweetening of the beer.  This is right on the money for this beer.  While initially it tastes like a nice German hefeweizen, the more you drink there is almost this subconscious urge that something is out of place.  This beer had 8 lbs of wheat/barley malt extract plus two pounds of wheat/barley grains and the 1 oz of Hallertauer hops just was not enough to offset all of the malt.  I’ve been drinking bottles here and there but this is definitely not one I want  to share and has taught me that you really need to head your sugar/hop ratio.  While I’m generally not a hop head, I now see that you can’t skimp on the hops too much or you end up with a sickly sweet batch of beer that is drinkable but not necessarily palatable.

After about a month of conditioning, the Blood Orange Hefeweizen came out really good. The nose has a very noticeable orange aroma made sweeter by the wheat malt extract. It takes a semi heavy pour to pull off a one finger head which disapates quickly. The color is a deep brown-amber. The taste is a nice smooth sweetness you would expect from a hefeweizen with the orange just hinting at the beginning. The low hop level seems just right for this beer; barely noticable but enough bittering to mellow the sweetness of the wheat. Overall a great beer.

Today I racked my Port Barrel Aged Belgian Brown Ale to the secondary fermenter.  SG was 1.004.  I took a taste and it has a bit of a sourness I’m assuming from the second yeast.  It now is to sit in a closet for the rest of the summer to age.

I also bottled up my Blood Orange Hefeweizen.  FG was 1.011 giving it a fairly low 4.0% ABV.  The taste was almost expected; sweet tartness from the orange and more sweetness from the wheat.  It should turn out well.

I did something today that no homebrewer wants to do but eventually will. After a few months of conditioning I tried a bottle of my Pumpkin Ale a few days ago and the raw pumpkin taste had not subsided at all and just overpowers the overall taste. Being that I wasn’t going to drink anymore, it was time to bite the bullet and dump the rest to free up the bottles. What is truly annoying is all the work that went into bottling the batch must be redone to get rid of it without even drinking. Such a waste, but I’ll chalk it up to a learning experience.

Just ordered the ingredients for my first partial mash brew, a smoked porter. More to come.

After about 6 weeks, the Belgian Double is all set.  I tried a couple of bottles prior and just like the Abbey Ale from last year, the “BD” took time for the sweetness to mellow and dissipate.  It is now a very good brew, very true to the Belgian, almost Trappist style.  The recipe definately could have used more priming suger, the head is very weak and even a heavy pour will only get you about a one finger head.  The taste is very deep, earthy and I would compare it to a Rochefort 8 or a Val Dieu Brown.  I think it could have used more hops, there is just a  faint hint of bitterness and almost nill hops on the nose.  Overall, I’m very pleased with the recipe and will likely keep this as a standing batch.  I’m curious how it will age so I will keep a few bottles aside to see how it is after a year and beyond.

After a couple of weeks in the bottle I think my Grande Cru is nearing completeness.  One thing I’ve noticed is that there seems to be an excessive amount of carbonation.  When I crack open a bottle, it immediately starts to bubble from the bottom and the first pour gives more head than beer.  I’m not sure the reason for this, but I have a feeling I should have left it in the fermenter a bit longer.  The taste is very sweet, obviously because of all the honey in there.  Should I do this again I will note to not use so much honey and maybe even boil it a bit longer.   Overall, it is a good beer, it’s giving me a nice buzz already.  The taste is very powerful, the honey seems to take precidence in the taste.  The brew has convinced me that going forward, I will definately filter the wort before adding to the fermentor as the hop pellets were just too much to leave in and clogged up my racking cane.

There is a definate difference in using the White Labs yeast as opposted to the dried or even smack pack for the Abbey Ale.  The Grande Cru bottles have a good 1/4″  of yeast sediment on the bottom and when I swirled to get all of the yeast out of this bottle and into my glass, you can see the yeast film on top of the head and definately taste it.  Since I’m quite the yeast fan this is good for me, but I can see how you would want to disclose this to others drinking it who may not feel the same way.

Overall, this seems like a good, robust brew.  I’m looking forward to how a few more weeks and months might affect the taste.

After three weeks in the bottle, the Abbey Ale kit Gina and I got from Midwest Supplies is done.  I tried a couple of bottles on the second week after bottling and it just wasn’t ready yet.  The flavors were seperated and it seemed a bit too sweet on the first taste.  After this third week it has combined nicely and the couple of bottles I’ve had were great.  The hops are almost a bit too bitter, but the candy sugar seems to mellow it out a bit.