CLEIBU Tasting

Beautiful color and carb. Nice to be back.

Aroma - Subdued melon, pine and honey - 7/12  
Appearance - Slight haze, golden yellow, fluffy carb - 3/3  
Flavor - Honey sweetness, floral hop notes, slightly astringent citrus bitterness up front, sticky pine late and then a watery finish with some trailing pine bitterness- 11/20  
Mouthfeel - Watery and thin, nice carbonation - 2/3  
Overall - 5/10  

Total - 28/50

Not bad for a rushed and poorly thought out recipe using supplies available at the local subpar brew store. Can't quite seem to hit the hop flavors that I want on these IPAs. Might consider a kit just to see what hops they use or try a SMASH next. somehow always surprised that it's not just dumping a bunch of hops in.

Might use a little more oats next time and consider something other than Cascade...

#24 - CLEDRIS

Trying to recreate the DRIS in a somewhat scaled-down-refined sort of way. That was good, but it was a DM inducing sugar bomb that made my pancreas hurt. A lot. This was supposed to be a thick 10% stout, lots of roastiness, some sugary sweetness. Brewed and just bottled and just realized that I never posted it. 

NB - Had to change the recipe from the original because the brewshop somehow left the 1 lb DME out of my bag. Replaced it with brown sugar to get the ABV where I wanted it. Somewhat disappointed but hey.

Quick taste right now is pretty good. Very thick, viscous and hefty, nice roast but could be more intense, some nice earthy hop bitterness without a ton of hop flavor. Official review to follow once it's carbed up a bit.

Recipe below:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/315171/cledris

CLEIBU Racked

Racked the newest IPA to secondary today. Have been bleaching all equipment along the way to ensure that whatever infection was present is taken care of. The cider has no sign of infection from the last 6 months so, so far, so good.

It was nice to open a bucket again and see the process at work. Not a ton of hop aroma but a nice etOH burn if you stuck your nose in deep. Beautiful color, yellow with just a faint orange hue, gristy and opaque from all the wheat used in this one. The little hop nose is subtly floral, just a hint of earthiness. Hop taste is decidedly more citrus and pine forward, subtle floral notes. Hop bitterness is big without overwhelming, lasts long and picks up in the finish.

Held off on adding the dry hops today. Plan on adding them WED / THURS this week and then bottling next weekend.

Can't wait to drink #23 and time to start planning #24...

#23 - CLEIBU

Been a very long time since doing a gallon batch. Have done a couple 5 gallon batches and a gallon of cider with friends but family, kids and life have a way of getting in the way. Some free time tonight and finally getting settled offered the opportunity for the first batch since moving (6/6/14). 

Have been drinking the PA beers from time to time and believe now that the issue was an infection one (probably brett from the early lambic) rather than a water one. Although, I still think their water was terrible. 

Had to revisit the water calcs and everything else:
Skipped the protein rest
This one was 18 cups water (1.5 qt/lb) at 165 that leveled at 153 deg.
Sparged with 14 cups (24 cups -18 (from the mash) + 2 cups/lb grain) at 175
Boiled for 1 hr

Didn't have a chance to get to the really nice brew store so malt, hop and yeast choices were slim. Been drinking lots of stouts in the winter months and felt like a good IPA. A good, over-the-top IPA. 

Recipe below
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/310746/cleuno

Still thinking that I will get to #50...

Peat Stout Tasting...

Aroma - Smoke, light roast notes, somewhat subdued - 7/12
Appearance - Black stable head, thick - 3/3
Flavor - Some roast notes up front, notes of coffee and chocolate, finish is huge smoke, tint of peat, some roast bitterness, long aftertaste of smoke, slight astringency - 13/20
Mouthfeel - Smooth and full, good CO2 levels - 3/3
Overall - 6/10
Total - 32/50

A tough one to grade. Again, not a fan of smoked beers. This one strayed a little too far into smoke land for my tastes, the start is pleasant, as are the background stout notes. It's odd that the smoke is subdued on the nose but then essentially punches you in the mouth when you drink it. So this one is good, well-crafted (I think) but don't love the flavors.

On the other hand, am very happy with the progression of this stout recipe, mouthfeel is on the fuller side, nice roast levels, great head and retention. Changes for the future would include even more oats / etc for fuller body, touch more roast, no more smoke malt. Otherwise good.

Hops! (#21) Tasting

Found this one while cleaning out the boxes for the move and was very excited. This one tasted great and I don't think that I got around to reviewing it (I didn't). It's got a couple months on it but here goes anyway.

Aroma - Dank, lots of pine hops, some floral notes, spice - 9/12  
Appearance - Big, stable head, great golden orange color - 3/3  
Flavor - Wheat and pilsner backbone, just a hint of of carmel sweetness and then some spice from the rye, hop flavors are primarily pine, again some spicy floral notes towards the end, pervasive hop bitterness that picks up towards the finish and drags into the aftertaste, some citrus notes and pepper on the back end - 16/20
Mouthfeel - Moderately full, creamy, perfect carbonation - 4/5
Overall - 8/10
Total - 40/50

This is really good (trying to be conservative on the scoring). Tons of hop bitterness but not overly so despite the calculated, unachievable 304 IBUs. The aroma is nice and the hop flavors are pleasant. Tastes more like an APA than a huge IPA. Some of this is probably due to the age on it and the pilsner / wheat backbone. Would really like to try this one fresh again. 

I like the spice from the touch of rye in here. Would probably decrease the wheat:pilsner ratio just a bit next time to make it a little more like a traditional IPA. Also would throw in some oats for some fuller goodness and change the dry hops to something a little more aromatic. The distilled water worked well, none of those off flavors that had been plaguing the process here.

Smoked stout tasting on Monday...

Peated RIS bottled

Today bottled the last of the PA beers.

The peated stout is tasting fantastic right now. Pitch black, lots of roast flavors, just the right amount of smoke, silky smooth mouthfeel. Tasting next week and looking forward to it.

On a whim bottled the last one in the closet as well. The X-mas Quad was tasting not as good. In fact it tasted like most of the beers from the tap water days. Still went ahead and will crack one soon to see if there was some miraculous (Christmas miracle?) transformation in the bottle.

Looking forward to getting back to OH and more space...