Another shot at this IPA thing for the new year. Have only used the new pot for the stout, which is still hanging out in secondary; so I can't be sure if that was the problem or not. Will probably bottle that next week and hope to learn more. That being said there weren't much hops in it so may not learn much anyway. In another effort to combat the weird taste that has popped up tonight am going to try bottled water to see if that takes care of things. Could just be crappy Pittsburgh water. This is spring water from Ohio! There's always distilled water but that's just getting crazy.
Going to redo / retry the all Citra IPA. Will be using lots of late additions and dry-hopping. The goal for this one is Citramaxx as made by Market Garden Brewing in Cleveland, OH - A sublime beer that comes out once a year and is gone in days. Recipe below:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/94750/hny14-ipa
OB - 16, OG - 1.065, EOG - 1.081
Water - Rest/Infusion/Sparge - 10/10/8
Again OG low due to high volume. Next time going to have to decrease protein rest volume. Hopefully this whole spring water thing works...
Aroma - Honey sweetness, flowers, grapefruit - 10/12
Appearance - Clear, yellow-orange - 3/3
Flavor
- The fruit and the honey complement each other well, just a hint too bitter - 14/20
Mouthfeel - Effervescent, smooth, moderately full - 4/5
Overall - 8/10
Total - 39/50
Really has some potential. Could tweak the honey choice (leave out the darker one) to make it just a bit sweeter. The color is great, it's nice and dry, and I like the carbonation levels. Need to back off on the grapefruit just a bit to better balance this one out. Happy with a first try...
Aroma - Not much hop aroma, hint of citrus - 4/12
Appearance - Beautiful golden orange, creamy head - 3/3
Flavor
- Bitter, dry, bread and pepper notes, almost no hop flavors - 7/20
Mouthfeel - Good carbonation, smooth, moderately full - 4/5
Overall - 4/10
Total - 22/50
Not undrinkable but not that good. Will keep a bottle or two to see if anything changes but not something that I'll pour for awhile. Not even going to finish this one. The yeast is interesting in that it is a little bready, which I don't think that I like in my IPAs. Also don't think that the Pacific Jade helped at all either. Way to go!...
Bottled the 'TISTHE X-mas saison today. Unfortunately, this probably didn't happen in time to have it for X-mas although it will be close. Color is great, crystal clear, still has the late bitterness / off flavors that has plagued many of the beers since moving to Pittsburgh and starting this. It's not terrible, but the saison doesn't stand out. Gonna let this one sit for a little bit before drinking...
Racked the second attempt at the chocolate stout tonight. And I have to say...so far, so good. I had read that people complained that using cocoa made the beer "grainy" but so far I don't think that is the case. It's a good color, nice body, taste is middle-of-the-road. Lots of volume, which explains the slightly low OG. This is attributable to the new pot. The boil was not nearly as vigorous as before.
Bottling the X-mas beers next week in preparation for the holidays...!
Second attempt at the chocolate stout. Have recently made the switch to drinking more stouts. Am assuming that this is the first sign of my seasonal affective disorder setting in. Really like a good roasty, rich, chocolate stout, which I have still yet to make. The first one was very low OG (thinking due to grain crushing issues) and fairly bland, but had some nice roastiness to it. Have given up on cocoa nibs for flavoring because I think they don't do much in the 3 beers that I used them in. Contemplated and read about using hot chocolate packets, but am going to try pure cocoa powder before I stoop to that level.
Sidenote: bought some Terrapin Moo-Hoo milk chocolate stout to drink while making this. Normally, I have been very impressed with what they make (Wake n' bake, etc.); but this one falls way, way, way, way, short (IMO). It actually tastes similar to my "failed" first attempt. For shame Terrapin. Anyway, recipe below:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/89644/reduxii-stout
OG - 1.065, OB - 15.9
Low again from the estimate. Think a bit high on volume again, the new pot didn't seem to develop as vigorous a boil.
Will be bottling the X-mas beers next...
So after reviewing the water report(s) the conclusion is: They are conflicting and confusing. I think to be totally accurate I would have to send off some of my own water for analysis; and that's not happening. Only because we're only here for a year. Otherwise I would. Totally. So for the next IPA I am planning on adding a little gypsum because it does seem that the pH may be high and the calcium a bit low. Who knows?
To further confuse matters I also bought a new brewpot. Was wondering if the old one was contributing to some off flavors. Less likely, but it was just and old pot that we had lying around, and I wasn't entirely sure what it was made out of. New one is a 3 gallon pot from Food Warehouse. Shipped fast, $20, and looks great...
Had a sip of the new IPA yesterday as an unofficial tasting. Smell was fantastic, taste however had that same late oddness that I've had in a few of my Pittsburgh beers. Wondering if it's the water, considering I think that I've resolved most other problems with the small batch approach and am happy with the process otherwise as it. Water analysis compared to Cleveland posted below for easy reference for me in the future. Will either try using carbon filtered water for the next batch or even tweak the water chemistry a bit. This would be new as I've never had to do this before (good brewing water in Cleveland).
Cleveland:
pH 7.5
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est ppm 170
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.28
Cations/Anions, me/L 3.0 / 2.7
ppm
Sodium, Na 10
Potassium, K 1
Calcium, Ca 35
Magnesium, Mg 10
Total Hardness, CaCO3 129
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.3 (Safe)
Sulfate, SO4-S 12
Chloride, Cl 13
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 97
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 80
Flouride, F 1.14
Total Iron, Fe < 0.01
Pittsburgh:
pH 8.6
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) 117
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 236
Sodium, Na 18
Calcium, Ca 52
Magnesium, Mg 22
Total Hardness, CaCO3 74
Nitrate, NO3-N 1
Sulfate, SO4-S 39
Chloride, Cl 50
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 30
Total Iron, Fe 0.016
Free Chlorine, Cl2 1.5
Pittsburgh Trout, 0
Racked the X-Mas (TISTHE) saison to secondary yesterday. Really cloudy, but quickly cleared after racking. Not a ton of hop aroma / flavor right now. Little darker than I wanted. Otherwise taste is good...
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