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.
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...
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...
Said I was done brewing here. I lied. I just had to. Thought of some other possible reasons for the off flavors including; the yeast, and temperature control. So I bought some new yeast and am working on better monitoring temperature. Again using distilled water in case that was the reason.
Inspiration for this beer: I had a De Molen Hemel & Hel on a recent trip. One of the best beers I've ever had. And a total shocker because it was smoked. I hate smoked beers. Now it was with peat malt, which I think was the best part about the taste, and it was amazing. So this is my attempted version of that. A big, black stout with peat smoked malt. Really up the roast in this one as well, tossed in a ton of dextrine malt and some oats to try for a really thick body.
This will be the last one before the move back to the CLE. Excited to get set up back there and continue on the way to #50.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/137408/roastalgia-dris
OG - 1.073, OB - 17.8
Hoping this even comes slightly close...
Bottled several beers today. Fresh wine yeast pitched into the bottling bucket for all of them.
1. Pom Lambic. Perfectly clear, nice golden, yellow color. But after talking to a friend who's really good at this he pointed out that the Brett Lambic yeast used doesn't make something a lambic. It's just brett from a lambic. So this is actually an aged Brett golden belgian. Tasted good bite with a hint of esters in the back. No real flavor or much color from the pomegranate. Aiming for 4 volumes of CO2.
2. Oud Bruin. Smells great. Tastes great - sour, but not overly so. Great color and clarity. Not much on the nose however. Bottled to 3 volumes CO2.
3. Biere de Garde. This had some of the same stuff in the Bruin floating on the surface. Went back and checked everything and don't remember intentionally adding any bacteria or anything, so maybe contamination? Will see. Again, nice color. Taste wasn't quite as malty as I was hoping for / should be, could be related to the low mash temp. 3 volumes CO2.
Tastings in the next few weeks...
Despite saying that I was done I had little to do yesterday and a bunch of hops left over in the fridge so....
Here's what I came up with. It also basically kicked the rest of the grains. I used distilled water this time to see if the flavor could continue to improve over the spring water. This is basically a hop monster, but am blending hops to see how that changes the flavor profile (hoping for the better).
Recipe below.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/108130/tooibu-ipa
OB 15.2, OG - 1.062
Brew project is currently on hold. Frowny face emoticon.
Reasons:
1. The water here in Pittsburgh seems to be the cause of lots of off flavors. I don't really feel like buying distilled and adding the necessary ions so... That's a big reason.
2. See #1.
The Citra IPA made with the spring water came out pretty good. Review to follow.
Will also finish drinking what I have, review, and post those.
Otherwise, can't wait to move back home.
The chocolate stout has that background flavor of the Pittsburgh beers. This one was brewed with the new kettle but the usual tap water. Not much chocolate flavor. Will check it after a week in the bottle.
The Citra II is very promising. First brewed with bottled water. Nice hop notes, more importantly no off flavors! Just have to wait a week to see how it turns out now.
Citra Stats:
OB - 16, OG - 1.065
FB - 8, FG - 1.011, ABV - 7%
Yay!?...
Aroma - Some pine notes, bread - 6/12
Appearance - Big creamy head, slightly on the darker side - 2/3
Flavor
- Background bitterness, light caramel malt notes, not a ton of hop flavor - 10/20
Mouthfeel - Full, smooth - 4/5
Overall - 5/10
Total - 27/50
Thought this one was drinking better early on. Has that same odor / taste that has plagued several of the previous IPAs. Again, it's drinkable, but not what I wanted. Have continued reading and wondering if it's oxidation. Granted I don't purge the secondary with CO2 but I siphon "quietely" and try to get as little as possible in.
Side note: Drank one of the Galaxy IPAs last night, which didn't have it as much. Now I'm really curious to try the new one with the bottled water to see if that takes care of it...
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