2008 Nsw Xmas Case Swap - Tasting Notes

[Josh]

This is the thread to post your tasting notes for the 2008 NSW Xmas Case Swap.

Well done to all after some gentle prodding. 28 cases arrived at Barls' yesterday.
:icon_cheers:

 

[PostModern]

I'd like to start tasting a few of these. Can we update the wiki article with recommended tasting dates in place of the attending the swap or not info?
PS. thanks to everyone that made this happen, especially Barls the host, and the IBU bus for faithfully getting my case there and back.

 

[Gulpa]

27. Matt n AJ - Chokesy Brown - Northern English Brown Ale - 4.8% - 4/11/08

This one looked like a good place to start. Nice brown/ruby colour. Aroma is malty and roasty. A slight sulphurey/yeasty note adds a bit of complexity. Low carb. Flavour is malt based, medium body, slightly fruity. Not much experience with english brown but it tastes like I would expect one to. Tasty beer. Nice way to start the case. Thanks MnAJ.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[hewy]

27. Matt n AJ - Chokesy Brown - Northern English Brown Ale - 4.8% - 4/11/08

This one looked like a good place to start.

I went straight for the same beer...

Poured a nice brown maybe a bit lighter than I expected but looks delicious. Beer had a nice head to start with. Aroma is a little chocolatey. Beer tastes great not too roasty, I think there is a bit of sweetness lingering somewhere there. Seems to have a bit of a yeasty flavour, not sure what I am tasting there. Out of interest, which yeast did you use? It has definitely contributed something to the flavour.

Good beer mate

:icon_cheers:

 

[maj]

I went straight for the same beer...

Poured a nice brown maybe a bit lighter than I expected but looks delicious. Beer had a nice head to start with. Aroma is a little chocolatey. Beer tastes great not too roasty, I think there is a bit of sweetness lingering somewhere there. Seems to have a bit of a yeasty flavour, not sure what I am tasting there. Out of interest, which yeast did you use? It has definitely contributed something to the flavour.

Good beer mate

:icon_cheers:

Cheers Guys!

The yeast I use was the WLP001 Cal. Ale. Infact I think I'll put the whole recipe here.
This Made about 24L

Chokesy Brown

Never posted a link before... See how i go... wow that was hard.. :unsure:

Matt

 

[Fatgodzilla]

7. DiscoStu's Dunkelweisen

A tad over carbed, but no bottle gush. Poured into my 500ml mug. Got half a glass of froth. Left for a few minutes, it settled down to a nice lacy head. Nice taste. Enjoyable brew, happily poured a second glass and drunk while working. Good stuff Stu, happy to drink this one anytime.

FGZ

 

[DiscoStu]

Thanks for the feedback, added recipe to DB. I'm sure there's things I can improve on but nice to know I'm on the right track

 

[Muggus]

Beer number one seems fitting for the first tasting...

1. Josh - Belgian Wit
Date: 25/11/08
Beer info: Brown Coopers 750ml bottle 19/11 2008, white cap "1", Wyeast 3944 5.0%alc/vol

Sampling notes:
Served chilled in glass.
Opens with a convincing pop. Cloudy straw body with white foam that doesn't seem to wanna hang around.
Aroma reminds me of a freshly squeezed lemon straightup. Some floury wheatiness and subtle spice in the background.
Carbonation is subdued, reasonably lean bodied, everso slightly dry with a nice bit of citric acidity.
Lemon juice seems to be the bulk on whats going on. Yet the sharp edges have been taken off and you're left with a bit of vanilla maltiness and faint earthy clove, turning this into a very easy going beer. Bitterness low, finishes with a grainy dryness.
One hell of a summer quaffer, I constantly keep on having to remind myself i'm drinking beer and start to wonder why the hell i'm drinking this at 10:30 on a week night and not sitting back on an inflatable lounge floating in a pool on a hot summers day. Nice stuff either way Josh! I'm interested to know what you put in it though!

 

[Gulpa]

7. DiscoStu's Dunkelweisen

Poured with a big fluffy head. No gush. Dark. Aroma is that yeasty/wheaty aroma. Light body. Very smooth taste with an almost ginger spice to it - it took me a while to put my finger on it. Very quaffable for a dark beer. Nice job Disco. Could possibly do with a bit more body.

Is this your first AG (your sig says AG#1)?

cheers
Andrew.

 

[Gulpa]

5. nifty - English Pale Ale 5.2% Wlp023,

Pours clear gold with a head that falls down to thin persistent. Complex aroma of malt, hops and yeast. Low carb. Flavour seems malt dominant but the hops come through at the end, slightly fruity. Medium body. Smooth bitterness. Very nice beer Nifty. Thanks.

Regards
Andrew.

 

[Muggus]

Brew: 24. Hewy - Hefeweizen
Date: 9/12/08
Beer info: Brown twisttop 750ml bottle, Coopers cap "10", 50% wheat, 50% pale with 3068 yeast

Sampling notes:
Served chilled in weizen glass.
Nice pop upon opening. Pours a sizeable white foam atop a lively looking orange-gold body that gains a bit of haze when the yeast is rousted.
Typical hefeweizen nose, leaning more towards the spicy side; clove, vanilla, cinamon earthiness, some bread, some grassiness, touch of sultana-like and apricot-like dried fruit with any banana being nothing more than an afterthought.
Lively carbonation lending some creaminess to the palate, moderately full body, a bit of wheaty dryness and tartness linger.
Doughy malt body, bit of vanilla along with clove-like phenols. Ripe fruit flavours come through with a bit of warmth, apricot, pear, banana. Smooth finish, low bitterness, lingering dryness on the tongue.
A nice hefe Hewy! Certainly hits the spot. Cheers!

 

[Muggus]

Brew: 7. DiscoStu - Dunkelweizen
Date: 9/12/08
Beer info: Brown twisttop 750ml bottle with label, white cap "7", 5bottled 5/10/08, 5.21%

Sampling notes:
Served chilled in weizen glass.
Loud pop upon opening, no gushing luckily. Pours a big pillowy offwhite head that hangs around, atop a deep tanned body. Slight haze with yeast rousting resulting in a milk chocolate body.
Faint roasted malt on the nose, touch of bread and earthy spice, nothing really stands out though.
Carbonation is quite high, reasonably smooth, slight wheat and roasted malt acidity on the tongue. Body is a bit on the lean side.
Malty body, get some nice grainy chocolate malt flavours, bit of smokey roastiness and sweet nuttiness. Yeasty finish, bread in particular, some clove-like spice, with an underlying gritty leafy earthiness that lingers. Bitterness is reasonably low, possibly slightly metallic!? Dunno...
Tends to open up a bit more with warmth and more yeast in suspension, spicier in a good way. Anyhow, seems like more of an drinking dunkelwiezen than a thinking one. Very easy drinking and tasty, thanks DiscoStu.

Out of interest, what temps did you ferment this at?

 

[white.grant]

No. 7 Discostu's Dunkelweizen

Tasting notes 8/12/08

Appearance: Pop! Poured into three weizen glasses to minimise the head and allowed to warm slightly, Strong foam stand that lasts, deep caramel colour -- looking delicious
Aroma: Biased to clove
Flavour: Subtle phenols biased to Clove, a bit of carb bite and something that I'll describe as a "house flavour" or as Muggus put it a slight metallic note possibly?
Overall: Good appearance, clove dominant on subtle phenols.

No. 27. Matt n' AJ's Choksey's Brown

Tasting notes 8/12/08

Appearance: No pop, poured virgorously into nonic, short lived weak head, nice mahogany colour
Aroma: Neutral, some malt sweetness
Flavour: Caramel dominant and subtle roasty malt sweetness, no carb, some diacetyl (black ants),
Overall: Flat , so comes across a bit too sweet


cheers

grant

 

[DiscoStu]

Brew: 7. DiscoStu - Dunkelweizen
Out of interest, what temps did you ferment this at?

Fermented between 21-22 degrees with WB-06 dry yeast, had trouble keeping the temp down around 20 due to hot weather at the time

Cheers

Stu

 

[DiscoStu]

Is this your first AG (your sig says AG#1)?

This one was AG#2, my first go I lost about 5litres of the first runnings into the kettle as the tap was slightly cracked, ended up dilluting to down to get the batch size and it came out at about 4.2% ABV, nice session beer for home but I wasn't prepared to submit it.

2nd attempt using the same recipe with the only change being from Danstar Munich to Safbrew WB-06 yeast as my LHBS was out of Munich when I bought everything.

Cheers

Stu

 

[Fatgodzilla]

This one was AG#2, my first go I lost about 5litres of the first runnings into the kettle as the tap was slightly cracked, ended up dilluting to down to get the batch size and it came out at about 4.2% ABV, nice session beer for home but I wasn't prepared to submit it.

2nd attempt using the same recipe with the only change being from Danstar Munich to Safbrew WB-06 yeast as my LHBS was out of Munich when I bought everything.

Cheers

Stu

My best ever wheat beer I used the Danstar Munich. I've got a packet in the fridge waiting for cooler temps (really waiting till I get off my arse and connect the fridgemate temp controller). You don't hear it spoken about a lot and is often ignored when people talk about wheat yeasts.

Stu, the general comment for the few who have tried is that the beer is a little lacking in genuine dunkel weisen qualities but remains a good drinking brew. In fact its a very bloody good effort for your second AG and you should feel mighty proud about it. Its the sort of brew you should try again at a lower fermenting temperature to see how much dufferent it might taste. If you do, and it's better in your opinion, update your recipe notes. In years to come, you'll get a buzz when they say they are brewing "Disco Stu's Dunkel Weizen" !

 

[Gulpa]

This one was AG#2, my first go I lost about 5litres of the first runnings into the kettle as the tap was slightly cracked, ended up dilluting to down to get the batch size and it came out at about 4.2% ABV, nice session beer for home but I wasn't prepared to submit it.

2nd attempt using the same recipe with the only change being from Danstar Munich to Safbrew WB-06 yeast as my LHBS was out of Munich when I bought everything.

Cheers

Stu

Stellar effort for #2, Stu.

Cheers
Andrew.

 

[Weizguy]

Bottle Bomb Alert

Oh, the shame! Potential bottle bombs.
One of my smaller bottles burst at bed time last night, so only the carpet got a taste of it.
I thought it was the possums under the house knocking stuff over again, but it was a Eurostubbie in the dining room. The other Eurostubbie is in the fridge and the two remaining PET bottles have been relieved of head pressure and placed on the cool environment I recommended to all case swappers.

These bottles were the last ones bottled after the case swap bottles were filled, so they may have had residual bulk priming sugar that settled to the bottom, or it may have been a single weak bottle. The bottom of the bottle came off quite clean, and the top of the bottle was intact and just fell over. There was still some beer in it, but I chucked it.

The yeast gave me 70 attenuation and was from a new smackpack, so it should have been OK.

Anyway, I'll sample the beer in the fridge tomorrow and let you all know what I think has happened and if it's OK to drink. Then I might have to wash it down with a yucky Bretty bottle of Murray's Anniversary Ale III.

Heads up, guys.
Les

* Edit - Wiki updated too. Just be careful, and pop it in the fridge if it's in a warm spot now. Please!

 

[schooey]

One of yours in the cases I collected exploded too, Les. Last sunday night.

 

[Weizguy]

One of yours in the cases I collected exploded too, Les. Last sunday night.

May it rest in pieces.
Frickin' thin wall bottles. Didn't have time to scout and clean the good bottles.
Sounds like that was my bottle that's gone. Get yours into the fridge, and maybe release some pressure when cold.