2008 Sa Xmas Case Swap - Tastings

[buttersd70]

Mikes Alt?

Mike made a czech pilsner and Adam made an Alt.

You been :chug: a bit this morning Butters?

ummmmmmmmmm, maybe. :lol:
Correction on my previous....Adams Alt.

 

[Murcluf]

Youngy's House Lager, straight forward house lager as stated easy drinking far from being in your face, you'd feed it to lager louts when visiting and keep the Belgians and Porters and Ales for yourself.

 

[drsmurto]

Mikes Alt...

First positive is that it doesn't taste like ham. ( )
Actually, I've never, ever had an alt before....so I really have nothing to reference it to, other than my (beloved) bjcp....from what I can tell, it does what it says on the packet. Bitter-sweet, bitterness on the end note, no off flavours that I can pick up on. Quite liked it, actually.

Liar, liar, pants on fire. :lol:

Pretty sure you had an Alt at the case swap - i had one on tap and my fairly dodgy memory says you didnt mind it altho were a bit taken aback when i told you it was 50 IBU.

 

[Frank]

BigH - Jade Lager
This beer has good carbonation, for a Summer Session beer. I prefer the bitterness to be a bit higher (but I have been known to get carried away). Good clean finish, could certainly drink multiple pints in the sun. A well balanced beer. I will need to save the second half of the bottle until SWMBO comes home from work, I think she will like it.

 

[buttersd70]

Liar, liar, pants on fire. :lol:

Pretty sure you had an Alt at the case swap - i had one on tap and my fairly dodgy memory says you didnt mind it altho were a bit taken aback when i told you it was 50 IBU.

OK, rephrase....I've never had an alt before when sober enough to remember the specifics. :lol:
Now that you mention it, I do have a very vague recollection of that......and vaguley remember having a second.

 

[Goofinder]

Domonsura - Oasis Pale Ale

Nice toffee/butterscotch aroma and bitterness wasn't over the top given the amount of hops in there. Cracked this one just after lunch - really should have looked a bit closer at the label first. Doesn't taste 5.6% and I had no trouble knocking it back, but I'm glad I wasn't planning on doing much this arvo!

BigH - Jade Lager

Nice and clean, good carbonation. Could happily drink a fair bit of this one without too much trouble. I haven't tried Pacific Jade before but I think I might have to give it a go some time soon.

 

[Adamt]

I'm pretty sure you had some of mine on tap as well, Butters

 

[buttersd70]

lol, its all a blur...... :wacko:

 

[Adamt]

I'll take credit for that with the Doppelbock and the IIPA

Bloody Englishmen.. can't handle their booze!

 

[buttersd70]

I'll take credit for that with the Doppelbock and the IIPA

Bloody Englishmen.. can't handle their booze!

Funny you should say that.....one of my last truly clear memories of the day was hearing you say "here, try this doppelbock"....

 

[Adamt]

You're welcome! B)

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

Even the Apricot Wit, which I was a little worried about because of the thick floaties in the bottom. But it was quite nice as it tasted like an apricot fizzy drink, but I think one bottle was enough. (Sorry Kenny)

Cheers

HK

I managed to salvage a bottle of the Apricot Wit after the swap. I am going to go out on a limb and say that I found the wit quite enjoyable. I threw caution to the wind and opened mine inside the house, whilst I found it a little overcarbed the aroma was one of apricot ( low and behold ) Also surprising that the beer itself was to me not overwhelmingly apricot. Just a nice aroma with that Wit backbone of flavour. I may have finally struck a good one. Congratulations Kenny....


BYB

 

[drsmurto]

I managed to salvage a bottle of the Apricot Wit after the swap. I am going to go out on a limb and say that I found the wit quite enjoyable. I threw caution to the wind and opened mine inside the house, whilst I found it a little overcarbed the aroma was one of apricot ( low and behold ) Also surprising that the beer itself was to me not overwhelmingly apricot. Just a nice aroma with that Wit backbone of flavour. I may have finally struck a good one. Congratulations Kenny....


BYB

Yup, had this a few days ago and passed on comments to Kenny as per his request. Definitely got a good whiff of apricot in the glass but was surprised (and maybe a little disappointed) that more didnt come thru in the flavour. Bit too fizzy for mine but i do drink at the lower end of carb for most beers. I'm not a wit drinker but i did enjoy this and it definitely fitted the request for a summer beer.

Which begs the eternal question.... if you can brew AG beer like this why is the can opener still sitting in the brewery? :lol:

Nice one Kenny. :icon_cheers:

 

[domonsura]

hey guys, don't panic about the 1469 yeast not being available - I still have a few smackpacks in the coolroom

 

[Goofinder]

peas_and_corn - Hallertauer Pale Ale

Unfortunately this one was pretty much flat. Looked and smelled the goods but seemed to have a strange bitter aftertaste that was probably accentuated by the lack of carbonation. Reckon it would be alright properly carbed.

Choppadoo - Bitter

The first taste was pretty ordinary, with some sort of bad soury bitter taste that I'm not sure what it was. After that it got a lot better and is quite enjoyable now on the second glass. Almost getting towards the Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted but not as intense. Interesting beer, and goes down pretty well.

 

[Frank]

Goofinder - Not so Special Bitter
I thought the carbonation level was fine for this beer. I got a slightly resin/rubbery flavour that appeared to be bound with the hops, may be associated with the Crystal used. This beer deffinately improved as the temperature rose, it seemed to lack a bit of mid palate when it was straight from the fridge. I think this beer would be more suited matched to food than drunk on its own.

 

[Murcluf]

Goofinder - Not so Special Bitter Totally agree with Boston in regards to carbonation and the improvement of flavour with rising of temp. Also thought the wierd tastes was coming from the crystal malt would suggest trying JW crystal instead and drop the 0 minutes EKG addition.
Once it warmed up it went down a treat, pint of bitter in one hand and a set of darts in the other it was all go at the Cluck & Duck tonight.

 

[Goofinder]

Goofinder - Not so Special Bitter
I thought the carbonation level was fine for this beer. I got a slightly resin/rubbery flavour that appeared to be bound with the hops, may be associated with the Crystal used. This beer deffinately improved as the temperature rose, it seemed to lack a bit of mid palate when it was straight from the fridge. I think this beer would be more suited matched to food than drunk on its own.

Goofinder - Not so Special Bitter Totally agree with Boston in regards to carbonation and the improvement of flavour with rising of temp. Also thought the wierd tastes was coming from the crystal malt would suggest trying JW crystal instead and drop the 0 minutes EKG addition.
Once it warmed up it went down a treat, pint of bitter in one hand and a set of darts in the other it was all go at the Cluck & Duck tonight.

I've also found that it gets better as it warms up, but you would expect that being a pommy styled beer. Once I finish my keg fridge I'll be able to set that for a better temperature rather than relying on the main fridge. I'll have to have another taste of this one and see if I can pick up on the resin/rubbery flavour mentioned. Thanks for the feedback.

goofinders bitter...
had mine at 10C, agree with adams description up until the bit about bitterness.....I wouldn't call it low-medium, at least not relatively speaking for a bitter. Personally, I found it to be overly bitter; I could almost hear the malt asking to be released from behind the hops. Capped it off with a forced head, and it mellowed somewhat, but for me, it was still too bitter for a bitter. The flavour profile overall was fine, just too many IBU imo.
Sorry...I don't mean to sound bitchy. :unsure:

Butters, just wondering if you think the recipe looks overly bitter, or the beer just was? Brew day for this one was a bit of a shambles as far as water measurements go (this brew inspired me to get serious about calibrating my vessels and taking more detailed notes). So, the IBU listed probably doesn't match what's really there. Add to this the fact that it dropped a couple points lower than I hoped for which would drop the malt perception a bit too. I'm just trying to work out whether the process had a major effect or you just really don't like bitterness.

 

[buttersd70]

Goofinder...
I think after tasting the beers at/in the swap, I'm going to need to qualify my not liking bitterness a bit better. :lol: There were quite a few beers that were more bitter than my usual preferences that I quite enjoyed. (I tried to remain open minded, but there were some which even surprised myself).

Looking at the recipe, I think you hit the nail on the head about it dropping to a lower fg than you were going for as being one of the main reasons I found it bitter. Your late hop additions are not too dissimilar to mine; same times, same weight/volume on the f/o, slightly higher weight/vol on the 20, but not by a lot. Slightly higher BUGU than what I bitter to, but again, not by enough to push the perception OTT for me. (0.71 compared to my usual 0.6-0.65). When changing over to BV, though, is where the difference becomes more noticeable. From your 1046/1010, it came in at 1.6BV, which would be comparable to 0.8BUGU, which would have altered the balance a fair bit from what BUGU would normally indicate. (the extra couple of points would have given ~1.4BV).

All that is making some assumption as well, though, particularly in relation to actual boil gravity, utilisation, losses, etc. If using Tinseth for the calculations, reasonably accurate knowledge of the losses plays a role because of the way he has done the formulations, and the inclusion of what he calls 'bigness factor' (basicaly, tinseth formulation uses the loss to evaporation and the length of the boil in association with the projected initial boil gravity to work out an average utilisation for the boil due to the changing gravity). So the 'actual' IBU in the beer will vary quite considerabley from any formulation of that, anyway. So numbers can only go so far.

And at the end of the day, when it comes to your own beer, your opinion is the important one. I'm a firm believer in brewing to taste, not to style. If it's right for you, then it is right.

 

[Goofinder]

Cheers, I didn't think it looked overly bitter. This one was basically brewed to the style guidelines, mainly because I haven't really worked out what I like yet and am new to coming up with recipes (as opposed to stealing everyone else's). Also, I probably should have mentioned that it was no chilled... so maybe factor in a bit more bitterness in for that as well.

I'll have to have another taste and work out what I really think of it - I've been too busy trying everyone else's beers lately! Might even have to brew it again now that I've got a bit more of an idea of what's happening and do a comparison... I do have a fair bit of EKG sitting in the freezer at the moment.