Amber Ale style Anzac beer thoughts

[Samuel Adams]

Lest we forget 100 years on.



This is tasting pretty good although could use some more time to carb & clear up.
It has a syrupy caramel taste from the golden syrup & a slight hint of coconut (but that could be because I know it's in there. 200g in the mash & it would be noticeable I reckon). The biscuit malt adds the biscuit taste perfectly (shocker).
The Wai-iti hops are beautiful, fruity & smooth. I love these low alpha NZ hops for no chilling.

 

[kane85]

Im doing one this sunday. Pretty much the exact one as from the calender and i cant wait to try it. Will be tweaking it slightly as couldnt get all the exact same ingredients without ordering from 3 different shops so substituted them for others from my local brew store. will be kegging most of it but will put some in bottles for a local beer comp if it comes out well. Im salivating just reading the posts.

 

[kane85]

Im doing one this sunday. Pretty much the exact one as from the calender and i cant wait to try it. Will be tweaking it slightly as couldnt get all the exact same ingredients without ordering from 3 different shops so substituted them for others from my local brew store. will be kegging most of it but will put some in bottles for a local beer comp if it comes out well. Im salivating just reading the posts.

 

[fcmcg]

Well mine came third in the westgate brewers ANZAC beer people's choice competition.
Everyone had to use coconut , oats and golden syrup , nz or Aust malt and hops and Nottingham yeast...
I took a keg to the family ANZAC day reunion and the family vb drinkers smashed it lol

 

[madpierre06]

Don't k ow what happened with mine, tried one yesterday at a week and a half in the bottle just to get an idea...damn thing was dead flat, no life in it at all.

 

[madpierre06]

Ok, 4 days later and carbonation has picked up markedly in a bottle which I had given another double invert, having one later tonight which hasn't been inverted to determine whether or not it was time factor or the sugar had not been mixed in sufficiently. There had been quite a few colder days post-bottling which may also have had an impact. The beer itself was still very green, but seems as if there is a nice smooth richness dying to show itself.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Glad it seems to be working out for you, been following the thread but it doesn't seem like my cup of tea. (with ANZAC biscuit to dip}

 

[madpierre06]

Glad it seems to be working out for you, been following the thread but it doesn't seem like my cup of tea. (with ANZAC biscuit to dip}

I do like a nice cup of tea, Lapsang Souchong is my preference with a 'anything' and golden syrup.

I'm thinking, and I was a little more aware as time went on that the ferment happened super quick as I saw very little action in the fermenter yet the F.G. was down to the low reading very quickly. I am concerned as I am getting a taste through which is most unpleasant and very similar to the bloody 'twang' I've experienced in the past when brewing without temp control. I am thinking that possibly if the ferment has happened too quick before getting down to 18 (pitched at 24 then put fermenter in wine/fermenter fridge) some little side effects may have been released into the brew. I've read about esters coming through if the temp is too high, but I couldn't tell an ester from a arsehole.

 

[madpierre06]

Not sure what happened here, for the short period of time this beer was absolutely perfect. Recently ( a few weeks ago), I had tried a couple which when opened turned into lava overflows, losing at least half the contents to said overflow, and stirring up heaps of crud off the bottom. Same result for bottles either from chilled or ambient temps. I opened a couple others just to check for effect....same result.

Then a fellow AHB'er has one from the same batch a couple days ago and says it was perfect.

 

[Milk-lizard84]

Did you bulk prime Madpierre?

 

[madpierre06]

All bottles individually primed, Lizard....and I'm very particular with my measuring

 

[Danscraftbeer]

The concept of this beer is something that I will have to try. Is this a recognized or legitimate style?

 

[madpierre06]

From my understanding the amber ale is unless its an american peculiarity i'm certainly no expert on styles eh

 

[TheWiggman]

So the original beer as per recipe on page 1 madpierre - do you rate it? Did it taste like Anzac bickies or at least was close to what you were after? I'm talking about the non-gushers of course.
If it was I would very much like to try this brew.

 

[madpierre06]

So the original beer as per recipe on page 1 madpierre - do you rate it? Did it taste like Anzac bickies or at least was close to what you were after? I'm talking about the non-gushers of course.
If it was I would very much like to try this brew.

Hey Wiggman

Yep, post #12 obviously. I will be doing this'un agin, there were some nice smooth flavours. I liked the oaty biscuit/syrup notes which were sitting nicely at the back and there was a nice little bitter edge alongside these.

Be sure to keep us updated, eh.

 

[technobabble66]

Not sure what happened here, for the short period of time this beer was absolutely perfect. Recently ( a few weeks ago), I had tried a couple which when opened turned into lava overflows, losing at least half the contents to said overflow, and stirring up heaps of crud off the bottom. Same result for bottles either from chilled or ambient temps. I opened a couple others just to check for effect....same result.

Then a fellow AHB'er has one from the same batch a couple days ago and says it was perfect.

Hey MP06, any chance of an infection? Namely in some bottles but not others (i.e.: rather than the whole batch)?

I had a batch that got acetobacter into it several months ago. Being an aerobic bug, it sat on the top, and the rest of the beer seemed ok; so i bottled it apart from the last few litres. Now months later, it all still tastes ok - so the infection only seems to had a minor impact on flavour - but it's very noticeable that the last few i've opened in the past ~3 months have become instant gushers. They still taste ok. However, (given i know gushers can be a result of certain infections) it's been interesting that these taste ~ok & were fine for the first 3-4 months, but definitely come from an infected batch, and now have become gushers only recently.
Coincidently it was also an Amber ... Maybe God just doesn't like Ambers.

 

[madpierre06]

Hey MP06, any chance of an infection? Namely in some bottles but not others (i.e.: rather than the whole batch)?

I had a batch that got acetobacter into it several months ago. Being an aerobic bug, it sat on the top, and the rest of the beer seemed ok; so i bottled it apart from the last few litres. Now months later, it all still tastes ok - so the infection only seems to had a minor impact on flavour - but it's very noticeable that the last few i've opened in the past ~3 months have become instant gushers. They still taste ok. However, (given i know gushers can be a result of certain infections) it's been interesting that these taste ~ok & were fine for the first 3-4 months, but definitely come from an infected batch, and now have become gushers only recently.
Coincidently it was also an Amber ... Maybe God just doesn't like Ambers.

I'm not sure techno, my knowledge on these things is limited to observations ie. if I see mould, then I know it's infected. All of the remaining bottles in the batch were gushers ( I opened 'em all to tip as I was concerned about bombs), and I noticed that there had been a lot of little black flakes in the stirred up crap when she started to blow. I did try and strain out the remnants of a bottle which had gushed and stirred and it still tasted pretty reasonable. I'm not sure how/if I may have gotten an infection, the beer looked ok in the FV. And I'm pretty anal about my cleaning and sterilising. But what you describe of your experience sounds pretty much identical to mine. I might have to do some reading up on these things when I get back to Brissie.

 

[technobabble66]

Yeah. Could be lots of reasons really. I'm a bit of a noob with this stuff.
I was just wondering if maybe somehow some particular bottles got an acetobacter infection - it makes vinegar out of alcohol so it's safe, just it'll screw the beer if it has enough oxygen. Given there's v little O2 in a bottle, maybe it had enough live a little, but not enough to impact the flavour. Somehow that was enough to cause the gushers? Caused the faintest film across the (top) liquid surface of my bottles - a bit like a sprinkle of dust across the beer.
Maybe there were just too many hops fragments or other bits that got into the bottles?

 

[madpierre06]

Yeah. Could be lots of reasons really. I'm a bit of a noob with this stuff.
I was just wondering if maybe somehow some particular bottles got an acetobacter infection - it makes vinegar out of alcohol so it's safe, just it'll screw the beer if it has enough oxygen. Given there's v little O2 in a bottle, maybe it had enough live a little, but not enough to impact the flavour. Somehow that was enough to cause the gushers? Caused the faintest film across the (top) liquid surface of my bottles - a bit like a sprinkle of dust across the beer.
Maybe there were just too many hops fragments or other bits that got into the bottles?

Just got back yesterday evening, plan on doing some research into this stuff, and you've got me thinking about things like the films and such that you mention there and keep an eye out for 'em. Thing that got my attentionw as tyhe gushers weren't instantaneous, there was a second or so pause, then the lava started to flow rather than just an explosion of CO2 and beer upon opening.