Boiling Kit Can - Increase, Reduce Or Same Bitterness?

[DUANNE]

Where can I try pilsner urquell? The bottlo or home brew? I CANNOT drink a beer at 10 degrees!!! It's gotta be cold!!! How should I be using hops? You seem to have the best advice without being partial.

once you start drinking better beer more than likely you will start to want it warmer to appreciate the flavours and aromas better. not all beer taste crap at relativly warmer temps ,wich is what i believe manticle was trying to get across.

 

[fasty73]

I have to make a small admission here, I RARELY taste my hydro samples, I only do it now and again and if I am unsure of the brew. I just don't like "warm" beer.

 

[manticle]

Pilsner urquell is a commercial product. Commercial products are a good reference point for where we like out homebrew to be.

Do you have a Dan Murphy's nearby? Otherwise possibly Craftbrewer. Trumer pils is another one.

If you can't do 10 degress try 5 or 6. Still cold (run around naked on a 5 degree day and you'll see). All I'm saying is that cold reduces flavour. In the case of some Australian large brewery beers this is a good thing as they taste horrible above 2 degrees. The sign of a well made beer is that it doesn't taste horrible if it isn't freezing.

Not suggesting you should drink every beer that way - just an experiment with a few sips to compare. Could even be the last bit of each bottle so no watse.

You'll need to reasearch what hops do to a beer. You are looking for flavour so a small boil (maybe 10 minutes) with your kit. See what that does and go from there. Start small and build.

 

[fasty73]

Thanks mate. Will go to a Dan Murrphys tomorrow on the way home and grab a couple. Any other suggestions?

 

[manticle]

Loads but just start with those and see how you go. Taste is subjective and sometimes new things need to be introduced slowly. If I tell you Chimay white or Achel or Lindeman's Faro is great and you drink it and think it's horrible you may go straight back to one kind of beer and never try anything new again. The fact that you are interested in finding out is good.

Curiosity and willingness to experiement with different flavours will make you a better brewer.

 

[rendo]

Try this then fasty,

Get your hydro sample, take the reading, take a tiny swig. Then pop it in the fridge for a few hours or overnight(better) and drink it the next day, nice & cold. I often do this, not because I am SO TIGHT that I dont want to waste the beer, but because I really want to see how the beer tastes as it is progressing thru fermentation. Plus, having it in the fridge overnight drops most of the yeast. So it really gives u a good taste of what the beer is really like. I usually add this to my brew notes, especially if its a brew I havent done before.

Like most things, 'input/effort' is relatively proportional to the level of output. However the good ol' 80/20 rule has to come into play somewhere. People can spend a life time chasing that one last percent...sometimes it isnt worth it, conversely there are plenty of examples where it is worth it...cure for cancer, etc etc,

All that being said...chill ya hydro sample...drops the yeast...nice and cold....swig...learn...yum.....if yuk...something is wrong.

rendo

I have to make a small admission here, I RARELY taste my hydro samples, I only do it now and again and if I am unsure of the brew. I just don't like "warm" beer.

 

[felten]

I do exactly the same thing as rendo, nothing wrong with sampling your samples.

 

[drtomc]

Nice idea about chilling the hydro sample. Never occurred to me!

Fatsy, this will probably shock you, but I hated beer until my late 20s when someone gave me a six-pack of Grolsch. But the point at which I went "wow! I've got to learn how to do this"[*] was when I was in Carlisle (northern England) and tried half a dozen local beers at a little pub and discovered *flavour*. From there it was a short and very slippery slope to the Belgian ales - Karmeliet Tripel was my fave for quite a while - at 8% it drinks like a 4% beer - very dangerous. . I still can't drink VB.

T.
[*] That's my usual reaction to something done well. Go to a concert - I've got to write some music; see a piece of good design - got to design one myself; etc. Too bad I'm a perfectionist.