Horizon Comparative Brew

[pomsaleius]

C'mon Kev, think of it as though you're negating the need for the club to buy a taint kit!

Thanks. I feel so much better.

 

[Wolfman]

Here's my guy fermenting away.


Built up a 1187 starter and pitched on Tuesday night. Less than 6 hours it was up an away.

Got better than expected efficiency. Target was 1.048 got 1.058! If he can get down to 1.012 as expected it will will be a strong red ale.

 

[mugley]

Adding one brew for now. Might also have an 80 IBU, 30 minute single-hop Horizon IPA ready for May if it's not too green.

1. Carniebrew - Hybrid IPA (AG, BIAB)
2. Brouhaha - Germerican Pale Ale (AG, BIAB)
3. TimT - An incredibly surprising Pale Ale (AG, BIAR)
4. GDAH / New Guy - Dusseldorf Altbier (AG)
5. Forever Wort - Pale Saison (extract)
6. Pißwasser - India Red Ale (AG, BIAB)
7. Pressure_tested - ESB (garage-ferment)
8. Wolfman- Irish Red Ale (Horizon and select) (AG)
9. Kevin H - Altbier (AG BIAB)
10. BreadMurderer - American Amber Ale (AG, BIAB)
11. mugley - Select Saison (AG, mini BIAB)

 

[pomsaleius]

Actually mine is starting to taste a bit better for the conditioning, and is dropping bright, having thrown every clarification trick in the book at it save filtration following manticle's warning. You may yet get to taste it.

 

[TimT]

I'm pretty sure will turn out to be the worst beer on the night, hands down, so I'll cheerfully volunteer to be the first (get the pain over quick, and all that). It was always going to be kind of experimental. On the other hand I think I learnt some interesting lessons from it that I may be able to put to good use in later brews, so there is that. Looking forward to tasting some of the other, better (ie, actually good) brews on the night

 

[carniebrew]

I just cracked open the sample bottle of the non-dry hopped version of my Hybrid IPA, and surprisingly it's fully carbed up. It's still a bit young, but I have 8 x 500ml bottles of it, so I will bring 4 of those tonight, then next meeting will bring it again along with the dry-hopped version to taste back to back.

 

[Forever Wort]

It was great to try the three beers last night. The more structured tasting in May will be all the more interesting given the club's brief introduction to Horizon and Select.

We had a Still Ale from TimT with a kind of aniseed note amongst its compelling aromas - derived from home-distilled essences, I'm told. The ale reminded some of us of Iced Tea and I thought that if served over ice at a family BBQ with no context given drinkers may not even identify it as a beer! Bitterness was there but presented in a way I was unused to - having never enjoyed a non-carbonated beer (apart from tastes from the fermenter). It was experimental and an unlikely introduction to Horizon for me. I would love to try another glass again at the next meeting!

Then we had Carniebrew's Hybrid IPA which gave off a distinct English flavour with loads of caramel on the nose. It didn't suffer bitterness lightly and I personally thought it was on the light side for an IPA, but the bitterness could have been masked by more complex malt and yeast profiles that I am not yet accustomed to. I remember there were distinct fans of this beer in the crowd, with it reminding them of their favourite English ales of old. Again although ostensibly a hoppy beer I wasn't hit with a heavy bitterness or hop aroma.

I won't comment on my own beer, though I was very pleased that it had carbed up a little more than dreaded.

In regards to the May meeting, I will be bringing the Pale Saison from last night, which will have aged another four weeks, along with its cousin the Dark Saison which I am bottling tonight. I believe Carniebrew will be bringing along a second beer too - a dry-hopped version of his IPA? - so we could have up to thirteen brews for our more formal tasting. Sensational.

1. Carniebrew - Hybrid IPA (AG, BIAB)
2. Brouhaha - Germerican Pale Ale (AG, BIAB)
3. TimT - An incredibly surprising Pale Ale (AG, BIAR)
4. GDAH / New Guy - Dusseldorf Altbier (AG)
5. Forever Wort - Pale Saison (extract)
6. Pißwasser - India Red Ale (AG, BIAB)
7. Pressure_tested - ESB (garage-ferment)
8. Wolfman- Irish Red Ale (Horizon and select) (AG)
9. Kevin H - Altbier (AG BIAB)
10. BreadMurderer - American Amber Ale (AG, BIAB)
11. mugley - Select Saison (AG, mini BIAB)
12. Forever Wort - Dark Saison (extract)

 

[TimT]

Great tasting some of the other brews. The Saison was so distinctive that it left its lemony smell in the glass and I could taste/smell it in every subsequent brew!

 

[BreadMurderer]

Right so after listening to you lots advice and the guy at Grain & Grape I have re-pitched with fresh clean yeast into a secondary so hopefully my brew isn't dead. I should see some bubbling soon which means you'll be tasting my batch at the end of this month (all going well). :chug:

If this does work then my last batch most likely wasn't dead and I poured it down the sink... Think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts...

 

[pressure_tested]

Im removing my ESB because it is really truly discusting. Even my wife who is very generous with her comments agrees that this one is destined for the sink.

I'll bring along a bottle if anyone wants to take a guess at what went wrong but I'm pretty sure it's just an awful grain bill with experimental/bad hopping.

I'll substitute in a stout which had loads of select for bitterness but obviously you won't taste the hops.

1. Carniebrew - Hybrid IPA (AG, BIAB)
2. Brouhaha - Germerican Pale Ale (AG, BIAB)
3. TimT - An incredibly surprising Pale Ale (AG, BIAR)
4. GDAH / New Guy - Dusseldorf Altbier (AG)
5. Forever Wort - Pale Saison (extract)
6. Pißwasser - India Red Ale (AG, BIAB)
7. Pressure_tested - stout (garage-ferment)
8. Wolfman- Irish Red Ale (Horizon and select) (AG)
9. Kevin H - Altbier (AG BIAB)
10. BreadMurderer - American Amber Ale (AG, BIAB)
11. mugley - Select Saison (AG, mini BIAB)
12. Forever Wort - Dark Saison (extract)[/quote]

 

[New_guy]

Im removing my ESB because it is really truly discusting. Even my wife who is very generous with her comments agrees that this one is destined for the sink.

I'll bring along a bottle if anyone wants to take a guess at what went wrong but I'm pretty sure it's just an awful grain bill with experimental/bad hopping.

I'll substitute in a stout which had loads of select for bitterness but obviously you won't taste the hops.

1. Carniebrew - Hybrid IPA (AG, BIAB)
2. Brouhaha - Germerican Pale Ale (AG, BIAB)
3. TimT - An incredibly surprising Pale Ale (AG, BIAR)
4. GDAH / New Guy - Dusseldorf Altbier (AG)
5. Forever Wort - Pale Saison (extract)
6. Pißwasser - India Red Ale (AG, BIAB)
7. Pressure_tested - stout (garage-ferment)
8. Wolfman- Irish Red Ale (Horizon and select) (AG)
9. Kevin H - Altbier (AG BIAB)
10. BreadMurderer - American Amber Ale (AG, BIAB)
11. mugley - Select Saison (AG, mini BIAB)
12. Forever Wort - Dark Saison (extract)

[/QUOTE]How long has it been in the bottle?
Maybe it just needs a bit more conditioning?
What was grain bill / yeast / hop schedule?

 

[pomsaleius]

Well, we could always have a comp for the worst beer too? I'd be in with a shot.

 

[beermeupscotty]

Bugger! Just poured the last of my pre-temp control, heat-treated rancid shyte down the sink. I'd have been in with a shot too.

In other news (somewhat related, as this brew will have some German Select added)...



First time I've had that happen. Should have used the 5L flask... Reckon I've lost much yeast? Is there anything I should be doing now, besides cleaning up?

The yeast was 3522. I've (now) seen others with similar krausen overloads. I used my heat-belt for the first time too. Not sure how big an impact that had..

 

[carniebrew]

All that brown stuff dripping down the front looks pretty yeastie to me mate. Bugger. Is that a stirplate you have it on? I just put my yeast starter's into a 4l plastic (ex vege oil) bottle, keep it inside and give it a vigorous swirl every 30-60 minutes. You have to be a bit careful swirling it for the first time in a while (e.g. when I get up in the morning), as it foams up a heap, but otherwise it's pretty manageable.

What temp did you have your controller set at for the starter?

 

[beermeupscotty]

Good eyes. Yep, that light-brown stuff dripping had the consistency of peanut butter So yeasty... Would have made a nice yeast-cake at the bottom of the flask.

Yeah that's a stirplate. I'm pretty happy with it - it worked great for my last starter. But you may be right. For a yeast which is this lively, maybe a stirplate is not necessary - or I should at least drop the RPMs.

I had the temp controller set for 20°C (and checked the air temp with another thermometer). I don't think the belt is sitting too close to the flask, but perhaps a section of the glass was getting a bit too warm... Not sure.

It's a bugger. I put it on last night and this morning the krausen was just a standard inch or so. Then I had to go out all day and I return to find this.

 

[pressure_tested]

How long has it been in the bottle?
Maybe it just needs a bit more conditioning?
What was grain bill / yeast / hop schedule?

4 weeks.

I didn't keep good notes. It was supposed to be the ESB recipe from the book 'brewing classic styles'. The bag of grain weighed more than what I ordered so maybe I got given something a bit wacky or the percentages were thrown out of wack? The hop schedule was stupid because I wanted to get some select flavours going on. I used it at flameout plus made a hop tea of both select and horizon.

It was just a big fail and I only blame myself for screwing it up so hard. I'll taste one in another week or so before I dump it.

 

[carniebrew]

PT, I know it probably goes against all of a brewer's principles to do this, but can I encourage you to bring some of the brew along to a meeting? I reckon "failed" brews, which we all have from time to time, are a great opportunity for guys in the club to get some practice identifying off flavours, and hopefully will generate some discussion around what might have gone wrong....something we all can learn from. Bring the recipe too which will help with the discussion.

 

[BreadMurderer]

I don't know what I'm doing wrong...

It's been a month in the fermenter and this is the second brew that's stuck on me. It doesn't smell or taste bad but sitting at 1028. I've used another hydrometer (both tested in water), I've stirred it up with a sanitised spoon, I've maintained a temperature of 18C (will be hard to raise it much more than that without a heat pad, could look into it though), my sanitisation steps are fine plus I don't think it's infected (but it can be the only answer right?) and I've moved to a secondary whilst also pitching more fresh yeast (in doing this there did seem to be some activity and lost a mere 2 points).

It's going to really peeve me off if I need to pour this one away as well. -_-

If so I'm going to buy one of the pre-made worts down in G&G to eliminate some of my process to see if I can find out where it's all going wrong.

Any advice before I do this?

 

[TimT]

It could be a number of things - insufficient fermentable sugar from the mash (possible, if you mashed at high temps or for short times). A weak/old yeast. Insufficient nutrient or oxygen in the wort. And what gravity did you start with?

 

[beermeupscotty]

What a bugger BM - I can imagine the frustration and disappointment.

I have no experience with AG, or stuck fermentations, but is it possible your wort contained unfermentable sugars, or something else which is contributing to the density? I don't know much about infections either so my next thought would be the condition of the yeast. What was the OG? Was it a healthy pitch rate? Did you aerate the wort at the beginning (i.e. shake the fermenter for 30 seconds or so)?

I'm yet to get my AG off the ground and so I've been lazily using the G&G worts. I've had excellent results so far. I think that's a good idea if you can't get past this one. This will be a good learning experience in the end, I should think.