Nsw Ahb Xmas Case 2005 - Consumption

[berapnopod]

Stuster's Pacific Bitter

I got half way through my review before my computer crashed, so this is take two (Gah!)

Aroma: Muted overall. Some hop aroma - slightly spicy. Low to medium esters. A hint of alcohol

Appearance: Gold colour. Hazy/cloudy. Long lasting head of fine to medium white bubbles. Head is very fine and forms a ring around the glass.

Flavour: Again, muted flavours overall. Equal balance of hop and malt flavours. Finish is dry and lightly bitter. Medium ale ester levels.

Mouthfeel: Medium to med/light body. med/high carbonation lends to a slight carbonation bite.

Overall. This is a pleasant ale that is quite light all over (as a best bitter should be), but I am puzzled about the 5.1%ABV. Thats too high for a best bitter, but it doesn't taste that much either. I think the carbonation is on the high side for a bitter. Nice drop, Stuster!

Berp.

 

[PostModern]

I just tried Berto's Wheat.

First few sips were overwhelming with clove. Once my palate adjusted (was drinking a sweet export stout before), quite a pleasant weizen. Nice thick head that persisted to the bottom of the glass. Perhaps a tad undercaronated for the style, but a good solid beer. I'm going to hazard a guess that you used hallertau right thru?

I have capped the dregs to culture the yeast to brew with this summer.

And Jase's APA (forgot to post the other night after tasting it)

I liked the beer once the carbonation settled. Would maybe have doubled the flameout hop addition. A nice APA, but in need of a bigger hop hit.

 

[Stuster]

Thanks for the review berapnopod. You are dead right. The 5.1% is wrong. I put the label together in a hurry and only later did I realise that my spreadsheet had a glitch in the alcohol calculation. The real % is 4.7, so sorry for all those who were fooled that .4%.

The carbonation. I agree it is a bit high. I am slowly reducing my priming rates. This had 100g in 21 litres, so 4.8g/l, which is probably a bit high for this style. I grew up in England and loved a flat pint when I lived there but many years of drinking lager have probably changed all that. Next time, I'll try for more like 3g/l and see how that goes.

At the moment I am drinking Kungy's Amarillo Pale Ale. Really love that Amarillo taste now, after not being sure of it with the first Amarillo beer I had. This also seems to have a touch too much carbonation. Really hissed when I opened it. But I really like this one Kungy. Great label too, very elegant. Why the Twelve Caesars Brewery BTW? I'll be looking for some Amarillo to brew something like this very soon. Yum. :chug:

 

[redbeard]

for those hanging off drinking my contribution (or not), i tried one just now. the carbonation is reasonable (not a big head) and the flavours have mellowed a bit. nice straw colour. bit of an aftertaste. go for it berapnopod

 

[kungy]

At the moment I am drinking Kungy's Amarillo Pale Ale. Really love that Amarillo taste now, after not being sure of it with the first Amarillo beer I had. This also seems to have a touch too much carbonation. Really hissed when I opened it. But I really like this one Kungy. Great label too, very elegant. Why the Twelve Caesars Brewery BTW? I'll be looking for some Amarillo to brew something like this very soon. Yum. :chug:

[post="97657"][/post]​

I deliberately aimed low with the priming, so it must have come down to residual sugars priming the bottle a little more than expected, 4.5g per litre. Likewise with you Stuster i will try for 3g/l as it to like my beer carbonated low. So maybe to avoid possible future tears, do you think the carbonation was enough to justify fridging it? Either way its had a good two months in the bottle, so the greeness should have disappeared and should be right to drink.

Why Twelve Caesars? I think i like the traditional and classic latin names that you hear about in the American Microbrewery scene. Plus i am so unoriginal. That name came courtesy of Suetonius, and the logo came from a book publishing firm logo, so if i ever hit it "big time" i will need to change practically everything to avoid being sued.

Glad you liked it. Its good to be reassured that my beer is at bare minimum drinkable.

Will

 

[Trent]

Just drank Nifty's Some sort of Aussie Pale Ale
Quite a nice beer, I found it to be quite clear, slight carbonation bite (I think is what you call it) that settled down as the beer warmed. It was a straw clour, a little hops on the nose, not too bitter, well balanced, medium body, bit of fruitiness from the yeast, something that you could drink all night. Good effort, Nifty. The girls in my house loved it aswell, so that is gonna be what I will base my next house brew on (no offence meant by saying the girls liked it!)
All the best
Trent

 

[Borret]

I sampled my mild again the other night and I reckon it's about good to go. In my own opinion an acceptable brew that although low in alchohol is full in flavour and true to style. I'm happy enough with it, hope you are too.

And for the records here's the recipe.

Borret

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: The Mild from Mexico
Brewer: Brent
Asst Brewer: Ray
Style: Mild
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (???)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 25.00 L
Boil Size: 34.51 L
Estimated OG: 1.039 SG
Estimated Color: 30.9 EBC
Estimated IBU: 24.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.50 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (Bairds) (5Grain 85.0 %
0.27 kg Crystal Malt - 60L (Bairds) (118.2Grain 6.6 %
0.16 kg Chocolate Pale Malt (Bairds) (525.0 EBC) Grain 3.9 %
0.16 kg Home roasted Amber Malt (43.3 EBC) Grain 3.9 %
0.03 kg Black Malt (Bairds) (1300.2 EBC) Grain 0.7 %
20.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (60 min) Hops 11.2 IBU
13.00 gm Northdown [6.70%] (70 min) Hops 10.1 IBU
10.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (10 min) Hops 2.0 IBU
10.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (5 min) Hops 1.1 IBU
0.50 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 4.12 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 11.74 L of water at 75.4 C 67.8 C 90 min


Notes:
------

Black and chocolate added at the end of the mash primarily for colour contribution.
Home roasted amber used MO as base.
Thanks to Warren for the recipe ;-)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[berapnopod]

Trent's Porter

Aroma: Rich chocolate malt aroma with a very slight hint of hops. Just a touch roasty as well, with medium ale esters.

Appearance: Black/opaque. Fine, lasting head forms a ring around the glass. Medium/fine bubbles.

Flavour: Again a rich chocolatey palate up front, which develops into an estery ale character with subtle hops underlying all the way. The finish is dry and somewhat bitter with a slight hotness that is barely noticeable.

Mouthfeel: Medium body. Medium carbonation, as I mentioned above, some hotness, rather than alcohol warmth.

Overall: This is a great porter, Trent! I really like the balance of all the flavours in there. All those that want to know what a porter should be like, try this, all those that want to know what a porter shouldn't be like, try a James Squire Porter (too roasty to the point of out of balance - sorry couldn't resist the momentary soapbox). I want to point out that the esters are quite high in the flavour, and there is a subtle hotness there which could be higher alcohols. Both of these suggest your fermentation temp was on the high side. But I also want to stress that these are very minor additions to the beer. This is a really nice porter!

Berp.

 

[Stuster]

So maybe to avoid possible future tears, do you think the carbonation was enough to justify fridging it?

No, it's not dangerously carbonated, Kungy. Just a little high. Really liked it BTW. :super:

 

[PostModern]

Tonight I tasted two beers.
Trent's Porter: Really enjoyed this. Nice rounded porter. Did notice the esters berapnopod mentioned but not the hot alcohol flavour. I think it had a great balance of dark malt and hop bitterness. The Mrs loved it too.

Stuster's Pacific Bitter: This tasted lots like an APA to me. Lots of hops and a really notably smooth malt palate. Went down very nicely indeed. Too bitter to please The Boss, but right on the mark for my palate.

 

[Trent]

Thanks for the great reviews Berp and PoMo
Stoked that you guys liked it, and I was sure Berp would point out any and all faults, so I am glad they werent too significant! I actually havent tried my porter again since I tasted it before putting it into the case, but I tried the next brew after that last night, and I could definitely taste the esters. I will have to try and chill my beer right down before pitching my yeast. I think I pitched the yeast in at about 25C, and it came down in the ferm fridge over the next 24 hours to 20C or so, but obviously that warm start didnt do it any favours. Something I will definietly try to rectify, so thanks for the heads up.
For those interested, my recipe is a slightly bastardised version of the porter recipe Bonk gave to me for my very first AG. The only reason it is bastardised is I didnt have the caramlt called for in the original recipe, and used carapils instead. I also used more carapils than was called for, but only slightly.
The xmas case recipe was
4.5kg Maris Otter
600g Chocolate 500EBC
600g Carapils

30g Northern Brewer @ 45 mins

Wyeast 1084
OG 1052
FG 1015
Fairly simple, but tasty. It is the beer I brew the most often.
All the best
Trent

 

[berto]

Knocked off Docs contribution last night. Thoroughly enjoyed it. A style ive never tried before but found it to be quite refreshing so somehting i might have to have a crack at in the future i think.
Had a fantastic head. Tight formed bubbles which lasted for the entire glass. Even in my grubbly dishwasher cleaned glassware.
Reasonably clear. I was expecting your tooheys dry level of clarity, but was a fraction off. Still the clearest homebrew i have seen yet.

Had a kind of spicy taste i think. Not sure of hop flavours. havent tried enough of them to know the different flavours, but was at a good level for me. Enough to notice them, but not enough to overpower.

Biggest dissapoinment was that it wasn't bottle conditioned, so now im gonna have to go and buy my own yeast to make one.

Nice beer all up.

For whoever asked earlier about my wheat. i think it was hallertau right through, will have to check my brew sheet incase i slipped some saaz in there.

Cheers, Rob

 

[Stuster]

Glad you enjoyed my bitter PoMo. Interesting that you thought it tasted like an APA. I suppose it's the American yeast, but hops and malt were all pure English.

I had Gough's amber ale last night. Very nice malt character to this I thought. I do like that Maris Otter. It is so distinctive.

Berto, don't worry about the lack of yeast in Doc's yummy kolsch. Duff's kolsch has the WLP029 yeast which is probably the one Doc used anyway.

 

[PostModern]

Glad you enjoyed my bitter PoMo. Interesting that you thought it tasted like an APA. I suppose it's the American yeast, but hops and malt were all pure English.

[post="98135"][/post]​

I had it straight after Trent's porter, so the big hop hit stood out in the first few mouthfuls. My first impression was "whoa, hoppy like a SNPA", but of course an EKG hop-hit rather than a US one. I think the US ale yeasts do tend to accentuate the hops more than English yeasts, so possibly that contributed... Sadly, I forgot to sanitise the neck of the bottle when I poured, so I didn't harvest the yeast

 

[PostModern]

Two more tasting notes from me tonight:

Stickler's Old: Really nice. I thoroughly enjoyed this brew. A nice sweet, yet well attenuated ale with a tasty roasted malt backbone.

Linz's Aus IPA: The fruity Cooper's taste is there, along with a good bitter framework, but as you have said, the aroma expected from an IPA is lacking. I would also add that it is thicker in the mouth than I would expect. The beer is really really nice, but putting my style-nazi hat on, IPA is not the right name for it.

 

[Doc]

Biggest dissapoinment was that it wasn't bottle conditioned, so now im gonna have to go and buy my own yeast to make one.

Nice beer all up.

Cheers Berto. Yep, it wasn't bottle conditioned. Transferred to bottle after cold conditioning in the keg.

Berto, don't worry about the lack of yeast in Doc's yummy kolsch. Duff's kolsch has the WLP029 yeast which is probably the one Doc used anyway.

[post="98135"][/post]​

Absolutely. Used the same yeast as Duff WLP029. Be careful. It is a high attenuator.

Beers,
Doc

 

[berapnopod]

I cracked open a couple of my witbiers last night. Looks like they're ready to go.

I noticed some bottles had a layer on the top above the liquid in the bottle, which suggests a bit of re-fermentation has taken place. The carbonation on that one was higher than the non-refermentation one, but I don't think its high enough for a glass grenade.

All the same, I suggest you chuck the wit in the fridge sooner rather than later.

Berp.

 

[mje1980]

Man, am i missing out big time!!. Im definately up for this next year!!!.

 

[berapnopod]

Redbeard's Imperialist USA styled Pale Ale (8/28)

Aroma: US hops, a hint of underlying malt, some alcohol, and unfortunately some chlorophenols.

Appearance: Cloudy with a fine head supported by medium/high carbonation. Light gold colour.

Flavour: Malty initially with hops a close second place. Finish is dry and lightly bitter. Chlorophenols are there again but not as strong as I would have expected from the aroma.

Mouthfeel: medium/light body with a subtle alcohol warmth that gives the beer its dry finish. medium/high carbonation gives a little bite and adds to the bitterness, which is good.

Overall: I think you have a sound pale ale recipe here. Maybe a touch more bittering hops for my taste buds next time. The hop flavour works well with the malt flavour - light coloured malt and citrusy hops. Unfortunately, the chlorophenols come out in a very significant way for me. My feeling is that I am particularly sensitive to this because I have made similar beers before (see below). So I would be interested to hear what others say about this beer.

Chlorophenols: I characterise this aroma (mainly) as a plastic-like smell. Its the sort of plastic associated with band-aids or has also been described as (unsoiled) nappies - that sort of plastic. You get it in a beer when you use tap water that has too much chlorine or chloramines in the water. I have had this problem ever since I got back to Sydney and started brewing again a year ago. The strange thing is that I have ONLY had this problem when using cascade hops. I have made about 5 or 6 APAs since then about and 4 of them have had this problem. The last beer I made with cascade hops turned out fine, and I believe thats because I dosed the mash with a lot of sodium metabisulfite, which turns the chlorine and chloramines to chlorides.
So the bottom line is that I am 95% sure its chlorophenols, and 5% thinks it might just be the local version of cascade hops. I am very much interested to hear others opinions on this.

Sorry for taking up the extra bandwidth!

Berp.

 

[berapnopod]

Nifty's Some Sort of Aussie Pale Ale

Aroma: Very light, slightly spicy, slightly fruity aroma.

Appearance: slight haze, light gold colour. medium head of fine white bubbles supported by medium carbonation.

Flavour: Aussie hops with backing malt with a slight dry/roasty hint. Medium esters and very clean overall. Finish is bitter and clean, but not overly dry.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with medium carbonation and the typical carbonation bite.

Overall: A very well balanced beer that to my tastes comes close to Coopers Sparkling Ale. Nice estery flavour and good bitterness to finish with. Nice going Nifty!

Berp.