Nsw Xmas In July Case 2007 - Consumption

[Slurpdog]

Mmm, I'm finding similar with Gulpa's American Amber.
Pours great and holds a persisitant head throughout the glass.
Very hop driven, and although something I'm not that used too, I still liked it as it was quite fresh.

Not a school night here Pomo. The kids are on hol's and so am I, hence the double tasting tonight.

 

[petesbrew]

Spent a fair chunk of yesterday looking at the list, typing in yeast strains and highlighting "ready to drink"s... gotta keep myself organised.

First longneck cracked was Slurpdog's Choccy Porter.

Only had a couple of hours in the fridge to chill, but it was at a nice temp for tasting.
This is a nice dark for a winter night, Slurpdog! Poured well, and the head retention was great. (excuse my dodgy pouring efforts in the pic). The taste of roasty choc I found subtle and smooth, and in the topup I thought I could taste cascade? I really enjoyed this porter. A great start to 28 longnecks of indulgance.

 

[petesbrew]

It seems to have fallen off the list but mine's ready to drink.

This one becomes a little dry if left too long so get in early.

Thanks to all the participants and organisers - especially MHB and petesbrew. Well done.

Just got to pick up my cases now get stuck in. :chug:

Thanks for that Shmick, shall place it in the fridge asap.

 

[Punter]

Had my first bottle last night, decided on slurpdogs choccy porter.
I'm not too good at describing flavours or aromas, so
I'll give a brief description of what I thought.
Poured with a nice tan coloured head that lasted all the way to the end
with great lacing on the glass. Black, almost opaque with a nice ruby colour
when held up to the light. Very light roasty/choc flovours that went down well.
Very slight fruitiness? to the nose, but maybe thats just my head cold playing games.
Overall I very much enjoyed this beer Slurpdog, finished the bottle pretty
quickly :chug:
Thankyou

 

[PostModern]

It seems to have fallen off the list but mine's ready to drink.

This one becomes a little dry if left too long so get in early.

Thanks to all the participants and organisers - especially MHB and petesbrew. Well done.

Just got to pick up my cases now get stuck in. :chug:

Updated the first post. I think we might need to repost the list with any amendments every couple of pages or so of this thread. I've found that 002 can make gushers in the bottle. It seems to wake up once it's primed and start chewing on stuff it left behind after primary. Has anyone else seen this?

 

[shmick]

Updated the first post. I think we might need to repost the list with any amendments every couple of pages or so of this thread. I've found that 002 can make gushers in the bottle. It seems to wake up once it's primed and start chewing on stuff it left behind after primary. Has anyone else seen this?

I've never had gushers but a few have been a bit more lively than expected after a while in the bottle.
I usually carb on the low side for these anyway so none have been a complete disaster but can end up a little dry as I mentioned.

002 seems to chew away for a long time in the bottle and can take ages to settle down and condition.
Maybe it's got something to do with the flocculation (more like coagulation IMO).
I've found giving it a bit of a rouse every day or 2 during the second week in the fermentor and raising the temp a degree or so towards the end helps drop the FG that final point or 2 before bottling.

Traditionally these ales are drunk very young and cask conditioned with little or no priming so these traits are probably ideal in that situation.
I reckon they're at their best only a week or 2 after bottling anyway.

 

[PostModern]

Traditionally these ales are drunk very young and cask conditioned with little or no priming so these traits are probably ideal in that situation.

That's exactly the conclusion Barry and I came to at the IBU big brew day when he opened a gushing Porter and I told him about my experience with 002. A good cask or kegging strain.

 

[petesbrew]

Had another complimentary stubbie, courtesy of Stuster. A Coopers Pale Ale clone.
Had a bit of a gusher when I cracked the top, but luckily not a drop was spilt!
Damn it was yet another top beer. Big, gutsy and fruity. Total enjoyment.
Cheers for that Stuster :beer:

quick edit: Shmick, your tallie is in the fridge awaiting the weekend. Top Label mate!!!

 

[homebrewworld.com]

Tonight I tasted Homebrewworld's American Pale Ale because I had some nachos for dinner.

Glad you liked it Post Modern.
On bottling day (something i only do for xmas cases) i found out that i only had 10 or so of those carbonation drops left in the packet (from previous xmas case).
So i flew up the local shop and bought some sugar cubes, cut them in half thinking i would rather under carb than bottle bomb.
So yes due to my lack of exp i recon i have under-carbed the batch.
The same batch out of the keg was fine ( i brewed a 40L batch ) and with a touch of wheat in the batch i found the head retention/foam very good.

I am often guilty of spending hrs brewing and get really into making it best i can, only to do somethin like this in the end.

Cheers to all the organisers on this swap, i raise my glass to you.
Cheers
HBW

 

[Stuster]

Glad you liked it, pete. :super:

Not sure I like the gusher bit though. Hmm, could have been just that bottle I guess as the rest of the batch is not overcarbed at all. :unsure:

 

[petesbrew]

Glad you liked it, pete.

Not sure I like the gusher bit though. Hmm, could have been just that bottle I guess as the rest of the batch is not overcarbed at all. :

Sorry, maybe it wasn't a gusher. h34r: I had a raspberry blonde of which one of the last longnecks (9months old) painted a friends ceiling pink!
How about it "quickly foamed" out of the stubbie when i cracked it? No worries, though, as I managed to get it into the pint glass immediately with no drops spilt. It had a nice thick creamy head which stayed all the way to the end. Mate it was bloody beautiful.

Good on MHB, I got a package this morning with a Hunter Brewing Co. Hopmonster Magnum, as well as a big bottle of 3 year old Raspberry mead! What a champ!!! :beer:
Seriously, you guys are a generous bunch. Whenever any of you are around Carlo, feel free to drop in for a beer! :beer:
Pete

 

[Punter]

Just opened my contribution for a test run.
Its ready to drink whenever you get to it.
A bit too roasty for a Schwarzbier, the first mouthful hits you pretty
full on, but mellows further into it. Not sure whats caused it to be so
full on, as this is my standard recipe.
Anyway hope you enjoy it and all honest feedback is appreciated.
Cheers

 

[Weizguy]

I sampled (well, I drank the whole bottle, in fact) Schmick's ESB last night, after a bottle of one of my American wheat beers.

I'm not too familiar with ESB , as a style (and I missed that week of BJCP learning/tasting), but always willing to take a beer on it's own merits.

This beer was very drinkable and balanced. Notes of maltiness and chocolate roastiness. I detected some hop aroma and flavour, which gave the beer that certain something that would earn extra points from me in a comp.
As Schmick suggested, the yeast appears to be a little hungry after bottling, and the beer did foam in my glass. It needed a few minutes to settle and a few small top-ups to get me a great looking glass of beer. Good head retention and lacing followed each sip. Overall, a pleasant, complex beer, which reminded me of a beer I had before, but I'm not sure what. It may have been a previous case beer I consumed some time in the last twelve months...and maybe that was the edge it had for me, the allure of semi-recognition. Well done. (this beer consumed from a Nonic glass).

Tonight, again after a wheat beer (good palate cleanser), I drank, and am still drinking #20 Gulpa's American Amber. Carbonation is well-adjusted and the head is persistent. Colour is on the money for the style, IMO. The flavour is great when cold, but as it warms, I detect some tannic astringency leading to a lingering bitterness.
The hop and malt flavours are strong and very pleasant. I get some sweetness and some woodiness from maybe some specialty grain. Was the grain maybe rinsed with hot water above 80 C? I recognise this flavour from one of my beers that exemplified tannins at a BJCP tasting session. Easily fixed and easily overlooked when consumed colder. The beer has probably warmed to English Ale temp, and that's where I pick up the tannin. So, if you drink it in the right temp range, you should be fine. I'm just a bit slow tonight. The beer is suitably complex and looks and smells great. If I was making it, I'd try to put some amber malt or a little (more?) crystal in the middle, and monitor the steeping temperature.
Again, this is quite well balanced and easy to drink. Perhaps a little easier than the ESB, for me, regardless of the tannin. Is this a JS Amber clone?
(this beer consumed from a conical Yank pint glass - from Stone Brewing).

I think the Gose is carbonated already here, but I'd seriously leave it until the end of next week before tasting. As previously stated, and confirmed in BYO magazine, this is a very cloudy and sediment-heavy beer, and mine is cloudier than most. I don't feel that it affects the flavour, in the few small samples I've tasted. I'm happy to sample one and report next Friday-ish; but if anyone wants to jump in first, it's a free world. Be aware that I plan to give my beer at least 3 days upright in the fridge before tasting, to allow settling of the bottle contents.

 

[Slurpdog]

Spent a fair chunk of yesterday looking at the list, typing in yeast strains and highlighting "ready to drink"s... gotta keep myself organised.

First longneck cracked was Slurpdog's Choccy Porter.

Only had a couple of hours in the fridge to chill, but it was at a nice temp for tasting.
This is a nice dark for a winter night, Slurpdog! Poured well, and the head retention was great. (excuse my dodgy pouring efforts in the pic). The taste of roasty choc I found subtle and smooth, and in the topup I thought I could taste cascade? I really enjoyed this porter. A great start to 28 longnecks of indulgance.
View attachment 13567

Glad you both liked it Pete and Punter.
Dead easy to make and the results are always tasty. :chug:

Thanks
Slurpdog

 

[Gulpa]

Thanks Les for taking the time to provide the excellent feedback. Gives me something to work on. My guess would be the steeping temp. I guess the cappuccino milk thermometer is not cutting it :unsure: .

I had a couple last night.

6. redbeard - Pale Ale
I got distracted after opening this and before I knew it, it was bubbling over. This agitated the yeast so unfortunately I got a cloudy pour. Was very clear in the bottle before opening so I would suggest pouring this out quickly.

Colour was very pale. Lovely aroma of malt and hops. The pilsner malt gave a pleasant complexity to the beer. Very tasty.


5. Slurpdog - Choccy Porter
I also had a go at Slurpdog's porter. Agree with others. I got a lovely burnt toffee aroma that mixed well with the slight fruitiness. A very nice way to end the evening.

Cheers,
Andrew.

 

[PostModern]

I won't be rating any case beers this weekend, unfortunately. I drank some nice American dark beers at Scotty's last night, courtesy of bigfridge :beer:. Seeing what the US microbrewers (mostly flying dog) can do makes me all the more impressed with the beers in this case, tho. And tonight, I'm going out to a wine drinker's house, so I think I'll be drinking wine.

 

[nifty]

I've just picked my beers up from Josh's place, many thanks for bringing them back from the swap Josh.

And a big thanks to Pete and all the others that helped in making this swap work too, top job people.

I had a tester of my beer last night and it's good to go, although it has a pretty bad case of chill haze.

cheers
nifty

 

[3GumsBrewing]

Enjoying #5. Slurpdog's - Choccy Porter at the moment, gee it tastes great, Ive never really tried a porter before. I love the roasty-ness at the end.
Got to let this one warm up a bit though Ive found, gets better the less cold it is.
Thanks to Pete for holding onto my case!
:beerbang:

Cheers
DK

 

[ForkBoy]

Well considering I'm just finishing my keg of chocolate porter I thought it sensible to try Forboys chocolate porter.

This beer pours brilliantly and maintained it's head the whole way through.
Carbonation, I think, is perfect, with a fine bead.
I can only describe the aroma as 'fresh' and 'subtle'.
Nothing really sticks out on the nose, even after letting it warm up a little.
I started drinking this beer a little too cold and could only pick up a slight roasted malt flavour, but as it warmed up I started to detect some very slight chocolate hints.
The beer finishes very dry, almost dusty which would be attributed to the WLP007 yeast.
Personally, I prefer my darker beers with a little bit more body, but I can certainly appreciate the softer flavours of this offering.
I didn't think that a dark beer could be made with such delicate flavours but I stand corrected.
Thanks Forkboy, I really enjoyed your beer.

Mine's going to stick out like dog's bollocks compared to this!

Thanks for the detailed feedback, glad you enjoyed it! It is my first time making this one, and the recipe was done on the fly, so I'm quite stoked with your feedback.

I am a bit surprised there's no nose on the beer, there was a 30g EKG addition at 5 minutes - and a total of 90g EKG overall (it was a was also a chilled brew). I guess they're a subtle hop?

 

[Punter]

Had a few tonight so i'm going to be breif

DJR- Dusseldorf Alt
Dark copper colour, good carb with a thin off white head.
Slight malt aroma, medium bodied, malty with a slightly lingering bitterness.
Nice beer, thanks mate.

T.D's Honey brown lager
Its brown, its a lager, and has a slight honey flavour!
First time i've tried a beer with honey in it and I enjoyed it very much.
Another nice beer, thanks.

Schmick's special bitter
Foamed up a bit on pouring, but settled pretty quick.
Malty with good hop balance. Nice head and lacing.
Good work, thanks. Top looking label too mate.

Gulpa's American Amber
Nice coppery/amber colour.Thin off white head with a little
chill haze. Nice citrusy aroma, maltywith good hop flavour
and bitterness. Has a peppery note a bit like EKG.
Once again nice beer, thanks.

Had these four brews tonight in between some of my own beers, so
i'm feeling pretty good about now.
Sorry about the pretty poor feedback i'm giving, but I cant describe
these things to well.
Thanks again guys top beers.