Two birds taco beer

[Ferg]

Gave this a crack at the weekend. Hopefully it turns out well. The recipe doesn't show the lime zest added at 5 mins and the coriander leaf added at dry hop.
I seriously underestimated how many limes I would need - cue a mad scramble to reach over the fence and grab as many citrus fruits from the neighbours trees as I could... They may or may not have been limes - time will tell!

 

[ScottyDoesntKnow]

Haha they were probably unripe lemons!

 

[pist]

Another nod here. Its a good beer full of flavour

 

[huez]

Nice one ferg! Let me know how it goes! It's definitely a beer to brew when limes are in season, can turn into quite the expensive beer when limes are ridiculously priced.....

 

[Ferg]

Sorry this has taken me so long to reply to.
Colour: Mine on the right which is clearly a bit too dark.
Aroma: Lacking that hop hit which I cannot get with any of my beers - hard to describe, while this beer is certainly hoppy it just doesnt smell as clean (hop wise) as the commercial. Kind of like when you try to brew a west coast IPA and its just not quite there. Perhaps more late or dry hops..
Taste: Pretty bloody close. I had to go another round of "dry hopping" with the lime peel as I thought that was lacking a bit and the beer was dominated by the coriander - I was a little concerned by this at first but I gave it an extended period at 1deg which helped.

All in all a really refreshing, enjoyable summer beer. With a bit more attention to detail on my part (limes, coriander, fresh hops) it could be very close.

Cheers to Huez for the recipe.

Edit: on second thoughts I think I might be smelling more of the malt, lime & coriander with mine whereas the commercial is much more hop dominated.

 

[Jrrj]

Thanks for sharing your progress Ferg. I really enjoy Taco beer and recently bought a case when Two Birds had the Dan Murphy's special.

I've also been working my standard summer beer recipe off the S&W PA clones that people on the forum used. For me Taco's darker colour (when compared to S&W PA) is not essential, so I'm keen to add the lime peel and coriander leaf treatment to the 50/50 pale malt / raw wheat galaxy ale I've been refining. If/when I finally nail that, I'll share a recipe and comparison here.

 

[huez]

Nice one ferg. With a little bit of tweaking for your system and process you should be able to get closer.
Interesting that the colour came out so dark with very little carafa in there. My estimated colour for my recipe is 15.6ebc and comes out quite close to the original taco beer.

 

[Crusty]

Nice one ferg. With a little bit of tweaking for your system and process you should be able to get closer.
Interesting that the colour came out so dark with very little carafa in there. My estimated colour for my recipe is 15.6ebc and comes out quite close to the original taco beer.

Mine comes in @12.43 EBC
No Carafa in mine but 700g of crunchy corn flakes.
Screw US-05. 1056 for me.

 

[rude]

Mine comes in @12.43 EBC
No Carafa in mine but 700g of crunchy corn flakes.
Screw US-05. 1056 for me.

Whats youre take on us05 Crusty

I have only used wyeast 1056 once in my Jannet Brown & it came out really nice had me thinking about the 2

 

[Crusty]

Whats youre take on us05 Crusty

I have only used wyeast 1056 once in my Jannet Brown & it came out really nice had me thinking about the 2

I don't know what it is about 05 but I get a plasticky after taste in my beers every time I use it.
Other people cant taste it but I can pick it. I've brewed with it about 5 or 6 times & every beer had that taste.
I brewed the same beer with 1056 & it's not there. I really like 1056 & with fruity hops like cascade, Amarillo & Citra, it really pushes the fruit dominance especially fermenting at 17-18°C. With the lime zest in the Taco, it really brings the fruitiness to the fore & the hop aroma is fantastic.
If using crushed coriander seed, be very careful as a couple of grams too much will over power it. The leaf is a far better option.

 

[huez]

The old us05 twang. I only use it in desperate cases as a backup.

I like the idea of the corn flakes, how does it turn out crusty?

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

If using crushed coriander seed, be very careful as a couple of grams too much will over power it. The leaf is a far better option.

Anyone tried using coriander root? I use it in my green curry, the flavour is different from both leaf and seed (but obviously related). Might have to give it a try in beer.

 

[Crusty]

The old us05 twang. I only use it in desperate cases as a backup.

I like the idea of the corn flakes, how does it turn out crusty?

Corn flakes is more true to the original Taco beer recipe for me.
Get the good brand though, don't go using that Coles brand ****.

 

[slcmorro]

US05 is literally the dry version of 1056.

 

[Crusty]

US05 is literally the dry version of 1056.

It may well be but believe me, it's nothing like 1056.

 

[huez]

I've never been able to find a reputable source that says us05, wlp001 or wy1056 are all exactly the same yeast strains. Do you have info saying that are all exactly the same chico strain? I personally believe they all behave differently and prefer wlp001. Although i can rarely source 1056.

 

[slcmorro]

There's no particular company media release or similar stating they're identical, but this article and it's subsequent references should suffice.

http://saltcitybrew.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/white-labs-001-wyeast-1056-or-safale-us.html

I've used both in a split batch of beer, fermented in the same ferm fridge at the same time, same temp and kegged and served all from the same kegerator. A handful of people both experienced and inexperienced to brewing and craft beer in general couldn't pick either. Every single one of them said it was the same batch of beer - in fact, the drinkers with brewing experience thought I was crazy for suggesting that they had different yeasts.

 

[huez]

And so the war begins! Thats just another blog with someones opinion. Everybody has their own personal preference, Crusty likes 1056, i like 001, you like us05. Who really cares at the end of the day. They all make beer.

 

[Crusty]

And so the war begins! Thats just another blog with someones opinion. Everybody has their own personal preference, Crusty likes 1056, i like 001, you like us05. Who really cares at the end of the day. They all make beer.

I don't get that plastic taste with wlp001. It's just the US-05. I've had a hint of it too with S-189 & was starting to think about pitching rates & poor yeast health.
I'm aerating with pressurized O2 now & still get it with 05. Others can't pick it but I'm perceiving it as a plastic taste & I don't like it.
Dry yeast is certainly convenient but I'll stick with liquid yeasts where possible.

 

[GABBA110360]

us-05 fever