Vic 2017 Xmas in July Case Swap - TASTING

[TheWiggman]

10. Shortybronx - Sierra Nervada Pale Ale
I'm going to don my constructive hat but I do feel like I'm a negative Nancy or just very hard to impress. I tried this not knowing what/who brewed it (just reached into the fridge) and tried to put together feedback based on 'the unknown'.
In the glass this was a very impressive looking beer with excellent clarity and head that lingered around. A little low on carb. Unfortunately that's all the good stuff I can say about it. Aromatically I'm not getting any hops and that flavour I call diacetyl - toffee-like, minor bit of bread in the background, plasticky and not very much in the way of beer. To drink it's quite off-putting, lingering and harsh bitterness with no dominant malt or hop flavour. I'd go as far as to say this is probably infected and unfortunately a tipper.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

7th July - 9th July Location: Idzy's Brewery - Ferntree Gully

Drink ASAP:
3. DJ_L3THAL - English Brown - sorry guys has come to my attention (thanks Wiggman and mofox) that this batch fermented more than it appeared it would in the bottled. The wlp002 seemed to stall at 1.020 and even after blowing CO2 up the conical yeast cone to rouse yeast, bump of temp and a fresh pitch of us05 it did not budge a point over 3 weeks so I bottled.
Looks like it has woken up in the bottle and they are quite firm so definitely ensure these at the very least in the fridge and if possible drink now. Apologies for the hassle!!


Drink Now:
4. AJ80 - grapefruit pale ale (Ready - drink fresh)
7. mofox1 - Monster Pale (drink now)
8.GrumpyPaul - Grapefruit Sour. (drink now) [Note there are 15 sours labelled 8 and 5 of the American Rye in this case labelled 8a)
9. mofox1 - Heady Topperish (drink now!)
10. Shortybronx - Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
13. TheWiggman - Haters' Wheat[emoji767] (drink now)
14. GrumpyPaul – American Rye (drink now)
16. Danscraftbeer. All mine are ready to drink. Bottled from kegs.




Drink Later:
5. droid - Nefarious Villain; A three way blend of Stouts - let age and put a carb cap on if you can when cold to bump the carb up
6. Midnight Brew, IPA - drink end of July.
11. Whiteferret - British Strong Ale (Give it a couple of months say September)
12. Laxation - Stout, American style. Bottled early June, but has been conditioning in a cold room. Will be better in a while.


TBC what it is and when to taste:
1. Idzy
2. Husky
15. Tahoose

 

[Mardoo]

The brown has awoken! Flee! FLEEEEEE!!!!

 

[technobabble66]

He's not called DJ_L3ThAL for nothing!

[emoji1]

 

[laxation]

you son of a bitch, now i'll have to drink that today. how dare you.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Well, it must be said I have about 6 long necks of it which are now in the fridge. I won't be rushing in to drinking them as being PET and the fact Lethal is my surname...... But to avoid being responsible for some beery mess in your homes I would suggest enjoying asap!

 

[Danscraftbeer]

There you go I actually made a good call drinking that one first because it was the highest pressured bottle. My impression some pages back it was good I liked it.
Re- any recipe details to share on that one DJ_L3ThAL?

 

[TheWiggman]

Just checked DJ and my bottle is tight AF. Chilling as we speak, expect some lighthearted feedback shortly.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

dupe.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Sorry Dan I meant you to thank for letting me know early re: pressure! I truly thought this one had stalled :-| Also thanks for the positive feedback, glad at least someone has enjoyed it hehe.

Recipe:
OG 1.052, FG, well.... should be 1.014
IBU 27.1
EBC 40.2
ABV 4.6%

Grain (Mash was 67C for 60min and Mash out 76C for 10min)
10.5kg Thomas Fawcett floor malted Peal
0.8kg Dark crystal
0.5kg Brown
0.3 Carafa Special II
0.2kg Caramunich III

Hops
80g EKG FWH (60min boil)

Yeast
WLP002 English ale - stalling F&*^*&^&* yeast




Wiggman any feedback is welcome, I might have one myself shortly, I'm going in......

]

 

[TheWiggman]

try the wheat

 

[MartinOC]

Bring on summer and bring on the wheats!

Amen, brother!

 

[TheWiggman]

You missed out on my wheat beer Martin, part of the inspiration for it was your longing for one.

3. DJ_L3THAL - English Brown



Well yes it's rather carbed. From the bottle I'm smelling nuttiness, it's like a Snickers and very alluring. In the glass it's quite dark but up against a strong light the clarity is impressive. To taste I'm getting a lot of Snickers and if nothing else I'm tasting a nut smorgasbord with almond, walnut and peanut. It has an interesting balance between coming across as watery yet maintaining a moderate amount of malt kick, if you could describe nuts as malty. Bitterness is peculiar in that it doesn't seem bitter in the hop sense - sure the hops created the bitterness, but it's not like hops are out there saying "EKG!" and more like the 2 or 3kg of nuts I imagine were added to the mash are going "I'm pretending to be a hop look at me" like a dog at a dining table thinking it's human.
Another good display of brewing DJ, enjoying the variety.
Cons: Could use more oats.

 

[AJ80]

You missed out on my wheat beer Martin, part of the inspiration for it was your longing for one.

3. DJ_L3THAL - English Brown

View attachment 107317

Well yes it's rather carbed. From the bottle I'm smelling nuttiness, it's like a Snickers and very alluring. In the glass it's quite dark but up against a strong light the clarity is impressive. To taste I'm getting a lot of Snickers and if nothing else I'm tasting a nut smorgasbord with almond, walnut and peanut. It has an interesting balance between coming across as watery yet maintaining a moderate amount of malt kick, if you could describe nuts as malty. Bitterness is peculiar in that it doesn't seem bitter in the hop sense - sure the hops created the bitterness, but it's not like hops are out there saying "EKG!" and more like the 2 or 3kg of nuts I imagine were added to the mash are going "I'm pretending to be a hop look at me" like a dog at a dining table thinking it's human.
Another good display of brewing DJ, enjoying the variety.
Cons: Could use more oats.

Had this last night too - agree entirely with Wiggman's review. Fizzy as hell to begin with (tip: open outside or over a sink...), but calmed down into a truely delicious brown ale. I really enjoyed this last night in front of the fire. Thank for sharing!

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Thanks fellas and apologies again for any frothy mess! I'm relieved it is drinkable. As for the nut flavour I agree it is quite full on. Would that be the amount of brown malt doing that? I think it needs a bit of sweetness to balance it out, which it ironically had when I bottled it but it's then fermented another 6-8 gravity points plus priming sugar in the bottle.

I had #13 Wiggmans Haters Wheat late last night, fell asleep so I purged the other half of the bottle with CO2 and am having it now. Very very nice wheat mate, hits the nail on the head for my tastes. Like Schofferhoffer (orange label) with slightly less phenolics. Could quite easily be a wheat that could get non-wheat drinkers drinking them. Anyway which yeast mate and what was the recipe? I love a good wheat in summer.....!

 

[TheWiggman]

'Tis my own concoction that one, I've brewed (tragically) a few wheats and have steered them down to where I would like them to be, which overall isn't all that wheaty because I reckon wheats are rubbish. Except this one of course, it's amazing
A few things contributed to it which are worth noting -

• Ferrulic acid rest and managing pH during mash
• Super Pride, man am I digging that non-hipster earth lately
• FRESH pack of 3068 straight in, no starter. I ALWAYS use a starter for my brews and had to wash the dirt off my hands after pitching on this occasion.
• Keep ferment temp at 18°C until at least half way through
• Of course use clean water. RO this time, no salt additions

My 'Pride of Wheat' recipe was in the database but it looks like it's been deleted (odd). It's a pretty simple grain bill for 23l -
2.3kg JW wheat malt
2.0kg BB pale malt (or JW pils)
50g JW caramalt
9g Super Pride FWH - nine grams, no typo
25g Saaz at flameout

Aiming for OG 1.045 and FG 1.008, 18 IBU. Mash steps were -

• 44°C for 10 mins - NO SALTS, RO water
• 52°C for 5 mins
• 65°C mash, add acidulated malt or in my case about 1ml of lactic acid
• Mash out

I honestly don't mind this beer and dare I say it's starting to turn me around. I'll just have to brew more Belgians and re-align those tastebuds. Actually, I've enjoyed a few HB Belgians using a wheat yeast for a non-wheat beer (Tenich anyone?) so maybe I should do the real thing. For me, keeping the clove down with careful yeast pitch and controlled ferment temps matches well with a ferrulic acid rest.

 

[TheWiggman]

7. mofox1 - Monster Pale (drink now)
Shitty mobile app won't let me post anything in this thread and I'm too lazy to get my phone cord. I wanted to post the pic because the head on this beer was borderline intense: dense, foamy and lacing all the way down my Headmaster glass. Couldn't ask for better.
On the nose I'm getting a very similar character to your other beer, something that's just a little odd I can't put my finger on. After a few sips though that's all gone. Aromatically it doesn't see that hoppy but in the mouth this comes across like it's been dry hopped to the shithouse. Bold, bitey hop crispness that reminds me a lot of Beechworth Pale except more more more. For what seems heavily late hopped I'm surprised it's not coming through in the aroma. There's a frag of pine but a lot of citrus tang going on which sticks to the inside of my [mouth] cheeks.
To me this comes across as an intentionally imbalanced pale throwing dry hopping in yo' face, the IBU:SG ratio is in check but the flavour elements of the hops hold the malt by the throat. It's a bit too far on the scale for my tastes to have a session of it, but I could see it hop heads raving about it in the same way I ask for jungle curries when getting Thai. "Why would you want it so hot?" they say. Because I need it. Just like some people need moar hops in their session beer.

 

[mofox1]

7. mofox1 - Monster Pale (drink now)
Shitty mobile app won't let me post anything in this thread and I'm too lazy to get my phone cord. I wanted to post the pic because the head on this beer was borderline intense: dense, foamy and lacing all the way down my Headmaster glass. Couldn't ask for better.
On the nose I'm getting a very similar character to your other beer, something that's just a little odd I can't put my finger on. After a few sips though that's all gone. Aromatically it doesn't see that hoppy but in the mouth this comes across like it's been dry hopped to the shithouse. Bold, bitey hop crispness that reminds me a lot of Beechworth Pale except more more more. For what seems heavily late hopped I'm surprised it's not coming through in the aroma. There's a frag of pine but a lot of citrus tang going on which sticks to the inside of my [mouth] cheeks.
To me this comes across as an intentionally imbalanced pale throwing dry hopping in yo' face, the IBU:SG ratio is in check but the flavour elements of the hops hold the malt by the throat. It's a bit too far on the scale for my tastes to have a session of it, but I could see it hop heads raving about it in the same way I ask for jungle curries when getting Thai. "Why would you want it so hot?" they say. Because I need it. Just like some people need moar hops in their session beer.

As surmised, it is (and was intended to be) an over the top beer. Not so much with the dry hopping though, at only 2g/L is fairly tame by my standards. It did get ~13g/L late hops (all home grown flowers - Chinook & Cascade) with only a fistfull as FWH. So there is your pine and citrus, the dry hop was Galaxy and Moutere to try and add a bit of fruit to the nose.

Good whack of gypsum though, which is also present in my swap IPA. Maybe that is the common theme? Other than the ridiculous amount of hops used, there isn't much of a common theme. Completely different grains bills, both used Moutere as a dry hop, but they had no other overlap in the hops used. Hop timings were also completely different (IPA had 100ibu of bittering, then 10g/L at 75°C whirlpool and massive 12g/L dry hop, pale was only a few IBU for fwh, then shitloads at 10 & 0min with no chilling and token dry hop). Possibly used Vermont IPA yeast for both. Didn't actually note the yeast I used for the pale.

This was the bonus beer... I was intending to keep this one for myself, but I did make three cubes of it and the swap numbers were, err, my teachers always used the words "has potential".

I'll make you a wheat next time wheatman, I mean wiggman.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Cheers for the feedback droid and mofox. All the acidity was from the grapefruit additions. There was 2L of grapefruit juice (I think this is what really dried the beer out) added to the fermenter after 5 days of fermentation as well as the finely shredded zest of a ruby red grapefruit soaked in vodka and then added (with the vodka) 5 days before bottling. Late hops were all Amarillo and mandarina Bavaria (1.5 g/L each in the cube and the same again as a 5 day dry hop).

I too would have liked the grapefruit to be more prominent.

Had your grapefruit pale tonight AJ. I was absolutely convinced while drinking it that you tricked us and there was no grapefruit and only Brett giving the grapefruit flavour as it reminds me hugely of Brett APAs I have had before, just with no "funk". But then looked back and saw you confirmed there is grapefruit juice in it. Either way exceptional beer, loved it immensely, thanks very much [emoji106][emoji481]

 

[JB]

Kicking myself I couldn't get in on this beer swap, I feel so ... standing on the outside looking in - my FOMO has come to fruition.

Loving the reviews, have been genuine lol'ing at Wiggy's reviews.

Anyway, I've taken the day off so better get my brew on, cheers