Xmas In July Tasting - VIC

[Yob]

Finally getting around to posting some of the reviews i've done:

#1 - Yob’s APA
Would love to see the recipe as a guide to APAs.

Not sure about total recipe mate but that dry but good body is from the step mashing, I'm ashamed of the carb level of it, i aim for the low endear about 2.2 volumes (120g dex) and I really don't know what happened there, maybe I was out with the temp I plugged in or spmething..

Anyway, mash for that was..

10@52
40@63
10@68
10@72
10@78

I find it gives a good balance..

I think the carb really let that beer down though and I really should have been flamed for it

 

[Yob]

I got into the second crate yesterday (sorry not been drinking much of late)

Felt I should get back into swaps and chucked ro55o's in the fridge.

Mine wasn't too bad, I opened and poured right away to give some bottle room, left it for 20 mins and wasn't a bad beer at all. Lovely colour, nice firm bitterness and nice aroma.. I hope we see this one again

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Technobabble66 Old Ale (Theakson Peculier)... well mate, I think the best way to revirw this is to copy and paste the commercial versions tasting notes:

Official Tasting Notes

Short description: One of the world’s great beers – smooth, strong and mellow.
Full tasting notes: The beer that made Masham famous – rich, dark and smooth tasting, with a character all of its own. Brewed using the traditional Fuggle hop, Old Peculier is our best known beer and has a large and enthusiastic following all over Britain and around the world.
Unofficial Tasting Notes

Distinctive banana and blackcherry aroma leading to a magnificent Christmas pudding kaleidoscope of flavour. Rich, smooth and sweet.
Colour: Dark, Rich Ruby Red

My only gripes are it is over carbed but as AJ mentioned let it sit and it settles out fine, doesnt hold the carbonation bite thankfully! Also its a bit darker than the original photos. I havent had the original but reading while im sipping and she is spot on. Cant pickup banana in the aroma but meh, this is a delightfully brewed beer!

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

22. Breakbeer - Chai spiced Milk Stout:

Very impressive mate. Tastes like a chai latte crossed with a stout, but done in perfect balance. The spices work really well with the stout. Could I drink a full batch of this? Probably not. Am I enjoying this as a left-field case swap beer? Hell yes. Well brewed.

Last but not least, great timing actually given it's the festive/Xmas season! The spices are perfect on this reasonably chilly night too, I knew I was saving it for a night. Only gripe would be no carbonation at all, might pour my second glass a bit rougher to rouse some head but I can't see anything coming out of solution.

Well done getting the balance to a point where this goes down well, I feel a tiny bit more with any of the spices would have thrown this off into the wrong territory!

aaaaaand I'm done, thanks guys, now onto the next lot of case swap beers!

 

[MartinOC]

Curious, since we're still on the subject...:

DJ lethal's Chestnut Pilsner:

This is the LAST one of my swap beers to be tasted (tonight- stuff got lost in the move to Kinglake!) from the last swap & now beginning to regret not being able to participate in the current one.....

A little hazy in the glass, but no concerns about carbonation (as previously mentioned). Lovely lacing that goes all the way to the bottom of the glass.

'Can't for the life of me detect chestnuts in this AT ALL, but for a 4% Pils that's over 4 months old, it's a lovely, summer-quaffer that I'd quite happily drink lots-of.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

The chestnuts are unroasted, and apparently more for yeast health than flavour, but I agree I went too light on them that batch. Have since done a batch with 20% chestnuts in the grist (as opposed to 5% in the one you just tasted), which has gotten me much closer to the original Bridge Rd. version I was attempting to clone. Future plans are to try roasted to see what that brings!

Have got a thread here which I'll be updating with my journey on cloning the bridge rd chestnut pilsner here http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/76390-bridge-rd-chestnut-pilsner-clone/

Glad you enjoyed, thanks mate

 

[Mardoo]

I kind of crapped out on giving feedback, but I'll add my two on the chestnut pilsner.

Really well done DJ_L3ThAL. I could taste the chestnut, but as a background, and I really liked having that background. It presented as sort of a richness, which is not something we usually associate with a pilsner (that's the royal we by the way ). Most of us wouldn't have tasted raw chestnut, but it's a very subtle flavor. I'd love to have a try of your new version, not that this will happen. If you toasted the chestnuts they would be a completely different beer. I have an Autumn Chestnut Amber on the cards for when chestnuts come back into season.

The hops really popped on this one. Did you go with popping hops on the new version? I loved the beer and would happily drink too much of it. It was cloudy, and the Bridge Road version is quite cloudy. It was a pretty out there beer to have a go at and you did a great job and your trials have borne fruit. Very well done mate.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Sorry mate should have replied to this way back! Yep sticking with Galaxy for the moment until I find the right amount of chestnut meal. The last version I did wih about 30% more chestnuts and less hops, I preferred it although I used Nottingham at 15C instead of true lager yeast to see how close I could get it, wasn't very the nottingham didn't finish as clean as I was expecting from peoples reviews. I have the second cube of that same batch to ferment soon, will go back to the original W34/70 as I actually found that slightly crisper than the WL Pilsner yeast (800 I think?).