Hop Smosh Review

Can a beer with a mish-mash of old hops from opened bags be any good? Probably not. Such is the case with the beer I brewed a few weeks ago to finally get rid of some old hops.

Appearance: Dense, fluffy and persistent white head. Light orange body, with significant haze. Carbonation bubbles visibly moving up through the beer.

Aroma: Not intense. Piney, minerally, lacks fruity quality or intensity.

Taste: Eh. Plain malt, spicey bitterness, minerally quality. I do get a little bit of fruity taste, but not much.

Mouthfeel: Light, moderately carbed, a little thin. Could use some crystal malt or a more flavorful base like MO or Munich.

Overall: Eh. I was going for quantity and not quality on this one. But it's not terrible - it's just not good. I wouldn't pay for this beer but I would drink it.

Hop Stew Pale Ale

I had a bunch of opened hop baggies in the freezer and I wanted to use them. They're old, probably not great, but eh... I could at least see what happens. I don't have high hopes for this one but we'll see how it goes. This is a pale ale style beer with fruity Sacc-Trois yeast.

Hop AA% and amounts are approximate. This whole brew day was improvisational in nature.

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Hop Stew
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
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Boil Size: 6.88 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.88 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal  
Bottling Volume: 4.85 gal
Estimated OG: 1.048 SG
Estimated Color: 5.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 35.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.3 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU        
8 lbs                 Brewers Malt 2-Row (Briess) (1.8 SRM)    Grain         1        82.1 %       
10.0 oz               Munich Light                                            Grain         2        6.4 %        
10.0 oz               Victory Malt (25.0 SRM)                  Grain         3        6.4 %        
8.0 oz                Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM)                Grain         4        5.1 %        
1.00 oz               Sterling [8.00 %] - Boil 25.0 min        Hop           5        20.5 IBUs    
0.50 oz               Tettnang (Tettnang Tettnager) [4.00 %] - Hop           6        1.5 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Amarillo [7.50 %] - Boil 1.0 min         Hop           7        1.2 IBUs     
0.75 oz               Centennial [8.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min       Hop           8        1.0 IBUs     
0.25 oz               Chinook [11.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min         Hop           9        0.4 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Lemon Drop [4.60 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  2 Hop           10       5.1 IBUs     
0.50 oz               Simcoe [11.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  20.0 Hop           11       6.1 IBUs     
1.0 pkg               Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois (White  Yeast         12       -            


Mash Schedule: 154F, Batch Sparge, Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 9 lbs 12.0 oz
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Name                    Description                                          Step Temperat Step Time    
Mash Step               Add 16.19 qt of water at 165.5 F                     154.0 F       60 min       
Mash Step               Add 7.80 qt of water at 202.0 F                      168.0 F       10 min       

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 3.05gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes: Water adjustments - Boston, balanced.
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5/12/16: Starter with leftover WLP644 from my previous batch.

5/15/16: Brewed. Starter had fermented out.

Brewday went OK. Slightly below desired mash temp.

Whirlpooled ~ 25 minnutes, 210F for a few minutes, coooled to 180F, held for 10 mins, then 10 mins @ 160F-140F. Smell was OK - hoppy but not super intense.

Got only 5 gallons of wort into fermenter. Cooled to about 67F then pitched decanted starter. Shook carboy a little to aerate slightly.

OG was 1.049, so not bad, but below desired volume. 

5/16/16, 5pm: Fermentation going well. Nice krausen. Ramped temps to 69F to get tropical esters from yeast.

Home Grown Hop Pale Ale Review

Here is a review of a pale ale brewed with wet Centennial and Cascade hops grown in my parents' garden. The growing setup was not optimal, but the yield was OK for second year hops. This purpose of this beer is more exploratory than anything else.... just to see how the homegrown hops taste.

Appearance: Pretty hazy yellow, with off which, sticky and persistent head. Not sure the source of the haze - chill haze maybe due to the slow cooling time?

Aroma: Lightly to moderately hoppy, Centennial style. Fruity like peaches maybe, but also I somehow get a slightly cheesy note or something, but that has faded over the two weeks the beer has been in the keg. Reminds me a bit of the SNPA Celebration Ale clone I did awhile ago, which is a good sign. Not much dankness in the aroma.

Taste: Similar to the aroma, especially somehow in the aftertaste. Balance is towards bitterness, which is moderate, dank, and bordering on slightly harsh. Hoppy flavor is fruit, but lacking the cheesy quality. (I suspect the "cheesy" descriptor is just a quirk of my palate or something, as I did get the same sense with the SNPA clone but nobody else would describe it that way.) Malty taste is low. 

Mouthfeel: Pretty good body, moderate carbonation.

Overall: OK but not great. Needs more hop aroma, better appearance, reduced haze, and greater complexity. Given that I don't know the quality of the showcased ingredients - the hops - I'm not sure if the beer would be better with commercially grown hops, better boiling / brewing technique, or simply a larger hop charge. In any case I am glad I made this beer and will continue to make fresh hop beers in future harvests.

My guess is that I did pick the hops at the right time, as the beer generally has the right aroma and does not taste grassy or otherwise disgusting.

I don't think I will really do SMASH beers in the future as the result seems to be a bit simplistic or one-dimensional.