Hefeweissen #3 Review

This is my third Hefeweissen, but the first to use my temp-controlled fridge to ensure the "right" temperature of 62F during fermentation.

I was a bit afraid since I stupidly set the wrong program running on my HTC-1000+, which started ramping up from 62F a day too early. But, this yeast was a very vigorous fermenter and my guess is that most of the fermentation occurred within the first two days, when the beer was indeed held at 62F. Also I did wonder with such a vigorous fermentation and the temperature probe taped to the side of the carboy, whether the temp in the middle of the carboy would be significantly higher. I suppose though that the taste of the beer will ultimately be the best indicator of whether the process was correct.

Appearance: Light, hazy orange with fluffy, white and persistent foam. Good lacing. Appropriately cloudy. (The first few pours from the keg were too yeasty giving the beer a nasty white-gray appearance and overly yeasty taste, but at this point the level of yeast in the beer is correct.)
 
Aroma: Yeasty, a little phenolic, slightly bready. What I would expect from a Hefeweisen. Doesn't have a strong banana or bubblegum aroma. Overall pretty restrained but to-style.

Taste: Again yeasty, but with a nice maltiness and some bready notes. Some cloves and phenolic notes, but again fairly restrained, as it should be. I might get a hint of sourness.

Mouthfeel: A little too "chewy" for the style. It should be a bit more carbonated, which may also help to give it a more billowing head. Medium fizziness. Low sweetness, so fairly crisp. Yeasty and clove like aftertaste. (I recently got a kegging system but I am still fiddling with it to fix leaks. Will now carb this up a bit to 16PSI for ~3 volumes of CO2.). In my stomach, it's filling.

Overall:  Much better than my previous two attempts. Fairly restrained in character, but none of the great German wheat beers are over-the-top in character, and JZ in Brewing Classic Styles that restraint is important in this style. Refreshing for a summer day, and with a moderate ABV, can be consumed in quantity. Could be a bit more bready - maybe try a decoction mash? F
or next time, run the right program in the STC-1000+.

Lemon Drop Review

This beer is all about the chosen variety of hops - Lemon Drop. It's designed to showcase that hop's character. Also it was the first beer to grace my new kegging setup. Yay! Now let's see how it tastes.

Appearance: After about 2 weeks in the keg it is nearly crystal clear, with a light golden / orange hue. Billowing and long lasting white head that sticks to the side of the glass.

Aroma: Mixed fruity and piney. Gets fruitier as it warms. Moderate intensity of hops. I get a pretty Cascade like character and surprisingly for the name and reputation of Lemon Drop hops I don't get a huge lemony character. Instead it's subtle. I was expecting it to be like a burst of citric acid, but it's like lemon without the overpowering sour / citric acid smell. There's a malt background but dominated by the hops.

Taste: Fruity and well-balanced bitterness. I somehow get more lemon in the taste than in the aroma, but not like sucking on a lemon. Again subdued malty quality, grainy and fairly dry. Bitterness is not overpowering but present.

Moutfeel: Moderate body and carbonation. Aftertaste is bitter and lemony but not strongly so.

Overall: Very pleasant IPA. Appropriate for the summer.
Well balanced and moderately aromatic. Not the most complex or hop-bomb IPA but I do like it. It seems to me that the Lemon Drop hops will go well with summery, low ABV beers that need some hoppy quality. I'll consider using them in the future and maybe mixing them up with some other hops.

 

Hefeweissen Brewday

My previous two attempts at Bavarian Hefeweissen sucked. They just didn't have anything close to the right clovely, banana-y, and bready taste of this elegant and refreshing style. However, that was before I had a temperature controlled fridge with which to hit the optimal temperature of 68F. For this attempt, my focus will be on handling the yeast and fermentation properly try to get the right flavor.

Bavarian Weissbier
5 Gallons

6# German White Wheat Malt
4# German Pilz  Malt
1# Munich

1oz Lemondrop, 4.4%, 60 mins

WY3068 - Weinstephaner Wheat

Mash at 152F, boil 90 min

Expected OG/FG/IBU/ABV: 1.053, 1.014, 12, 5.35%

 Made starter on 5/7/15, it fermented well at 65F, and was dormant by brew day.

Brewed 5/10/15
My mash temp was a little low, more like 150F.

Pre-boil OG was 1.039

Boiled for 90 min.

Post-boil OG was 1.052, so almost exactly on target.

Note: choice of hops was not to-style, but I really wonder if the taste of these particular hops will come through given the low IBUs. In any case the kind of lemony, fruity note of Lemondrop hops will not be inappropriate for this style.

Chilled to 95F with whirlpooling wort, then racked to carboy, and place in temp-controlled fridge set to hold at 62F.

Once pitched, started this fermentation program (Prog 5) on my modded STC-1000+:

•  62F for 3 days
• Then ramp over 1 day to 68F.
• Hold 68F for 4 days.
• Crash to 35F.

There was only 5 gallons of wort in my fermentor after pitching the starter. Crap! I was aiming for 5.25. Well, maybe I will make some top-off beer using extract, but that's not quite optimal. 

5/11/15
By 5:30pm the beer was fermenting VERY actively despite the restrained fermentation temperature. A huge billowing krausen was on top of the beer. Fridge programmed to hold 62F but given the activity of the fermentation it must be warmer in the center of the carboy. Next time and depending on how the beer turns out I may program it for 60F - 61F instead.

Classic Rauch Review

My second lager was a Classic Rauchbier following the recipe in Brewing Classic Styles. I kind of messed up the brewday, ending up with 4 rather than the intended 5 gallons, and as a result the beer is probably a little too high gravity, sweet and overcarbonated.

Appearance: Very clear. Carbonation bubbles visibly rising from the center of the glass. Thick off-white head that dissipates a little too fast. Deep amber in color.

Aroma: Surprisingly not as smokey as I anticipated. The smoke is present but does not dominate. Clearly there is some classic lager malt aroma and sweetness. Does not smell like bacon or ham.

Taste: Again smokey but not overwhelmingly so. Not bacony or hammy. Malty and rich, but somehow it's not as sweet as the nose would suggest. Low hop bitterness. Probably too bitter, given the volume screwup, which reduces the sense of sweetness.

Mouthfeel: Moderate to thick body. Carbonation is lower than I expected, given the likely excess sugar. Perhaps there is not enough yeast left in the beer to carbonate quickly.

Overall: Tasty and refreshing. But, probably not quite smokey enough for my taste. For next time, get the volume, gravity, etc... correct.

Review of Cider

Normally I stick with beer, having only done 3 batches (one mead, and two cider) of other types of fermented drinks. Although branching out can be a good thing for the experience of trying it and learning something new, it's likely that one needs to have at least a few batches of a particular type of drink before the product starts to be really good. And, it can be frustrating for me to try something that doesn't come out as well as most of my beers. None of my non-beer beverages have been great, and sadly, this cider may be the worst of my three attempts.

Appearance: Very clear golden yellow. This glass was from the bottom of the wine-bottle, and had a little bit of yeast stirred up into it. No carbonation bubbles, as intended.

Aroma: Not sure what it smells like. I just smells. I think I detect some sulphur and sour apple smells. Doesn't smell like apple cider should smell.

Taste: Again, a faint hint of appley-ness but lacks good cider characteristics. It doesn't stay sour, but does have a sulphury quality. There's no alcohol burn or strong boozy notes. Quite dry, as expected since the final OG was around 1.000 or less.

Mouthfeel: Thin. No carbonation. Very dry.

Overall: Well, it's drinkable, at least to me. I don't really know what to make of it other than to say that it doesn't really taste like it should. It needs more sweetness, more apple like quality, and more overall good taste. Sadly, I made 4 gallons of it and may have to dump some. I suppose it happens to all homebrewers once in a while.

Lemon Drop IPA Hop Bomb

One of the local brew clubs is doing a single-hop experiment. Everyone is brewing the same recipe, but the late hop additions will vary. Each brewer will use only one late addition and dry hop variety, so that we can get a sense of each hop's chief flavor and aroma characteristics. I decided on Lemondrop hops since I thought I'd try something out of the norm for me. Apparently they have a strong citrusy, lemony quality.


Lemon Drop Hop Bomb
5.25 gallon batch
11# US 2-Row
1lb White Wheat
8oz C20

6ml Hop Oil - 60 min

1oz Lemon Drop, 4.6%, 15 min
1.5oz Lemon Drop, 4.6%, 0 min, whirlpool 15min
1.5oz Lemon Drop, 4.6%, flameout + 15min, whirlpool 15min
3oz Lemon Drop, 4.6%, dry, 7 days

US-05

Mash at 152F.

Expected OG/FG/IBU/ABV: 1.061/ 1.014/ 60/ 6.2%

Brewed 4/12/15
Hit my mash temps well.

Collected 3.5 gal first runnings, ~3.75 gal 2nd runnings, so about 7.25 gallons pre-boil.

OG was 1.046 pre-boil.


At flameout, added 1.5oz Lemon Drop hops, and turned on recirculating March pump. Fifteen minutes later, added second whirlpool addition. Beer was at ~180F. Waited 15 minutes, then cooled to ~90F and placed beer in 35F fridge.

Racked to carboy and pitched a few hours later at 70F, and placed carboy in 63F ambient.

Post Boil OG was 1.060. Spot on basically. Volume into fermenter was 5.75 gallon, including some trub and hop gunk.

4/15/15
Beer was in 55F ambient air. Moved to 63F. Nice krausen going.

4/19/15
No longer bubbling. Added 3oz dry hops.  

No Quarter Smoked Porter Review

Appearance: Deep mahogany body with thick tan head, which persists nicely and sticks to the side of the glass. Opaque.

Aroma: Smoky but not the smack in the face of smoke that a classic rauchbier could have. It's mixed in with some sweet maltiness and earthy hops. Overall moderately intense aroma.

Taste: Sweet malty, smoke seems subdued to me. Kind of some bready, roasty notes, mixed with smoke. Quite bitter in the aftertaste but the bitterness does not taste as strong as a DIPA. The bitterness blends well with the other flavors, perhaps surprisingly. Not too removed from a more normal robust porter.

Mouthfeel: Thick and chewy. Low-moderate carbonation.

Overall: It's very good, but I don't think it's as smokey as some of my previous smoked beers. The flavors blend surprisingly well, since I didn't think a the smoke would go well with the high bitterness.

I am beginning to think that flavors in beer are often more about the balance of flavors than their strength. Here, although it's very bitter, my tongue cannot simultaneously perceive very bitter and very smoky - instead the kind of blend into one. This same recipe but with less bitterness probably would taste smokier. You cannot turn everything to 11.