Cider and Kölsch Bottled

Last night I attempted an ambitious bottling session...first the Honey Kölsch, then the cider. 10 full gallons of brew bottled and conditioning. The Kölsch was nice...the honey taste was either faded into oblivion, or was subtly enhancing the other flavour components. I had worried the addition of honey might veer the beer away from the traditional, approachable pseudo-lager type that I was aiming for, but thankfully that is not the case. However, the finish is decidedly wheaty, which I find pleasant, but others who dislike wheat beer may not. This is somewhere between a regular beer and a wheat beer in that it uses some wheat malt but only a small percentage. It is very clear and light gold...a beautiful beer that hopefully will have a nice head as well. After three weeks conditioning at room temperature it will be placed in the fridge for cold conditioning.

The cider was very interesting...a pinkish, purplish hue of red (thanks to the blackcurrant nectar and cranberry juice) with a tart, acidic, and winey nose. I liked it much more this time...the individual fruits don't stand out admittedly, but it seems more melded and interesting. Dry and wine-like is what I would describe this as...and definately refreshingly acidic. Potent, too. Probably about two times as strong as a standard strength beer, so caveat emptor, and pour accordingly. Its also conditioning...I wanted to carbonate the cider. It will be very dry, and not sweet like many people expect hard cider to be, but this isn't sorbated, artificially carbonated, sweetened macro-cider...this is real, artisanal cider, to be laid down and enjoyed over time. I think the first bottle opened will be on New Years, as a substitute for champagne...another tart, dry, and bubbly beverage.

Up next, mead, mead and more mead. Yes, the one in the primary right now, a high gravity base cyser to be racked upon a bed of fresh ginger, is still bubbling away. It will become a "Zingemel", ginger mead. Today I went to the Farmer's Market and bought some extraordinarily fresh ginger root, much better looking than the stuff at Hyvee, for half the price that it sells for there. I also looked for cherries for a cherry mel, but they are past season I'm fairly certain. I'm almost positive I will be using cherries to make the next mead, a cherry melomel. I purchased a couple packets of Lalvin 71B Narbonne yeast which works great with melomels and gives a softer, sweeter taste profile with less acidity. I might go crazy and use 15 lbs of honey in that one, to boost the final gravity for some sweetness. We'll see how she does. But the ginger mead is still fermenting, so I'll give it another week or two in primary. It's only been a week, which is no time, really, for mead.

I'm keen to brew again, but haven't budgeted enough for it yet. I'll keep you posted. Next project will likely be Chocolate Stout and Imperial Stout or ESB and IPA. Votes?