The Bi-Annual Brog Update
As I inch towards six months of inactivity, I feel the bi-annual instinct to brog.
The draft system is up and running, as of last month! I've been enjoying my Oktoberfest, finally, after lagering it for many months. Slated to replace it is a low-strength pyment, made with Chablis grape must and honey, for a lighter mead champagne. After that, my first true lager will have finished a good long lagering phase. It was a very simple recipe...about 9 lbs of American pils malt, bittered to 10-20 IBUs, and finished with an ounce of Saaz at the end of the boil, and fermented right around 50 degrees F with a dry lager strain, Fermentis S-23. I'm not expecting brilliance, but it should be a nice drinkable beer, likely with some obvious defects that will show me where I need to shore up my technique and process. Mild beers like that are excellent for exposing flaws...no huge flavours to hide behind.
A pumpkin ale that I threw together a few months ago has proven to be somewhat ill-advised. It was fairly basic, the remainder of my British pale malt with mashed pumpkin, lightly hopped, spiced with the usual spices, and (here may be the big mistake) fermented with some extra weizen yeast I had on hand. The result is phenolic. Quite unpleasantly phenolic. Likewise, the malted/oaked cider might have pulled too many tannins out of the oak...its a bit less drinkable than I'd hoped. Oh well, win some, lose some.
The doppelsticke altbier is delicious though, a great example of a big, bold, and bitter German beer, although there are not many of them, admittedly.
At least I have learned some lessons; save the weizen yeast for weizenbier. Fair enough!
The draft system is up and running, as of last month! I've been enjoying my Oktoberfest, finally, after lagering it for many months. Slated to replace it is a low-strength pyment, made with Chablis grape must and honey, for a lighter mead champagne. After that, my first true lager will have finished a good long lagering phase. It was a very simple recipe...about 9 lbs of American pils malt, bittered to 10-20 IBUs, and finished with an ounce of Saaz at the end of the boil, and fermented right around 50 degrees F with a dry lager strain, Fermentis S-23. I'm not expecting brilliance, but it should be a nice drinkable beer, likely with some obvious defects that will show me where I need to shore up my technique and process. Mild beers like that are excellent for exposing flaws...no huge flavours to hide behind.
A pumpkin ale that I threw together a few months ago has proven to be somewhat ill-advised. It was fairly basic, the remainder of my British pale malt with mashed pumpkin, lightly hopped, spiced with the usual spices, and (here may be the big mistake) fermented with some extra weizen yeast I had on hand. The result is phenolic. Quite unpleasantly phenolic. Likewise, the malted/oaked cider might have pulled too many tannins out of the oak...its a bit less drinkable than I'd hoped. Oh well, win some, lose some.
The doppelsticke altbier is delicious though, a great example of a big, bold, and bitter German beer, although there are not many of them, admittedly.
At least I have learned some lessons; save the weizen yeast for weizenbier. Fair enough!
posted by SQLFunkateer at 8:24 AM
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