Monday, May 4, 2009

Starter and Tasting


So just a brief update on the brewing happenings. The vanilla/wine Brett L beer is happily aging away on it's additions, the Berliner seems to be done with primary ferment, along with the Gumballhead clone. The basement is looking extremely crowded with all my fermenters and beer down there. But, there's still more beer to brew. Tonight I got a small starter going for the Mango/Smoke/Chipotle ale using the newly release Brettanomyces Clausenii from Wyeast. I've been told (from a couple people so far) that my idea is ridiculous, but who cares, this is what homebrewing is about.
I'm also doing a formal tasting for my Cream Ale that I bottled a couple weeks ago. Still pretty young, but it got plenty of bulk aging and is at plenty of carbonation.

Aroma: It exudes some white wine like character full of grape and citrus fruit, a touch of bubblegum. Overall, it's quite clean given the yeast strain/hops/fermentation temperature.

Appearance: This is where I'm really happy. Finally, I have a beer that is relatively clear or just translucent with a plentiful, white bubble head. Color is quite light, an extremely piss-straw light color.

Flavor: The few small additions of Saaz hops that I used come through a bit in the palate, though still with little to no bitterness. Some sweet grain like flavor, a bit of fruit, but very clean. I get a vague rubber like note that I'm unclear about.

Overall: I'm very happy with this beer. I wish I had saved some Kolsch yeast to reuse for something else. I also was surprised by how well it fermented in the low 50s despite the recommendation for much higher fermentation temp. It's really as clean as I could ask for, lower in alcohol than my last cream ale, and just, well, poundable.

No comments:

Post a Comment