RDWHAHB - What Are You Drinking in 2020?

[Norris!]

I am working through a beautiful keg of my LHBS Tropical ale recipe. It is a really nice drop. The only adjustment was to add the flameout to the cube to adjust the bitterness down some, at first, the first week it was bitter as but it has melded together nicely. Cannot go wrong with citra, galaxy and amarillo...Maybe I do like galaxy when it is blended, to many single hopped stone and wood Pacific ales has jaded my view of it for awhile.

Cheers

Norris

[Beerlust]

43 minutes ago, Bearded Burbler said:

...The texture is bizarrely amazing -  going towards - but not quite - that Guinness/Boddy's Nitro creamy feel... maybe with the high OG thing going on?

It will right now at that current gravity. I'm not safe in the feeling it will stay at that gravity though, thus may create carbonation issues if in fact it is still fermenting.

That said, for those interested, this approx. 1.020 settled on gravity is a homebrew way to somewhat cheat a nitrogen pour at the pub. You can actually pasteurize a beer at this point to kill the yeast & further fermentation creating a final gravity (body) in the beer that gives this sort of mouthfeel.

It's a tricky aspect to create in a homebrew & requires a very clever mind to create a suitable malt grist that will ferment to a certain level & create a certain flavour & mouthfeel at this point, & then to monitor the fermentation to kill the yeast & primary fermentation at the right point of gravity & be able to re-seed the beer or artificially carbonate adequately to reach desired pouring levels.

I've seen my share of pictured home brewed beers & taken note of the recipe profiles & ferments etc. to know that if done well in this space the nitro aspect can be mimicked somewhat successfully to a slightly lower level on the home brew front.

I might challenge myself to do something like this for my winter dark this year.

Cheers, 

Lusty.

[Aussiekraut]

6 hours ago, BlackSands said:

This is my single hop Golden Ale (again) using the new/experimental NZ hop - Hort4337.   

I bottled my Hort 4337 SMASH today. Let's see how it turns out. Tastes promising but we'll see.

 

[Shamus O'Sean]

MJ Pink Grapefruit IPA

There is something not quite right with this brew .  It was the out-of-date pack.  Maybe the M44 yeast was cactus.  I will never know for sure because I dropped in a US-05 late on day two after no fermenting activity.  Maybe a wild yeast nasty got in.  Only 10 days in the bottle so maybe a bit early, but carbonation is pretty good.  Unfortunately, this carbonation also points to a flaw.

It is a real shame because I can easily taste the underlying beer, which is sweet with tang-y bitterness and dry-hoppy fruitiness.

Looks good in the glass though.

 

[Beerlust]

33 minutes ago, Norris! said:

...Maybe I do like galaxy when it is blended, to many single hopped stone and wood Pacific ales has jaded my view of it for awhile.

I'm not sure what Hairy's current view is, but in years gone by he has occasionally quoted a 1 part Galaxy to 2 parts other hop mix in certain types of recipes put forward by home brewers experimenting with the Galaxy hop early in their home brewing journey.

I've always liked Hairy's position on this with this hop starting out, at least until you understand it's traits a little better through more brewing.

Cheers,

Lusty.

[Norris!]

17 minutes ago, Beerlust said:

I'm not sure what Hairy's current view is, but in years gone by he has occasionally quoted a 1 part Galaxy to 2 parts other hop mix in certain types of recipes put forward by home brewers experimenting with the Galaxy hop early in their home brewing journey.

I've always liked Hairy's position on this with this hop starting out, at least until you understand it's traits a little better through more brewing.

Cheers,

Lusty.

That might be the go Lusty. @Hairy might be onto something here, at least for my tastes. I have used galaxy a lot and in a fair few brews alone, I think I got tired of it by itself from overuse. Kind of like having too many...well I cannot think of anything, I am a glutton.

[Hairy]

Galaxy and Cascade is a great combo. An oldie but still goes well.

2:1 Cascade to Galaxy as Lusty suggested.

[Norris!]

Just now, Hairy said:

Galaxy and Cascade is a great combo. An oldie but still goes well.

2:1 Cascade to Galaxy as Lusty suggested.

I might give that a go but with centennial, because it is better...boom grenade thrown!

I have a an amazing bottle of Flanders red sitting here, my only issue is getting through 3 glasses of it...1st world issues. It might be a tomorrow task. I am excited as I have secretly been hoping to try one. I hope I like it.

I honestly forgot about it and then after two beers I remembered and well, two is my limit 99% of the time so I have been waiting, the last two days.

[Hairy]

4 minutes ago, Norris! said:

I might give that a go but with centennial, because it is better...boom grenade thrown!

I have a an amazing bottle of Flanders red sitting here, my only issue is getting through 3 glasses of it...1st world issues. It might be a tomorrow task. I am excited as I have secretly been hoping to try one. I hope I like it.

I honestly forgot about it and then after two beers I remembered and well, two is my limit 99% of the time so I have been waiting, the last two days.

You will only get one glass out of it because the rest will be foam.

BTW, Centennial is my favourite hop but it is different to Cascade.

[Red devil 44]

40 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

MJ Pink Grapefruit IPA

There is something not quite right with this brew .  It was the out-of-date pack.  Maybe the M44 yeast was cactus.  I will never know for sure because I dropped in a US-05 late on day two after no fermenting activity.  Maybe a wild yeast nasty got in.  Only 10 days in the bottle so maybe a bit early, but carbonation is pretty good.  Unfortunately, this carbonation also points to a flaw.

It is a real shame because I can easily taste the underlying beer, which is sweet with tang-y bitterness and dry-hoppy fruitiness.

Looks good in the glass though.

Sorry to hear that mate, mines still in the keg waiting it’s turn, will start to gas up tomorrow. 

[Shamus O'Sean]

12 minutes ago, Red devil 44 said:

Sorry to hear that mate, mines still in the keg waiting it’s turn, will start to gas up tomorrow. 

I look forward to hear your verdict.  If yours was a fresher batch I am sure it will be great.

[Beerlust]

52 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

MJ Pink Grapefruit IPA

There is something not quite right with this brew .  It was the out-of-date pack.  Maybe the M44 yeast was cactus. 

I'll suggest it might have been the M44.

I used this 2-3 times looking for something along the same lines of US-05/Nottingham that maybe offered something a little different or better. Of the 3 or so brews I used it on only one turned out well. Each time the ferment was sluggish to get going. Reminded me of BRY-97 that I just refuse to use again due to it's slow start & failure rate when I previously used & persisted with it.

Each to their own though.

Lusty.

[Norris!]

On 1/8/2020 at 5:51 PM, The Captain!! said:

One of @Norris! beers.
The bridge road stubby.

Aroma: Melon, strawberry, citrus, tomato leaf

Flavour: Gauva paw paw kiwi fruit pepper

Light, good carb, slight sweetness perfect bittered 

Thought I took a picture but hey, whoopsy daisy. 
Norris, I’d be a very happy man if I got that at a brewery. 
I love that the aroma and taste made my mind think. 
finished dry and that’s what I like. 

Great beer mate. 

I just looked at some notes on this beer, it was like a bitsa ale, as it had another 25g blend, so total of 25g, of mosaic, Amarillo and galaxy (shocker) which probably really helped with the complexity. I miss that keg.

[Beerlust]

45 minutes ago, Hairy said:

Galaxy and Cascade is a great combo. An oldie but still goes well.

2:1 Cascade to Galaxy as Lusty suggested.

I give Hairy enough fodder to chew on for ridicule without having to wear the collar of any negative publicity from something he himself suggested.

Just for the record, I'll correct the above...

2:1 Cascade to Galaxy as Hairy suggested. 

Cheers,

Lusty.

[Norris!]

42 minutes ago, Hairy said:

BTW, Centennial is my favourite hop but it is different to Cascade.

I agree, different as in better because cascade is the Gatorade to centennial's water, in Waterboy language.

 

Edited January 11, 2020 by Norris!

[Shamus O'Sean]

31 minutes ago, Beerlust said:

Each to their own though.

I do not know what I was thinking.  A yeast 2 months past the pack's best before date.  I should have chucked it and went with the US-05 from day 1.  Otherwise, I think this would have been a great beer.  I could taste the goodness below.  SO frustrating.

I am not panning M44 yet, because in this case it was old.  I noticed in other posts that others have had issues with it.  I might give it another go later on.  But if it fails it gets flushed.

[Norris!]

I am using it in a brew right now. Slow lag time, as usual, took about 24 hours to see real air lock activity, which meant it probably started way sooner, but still, other yeasts start quicker. So far smells alright, I haven't taken a sample yet as it has been just over 52 hours in. 

Totally agree, each to their own.

[BlackSands]

12 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Maybe the M44 yeast was cactus.  I will never know for sure because I dropped in a US-05 late on day two after no fermenting activity. 

It's certainly not unusual for M44 to exhibit an extended lag time -  it's the biggest complaint with the strain which otherwise is generally highly regarded from what I read elsewhere and was certainly a big seller back in my time managing my LHBS -  as was that MJ Grapefruit kit actually.   I suspect given it's inherently long lag time and the fact that it was a couple of months over may have been an issue - depends on storage conditions to some extent.

An informal blind study comparing four popular ale yeasts actually ranked M44  #1 which is consistent with numerous anecdotal accounts I've read elsewhere:

https://www.rebelbrewer.com/blog/yeast-experiment-american-session

You were talking of possible bottle contaminations elsewhere... is this one of the brews you were referring to? 

 

Edited January 11, 2020 by BlackSands

[Naughty Corner Brewing]

13 hours ago, Bearded Burbler said:

Blaaardy byordiful NB - so what yeast please?

Am keen to have a crack at Saison in the future and am leaning towards Belle...

Mangrove Jacks M29 French Saison Yeast. I got it started fairly low, and just left it on the shelf in the shed, so who knows what the temp got too.

I’ve not tried Belle but a lot of people seem to be very happy with it.

[Pezzza]

15 hours ago, Beerlust said:

It will right now at that current gravity. I'm not safe in the feeling it will stay at that gravity though, thus may create carbonation issues if in fact it is still fermenting.

That said, for those interested, this approx. 1.020 settled on gravity is a homebrew way to somewhat cheat a nitrogen pour at the pub. You can actually pasteurize a beer at this point to kill the yeast & further fermentation creating a final gravity (body) in the beer that gives this sort of mouthfeel.

It's a tricky aspect to create in a homebrew & requires a very clever mind to create a suitable malt grist that will ferment to a certain level & create a certain flavour & mouthfeel at this point, & then to monitor the fermentation to kill the yeast & primary fermentation at the right point of gravity & be able to re-seed the beer or artificially carbonate adequately to reach desired pouring levels.

I've seen my share of pictured home brewed beers & taken note of the recipe profiles & ferments etc. to know that if done well in this space the nitro aspect can be mimicked somewhat successfully to a slightly lower level on the home brew front.

I might challenge myself to do something like this for my winter dark this year.

Cheers, 

Lusty.

That is a pretty cool analysis @Beerlust Lusty!  Very much appreciated.  As an AG newbie brewing free spirit I think I have lucked in on something here rather than via long term experience amazingly good brew design... Beginners' luck I would say maybe ; )

I thought my ferment had stalled with W34/70 but further pitch with a starter made from in-date fresh dry yeast made no difference and also an overnight test batch drawn off and pitched with yeast bank yeast gave no indication of remnant fermentables.  And the current SG is similar.  I don't think I am getting any ongoing ferment.

So am pretty sure that this FG was the big amount of grain that I had added and the resultant 1067 OG...   I wanted a high ABV Ur Bock and only got to 6.1% so was a bit flummoxed but once it was gassed up I was just overwhelmed with the amazing creamy top.  I did have a kilo of wheat in the mix as well and my normal crush which is quite coarse.... all ended up a very nice result albeit quite filling

 

 

[BlackSands]

On 1/9/2020 at 7:43 PM, Bearded Burbler said:

What I am wondering... is whether I can brew my AG Stout - Carb it with C02 - and then on the keg-pour,  do it with pure Nitrogen to deliver the festive creamy Guinness-like cascading bubble result?

Of course there's always the poor man's alternative, injecting air (80% nitrogen) straight into the glass with a syringe!  I've never actually tried it myself but I've heard it can  produce an instant thick creamy head to a beer that lasts.   

 

 

Guiness actually used to manufacture a purpose-built syringe for home use: 

 

[Pezzza]

That's pretty interesting @BlackSands! I think I will try to chase up a supplier of the beer gas in the longer term ; )

[Spudley]

Taste test of the Czech Pilsner all of 16 days young from Keg , coming along nicely, floral notes from the Sazz is certainly there once it mellows ages I reckon it’ll be great  

[Pezzza]

1 minute ago, Spudley said:

Taste test of the Czech Pilsner all of 16 days young from Keg , coming along nicely, floral notes from the Sazz is certainly there once it mellows ages I reckon it’ll be great

Nice one Spudley!  A lovely drop for a quiet Sunday evening eh?!

[Spudley]

Yep , you know how it is, to bloody impatient to wait , just gotta have a taste.  I'm my worst enemy