What are you drinking in 2023?

[Shamus O'Sean]

Here is my Duvel clone.

Only been in the bottle for 29 days, so maybe a bit early for drinking, but you have to start sampling some time.

• Bubble-gum and banana aroma.  Plus some alcohol notes and a tiny hint of citrus
• Colour seems a bit off for a mostly Pilsner Malt brew.  Although it also has 700g/10% Light Dry Malt, which can darken a light brew pretty quickly
• Head formation and retention is pretty good
• The 9.2% alcohol is well hidden in the flavour
• Plenty of malt flavour, bubble-gum notes
• Very easy to drink = Very dangerous to drink
• I am very happy if this is supposed to get better with age - So glad I tried it now too
• Might have to source a commercial one to compare

[Kegory]

9 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Here is my Duvel clone.

Only been in the bottle for 29 days, so maybe a bit early for drinking, but you have to start sampling some time.

• Bubble-gum and banana aroma.  Plus some alcohol notes and a tiny hint of citrus
• Colour seems a bit off for a mostly Pilsner Malt brew.  Although it also has 700g/10% Light Dry Malt, which can darken a light brew pretty quickly
• Head formation and retention is pretty good
• The 9.2% alcohol is well hidden in the flavour
• Plenty of malt flavour, bubble-gum notes
• Very easy to drink = Very dangerous to drink
• I am very happy if this is supposed to get better with age - So glad I tried it now too
• Might have to source a commercial one to compare

Out of 10, Shamus?

[DavidM]

Coopers Real Ale

First of a new batch, very nice

Too busy drinking it to get a good photo, can't see bubbles but they are there!

[NBillett09]

53 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Coopers Real Ale

First of a new batch, very nice

Too busy drinking it to get a good photo, can't see bubbles but they are there!

Beautiful colour!

[Shamus O'Sean]

9 hours ago, Kegory said:

Out of 10, Shamus?

18 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Here is my Duvel clone.

Only been in the bottle for 29 days, so maybe a bit early for drinking, but you have to start sampling some time.

• Bubble-gum and banana aroma.  Plus some alcohol notes and a tiny hint of citrus
• Colour seems a bit off for a mostly Pilsner Malt brew.  Although it also has 700g/10% Light Dry Malt, which can darken a light brew pretty quickly
• Head formation and retention is pretty good
• The 9.2% alcohol is well hidden in the flavour
• Plenty of malt flavour, bubble-gum notes
• Very easy to drink = Very dangerous to drink
• I am very happy if this is supposed to get better with age - So glad I tried it now too
• Might have to source a commercial one to compare

Hey Kegory, It might be too early to score this one.  It is supposed to be aged for a few months.  However, it was very nice already.

For what it is now, I think it is an easy 8/10.  That might get better with age.

For what it was meant to be - a Duvel, I think it will be lower because I made some errors through the brew day that made it drift away from the intended beer:

• It was meant to be a 23 litre batch but turned out to be 13.4 litres
• It was meant to be 33 IBU but I forgot to adjust the hop amounts to account for the lower batch volume.  Therefore, the bitterness of the brew was around 53 IBU.  This would make a high ABV beer more balanced, which may be why this sample tasted quite good.
• Again, forgetting to allow for the reduced batch size, I added the planned 600g of Dextrose
• The specific gravity before pitching yeast was too low, so I added 700g of Light Dry Malt to bring it up to OG 1.070.  Plus I actually overshot that to 1.072

A side-by-side with a Duvel will be interesting.

 

[Kegory]

This exbeeriment was suggested by Pale Man in another thread where several people were advising me not to tip the freshly primed and capped bottles (which I had done on some previous occasions to dissolve any sugars stuck in the neck of the bottle) due to the increased risk of oxidization. So, I tipped a few of the bottles post capping and marked them to compare with untipped bottles.

What I am looking for is a stale or cardboardy taste from oxidization. I'm not expecting to find any, not because I doubt the advice but because, A, I don't think enough time has elapsed for any oxidization to become noticeable, and, B, the acetaldehyde is prominent in this one and I expect it to blanket any oxidization effects.

008, Fuku Japanese Lager, bottled 13/8/23. Both bottles were primed with dextrose and after 18 days conditioning and about a month of lagering were returned to the conditioning cave for another two weeks to see if the will carbonate a little more. On the left is the tipped bottle, which was poured first, and on the right the untipped bottle.

Well, the extra conditioning didn't seem to do much. The low carbonation must be due to the dosage. The tipped bottle has more of a head.

The tipped bottle was also the second from last bottled. The trub was very loose/unstable and I was a little nervous about the last few but it poured really clear after a long lagering. (On top up they both came out cloudy.)

On first impression the tipped bottle smells slightly sour. But it also has a stronger aroma than the untipped bottle. It also has a slightly sour taste compared to the other bottle. I think that's just the acetaldehyde with a bit more carbonation.

Sour is not an oxidization effect, is it?

I'm marking this down as "inconclusive" unless someone can assure me that sourness = oxidization.

Edited November 19, 2023 by Kegory
?

[Brauhaus Fritz]

“Nanook’s Real Ale” Vietnamese style, nice afternoons drink

[Uhtred Of Beddanburg]

Bearded Dragon APA with 50 gram citra dry hop in keg. Poured from pluto gun in the shed fridge. Yet to finish refreshing the keggerator.

[Uhtred Of Beddanburg]

@Brauhaus Fritz by Vietnamese style u mean with ice?

[Back Brewing]

18 minutes ago, Uhtred Of Beddanburg said:

Bearded Dragon APA with 50 gram citra dry hop in keg. Poured from pluto gun in the shed fridge. Yet to finish refreshing the keggerator.

So do you dry hop as soon as you fill the keg?

[Uhtred Of Beddanburg]

15 minutes ago, Back Brewing said:

So do you dry hop as soon as you fill the keg?

yes I use a hop tube metal fine mesh. Fill the keg gas connected and purge as normal.

2 days later take it out with sanitised hand and arm. Purge again and gas fast or slow depending on my needs. 

On the past I have also drank some of the keg after gassed it then decided it needed more flavour. So just done same thing after was gassed for few days both methods work.

Makes more sense to do it while keg if know it needs more.  I find with the weight of tube it sinks too much in fermenter into the trube. Was not as happy with the results doing it that way.

 

Edited November 20, 2023 by Uhtred Of Beddanburg

[jennyss]

1 hour ago, Uhtred Of Beddanburg said:

by Vietnamese style u mean with ice

@Brauhaus Fritz, I too am wondering what is Vietnamese style nanook's real ale.

[Kegory]

1 hour ago, Uhtred Of Beddanburg said:

yes I use a hop tube metal fine mesh. Fill the keg gas connected and purge as normal.

2 days later take it out with sanitised hand and arm. Purge again and gas fast or slow depending on my needs. 

On the past I have also drank some of the keg after gassed it then decided it needed more flavour. So just done same thing after was gassed for few days both methods work.

Makes more sense to do it while keg if know it needs more.  I find with the weight of tube it sinks too much in fermenter into the trube. Was not as happy with the results doing it that way.

 

I read today on another forum that Star San/Stellar San does not sanitize skin.

I'll keep doing it anyway.

[Uhtred Of Beddanburg]

4 minutes ago, Kegory said:

I read today on another forum that Star San/Stellar San does not sanitize skin.

I'll keep doing it anyway.

I've never had a problem doing it. Yes our skin does contain oils etc that sanitiser will not mask.

The way I see it is the less time it makes contact the better. I don't dangle my arm in the keg for minutes on end that's for sure. 

In to grab the tube and straight out

[Classic Brewing Co]

5 minutes ago, Kegory said:

I read today on another forum that Star San/Stellar San does not sanitize skin.

I'll keep doing it anyway.

Well I wouldn't worry about that to much, just someone's opinion, 

[Kegory]

2 minutes ago, Uhtred Of Beddanburg said:

I've never had a problem doing it. Yes our skin does contain oils etc that sanitiser will not mask.

The way I see it is the less time it makes contact the better. I don't dangle my arm in the keg for minutes on end that's for sure. 

In to grab the tube and straight out

I haven't stuck my hand or my arm in yet but I dip or spray my hands before I touch anything that's going to come into contact with anything that's going into the fermenter or the bottle.

[Kegory]

2 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Well I wouldn't worry about that to much, just someone's opinion, 

Nah, he's pretty reliable and well informed. Some people you don't worry too much about but other people are worth listening to.

I'm still going to sanitize my hands, better safe than sorry. At least I'll be counteracting anything else I may have touched in the meantime. It's just handy to understand the limits of the substances I'm working with.

[Brauhaus Fritz]

2 hours ago, Uhtred Of Beddanburg said:

@Brauhaus Fritz by Vietnamese style u mean with ice?

Yep

[NBillett09]

7 minutes ago, Kegory said:

Nah, he's pretty reliable and well informed. Some people you don't worry too much about but other people are worth listening to.

I'm still going to sanitize my hands, better safe than sorry. At least I'll be counteracting anything else I may have touched in the meantime. It's just handy to understand the limits of the substances I'm working with.

I see two options:

1- just spray the ethanol sanitizer all over your hands thoroughly and call it done

2- even better, put on powder free gloves, then sanitize with the ethanol spray also

 

Shamus mentioned using option 2 in a past thread in relation to fishing out a dry hop sock from the FV, seems like a good idea to me! 

[Uhtred Of Beddanburg]

16 minutes ago, Brauhaus Fritz said:

Yep

I do that on warm days sometimes it's more refreshing 

[Brauhaus Fritz]

6 hours ago, Uhtred Of Beddanburg said:

I do that on warm days sometimes it's more refreshing 

Agreed, it was really nice

[Classic Brewing Co]

9 hours ago, NBillett09 said:

I see two options:

1- just spray the ethanol sanitizer all over your hands thoroughly and call it done

2- even better, put on powder free gloves, then sanitize with the ethanol spray also

 

Shamus mentioned using option 2 in a past thread in relation to fishing out a dry hop sock from the FV, seems like a good idea to me! 

I spray it on everything, I have been doing it for years, I have seen Gash & a few others do it as well.

If your hands are clean in the first place it is just extra reassurance.

[Kegory]

Last night's (not this morning's) Taste Test Challenge: 004, Coopers Dark Ale, bottled 12/6/23, vs Coopers Brewery Dark Ale, Best After 24/4/22 (poured first).

It's been a couple of months since these have gone head to head and I reckon both of them have improved. Maybe it's just me on the day but that was the last bottle of the Brown that I got for these taste tests but by golly was it nice. Rich, smooth, malty with a little roastiness, a very very nice beer.

004 has improved, too. The chloramine twang still subdued the flavours and aromas but it has faded further. That's the last of the 568ml bottles but I've still got a lot in 750ml bottles. I'll put a few in the aging fridge but I doubt the rest will survive the peak Summer temperatures so I'll be drinking a few more between now and Chrissy.

[Pale Man]

First taste of All In Brewing IPA FWK. I did a big dry hop with Superdelic and Cascade. It's definitely too young to drink considering nearly 100 grams of hops added 5 days into fermentation. From memory I think I added some Cashmere.

She's a big big beer. Closer to a NEIPA. Very bloody tasty. But at four days in the keg needs to settle a bit. That's not going to happen this is delicious.

 

[Back Brewing]

13 minutes ago, Pale Man said:

First taste of All In Brewing IPA FWK. I did a big dry hop with Superdelic and Cascade. It's definitely too young to drink considering nearly 100 grams of hops added 5 days into fermentation. From memory I think I added some Cashmere.

She's a big big beer. Closer to a NEIPA. Very bloody tasty. But at four days in the keg needs to settle a bit. That's not going to happen this is delicious.

 

Patience grasshopper patience