I bottled what I'm going to call the ESB on Saturday afternoon. Owing to a bit of imprecision over how much equals five gallons in the new glass carboy, I only had about four gallons and change of liquid which translated to 40 bottles. Actually, there was a bit more in the bottling bucket, but I had only sterilized 40 bottles, so that was all that went in. What to do with about a glass and a half of fermented, yet uncarbonated beer? Why, drink it, of course. I remain rather pleased and optimistic. Can't recall the color precisely off hand, but I do know that I tasted a bit of blackberry and raisin. This is similar to what I get from Fuller's bottled version of ESB, so I think I'm safe in dubbing it such.
Meanwhile, I'm having a glass of the Hefeweizen. It's been in the bottle long enough that it ought to have conditioned properly and I was quite pleased to see it pour with a nice full, rich head. It still tastes way too thick and underfermented, but it's good enough that it can be called a noble failure at worst.
Going to cook up some porter this weekend. In my head, I keep thinking of that as one of my favorite styles and yet I rarely drink it. I'm going to take one liberty with the instructions (still brewing from a kit). They have me putting the Cluster hops in for a full 60 minutes and then adding some Cascade at the end of the boil. I'm going to stagger the boiling hops in 15 minute increments. I'm hoping this gives the hop a bit more dimension. I'm also going to try that the next time I make Weissbier. That's one of the cool things about making beer: there's always room for improvement and always plenty of incentive. I'm not that big of a weissbier fan and yet, now that I've made some, I'd sort of like to make it as good as I can. Left to my own devices, I wouldn't go combing the world looking for the best weissbier I could find, but if I can make something lovely in my kitchen; well, that's worth the effort, isn't it?
This is a blog about beer and anything else that's on my mind. Best read with a beer close by.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Weiss Guy
Finally tasted the Hefeweizen tonight. The Westchester homebrewers are meeting tomorrow and I thought I'd give it a sip to see whether it could be shared with other, um, amateurs. It would seem that it is. Color is a fair bit darker than I would expect for a light Hef. It heads quite a ways into Dunkel territory. Can't blame me for that. I'll just have to see what other wheat extracts are out there. Having said (or typed) that, the kit had nothing but wheat extract (or so they say). Fairly sure that Bavarian Hefeweizen has a decent amount of light barley malt. That could be confirmed with a quick glance at one of several books on my shelf.
Anyhoo. Color is a bit dark, but still rather pretty. Not nearly enough foam, but I had expected that. The fermentation hadn't gone all that well, so I was prepared for an anemic head. Still, I've brewed worse. I got about a quarter inch of suds, which means it did better than a bitters. Quite a lot of bubbles in the glass, which was a nice surprise. Taste was not that bad at all. Something a bit off in the aftertaste and the nose, but nothing that makes it seem poisonous or fetid or anything dreadful. Really just a tiny bit of something-or-other that shouldn't ought to be there, but doesn't upset things all that much.
I poured it alongside Magic Hat's "Circus Boy" and Smuttynose's Summer Weizen Ale. Truth be told, I'd likely be just as happy with a glass of mine as either of those. OK, that's stacking the deck a bit; the Smuttynose is fairly dreadful. Still, it's good to know that the homebrew for which I had rather low expectations could hold its own against something store bought. I'll grab some Schneider for a proper comparison.
Anyhoo. Color is a bit dark, but still rather pretty. Not nearly enough foam, but I had expected that. The fermentation hadn't gone all that well, so I was prepared for an anemic head. Still, I've brewed worse. I got about a quarter inch of suds, which means it did better than a bitters. Quite a lot of bubbles in the glass, which was a nice surprise. Taste was not that bad at all. Something a bit off in the aftertaste and the nose, but nothing that makes it seem poisonous or fetid or anything dreadful. Really just a tiny bit of something-or-other that shouldn't ought to be there, but doesn't upset things all that much.
I poured it alongside Magic Hat's "Circus Boy" and Smuttynose's Summer Weizen Ale. Truth be told, I'd likely be just as happy with a glass of mine as either of those. OK, that's stacking the deck a bit; the Smuttynose is fairly dreadful. Still, it's good to know that the homebrew for which I had rather low expectations could hold its own against something store bought. I'll grab some Schneider for a proper comparison.