Tina's Irish Not So Red: Tasting

I brewed an irish red awhile back and just got around to doing a tasting for here. It came out really good, I except it came out brown instead of red. The lovibond on roasted barley I used was alot darker than what was specified in the recipe. I adjusted for it but not enough, Next time I will pull it back a little more. Overall I am very happy with this beer. The roasted character might turn off non-craft beers drinkers but this is still one of the better beers I've ever brewed.

Appearance – A clear reddish brown and a creamy off white head. Lots of lacing on the glass even though the head dissipates a minute or two.

Smell – A slight malty aroma.

Taste – A balance of malt and roast. Just barely any hop taste there, just enough to balance the crystal malt. Very happy with this even though it came out more roasty than it was supposed to.

Mouthfeel – A dry medium bodied beer. The roast sits in the back of your mouth after you swallow. A  slight prickle from the medium-low carbonation.

Brewing Notes -  Tina's Irish Red Ale

My First Pelicle and A Cucumber Wheat

This post is updates on several beers, first this previous post  when I brewed an American Wheat half of which is destined for cucumbers. Well the time has come! I racked it onto about 3 pounds or so of peeled and sliced cucumbers. I'll give it a week or two depending on the taste and then bottle it. Should be delicious if it tastes like I imagine it will.

The other update is I finally have my first pelicle and I spy a second one on the way. My dark Cherry Saison has formed a nice whitish pelicle and my Rye Farmhouse Saison has some white dots floating around which I am sure is the start of one. The Rye Saison had fermentation issues and had a bubblegum taste, hopefully this will diminish with time and with the Brettanomyces working on it.

Brewing Notes - American Cucumber Wheat, Dark Cherry Saison, Rye Farmhouse Saison

Tasting: Dueling Wits

I brewed my Session by Session Witbier and split the batch half on strawberries and left the other half alone. I bottled them last week and the are already carbonated.  I will check back in a couple weeks to see if they matured anymore in the bottle. Both came out lighter than the picture looks, coming as you could wish for using extract. The teaspoon of whole wheat flour I added into the brew kettle as advised in Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing added a nice haze customary to Wits. Overall the strawberry version is my definite favorite. 

Appearance – Both have nice creamy white heads, the unfruited version staying and the fruited beer loses its head after a minute or two. Probably because of oils  in the fruit.

Smell – The nose on the unfruited version has a yeasty wheat aroma. The berried version is a yeasty berry.

Taste – This is where I wish I could of found indian coriander instead of the normal grocery store variety I used, it comes through with a celery taste instead of the bright citrus taste I hoped for. Still tastes like it should, I am just not a big fan of coriander. The strawberry beer is came out exactly as I had hoped, a bright berry, slightly tart taste with a biscuit yeasty background.

Mouthfeel – Light body with medium carbonation, but they should carbonate a little more hopefully. Dry and leaves the mouth wanting more, perfect for a summer beer.

Brewing Notes -  Session by Session Witbier

Tina's Irish Red Ale

A friend requested I brew an Irish red up for her. So here it is, a nice Irish Red Ale based off Jamil's recipe. Everytime I read or use another one of Jamil's recipes it keeps reminding me to pick up his book Brewing Classic Styles. This beer has a simple malt bill that I decreased the amounts of special grains and added some Dextrine malt. The reason is because his recipes are made for 6 gallon batchs and I'm brewing a 5 gallon batch. I added the Dextrine malt because I've had issues with my beer coming out thin lately. 

Specifics 
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Anticipated SRM: 4.7
Anticipated IBU: 18.9
Wort Boil Time: 60
Original Gravity:  1.045

Grain
3 lbs Extra Light DME
4 lb American 2 Row
4 oz Roasted Barley
4.5 oz Crystal Malt 120
4.5 oz Crystal Malt 40
5 oz Dextrine Malt

Hops
.15  oz Warrior (16.7%) @ 50 min
1 oz Northern Brewer (9.3%) @ 60 min

 Yeast
Dry Nottingham Ale

Modern Sahti

After reading an article in BYO, a section in Radical Brewing and then listening to a Basic Brewing podcast featuring Finnish Style Juniper beers, I was hooked. I attempted to formulate a modern Sahti recipe. Something that could be enjoyed with our modern palate, not wanting something to offputting. Traditionally Sahti is not boiled during the brewing process, but I decided to boil it but only did a 30 minute boil. The only thing I wish I had done looking back is pitch a little Brett with the yeast. I pitched Safale S-33. I felt its qualities would lend itself to how the original Sahti yeast behaves. Sahti brewers uses a special bread yeast that is fast fermenting, stays cloudy, and has some estery overtones somewhere between a Hefeweisen and a Belgian.

Now somehow my Beersmith file is missing. So my notes are gone. So I can give you what I remember. The malt bill was 4oz of the Applewood Smoked Malt, 8 or more ounces of Flaked Rye, a small amount of Crystal 120 and 4 to 6 ounces of Chocolate Malt. 3 pounds of extra light DME were used in the boil. I really wish I had the notes on this brew. I used .3 ounce of Northen Brewer hops at 30 minutes and a .5 ounce of uncrushed juniper berries for the last  5 minutes of the mash. Then another .5 ounce of crushed juniper berries 10 minutes from the end of the boil. This was only a 3 gallon batch. Hopefully the juniper won't be overbearing, that is the main thing I am worried about.