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Saturday, September 28, 2019

Cherry Sour Blonde (2019)

This year I picked about 20 lbs of Sour (Montmorency) Cherries and about 15 lbs of Sweet (Black) Cherries from a local Pick-Your-Own Orchard (Highland Orchards).  Previously I had used Sour Cherries along with Cherry Juice on these beers.  The sour cherries have a light colored flesh so only the skin is contributing color - I didn't think last year's Cherry Sour Blonde got red enough.  I'm hoping the really dark fleshed Black Cherries will provide more color than the juice was able to.  I've decided this beer will use 11 lbs of sour cherries and 8 lbs of sweet cherry.  This is compared with about 11 lbs of sour cherries last year.


I'm going to choose 5 of my more mild Sour Blonde for the beer this year to let the Cherries be the star of the show.  I am using my recent tasting notes as the basis for the blending session.  I'm using a slightly larger bucket fermenter for this batch to give the fruit a bit more room.  This will be the following to make 5.5 gal of beer:

  • Fermenter #1:
    • Overview:
      • Aged with Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend
      • Sitting on Toasted and Chardonnay soaked oak for the last year
      • Mix of beers brewed with Pilsner Malt and Wheat
      • Very lightly hopped beers
      • Aged in a very full glass carboy with a vented silicon bung
    • Tasting Notes:
      • Aroma:  Earthy with a mineral character.  Slightly wine like aroma as well
      • Appearance:  Light gold and slightly hazy
      • Flavor:  Lightly sour with a lemon-like character.  Also get a bit of mineral flavor and bit of earthy funk
      • Mouthfeel:  Light-medium bodied.  Fairly dry.  Pretty smooth - no real prickliness.
      • Overall:  The flavors are pretty bold - particularly the lemon like sourness.  Not all that complex as the supporting flavors are fairly far in the background.
    • Volume:
      • 1.5 gal
  • Fermenter #3:
    • Overview:
      • Aged with Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend
      • Sitting on a Toasted and Chardonnay soaked oak added from my 2018 Plain Sour Blonde Blend
      • Mix of Pilsner and Flaked wheat malt
      • Very lightly hopped
      • Aged in glass carboy with 1 gal of head space
    • Tasting Notes:
      • Aroma:  Light, cheesy, funk and a bit of overripe fruit.  Also some mineral
      • Appearance:  Straw colored and very clear
      • Flavor:  Only the faintest sourness has developed.  Light malt flavor with a bit of funk.  It has a slight bitterness.
      • Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and pretty dry.  Smooth drinking
      • Overall:  Light flavors with little complexity
    • Volume:
      • 1.5 gal
  • Fermenter #4:
    • Overview:
      • Aged with Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend
      • Mix of Pilsner and Flaked wheat malt
      • Very lightly hopped
      • Aged in glass carboy with 1 gal of head space
    • Tasting Notes:
      • Aroma:  Funky with a bit of fruit and an almost solvent like smell
      • Appearance:  Straw colored and little murky
      • Flavor:  Very slight sourness with a bit of fruit flavor.  Slight funk along with a bit of mineral
      • Mouthfeel:  Light bodied.  Has a slight bit of sweetness.  Prickles the back of the throat
      • Overall:  Mild in flavor without all that much complexity.  Rough drinking with the astringency.
    • Volume:
      • 0.5 gal
  • Fermenter #5:
    • Overview:
      • Aged with ECY01 Bug Farm
      • Mix of Pilsner and Raw Wheat malt bill
      • Lightly hopped
      • Aged in glass carboy with 1 gal of headspace
    • Tasting Notes:
      • Aroma: Fruity and wine-like with a bit of funk. Also get some malt coming through Pretty bold aroma
      • Appearance: Light gold and very clear
      • Flavor: Quite sour. Malty with a bit of fruit flavor and some earthy/leathery funk. Some bandaid like brett character comes through in the finish
      • Mouthfeel: Light bodied and dry. Slight prickling in the back of the throat
      • Overall: Bold flavors with a fair amount of complexity. A bit too sour on it's own but could be a very nice part of a blend with a milder beer
    • Volume:
      • 0.5 gal
  • Fermenter #9:
    • Overview:
      • Aged with ECY 34 Dirty Dozen.  This is the second pitch
      • Grainbill is a mix of Pilsner and Raw Wheat
      • No hops in this batch
      • Aged in a bucket fermenter with a vented silicone bung
    • Tasting Notes:
      • Aroma:  Slightly fruity (overripe) with a bit of brett funk.  Maybe smells a bit like a white wine.
      • Appearance:  Light gold and pretty clear
      • Flavor:  Lightly sour with a fruity flavor and a bit of earthy brett character.  It has a bit of bready malt in the finish.
      • Mouthfeel:  Light and dry.  Pretty smooth drinking.  Leaves the mouth kind of sticky somehow (or maybe that's due to how many beers I've tasted so far).
      • Overall:  Nice bold flavors with a nice level of sourness and complexity
    • Volume:
      • 1 gal
These five beers all tasted okay (there were no bad flavors) but they weren't all that exciting by themselves.  I think they'll go well together and I hope the cherries enhance the overall package.

I plan to give this beer about 4 months aging on the cherries prior to bottling.  I'm going to back-sweeten a bit and then bottle pasteurize to ensure a bit of sweetness remains.

Blending Notes:
  • 9/22/19 - Blending Day:
    • Added the five beers to the fermenter
    • Added cherries
      • While adding the cherries I discovered that there wasn't enough room with how much beer I had transferred.  I pulled off about 3/4 of a gal into a plastic jug which I'll drink now

  • 11/16/19 - The cherry portion ferments pretty vigorously.  Quite a bit of beer gets pushed up the airlock
  • 5/17/20 - Bottled today.  I've decided to backsweeten this beer and then bottle pasteurize to get a slightly sweeter finish.  I'm using 1.5 lbs of home made invert #2 (made with cane sugar and 1/4 tsp of citric acid) to do this.  Added a pack of rehydrated Red Star Premier Cuvee champagne yeast to carbonate.  Got 6.5 gal of beer which netted me 61 12 oz bottles.  The beer is dark red and has a very intense cherry flavor.  Not much of the beer character comes through at this point.  I'll check on the beer once or twice per week to gauge carbonation levels and then pasteurize.
  • 5/26/20 - The beer has reached a good level of carbonation based on several samples.  Bottle pasteurized tonight in a 150 F water bath for 30 min
  • 5/7/22 - Tasting Notes - This is a pretty boldly flavored fruit beer.  It has a pleasing and prevalent cherry character to it but it has a lot of the brett character that is able to cut through and give it a fairly distinct Lambic-style character.  It is pretty sour but in a way that compliments the acidic fruit and seems like it could be the natural tartness of the sour cherries.  I find it to be very drinkable and quite refreshing.
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Sunday, August 25, 2019

Sour Blonde Blend (2019)

I'll be making a 6 gallon blend of Sour Blonde beer today using batches I've brewed over the last 4 years.  I have 13 to choose from (see Tasting Notes here) and will be shooting for the most boldly flavored and complex blend I can get.  Last year's blend was nice but it wasn't as interesting as I'd hoped for and was not really comparable to the commercial Lambic beers that are the inspiration for these Sour Blondes.

My early batches of Sour Blonde used the Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend.  I re-pitched onto the same yeast cake multiple times in hopes that the product would get more complex.  These beers all ended up fairly mild in flavor and haven't been as interesting as I'd hoped.  In the last couple years I've brewed batches with a couple East Coast Yeast blends, a couple Bootleg Biology Blends, and an Omega Yeast Brett blend.  These beers have given me some more interesting options to put to use in this year's Sour Blonde Blend.


I have chosen the following beers to use:
  • Fermenter #11:
    • Overview:
      • Brewed with Bootleg Biology Funk Weapon #2
      • Grainbill was a mix of Pilsner and Raw Wheat.  To attempt to better simulate a cereal mash I drew off a quart of very starchy wort from the cereal mash and added this to the boil
      • No hops in this batch
      • Aged in a bucket with a solid bung
    • Tasting Notes:
      • Aroma:  Very interesting fruity aroma from this beer.  I get citrus, peach, and pineapple maybe.  Also get a bit of brett funk
      • Appearance:  Golden and slightly cloudy
      • Flavor:  Medium sourness with a very fruity flavor.  Also has a bit of funk going on.
      • Mouthfeel:  Light-medium bodied and dry.  Slight prickling
      • Overall:  This beer has a very bold fruit flavor which is unlike any of the other beers.  Very pleasant with good complexity.
    • Volume:
      • 3 gal
  • Fermenter #8:
    • Overview:
      • Aged with ECY01 Bug Farm.  This is the second pitch
      • Grainbill is a mix of Pilsner and Raw Wheat
      • No hops in this batch
      • Aged in a bucket fermenter with a solid stopper
    • Tasting Notes:
      • Aroma:  Overripe fruit and earthy funk.  Pretty potent aroma
      • Appearance:  Light gold and slightly cloudy
      • Flavor:  Firm sourness along with earthy brett and fruit.  Also get a bit of malt coming through in the finish.  Fruit caries into the finish with the sourness and almost gives the impression of sweetness
      • Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and dry.  Has a bit of bite in the finish
      • Overall:  Bold flavors and quite a bit of complexity.  I think this one is very nice.
    • Volume:
      • 2 gal
  • Fermenter #2:
    • Overview:
      • Aged with Bootleg Biology Funk Weapon #1 and a bit of Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend
      • Sitting on Toasted and Chardonnay soaked oak for the last year
      • Grain bill of Pilsner and Raw Wheat
      • No hops in this one
      • Aged in a mostly full glass carboy with a vented silicon bung
    • Tasting Notes:
      • Aroma:  Fruity (citrus or peach maybe) with a bit of earthy funk.  Very pleasant
      • Appearance:  Light gold and pretty clear
      • Flavor:  Lightly sour.  Earthy funk and a fruity flavor are most prominent
      • Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and dry.  Slight prickling in the back of the throat
      • Overall:  Bold flavor and aroma on this one.  Has a nice amount of complexity which makes for an interesting beer.  I really like this one.
    • Volume:
      • 1 gal

These three beers were the standouts in the tasting.  They each had really bold flavors that I think will marry well together.  I am going to aged this blend with 2 oz of oak which I toasted and then soaked in Chardonnay.

Blending Notes:
  • 8/25/19 Blending Day:
    • First transferred in 3 gal of beer from Fermenter #11 into bucket fermenter
    • Next added 2 gal of beer from Fermenter #8
    • Then added 1 gal of beer from Fermenter #2
    • Added 2 oz of oak
    • Set the beer up with a 3 piece airlock
  • 5/2/2020 - Bottled this beer today with re hydrated Red Star Premier Cuviee Champagne yeast and 5 oz of priming sugar.  I used corked and caged 750 ML bottles for the beer - got 29 of them.  The beer formed a nice pellicle and the oak sunk to the bottom.  It is a nice smelling beer - very fruity (I didn't taste much of a sample).  I corked using a hand corker and Belgian corks - ruined a few corks learning the correct method but I didn't spill a drop of beer, so that's good.  Took quite a bit more time than normal bottling.
  • 1/30/22 - Tasting Notes - Boldly flavored and very complex beer.  The fruitiness of the beer and the acidity provide a very pleasing combination.  I also think the brett character of it plays nicely in the mix. It's balance is quite a bit more towards the acidic character than on Brett and I'd say it's a bit more sour than the famous Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze which has become more accessible here in Pennsylvania in the last couple years.  My beer is good but I think Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze is better
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Saturday, August 24, 2019

Sour Blonde Status Report - 2019

Time for the yearly checkup on my collection of Lambic inspired Aged Sour Blonde beers.  I currently have 13 fermenters of beer that has been aged between 1 and 4 years.  It is interesting to see how these have developed over time (see my 2017 and 2018 tasting notes).  This tasting will be the basis for blending - I will be making a Plain, Cherry, Raspberry, and Nectarine versions this year (read about last years Plan, Cherry, and Raspberry)

All the beers were made using a mix of Pilsner Malt and Wheat but I've experimented quite a bit with various mash techniques (short standard mash or Cereal mash) and additives (maltodextrine and flour) to get extra starch into the wort in simulation of a turbid mash (haven't attempted an actual turbid mash yet).  Additionally, I've used multiple yeast/souring microbe blends in an attempt to get interesting blending components.  Many of these beers underwent primary fermentation with a blend of yeast and lacto bacteria which has typically made a base beer with acidity but also with a SG where there is something left for the aging microbes to eat (1.010-1.015 typically).


I've been ignoring these beers for the last 15 months like a good boy.  I love making things that develop without need for action on my part!  I am excited to be trying these out.

Fermenter #1:
    • Aroma:  Earthy with a mineral character.  Slightly wine like aroma as well
    • Appearance:  Light gold and slightly hazy
    • Flavor:  Lightly sour with a lemon-like character.  Also get a bit of mineral flavor and bit of earthy funk
    • Mouthfeel:  Light-medium bodied.  Fairly dry.  Pretty smooth - no real prickliness.
    • Overall:  The flavors are pretty bold - particularly the lemon like sourness.  Not all that complex as the supporting flavors are fairly far in the background.

Fermenter #2:
    • Aroma:  Fruity (citrus or peach maybe) with a bit of earthy funk.  Very pleasant
    • Appearance:  Light gold and pretty clear
    • Flavor:  Lightly sour.  Earthy funk and a fruity flavor are most prominent
    • Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and dry.  Slight prickling in the back of the throat
    • Overall:  Bold flavor and aroma on this one.  Has a nice amount of complexity which makes for an interesting beer.  I really like this one.

Fermenter #3:
    • Aroma:  Light, cheesy, funk and a bit of overripe fruit.  Also some mineral
    • Appearance:  Straw colored and very clear
    • Flavor:  Only the faintest sourness has developed.  Light malt flavor with a bit of funk.  It has a slight bitterness.
    • Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and pretty dry.  Smooth drinking
    • Overall:  Light flavors with little complexity

Fermenter #4:
    • Aroma:  Funky with a bit of fruit and an almost solvent like smell
    • Appearance:  Straw colored and little murky
    • Flavor:  Very slight sourness with a bit of fruit flavor.  Slight funk along with a bit of mineral
    • Mouthfeel:  Light bodied.  Has a slight bit of sweetness.  Prickles the back of the throat
    • Overall:  Mild in flavor without all that much complexity.  Rough drinking with the astringency.

Fermenter #5:
    • Aroma:  Fruity and wine-like with a bit of funk.  Also get some malt coming through  Pretty bold aroma
    • Appearance:  Light gold and very clear
    • Flavor:  Quite sour.  Malty with a bit of fruit flavor and some earthy/leathery funk.  Some bandaid like brett character comes through in the finish
    • Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and dry.  Slight prickling in the back of the throat
    • Overall:  Bold flavors with a fair amount of complexity.  A bit too sour on it's own but could be a very nice part of a blend with a milder beer

Fermenter #6:
    • Aroma: Slightly earthy aroma along with a bit of mineral.  Very mild smelling
    • Appearance:  Light gold and very clear
    • Flavor:  Medium level of sourness.  Bready malt with some brett funk (bandaid like) 
    • Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and very dry.  Slight prickling
    • Overall:  Fairly bold flavors but not very complex

Fermenter #7:
  • Beers:
  • Overview:
    • Beer has been aged with Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend
    • Prior to this it spent a few months on my Belgian Yeast and Lacto house culture
    • Made with a mix of Pilsner and Raw Wheat
    • No hops
    • Aged with some toasted oak that I soaked in Chardonnay
    • Kept in a Bucket Fermenter with a solid stopper
  • Status Notes:
  • Tasting Notes:
    • Aroma:  Light fruity and wine like aroma mixed with a bit of earthyness
    • Appearance:  Straw colored and very murky.  Quite a bit of yeast in suspension - I may have drawn from too deep in the fermenter.
    • Flavor:  Medium sourness with a citrus and fruity character.  Has a bit of malt character in the background along with a slight earthy brett character
    • Mouthfeel:  Light-medium bodied.  Dry with a slight prickling.
    • Overall:  This is a really ugly looking beer but the flavors are pretty bold and quite nice.  Not a whole lot of complexity

Fermenter #8:
    • Aroma:  Overripe fruit and earthy funk.  Pretty potent aroma
    • Appearance:  Light gold and slightly cloudy
    • Flavor:  Firm sourness along with earthy brett and fruit.  Also get a bit of malt coming through in the finish.  Fruit caries into the finish with the sourness and almost gives the impression of sweetness
    • Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and dry.  Has a bit of bite in the finish
    • Overall:  Bold flavors and quite a bit of complexity.  I think this one is very nice.

Fermenter #9:
    • Aroma:  Slightly fruity (overripe) with a bit of brett funk.  Maybe smells a bit like a white wine.
    • Appearance:  Light gold and pretty clear
    • Flavor:  Lightly sour with a fruity flavor and a bit of earthy brett character.  It has a bit of bready malt in the finish.
    • Mouthfeel:  Light and dry.  Pretty smooth drinking.  Leaves the mouth kind of sticky somehow (or maybe that's due to how many beers I've tasted so far).
    • Overall:  Nice bold flavors with a nice level of sourness and complexity

Fermenter #10:
    • Aroma:  Fruity with a bit of cheesy funk.  Has a sort of wine like aroma.
    • Appearance:  Light gold and a bit cloudy
    • Flavor:  Fairly firm sourness.  Citrus fruit fairly bold followed by a bit of earthy brett.
    • Mouthfeel:  Light and dry.  Slight prickling
    • Overall:  This one is pretty boldly flavored but not really that complex

Fermenter #11:
    • Aroma:  Very interesting fruity aroma from this beer.  I get citrus, peach, and pineapple maybe.  Also get a bit of brett funk
    • Appearance:  Golden and slightly cloudy
    • Flavor:  Medium sourness with a very fruity flavor.  Also has a bit of funk going on.
    • Mouthfeel:  Light-medium bodied and dry.  Slight prickling
    • Overall:  This beer has a very bold fruit flavor which is unlike any of the other beers.  Very pleasant with good complexity.

Fermenter #12:
    • Aroma:  Musty and funky aroma along with a slight fruity character
    • Appearance:  Golden and slightly cloudy
    • Flavor:  Lightly sour with some fruity flavors and a bit of brett funk
    • Mouthfeel:  Light-medium bodied and slightly sweet.  Smooth drinking
    • Overall:  Fairly mild in flavor but it has some interesting and fairly unique elements compared with the other beers.

Fermenter #13:
  • Beers:
  • Overview:
    • Spontaneously Fermented after cooling off in my side yard next to Raspberry Plants
    • Mix of Pilsner and Raw wheat malt
    • Hopped with high AA hops for 15 min of boil
    • Aged with 3 piece airlock which has run dry several times in a better bottle
    • Aging on Oak Cubes which have been soaked in Chardonnay
  • Status Notes:
    • NSTR
  • Tasting Notes:
    • Aroma:  Lightly fruity aroma with a bit of musty and earthy smell
    • Appearance:  Light gold and pretty murky
    • Flavor:  No sourness has developed.  Has a pretty firm bitterness in the finish and a bit of fruity Belgian like yeast character
    • Mouthfeel:  Light and very dry.  Pretty smooth drinking
    • Overall:  Not very interesting or very tasty unfortunately.  Interesting that it's so bitter after almost 2 years of aging.
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Sunday, July 28, 2019

Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019

I plan on blending up another round of Sour Blonde in the next month.  This batch will give me some beer to top up the fermenters with.  I will primary this batch with a blend of Trappist Ale Yeast and Lacto Brevis that I've been re-pitching new beers onto over the last several years.  The yeast produces a fruity beer with a fair bit of sourness an typically leaves quite a few points of gravity for the microbes to chew on during aging.

These sour blonde beers are inspired by the Belgian Lambic style.  I'm using Raw Wheat as is done with these beer which I'll perform a Cereal Mash to extract the starch from.  I hope this helps contribute to a starchy wort like the classic Turbid Mash.  To try to increase the level of starch I'm going to add 0.5 lbs of white flour to the boil - I'll add a little bit at a time to hopefully prevent clumping.  I'm hoping this will serve to increase my gravity at primary.

I'll be using some home grown hops from a friend of mine which are pretty dried out.  They have a nice aroma but I'm hoping the bitterness has faded a bit.  I'll be adding these at 15 min to minimize the bitterness even more.  I'd like these to restrain the sourness from the lacto a bit.



It has been two months since I brewed - hopefully it wont be that long until the next one.

Recipe Details:

  • Grain/Adjunct:
    • 12 lb Pilsner
    • 2 lb Light Munich
    • 4 oz Acid Malt
    • Cereal Mash:
      • 8 lb Raw Wheat
      • 2 lb Pilsner
    • 8 oz Flour
  • Hops:
    • 2 oz Cascade (Home Grown Flowers) at 15 min
  • Yeast:
    • Primary with Trappist Yeast and Lacto Brevis Culture
  • Water:
    • 14 gal Spring Water
    • 5 gal Tap Water
    • 1 tsp CaCl
    • 1 tsp Irish moss at 15 min

Process Details:
  • Batch Size:  
    • 12 gal (Target 12 gal)
  • Mash:
    • Cereal Mash:
      • Rest at 110 F, 155 F and then boiled for 20 min
    • Main Mash:
      • 160 F for 60 min
  • Boil:
    • 60 min
  • Fermentation Temperature:
    • Mid-60s (Ambient Basement Temps)
  • Primary Duration:
    • 4 weeks
  • Secondary Duration:
    • NA

Results:
  • OG:
    • 1.053 (Target 1.050)
  • Efficiency:
    • 73% (Target 69%)
  • FG:
    • TBD (Target 1.020)
  • Apparent Attenuation:
    • TBD (Target 59%)
  • ABV:
    • TBD (Target 3.94%)

Brewing Notes:
  • 7/28/19 - Brewday - 9:45 AM to TBD
    • Cereal Mash:
      • Milled my grain (double milled the raw wheat) and added about 3 gal of hot tap water.  Let this soak for 15 min
      • Heated, stirring frequently, until the cereal mash reached the mid 150s.  Let this rest for 15 min
      • Brought to a boil and then boiled for 20 min
      • I then let this cool down for a couple hrs.  All the water seemed to absorb or evaporate in that time frame
    • Removed the yeast culture from the fridge to warm up
    • Brought 7 gal of spring water up to 170 F
    • Milled the main mash grain.  Added the CaCl to the milled grain
    •  Transferred 6 gal of spring water to the mash tun
    • Added the Cereal mash to the mash tun
    • Cycled through the grant and RIMS until everything had settled to about 170 F
    • Stirred in the grain.  Try to eliminate doughballs.  The mash was very full at this point
    • Cycled the RIMS at 160 F for 1 hr
    • Brought 6 gal of spring water up to 180 F for the sparge
    • Sparged by pouring quarts of water on top of the mash trough out the wort collection.  Collected about 10 gal of wort with the initial sparge water.  Added 2.5 gal of sparge water and collected 2 more gal for a total of 12 gal
    • Started heating after collecting 2 gal.  Had it at a boil after collecting about 6 gal
    • Boiled for 1 hr
    • Added the flour a bit a time once the beer had come to a boil.  Got some dough balls floating through the beer in the progress.  These were fairly small (quarter of an inch in diameter at larges.  They shrunk through the boil
    • Added the hops in bags with 15 min left.  They were papery and brown but they smelled nice
    • Added Irish moss
    • With 5 min left I added the wort chiller to sanitize
    • Chilled the wort to 90 F
    • Drained into two fermenters.  It is a very starchy wart.  Towards the end the draining tube clogged due to a dough ball.  I dumped the remaining gal into the two fermenters taking most of the little flour balls with the wort.
    • Pitched about a cup of yeast blend into each fermenter
    • Collected 10 gal of beer.  Measured the gravity as 1.064.  This is 73% efficiency and at 12 gal the beer would be about 1.053 which is closer to the target.  Added 2 gal of spring water split across the two fermenters
    • Let these ferment in the basement
  • 11/16/19 - I'm finally ready to use this beer.  Took a sample and found it had fermented all the way down to 1.000 SG which is pretty surprising.  The beer has a slight fruity and earthy aroma with a bit of sulfur.  It is straw gold and a bit cloudy.  Very lightly sour (I think my hopping level was good here) with some mineral flavor and very dry.  I think this would be pretty good to drink on it's own as a passable Berliner Weisse.  I am going to use this to top off my Sour Blondes today.  I saved off a quart and a half of the yeast cake for future batches


Lessons Learned:
  1. I had some slow sparging which I think may have been due to the thick gummy cereal mash being added to the mash tun first.  I should have put the grain in first.
  2.  I think the flour being added into the boil really helped the starch levels in the wort.  I'm going to do this again.  Next time I think I'll try to mix flour and water first like described in this page
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Saturday, July 27, 2019

English Light Pale Ale (AK) - Tasting Notes

I brewed this English Pale Ale (AK) in May and have been drinking it for the last month.  It was based on a historical recipe from the "Shut Up About Barclay Perkins" blog - brewed in 1896.  The beer is interesting in that it uses corn and sugar (invert #2) for fermentables.  These produce a light colored and well fermented beer.

I brewed utilizing Fuggle Hops rather than EKG like the recipe called for as I'd purchased a pound to use on my next beer.  I used the While Labs High Gravity Yeast (WLP 99) which is reputed to be from the brewery that this recipe was made by (Eldridge Pope).  This yeast was used to brew my next beer (a big English Barleywine).

The beer has gotten more and more carbonated over the last month - WLP 099 is a capricious SOB if it's still fermenting 2 months after pitching and 1 month after bottling (or there is some infection although no visual, aroma, or taste evidence of that).


Time for a tasting

Tasting Notes:

  • Aroma:
    • Herbal, tea-like, and slightly grassy hop aroma dominates along with a bit of light malt
  • Appearance:
    • Golden in color and pretty clear.  Pours with a 3 finger rocky head that fades down to a thin layer pretty quickly.
  • Flavor:
    • Light bready malt up front.  Get an almost lager-yeast like character from the beer - very neutral with no fruit ester.  Some hop flavor is mixed in (herbal and teal like) and then there is firm hop bitterness in the finish.  This is balanced by a bit of sweet malt.  A bit of alcohol comes through in the flavor.
  • Mouthfeel:
    • Light bodied and fairly dry.  It drinks very smoothly.  Crisp and refreshing
  • Overall:
    • It's nice to have a bitter beer to drink again (I've ended up buying 2 cases of commercial beer in the last few months due to lack of pale ale).  I've gone through about half the batch since bottling a month ago.  This is a really drinkable beer.  Tough to say how it should have turned out but this English Pale ale is interesting in that it has almost no yeast character (could tell someone it is a lager and they'd believe it) - the Eldridge Pope strain (WLP 099) is not estery at 70 F with a 1.051 beer it turns out.  Regardless, the English Fuggle hops deliver the goods - flavor, aroma, and bitterness are all quite nice.
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