Tasting : Epic Pale Ale clone

I'm way overdue with this post. After brewing the Epic Pale Ale clone, based on the recipe provided from the Can You Brew It podcast on The Brewing Network, I fully intended on posting tasting notes for the beer as soon as possible. I wanted a hoppy beer such as this to be tasted critically while it was still very fresh... BUT, at the same time, I was hoping to pick up the actual beer if I could. However, a trip to Maine didn't come as soon as I'd hoped (and when I finally made it there, I wasn't able to bring any Epic beers back), so I finally did a subjective tasting of my clone attempt, sans the real thing.

I'm happy to say that while I can't really tell you if the result was close to an actual Epic Pale Ale, I AM quite happy with the beer. Even 6 weeks after bottling, the beer is still very hoppy and refreshing. The calculated IBUs are also, as I suspected, a poor representation of the actual perceived-bitterness for the beer - the long whirlpool additions likely contributed more bittering units to the beer than my beer software could account for.

Appearance: Pours with a moderate-large, white fluffy head. Slowly recedes to 1/2-finger. Body is a dark, burnished gold, with very good clarity.

Aroma: Very prominent citrusy hop aroma. Even 6 weeks after bottling, the hops are really coming through. There is some sweetness coming through from the Crystal malt, but there’s no doubt this is a really hoppy pale ale. No diacetyl.

Taste: A bit of sweetness comes through right away, but is followed and dominated by the citrusy Cascade hops. Finishes fairly dry, with moderate bitterness. No diacetyl. No real flaws detected.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light bodied, with moderate carbonation.

Overall: A really tasty APA; I’d love to have an Epic Pale to compare, especially a fresh one, but that’s pretty unlikely. Regardless of how close it is, it’s an APA I would brew again. Next time I’ll probably try the Wyeast 1272 recommended by the Epic brewer.

Tasting/Recipe : Donovan Red 2.0

American Amber Ale is simply a great beer style - it gives lots of flavor if brewed properly, and can normally be enjoyed even by the non-beer geek. Normally more balanced towards a malt profile, with an edge of caramel sweetness, the hop presence can be quite low or fairly moderate.

Until, of course, you get to the unofficial West-Coast U.S. version of the style. These beers are usually "bigger" - higher ABV, richer in flavor and aroma, and most importantly, have a very large hop presence in aroma, flavor, and bitterness. There are a lot of excellent hoppy Ambers out there... some that stand out for me are Maine Beer Company's Zoe, Bear Republic Red Rocket Ale, Stone Levitation, and Oskar Blues G'Knight. Perhaps the most-coveted of this style is Troegs Nugget Nectar, but I've never been able to get my hands on it. Either way, I really enjoy this "style", as it has the best of both worlds between your standard Amber Ale and American IPA.

Over two years ago, my third beer that I brewed was the hoppy Amber recipe from Jamil's Brewing Classic Styles. I was still doing extract beers then, and partial-boil at that. The resulting beer was what really opened my eyes to what homebrewing could accomplish... it was really quite good. Caramel-sweet, with a hint of chocolate, and lots of citrus hop flavor. A darker Amber, the head was rocky and long-lasting, and the hop aroma was fantastic. It was so enjoyable that I wanted to try brewing it again last October, but with a few changes to the recipe. I basically kept the grist the same, except this time it was all-grain.

The changes came in the hopping. While the original recipe called for 1 oz each of Cascade and Centennial at 10 minutes and at flameout, I changed the flavor/aroma hops to Crystal and Amarillo at 10 minutes and flameout. I also added 1 oz of each as a dry hop addition for 7 days, to see if I could bump up the aroma of the beer compared to the original. Otherwise, the recipe was about the same, with the Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast. The resulting beer has been quite tasty - obviously the hop aroma and flavor has faded some, now that the beer has been bottled for over 7 months - but I wouldn't say there is a noticeable improvement over the original recipe.

Appearance: Poured with a moderate-sized, off-white head with good retention. Eventually fades to 1/4-finger. Body is dark copper/red, with very good clarity.

Aroma: Strong aroma of musty, citrusy hops. The caramel sweetness is there in the background, but the hops strongly dominate.

Taste: The biscuit and caramel sweetness are up front and center, but are quickly taken over by a strong citrus flavor from the hops. Quite nice, actually. The bitterness is moderate and firm in the finish. No noticeable diacetyl or other flaws.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, moderate carbonation.

Overall: I like it. Nice strong hop flavor and aroma, but backed by an inviting malt character. The dry-hopping was a nice touch. I'd actually be tempted to increase the dry-hopping next time, maybe to 2 oz of each, and go back to the Cascade and Centennial hops of the original recipe.

Recipe: (5.5 gallons, 75% efficiency) OG 1.064, FG 1.015, IBU 65, SRM 17, ABV 6.4%

Grains:
4.54 kg Maris Otter
454 g Caramunich II (45 L)
454 g Munich malt
227 g Crystal 120 L
227 g Victory malt
85 g Pale Chocolate malt

Hops:
Nugget - 14 g (11.2% AA) @ 60 min
Magnum - 39 g (9.2% AA) @ 60 min
Amarillo - 35 g (6% AA) @ 10 min
Crystal - 35 g (1.7% AA) @ 10 min
Amarillo - 28 g @ 0 min
Crystal - 28 g @ 0 min
Amarillo - 28 g dry hop for 7 days
Crystal - 28 g dry hop for 7 days

Misc.:
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient @ 15 min
1/2 tab Irish Moss @ 5 min

Yeast: Wyeast 1056 American Ale (~250 mL of 2nd-generation slurry, cultured Sept 28th) 

Water: Fredericton city water, mash and sparge water treated with 1/2 tablet of campden.

- Brewed October 4th, 2011, by myself. 60-minute mash with 17.8 L of strike water, mashed in at 151.5 F. Sparged with ~4.5 gallons of 168 F water for final volume of 6.75 gallons in the kettle. SG 1.052 (target 1.054). 60-minute boil. Chilled to 68 F with immersion chiller. Poured/filtered into Better Bottle. Pitched yeast slurry at ~65 F, aerated by shaking for several minutes before and after pitching.

- Fast and furious fermentation over the next few days, slowed down quite quickly. Temperature got as high as 70 F (kept fermenter in ice-water bath to keep temperature lower, as it was a warm week).

- 25/10/11 - Bottled with 122 g table sugar, aiming for 2.5 vol CO2 for 5 gallons with a max temp of 70 F reached.

Tasting : Deschutes Black Butte Porter clone

Even though I bottled this clone about 6 weeks ago, I really took my time writing up an actual review of the beer. I've had several of them over the past few weeks, and was a little wary of it overall at first. The carbonation took longer to develop compared to most of my beers. I'm not sure if this was due to pooped-out yeast or not, but I'm quite sure it had nothing to do with temperatures, as the bottles were sitting in a room set at about 70 F, which is my typical bottle-conditioning temperature. After awhile, however, the carbonation finally came around.

I was also worried that the beer would be too sweet, as my FG was high at 1.018, compared to the 1.012 target given by the brewer. I admit that that number seems a bit odd to me; with the target OG of 1.058, a FG that low would give an ABV of about 6%, which is much higher than the actual 5.2% listed by Deschutes for the real Black Butte Porter. This would also indicate an apparent attenuation of 79%, much higher than the average of 69% for Wyeast 1968. Either way, I'm pretty happy with how the beer came out. As usual, I don't have any of the commercial beer on hand to compare, unfortunately!

Appearance: Poured with a moderate-large, very creamy tan head. Pretty good retention, sticks around for quite awhile before fading to 1/2-finger. Body is a very dark brown, even black, and appears opaque... but when held to bright light, yields some ruby highlights and excellent clarity.

Aroma: Aroma of mostly dark, rich chocolate... slightly sweet. Some coffee and roasted notes as well, but maybe not as much of the roasted character as their should be. Perhaps a touch of spicy hops in there.

Taste: Again, while there ARE roasted and coffee notes present, the chocolate really wins out in this beer. There is a touch of tartness that may be from the wheat malt. Hop bitterness is moderate-low in the finish, which is more on the sweet than dry side. No diacetyl.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, moderate-low carbonation. Just a bit of astringency (ok).

Overall: My porter experience is much lower than with other beer styles, but this is a pretty tasty beer. I don’t remember the Black Butte being overly roasty, and wouldn’t have expected as much with this recipe, so I think it’s probably in the ballpark of the commercial beer. Pretty enjoyable overall.

Tasting : #makingitwork

I'd love to be able to try every beer style out there, and many versions of each style, but it's just not possible right now in New Brunswick. This is where homebrewing comes in handy; you can basically dive in to any beer style and give it a go. However, when evaluating the beer when it's finally ready to be sampled, someone like myself is at a disadvantage - I don't have a commercial example to compare it to. I also don't have full confidence in my palate yet, or my ability to express what I'm smelling or tasting in words.

However, I DO know what I like, and the BJCP style guide is always a big help. So, when I got to sample my Munich Dunkel a few days ago, I was pleasantly surprised overall. This beer was brewed back in January, and was lagered for at least 2 months before being bottled. I had hoped to get a very malty, smooth, easy-drinking dark lager, and I think this beer fits the bill.

Appearance: Poured with a moderate-sized, light tan, thick and moussy head. The head is very long-lasting, before finally fading to almost a full-finger of foam. Body is dark brown with ruby highlights when held to the light, with excellent clarity.

Aroma: Very malty (bready). Slightly sweet, with a touch of milk chocolate. No hops.

Taste: Malty and rich. Not overly sweet at all - the breadiness from the Munich malt far outweighs any sweet characters in the beer. Again, some milk chocolate is present. Just a touch of spicy hop flavor, with moderate-low bitterness in the finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, with medium carbonation. Smooth.

Overall: Like I said, pretty happy with the results of this beer. If anything, it could probably be even MORE malty... I wouldn't mind trying one of those recipes where the entire grist is Munich malt, just to see what the results would be like.

Brewing a Standard American Lager

There's a lot of arguments in beer-related forums on the internet about what exactly separates a "beer geek" from a "beer snob". In my opinion, a beer geek is simply someone who is really into beer (homebrewing not necessarily included), while a beer snob is usually a beer geek that looks down on others based on what they're drinking - usually a macro, fizzy yellow beer.

Those fizzy, yellow beers actually do have their place. If I've just mowed my lawn, a cold, light beer can be really refreshing. Would I generally prefer a more flavorful beer, such as a Blonde Ale, Czech Pilsner, or Dortmunder Export? Usually, yes. Are these American Lagers beers that I want to drink all of the time? Definitely not. But I have nothing against enjoying an equivalent to a Budweiser during the right occasion, and when you get right down to it, American Lagers are still what the majority of people drink.

Somewhere under all this is a mashtun

So, I decided to actually try brewing one of these beers, for three reasons:
1) Summer is approaching fast.
2) A lot of my family members aren't into craft beer too much, so I thought I could donate most of this batch to the summer cottage.
3) American Lagers are generally thought to be one of the trickier styles to homebrew. It sounds kind of laughable at first, because the recipes usually aren't complex at all, but when you think about it, it makes sense. They're supposed to be quite clean, easy-drinking beers, that don't have a lot of ingredients to hide behind. Flaws would be easily detectable (a little DMS or green apple is ok). Plus, they're lagers, so you have the complications of lager yeast/fermentation thrown in as well.

According to the BJCP guidelines, there are three types of American Lagers (under the Light Lager category): Lite (e.g. Bud Light), Standard (e.g. Budweiser), and Premium American Lager (e.g. Red Stripe). All normally use an adjunct (usually flaked rice or corn) in the grist to provide a grainy/corn-like sweetness, and to lighten the body, with more barley/less adjunct being used from Lite to Premium. Also, bitterness and ABV% increase slightly, as do aroma and taste complexity as a result.

I decided to split the difference and brew a Standard American Lager, using the very basic recipe from Brewing Classic Styles. This was my first time using flaked corn in a beer, which made up about 18% of the grist, with the remaining being Canadian 2-row. The mash temperature is pretty low at 149 F, and BCS recommended a long mash of 90 minutes, due to the time needed to convert the flaked corn. I went with a bit lower time of 70 minutes, since I also planned on doing a mash-out. A small addition of Hallertau at 60 minutes provides a scant 12 IBUs of bitterness. That's the recipe... simple. As for the yeast, I ordered the Wyeast 2007 Pilsen Lager that BCS recommended, which apparently is based on the Budweiser strain (according to the yeast chart on mrmalty.com). Wyeast describes it as being a mild and neutral strain, with minimal sulfur and diacetyl production, which is great for this type of "naked" beer.

I'll probably lager the beer for about 4 weeks when primary fermentation is complete, and should have it bottled and carbonated in time for early July... a perfect time to have this type of beer on hand - even if I still do prefer more flavorful, complex beers!

Recipe targets: (5.5 gallons, 83% efficiency): OG 1.046, FG 1.008, IBU 12, SRM 3, ABV 4.85%

Grains & Other:
3.09 kg Canadian 2-row
682 g Flaked corn

Hops:
Hallertau - 28 g (3.4% AA) @ 60 min

Misc.:
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient @ 15 min
1/2 tab Irish Moss @ 5 min

Yeast: Wyeast 2007 Pilsen Lager (PD Apr.10/12, with a 2 L and then 1.25 L starter)

Water: Fredericton city water, carbon-filtered; mash water treated with 2 g of Gypsum, 2 g CaCl2

- Brewed May 7th, 2012, by myself. 70-minute mash with 12.45 L of strike water, mashed in at 149.5 F. Mashed out with 6.25 L of boiling water to 163 F. Sparged with ~4.5 gallons of 168 F water for final volume of 7.25 gallons in the kettle. 90-minute boil. Chilled to 60 F with immersion chiller. OG 1.048. Poured/filtered into Better Bottle. Placed BB in fermentation chamber with temp set to 45 F. Pitched yeast at ~50 F hours later, aerated by shaking for several minutes before and after. Placed back in ferm. chamber with temp set at 50 F.

- 9/5/12 - Visible activity in airlock, bubbling about 3-4 times per 10 seconds.

- 10/5/12 - Same activity in AM, so increased temp to 53 F. By evening, bubbling 5-6 times per 10 seconds.

- 13/5/12 - Activity starting to slow a bit, so I took the fermenter out of the chamber and left it at room temperature for a diacetyl rest... temp raised up to 66 F by next day. Placed back in the fermenter 16/5/12 and decreased temp back to 50 F gradually over a day or two.

- 3/6/12 - Racked beer into secondary, 5-gallon fermenter, and decreased temp in fermentation chamber by 1 F every 12 hours or so, aiming for a final lagering temp of about 38 F.

- 25/6/12 - FG a bit high at 1.012, but still just within range for the style.

- 26/6/12 - Bottled with 151 g table sugar, aiming for 3 vol CO2 for 5 gallons, with max temp of 66 F reached.

- 22/7/12 - Tasting notes...

Brewing an American IPA : My NHC replacement beer

I consider myself very lucky, as a beer-lover, to have been able to visit San Diego for a beer trip last September. I'm also lucky to have been able to try, both on tap and bottled, the Alpine Beer Co. Duet, a fantastic American IPA. I was also lucky enough to have been given some brief notes on the recipe for this beer by the owner/brewmaster of Alpine, and made a homebrewed clone-attempt in early January. While almost impossible to compare it to the real Duet since I don't have access to it here in Canada, I still enjoyed the result enough to enter it into the ALES Open in Saskatchewan this month, which is the Canadian qualifier for the final round of the National Homebrewing Competition in June.

Ok, so I was lucky once more! The beer won a bronze medal in the IPA category (my Oktoberfest also won a gold in the European Amber Lager category), which means that it can now move on to the final round of the NHC. However, my "clone" has already been bottled for over 2 months, and its wonderful hop aroma and flavor is fading as we speak. I would never even hope to win a medal at the NHC, let alone in a category as competitive as IPA, but if you're going to enter, you might as well go for broke, right? While I would love to be able to brew the exact same recipe again, both Simcoe and Amarillo hops - which are used in equal amounts in this beer - are in very short supply right now. I may be able to find them through online ordering, but I don't have the time for them to be delivered to Canada, brew up a new batch, and have it finished in time to ship to the NHC. I'm down to 3 oz of Simcoe on hand, and I'm completely out of Amarillo.

So, I decided to brew a new American IPA recipe. You're actually allowed to do this... as long as it's a beer in the same category for what you've qualified for, you can change whatever you want, brew a whole new recipe, enter in a different subcategory, etc. I kept the grist close to the same as the Duet clone, except I split the base grains into both 2-row AND Maris Otter, and upped the Crystal and took out the Victory malt. I also added 5 g of gypsum to the mash to try to accentuate the hop bite a little.

I DID make some more noticeable changes in the hop schedule, however. I made a larger Magnum addition at the beginning of the boil to increase the IBUs for the beer, and instead of equal Simcoe/Amarillo throughout the boil, I went with equal Crystal/Centennial at 10 minutes and flameout (with a 10-minute whirlpool before chilling). Once fermentation is complete, I plan on splitting the batch in two, and dry-hopping one half with Simcoe/Citra, and the other half with Columbus/Nugget. I imagine I'll enter the Simcoe/Citra half, but I'll try to taste both and make my mind up then.

Mash temps, boil length, yeast, and fermentation temperatures are otherwise the same as for the Duet clone. I'm hoping for a good beer; while it may not come out as good as the Duet clone, I should still have lots of IPA on hand for the summer, medal or no medal!

Recipe targets: (5.5 gallons, 75% efficiency): OG 1.066, FG 1.012, IBU 54, SRM 8.4, ABV 7%

Grains & Other:
2.27 kg Canadian 2-row
2.27 kg Maris Otter
454 g Wheat malt
304 g Caramunich II (45 L)
150 g Crystal 30 L
114 g Acid malt
227 g table sugar

Hops:
Magnum - 29 g (9% AA - adj. for age) @ 60 min
Magnum - 14 g (11.6% AA) @ 60 min
Centennial - 28 g (7% AA - adj. for age) @ 10 min
Crystal - 28 g (1.8% AA - adj. for age) @ 10 min
Centennial - 28 g @ 0 min, whirlpool for 10 min
Crystal - 28 g @ 0 min, whirlpool for 10 min
Citra/Simcoe - 42 g each dry-hop in 1/2 batch, for 7 days
Columbus/Nugget - 42 g each dry-hop in 1/2 batch, for 7 days

Misc.:
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient @ 15 min
1/2 tab Irish Moss @ 5 min

Yeast: US-05 Safale, rehydrated

Water: Fredericton city water, carbon-filtered; mash water treated with 5 g of Gypsum

- Brewed April 22, 2012 by myself. 60-minute mash with 14.5 L of strike water, mashed in at 150 F. Mashed out with 9.25 L of ~203 F water to 168 F. Sparged with ~3 gallons of 168 F water for final volume of 6.75 gallons in the kettle. 60-minute boil. Chilled to 65 F with immersion chiller. OG 1.061 (so, 1.065 after sugar addition in fermenter). Poured into Better Bottle. Pitched yeast at 65 F, aerated by shaking for several minutes before and after.

- 23/4/12 - In AM, airlock hardly bubbling at all, temp 64 F. Increased temperature in the room. By PM, bubbling almost every second, temp up to 66 F.

- 24/4/12 - In AM, bubbling more than every second, temp 68 F. When it started to slow a bit in the evening, added sugar (boiled in ~1 cup of water and then cooled).

- 25/4/12 - In AM, airlock blown off carboy, temp still 68 F. Activity gradually slowed again by evening.

- 6/5/12 - Gravity reading of 1.014. Racked beer into two 3-gallon carboys (about 10 L each) and dry-hopped as indicated in recipe. Left in room at room temperature.

- 15/5/12 - Bottled 2 days late, both halves with 59 g table sugar each, aiming for 2.5 vol CO2 for 2.5 gallons, max temp 68 F reached.

- 7/8/12 - NHC Final Round results... 

- 4/9/12 - Finally got around to posting the tasting notes. Both dry-hop versions are good IPAs, but they play second fiddle to the Duet clone.

Tasting : Boilerplate Bitter

Having bottled this beer about six weeks ago, I've had the chance to try it 7-8 times. I've been holding off on blogging about my thoughts on the beer, mainly because it's been pretty difficult to put it into words... a problem I find I have with a lot of beer tastings, due to my limited vocabulary and limited experience with many beer styles!

However, I think I can say now, unfortunately, that I'm not a huge fan of this beer. It's definitely a pretty tasty, sessionable beer, but in terms of how good it is as a Standard/Ordinary Bitter, I'd have to say it misses the mark. I blame this mostly on the Amber malt, which I had never used before and therefore probably should have used more sparingly. The 1/2 lb seems to have overpowered the contribution from the Crystal malts. So, the search for a house bitter continues... next time, I'd definitely lower (or even cut out?) the Amber malt quantity.

Appearance: Poured with a very small, white head that quickly fades to a film on top of the beer. Body is dark amber/light copper, with good - but not excellent - clarity.

Aroma: Difficult-to-place aroma... I find it very similar to Berley’s Best Bitter (a previous Special Bitter I brewed last year), but there was no Special Roast used in this recipe. Earthy, slightly spicy, almost with a bit of a chocolate note, likely due to the Amber malt. No noticeable fruity esters from the yeast. Malt aroma is lower than it should be, and the caramel quality is negligable.

Taste: Moderate earthy hop flavor, with moderate-high bitterness in the finish. Again, the malt presence is much lower than it probably should be, and fruitiness is at a bare minimum.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light bodied, medium-low carbonation.

Overall: Certainly not a bad beer, just not a very good Standard Bitter. Easy drinking, low alcohol, which is a plus. But the malt complexity is too low, as are the fruity esters from the yeast.