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Saturday, October 19, 2013
Barry Cull is still waiting for you to join Twitter...
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Barry Cull is still waiting for you to join Twitter...
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Tuesday, October 8, 2013
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Friday, October 4, 2013
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Friday, April 6, 2012
Brewing a Great Beer VI
What better way to herald in the holiday weekend with a poker game/beer fest? The group of regulars to the monthly Thursday night poker game have been anticipating this keg of beer since I started the brew back on February 20, 2012. The evening provided an opportunity to get a rating of the beer using the American Homebrewer's Association score-sheet.
The AHA evaluates a beer across 5 dimensions: Bouquet/Aroma, Appearance, Flavour, Body and Drinkability Overall Impression. The resulting score is out of a total of 50 points.
The Judges:
The raters ranged in knowledge of beer styles from "I don't like beer, I prefer wine" and "I'm Dutch, I prefer lager" to very sophisticated, #...takes me back to the days of sharing a pint with me dad in Lancashire". Only myself and another member of the group have actually tasted White Shield on draught in its native country, England. In general though, this group will drink anything resembling beer, and there has only been one beer that I have brewed that people didn't like (except the Dutch guy) - a cherry lambic.
The Rating:
The average rating for the beer was: 40.5/50. This places the beer in the Excellent range according to the AHA Scoring Guide. To the credit of the style (UK IPA) people commented on the fruity aroma and taste, the good balance, the alcohol presence and the malty character. A few people noted that for the style, the beer lacked a full hop bite. Also, on the con side there was the presence of caramel in the aroma on initial pour. All-in-all, the beer was a fine English bitter that needed a little more hop character to be worthy of White Shield.
The AHA evaluates a beer across 5 dimensions: Bouquet/Aroma, Appearance, Flavour, Body and Drinkability Overall Impression. The resulting score is out of a total of 50 points.
The Judges:
The raters ranged in knowledge of beer styles from "I don't like beer, I prefer wine" and "I'm Dutch, I prefer lager" to very sophisticated, #...takes me back to the days of sharing a pint with me dad in Lancashire". Only myself and another member of the group have actually tasted White Shield on draught in its native country, England. In general though, this group will drink anything resembling beer, and there has only been one beer that I have brewed that people didn't like (except the Dutch guy) - a cherry lambic.
The Rating:
The average rating for the beer was: 40.5/50. This places the beer in the Excellent range according to the AHA Scoring Guide. To the credit of the style (UK IPA) people commented on the fruity aroma and taste, the good balance, the alcohol presence and the malty character. A few people noted that for the style, the beer lacked a full hop bite. Also, on the con side there was the presence of caramel in the aroma on initial pour. All-in-all, the beer was a fine English bitter that needed a little more hop character to be worthy of White Shield.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Brewing a Great Beer V
Conditioning
This weekend the secondary fermentation was completed! The "green" beer was siphoned into the conditioning keg and priming sugar was added to create the final level of carbonation. The siphoned beer ran crystal clear, with no trace of haze.
A test sample was taken and the final gravity for the beer was 1.018, which was slightly higher than the expected 1.017. The indication, then, is that fermentation was essentially completed. With these data, the estimated Alcohol by Volume (ABV) is expected to be 5.4%.
I had a chance to taste the test sample and was very pleased. If the conditioning goes well over the next couple of weeks this will be a mighty fine beer. The malt/hop balance was near perfect, with no "off" flavours interfering with the palate. This should be a beer worthy of serving to my poker buddies on April 5. Stay tuned for the final report after that date.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Brewing a Great Beer IV
From Primary to Secondary
Today is the 4th day of the brew cycle and time to transfer the fermenting beer from the primary to the secondary fermenter. After sanitizing all the equipment a siphon is started and the new beer begins to flow.
For the past few days the brew has been at a constant 65 degrees F on the basement floor. There has been a lot of action and a couple of times the foaming mess overflowed the container. Fortunately, there was a pot underneath the fermenter to catch the overflow.
A test of the specific gravity showed 1.025 / 64 degrees. This mean that about 81% of the available fermentable sugars have been converted to alcohol by the yeast. There are still 19% of the sugars left to arrive at a final SG of 1.017. Current alcohol is estimated at 4.7% ABV.
Taste Test
I tasted the test sample to assess the
quality of the brew at this point. I am happy to report that there are no off flavours. In fact, the beer tastes pretty good. There is a very agreeable malt/hop balance, with perhaps a little less bitterness than anticipated. Floral notes in the hops were quite evident. This is still early, of course, but the flavour is well within the profile parameters of the beer type (India Pale Ale).
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