Jan “Waiting For The Tech” Rye

This is the ‘before’ picture. I got to try some of this beer before my haul from the OBAs, and I am pleased to say that I now get more ale than foam from my pours.

The color is the same though, and I do get a touch more clarity, due to more time for the sediment to settle out of the beer.

At this point, the malt is the prominent quality in the nose. It’s not overly sweet and the rye might be contributing to that effect.

Sipping on this ale, what I feel I’ve got is a perfectly cromulent beer. It isn’t standout in any particular manner, although one might notice a touch of rye spice flavor. But this isn’t a bad beer by any means! Crack one open, sit on your stoop and chill with a couple and that’s gonna be a pretty fine evening. It’s just a malt focused beer without being terribly sweet or having a hop presence that really calls attention to itself.

For a beer that’s being drank a good two months after I expected, that’s pretty good!

Brew date: 1.23.23

Malts
5 lb Barke Munich
3.5 lb Talisman British ale malt
.5 lb Kaskela wind malt spring rye

Fermentables: 4 lb Pilsner LME

Hops
1.5 oz Hallertau Mittlefruh, .5 oz Cashmere @60
.5 oz Cashmere, Halltertau Mittlefruh @5

Yeast: Imperial Flagship (3rd)

OG: 1.062

FG: 1.012

Brown Ale Dec 22

The nose has a really lovely toffey quality to it that I’m very excited about. It took me a minute to figure it out, because I was expecting more chocolate flavors but no; this is like toasted chocolate.

So I’m going with toffey.

Unfortunately the mouthfeel for this beer is just on the thinner side. It doesn’t quite hold the impact that the nose offers up.

It’s not bad though! This is supposed to be a lighter beverage and for the most part I think it succeeds. I didn’t use any clarifying agent in this one, which I think was a mistake. If this brown ale looked a little more translucent, I think that might boost its overall appeal.

Still, the flavors are there with a bit of chocolate malt to bridge to a very clean finish. I’ll take it.

Brew date: 12/3/22

Steeping grains
6 lb Munich
2.5 lb Vienna
.5 Brown

Fermentables: 4 lb Golden malt extract

Hops
1 oz N Brewer, .25 oz Nugget @60
.75 oz Nugget @30

Yeast: Imperial Tartan (3rd & final use)

OG: 1.064

FG: 1.014

Bottled 12/10

ABV: 6.8%

Amber Rye

This nose is excellent; rising dough, very bready.

The malt is very forward in this beer, too. There’s a bit of that rye spice on the finish, which takes the place of any real hop bitterness. That’s fine-I was going for a situation where I’d get to pick up on the rye malt!

It’s a really drinkable ale, I think. But I think this would be well complimented with some salty snacks; roasted nuts being the thing that really comes to mind. I feel ilke this beer could stand up to some hearty foods, too-definitely a good ‘reset the palate’ beer for food.

Definitely revisiting this one.

Brew Date: 10/23/22

Steeping grains
2.5 Maris Otter
2.5 Munich
.5 Spring Rye
1 lb Barke Vienna

Fermentables: 4 lb ExLME

Hops
1 oz East Kent Goldings, 1 zo Ekuanot @60
1oz Ekuanot @5

Yeast: Imperial Flagship (3rd use)

OG: 1.062

FG: 1.012

Additions: 1/2 tsp Gypsum to boil
1/2 tsp Irish moss (at flameout)

Bottled 10/30

ABV: 6.8%

Devil’s Mother 2022

OK, let’s get this out of the way: the beer isn’t carbonated. It’s probably fairly obvious from the picture but there’s no head on this beer whatsoever.

That’s on me: I thought that by giving this stout a month in the bottle, it would carbonate over time. I was incorrect and it almost certainly puts a damper on the experience.

Which is too bad, because the nose, such as it is, does offer a faint whiff of very good milk chocolate.

This flavor is prominent in the beer itself, which is great! There is also a nice coffee/roasty element to keep the whole thing in check. So it’s sweet, no question about that, but is isn’t sickly sweet. It tastes like a dessert beer but it doesn’t feel heavy.

I still wish that there was some effervescence here, because some bubbly would go a long way towards giving this beer more dimension. Next year!

Brew date: 10.8.22

Steeping grains
1 lb Chocolate
1 lb Carafa 2
6 lb Pale 2 row
2 lb Crystal 75

Fermentables: 7 lb LME

Hops
1.25 oz Northern Brewer pellets @60
.75 oz Norther Brewer @5

Water addition: 1/2 tsp Calcium carbonate

Yeast: Imperial Flagship (2nd use)

OG: 1.10

FG: 1.02

Bottled 10/22

ABV: 10.8%

Nov IPA

The nose on this one is faded. I can tell there’s some dank hop action going on, but I’m drinking this nearly a month after brewing and the strongest qualities of an IPA have faded.

Is this beer bad? No. It doesn’t even have the wet cardboard notes that would suggest that I’d kept it too long. But the balancing act of a strong hop nose and a quality bitter finish isn’t there. The bitterness isn’t too sharp but without any olfactory qualities to help compliment what the finish is, the beer is out of balance.

I really needed to review this beer 2 weeks ago to get its best qualities, I think. But on the other hand: if the only real drawback to this beer is that time has passed, I feel fairly confident about my execution. Considering this is the first time in a long while that I have attempted an IPA, I’m happy about the result.

Brew date: 11/6/22

Steeping grains
4 lb High Color Pale
4 lb Maris Otter
1 lb Biscuit

Fermentables: 4 lb Golden LME

Hops
1 oz Centennial, 2 oz Chinook @60
.5 oz Centennial, Chinook @30
.5 oz Centennial @5

Yeast: Imperial Tartan (2nd use)

OG: 1.064

FG: 1.012

Bottled 11/19

ABV: 7.0%

Halloween Amber

The nose is pleasantly malty-caramel with a smidge of grain! I like it.

The middle is a little thin-there’s a very steady carbonic element to this beer. On the one hand, that makes it a very drinkable beer-it clears out well, it’s good to pair with food.

On the other, it gets going so early that it wrecks the midrange flavors pretty hard. That doesn’t make it a bad beer-but it does keep it from being all it can be, in my opinion.

However, the plus that it goes well with nachos cannot be overshadowed by these minor quibbles.

Brew date: 9/5/22

Steeping grains
4 lb Eureka
1 lb C15
4 lb Pale toasted 2 row

Fermentables: 3 lb ExLME

Hops
@ 60 .5 oz Zamba, 1 oz Motueka
@5 .5 oz Zamba, 1 oz Motueka

Yeast: Imperial Tartan

OG: 1.055

FG: 1.011

ABV: 6%

Fresh Hop 2022

We have hops that a friend of mine grew, so that I could make an attempt at brewing a fresh hop ale. One jar full of Mt Hood, the other Cascade hops, and here’s what the result was.

Of note, I’m reviewing this beer in October-which is relevant b/c I don’t want the audience to think I’m writing about a beer that’s old.

It’s sweet. Too sweet for what I designed, and it’s too dark, as well. I suspect, but have no way of confirming, that the extra light malt extract I asked for was not extra light. 

Visually, you can just tell, right?

It looks like an amber. It’s got a hop profile that can probably be considered similar as well: very muted, with maybe a little bitterness on the finish but nothing particularly special about it.

Which is a little disappointing! I was hoping to profile some hops here.

Brew Date: 9/4/22

Steeping Grains
7 lb toasted pale 2 row
2lb Eureka pale

Fermentables: 4 lb ExLME

Hops*
Most of the Cascade, a little Mt Hood @60
Rest of Mt hood, little Cascadia @5
*I didn’t have a scale to weigh things out

Yeast: Imperial’s Flagship

OG: 1.066

FG: 1.013

Bottled 9/11 (I FORGOT)

ABV: 7.2%

Summer Pale

This pale has a good nose; just a little floral. But…most of my beers have had an excess carbonation-as you might see from the head on this beer.

The nose fades quickly, which isn’t so bad, the malts get a chance to step in but not very long. The effervescence of the beer starts rapidly, and its very, very prominent.

The tingle remains on my tongue long after the beer is gone.

It isn’t bad, but something went awry and I’m not sure what or why. It isn’t contaminated, I’m relatively certain of that. There arn’t the kind of off flavors that would be associated with contamination.

But, the overcarbonation does suggest something was amiss.

Still, it’s drinkable, and goes well with nachos. Hard to complain about that.

My failure to attach a recipe however, IS a problem. I’m usually really good about this!

Ah well. If this is the big mistake of 2022, then I’m getting off pretty light.

This will be the last post until Wed, Nov 30th so I can go on vacation. Cheers!

Amberish 2022

The nose fades quickly, unfortunately. But what I can get is some malt, and some yeast-the bread dough moment. It’s only there for a whiff, but it was there. Once the head fades, there’s some caramel malt but again, it isn’t very strong.

It’s a good foreshadowing though for the caramel quality in the middle of the beer. That’s prominent and well established. 

The finish gets interesting. Although there isn’t a strong head on this amber, it is persistent, and establishes itself well through the final notes of the beer. There isn’t a lingering hop quality, but there isn’t that sour rebel note from too much sweetness, either. 

All in all I think I’ve got a winner here. 

Brew date: 5.29.22

Steeping grains
7 lb Evergreen plale
1 lb melanoidin
.5 lb Victory

Fermentables: 4 lb ExLME

Hops
.25 oz Ekuanot, .75oz Styran Koldings @60
1.75 oz Ekuanot, .25 oz Goldings @ 5

Yeast: Imperial Flagship (2nd use)

OG: 1.062

FG: 1.012

Water adjustments: .5 tsp Gypsum at boil

Bottled 6/5/22

ABV: 6.8%

June Pale

I know it doesn’t look like a pale. I blame the Light malt extract, instead of the extra light.

That’s OK! It’s just color and a little more caramel in the middle of the beer. I ain’t mad about it. I’m a little less enamored with my efforts to get some homes in the nose. I would’ve thought that a 1.5 ounces with five minutes left in the boil would do the trick. I may need to ask some people about that one, because while this beer isn’t bad it doesn’t have some of the sensory qualities I associate with a pale.

Brew Date: 6.12.22

Steeping grains
3.5 lb 6 row
3.5 lv Toasted pale 2
1 lb Munich

Fermentables: 4 lb Light Malt Extract

Hops
@60 1 oz Mt Hood, 1oz Warrior
@30 .5 oz Warrior
@5 1oz Mt hood, .5 oz Warrior

Yeast: Imperial Flagship (3rd use)

OG: 1.062

FG: 1.012

Bottled: 6/23

ABV: 6.8%