Out of the Bottle: Little Farmhouse on the Plains

The beer from my Dark Saison project is finally finished bottle conditioning. Time to pour a glass and see how it came out. The Final Gravity came in at a very low 1.004, which results in a 5.8% ABV. That's a bit stronger than the 5.4% I was expecting,

Going into the glass, the beer is rather pretty. As you can see from the picture, it has a deep garnet tone and nice clarity against the early evening sun. The head is rocky, firm and leaves decent lacing behind. At this early stage of development, the Saison yeast is really out front with a lot of clove and sourdough bread aromas. I'm guessing that part of it can be attributed to the insane temperatures here the last few days. The beer has been exposed to temps in excess of 80 degrees. Behold the downside to no basement and minimal A/C.

A nice heavily toasted bread scent sits in the back of all the yeast notes. I'm guessing that with age, the yeast will settle down and the bread aromas will come through more. When I tried this beer at bottling time, there was a fair amount of baking chocolate in the flavor. With the carbonation in place, it has subsided a bit. Letting the beer warm; however, brings it back. There's also an ever so subtle plum sweetness. Bitterness is just high enough and has a pepper bite. The beer gets a touch astringent late. If I do this one over, I'll cut back on the Pale Chocolate malt to reduce it. Other than that, I'm pretty happy.

Comments

Out of the Bottle: Porter vs Porter

My Beer My attempt to clone Samuel Smith Taddy Porter is ready to pour. For a change of pace, I've picked up a 4-pack of the real deal to compare and contrast against my efforts. Since I'm not exactly an impartial judge, my girlfriend agreed to blind taste test the two beers side by side in identical, unmarked glasses. I've mixed her notes in with mine. First off, I must say that the beers look remarkably similar. Taddy pours with a slightly larger head, but the beers share the same deep garnet hue. Mine has a bit more carbonation going on. Both beers have good head retention and leave some lace behind. My girlfriend's first comment was that my beer was very similar, but finished quicker than the Samuel Smith. She also noted that the Samuel Smith is slightly more bitter, with more depth of flavor. The first thing I noticed was that my beer has a more roasted edge and is a bit nuttier. It also lacks the unique dark fruit esters that I sense in all of the Samuel...

In the Fermentor: Bohemian Kölsch

Being a brewer on a budget, I don't have an extra fridge to lager in. That poses a bit of a problem, because I love a good Pilsener on a hot Summer day. To my palate, the closest style to Pilsener in the ale department is a German Kölsch . To that end, I've wedded a Bohemian Pilsener influenced recipe with a Kölsch yeast strain to create my Bohemian Kölsch pseudo-lager. I realize that the finished product won't be as clean, crisp and clear as a traditional Pils, but I'm hoping to come close. I want a full five gallons of this beer. Since my kitchen setup isn't conducive to five gallon all-grain batches, I've taken the partial-mash approach. I've also thrown in a bit of Irish Moss toward the end of the boil to help with clarity. Here's the five-gallon recipe: Grains: 3.5 lbs German Pilsener 8 oz Munich 8 oz Crystal 10L 4 oz CaraPils Hops: 1 oz Saaz: First Wort Hopping 0.5 oz Merkur: 60 min 1 oz Saaz: 7 min Extras: 3 lbs Pilsen ...

Out of the Bottle: Insert clever use of the word Wit here

My latest Wit was a hit at my friend's birthday party. He especially liked the beer's citrus components. Others found it to be light and refreshing. I heard no Blue Moon comparisons, which actually made me quite happy. Compared to My Wit's End , this beer is much closer to style. Unmalted Wheat is part of the reason, as there's much less grainy sweetness at work. Instead, the beer is crisp and dry. The bitter orange peel really does its thing. The peel's sharp flavor melds nicely with the sweet orange peel I also used. Coriander pushes the beer's spicy character along. If I were to change anything, it would be to dial it back a notch or two. Some light sourdough aromas round out the flavor and aroma. Despite the relatively low ABV of right around 5.0%, the beer sports a fairly hefty body. Overall, I'm quite happy with this Wit. Next time, I'll hold back on the coriander. Maybe I will even take a shot at a Turbid Mash, which sounds like a great sub...

Colorado Kitchen Brew

Search This Blog