Out of the Bottle: Ein Heldenleben Dunkelweiss and Mid-Life-Weisses

Ein Heldenleben

This post started out as an extremely belated review of my Ein Heldenleben Dunkelweiss. Then I realized that this was the perfect chance to compare it against my very similar Mid-Life-Weisses that I brewed for a friend's birthday party.

Looking at the recipes, you can see that the only major differences are that Ein Heldenleben has some Pale Wheat in it, while Mid-Life ditches the Pale Wheat for additional Dark Wheat and Munich Malt. The decoction mash, hops and yeast are the same.

Let's start with the similarities.

Mid-Lfe

Both beers have banana and clove aromas that are more muted than I had hoped for. They're backed by scents of biscuits and subtle chocolate. Although the different lighting in my pictures show otherwise, the appearance of the two beers is very close as well. Both are appropriately cloudy and have soapy heads with decent staying power. Mid-Life has maybe a touch more amber to it.

The similarities end once the beers hit the mouth.

I'll be honest and say that Ein Heldenleben is my favorite of the two. While both beers carry similar banana and clove flavors, this one has a better balanced mixture of fresh biscuits and malty sweetness. My guess is that the Pale Wheat and lower amount of Munich Malt has a lot to do with it.

Mid-Life is slightly sweeter, as would be expected with the extra Munich Malt. The wheat character is less biscuit-like too. The beer also came out with a very light astringency that I didn't expect. My friend noticed it too, so I wasn't imagining things. I'm not sure where it came from.

Overall, I'd say Ein Heldenleben is a keeper. Mid-Life, not so much. Both are nice beers to drink, but the Ein Heldenleben wins hands down.

Comments

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...

In the Fermentor: Kitchen Sink Barleywine

The Leftovers It's time for a cleanup of leftover grains and partially used packets of hops from 2012. With the exception of the 2-Row base malt, everything in the recipe below has been sitting on the shelf, or in the fridge waiting to be used. I had several open hop packages, some leftover toasted malts and a half-full bottle of malt extract too. I also had yeast cultured from my White House Honey Porter . My decision was to use almost all of my leftovers and make a partial-mash Barleywine. The finished beer will be quite strong and quite bitter. A toasted malt backbone should nicely complement pine, spice and citrus hop flavors. Because of the beer's strength, it will not be ready for at least three months and should improve with age. The recipe has been scaled up to five gallons from the 2.5 gallons I actually brewed: Grains: 9 lbs Rahr 2-Row 8.5 oz Victory 7.5 oz Brown Hops: Bittering: 0.75 oz Chinook (11.1% a.a.): 60 min 0.5 oz Colum...

In the Fermentor: Flaming Pumpkin

I'll admit that I'm not a huge Pumpkin Beer fan. I didn't have one on my brewing calendar for this year and didn't have my sights set on one for next Fall either. Then my niece came along and threw down the gauntlet. She asked me to brew her a pumpkin beer and I accepted the challenge. I did a lot of reading to see how to best go about using pumpkin in beer. Some people mash it with the grains. Others add it to the brew kettle during the boil. Some add it to the primary or secondary fermentor. The consensus from professional brewers appears to be adding it to the mash, so I took the same approach. The pumpkin was cooked ahead of time by my girlfriend to soften it, convert some of the starch and help release some of its sugars. It then joined the grains in the mash. I really want the pumpkin pie effect here, so I've thrown in all of the requisite spices toward the end of the boil. I've also gone with just enough bitterness to balance the sweetness of the ...

Colorado Kitchen Brew

Search This Blog