First Hop Harvest Bitter

When brewing this beer and starting to write this post I was dealing with a terrible sinus infection and hadn’t been doing a good job keeping up with my brewing or my blog. I was out of CO2 in my kegerator and had multiple beers that had recently been kegged or were in need of a keg, so they were likely getting oxidized and I didn’t have the time or energy to deal with them. While I thought about also cancelling this brew day to rest and recover I didn’t want my first year hop cones to whither on the vine so I picked them and brewed a small bitter of sorts.

Centennial Hops a couple weeks before harvesting

I ended up with only a touch over 1.5 oz of fresh wet hops (1.115 oz centennial, .385 oz Comet and just .125 oz Goldings), which is around the equivalent of .3-.4 oz of dry hops per most conversions I’ve seen, so any ideas about making a super hoppy IPA (or even American pale ale) went out the window and I instead reworked the Special Bitter I had been planning to brew later in the year to instead be a lower gravity and half volume batch in order to give the hops some chance of shining through in the finished beer. Just 3 pounds of base malt (equal parts Maris otter and golden promise) and a quarter pound each of a few flavoring malts (victory, torrified wheat, and crystal 70/80) hopefully got the recipe in the ballpark of what I was looking for: a very small beer with an emphasis on hops but enough malt backbone to remain balanced and drinkable. Due to bad weather and my struggles with illness I brewed in a bag on my stovetop, only popping outside at the end to chill the wort. While half an ounce of commercially bought Goldings pellets were added for the full 60 minute boil to provide bitterness the fresh wet hops were added post-boil during the “whirlpool” around 150F and left in until the full chill and transfer to carboy had completed. While I slightly undershot my expected gravity and came in at only 1.030 I’m hopeful this will still be an enjoyable, if not overly expressive or impressive, beer. 

The hops smelled great off the vine, all three seemed pungent with classic pine and citrus hop goodness (though I had a sinus infection so I was working hard to smell much). After picking I found myself too tired to start the brew day so I packed them up and went back to bed. After sitting in ziplock bags in the fridge for a day they had changed a bit with the Goldings only really smelling of leaves and unripe fruit, maybe they were underripe? The comet had a bit of tropical mango aroma mixed with a floral, earthy, and grassy character reminiscent of a meadow, and the centennial carried aromas of tangerine, pine, and fresh cut grass. It was interesting to see what these fresh scents were like after having only experienced dried hops for so long and I was excited to see what, if any, of that character comes through in the beer.

Tasting notes:

Smell: Not strong on the nose but what does come through is nice: predominantly malt character of graham crackers, granola, and sugar cookies with more moderate yeast and hop notes giving a touch of orange peel, grass, and basil. Searching hard I also find some very subtle dried fruit/raisin character that may be from the crystal malt or a combination of factors.

Appearance: Surprisingly clear after a few weeks in the keg. Small very white head with nice bubbles lasts throughout. Head was larger previously but this hasn’t had any CO2 added in a while. Color is somewhere between a copper and gold depending on the glass and lighting. All around a very appetizing look to my sensibilities. Nice lacing shows as the glass empties.

Taste: Leads off very subtly but the malt, hops, and bitterness catch up and come through late in the swallow. The malt slightly leads with lightly toasted bread, honey, and graham cracker. This is followed by mild green/herbal/earthy notes that are reminiscent of black tea followed by a moderate bitterness that helps balance the subtle malt character and lead to a surprisingly long finish that includes characters from the malt, hops, and bitterness. The malt character builds some as I continue to drink but it all seems well I’m balance. None of these characters are strong but everything about this beer seems more interesting and characterful than a 3% abv has any right to be.

Mouthfeel: One of the things that initially jumps out, even when pouring, is that, as intended, this beer is very lightly carbonated. This probably wouldn’t appeal to a lot of American palettes but I find it very nice for letting the subtle flavors shine through. The body is fairly light but doesn’t feel too thin due to the low carbonation, moderately low attenuation, and maybe the torrified wheat.

Overall: I don’t think this is a great beer and most of the people who have tried it (albeit mostly non-beer drinkers) haven’t been very impressed. I don’t drink many ordinary bitters (in part due to them being very hard to find in the US) but I doubt this would be considered an exceptional example of the style. That said, this is a beer I’m extremely happy to drink and proud to have made. Nothing about the beer is necessarily exciting yet every time I pour a pint of it and raise it to my lips I find a big smile come across my face. Everything in the glass is enjoyable and balanced. The homegrown hops don’t exactly shine through but they seem well integrated with the malt and I’m happy with the decision to have used them here. Like some of the other pale British beers I’ve made over the years it’s a nice beer that I’m happy I made and my only real complaint is that I don’t have a nice dimple mug to quaff it from.

9/11/22
Brewday. No real notes beyond what's listed above.

9/15/22
Kegged with very little pressure (10PSI in several short bursts). Aiming for just over 1 vol CO2 for a cask-like effect. Beer is surprisingly flavorful but unfortunately it’s mostly malt flavor. A small herbal note but hard to tell if that is from the fresh hops. At worst this seems like a pretty enjoyable and ultra-low gravity drinker, if not the best expression of my homegrown hops.

9/16/22
Hit the beer with another short burst of CO2. Pours pretty well off the stout tap giving a nice big head and a lovely copper to gold body (lighter than it appears in the photo). A touch hazy but no complaints for less than a week grain to glass. Hops are still subdued compared to malt but there seems to be a lot going on for a 3% abv beer and overall it’s quite nice. One of those beers that makes me wonder why I don’t brew beers like this more often.

9/22/22
Found a few hops that were either missed during the harvest or were late bloomers. Added a comet cone to a glass of this beer, no obvious flavor impact but a fun visual.

 

9/28/22
Finally recovered enough to provide the full tasting above.

Rye Bitter #2

The last time I attempted to brew an English style bitter I decided to make the grist with Rye and Golden Naked Oats. I wasn't super happy with the results (the beer had an oddly pretzel like character to it) but remained intrigued with the idea. Nearly 2 years later I've decided to give this idea another go. The key goal is to get something that feels authentically English while doing something original and fun.

Tasting (3-19-17)

Appearance: Medium amber in color with a nice rocky head. Moderate haziness, its no milkshake IPA but far from crystal clear. Pretty much right what I was going for, so far so good.

Smell: biscuits, dough, candied fruit, light plum/cherry fruits, some woody/herbal hop character.

Taste: moderate biscuity malt and yeast derived fruit give way to a pleasant drying bitterness. Some lingering rye character and classic English hop flavor (a light blend of herbal, citrus, and wood)

Mouthfeel: low carbonation (CO2 kicked) and low to moderate body. Feels authentic and works.

Overall: this is a beer that I'm really happy to have brewed. Not exciting enough to wow people, not to any style to make it an award winner, just a nicely unique and enjoyable beer that I continue to reach for despite having a few of my favorites on tap. "Sessionable" without feeling weak or watery and interesting without pounding the taste buds into submission. Just a solidly good beer.

#62 Golden Ale and #63 Best Bitter Double Brew Day

Following from my last parti-gyle batch I decided to up the ante with 2 five gallon batches of low gravity beers. While both splits of my last parti-gyle were close to the expected gravities this batch had a much larger swing between the first wort pull and the second runnings/second mash. Both beers were aiming for an approximately 1.045 gravity but the first runoff (Dope Calypso a hoppy American blond) came out closer to 1.051 and the second beer (English Breakfast a would be Best Bitter, now more in the Ordinary Bitter realm) came out with just 4 gallons at just 1.034. I will need to pay closer attention to mash water amounts and sparge rates on future parti-gyles to make sure they come out a little more in line with expectations.

The special bitter. It came out fairly tasty with a nice toasty malt character and plenty of bitterness. I would have liked more citrus and spice from the First Gold hops but it was enjoyable enough. 

I stopped keeping a regular system of tracking my beers with numbers when I began kegging but, depending on how you count a beer as being distinct, this parti-gyle would make for my my 62nd and 63rd brews.

5/2/16

Kegged the bitter with an additional 2 oz of First Gold hops, tasting great so far.

Golden ale has taken on an infection with a bubbly pellicle on the top. Tastes fine so far but needs to be Kegged ASAP, unfortunately I was out of useable kegs.

5/7/16
Kegged the golden ale. Tasting has some definite apple character but not a lot of hop character all around and a touch too high bitterness and toasty malt in the finish. Will probably add keg hops to try to balance the malty/bitter character.

8/18/16
Not sure why I never posted this one, guess I was looking to do full tastings but never got around to it. Both beers kicked in July, only a couple months after kegging. Netiher beer was terrific, and I seem to still have a hard time nailing down these British beers with the exact characteristics I want, but both were enjoyable for what they were and gave a clear impression of what Maris Otter tastes like in a pale beer.

Two of my hobbies collide with a refreshing homebrew while I design and build guitar pedals. This is the "Golden Bitter" but it looks quite dark here between the poor lighting and the haziness from the London Ale III.

Better Bitter

When I made my first Special/Best/Premium Bitter recipe I wanted something extremely classic: British Pale Ale malt, crystal malt, and a little bit of a roasted (in that case Victory) malt.  For the second iteration of this beer I decided to go in a pretty different and original direction.

While the base malt is still Maris Otter Pale ale malt and the hops are still primarily EKG's, I used an unconventional ingredient that I really like in Golden Naked Oats and an unconventional ingredient that I've really wanted to try in Crystal Rye.  The end beer I'm going for should have a smaller toffee/caramel character than a classic bitter but with a bit more of a dry/licorice character from the Crystal Rye and some creamy, subtle sweetness from the Naked Oats.

I thought about oaking a small part of this batch to make something completely original, until I discovered this recipe and was reminded that there's nothing new under the sun.

Surrounded by guitar pedal remnants on the Sunroom table.

3/11/15

Tasting notes:

Appearance- pours a pretty looking burnt orange color with substantial haziness. One inch bright white head fades quickly to a thin sticky layer.

Smell- peach, citrus, interesting grain character: lightly sharp, grainy, crusty. I start to pick up more rye/oat/pretzel(?) character over time and as I drink it.

Taste- like the nose the initial impression is fruit: mild stone fruit and some lightly citrusy notes. The grain and bitterness build after the swallow and with subsequent sips. Middle and finish is almost pretzel like, crusty, lightly toasty and sharp with the moderate bitterness.

Mouthfeel- medium bodied and medium to light carbonation, pretty good for the style and for this beer.

Overall- well, I was certainly trying for something different here with using the caramel rye and a lot of Golden Naked Oats but I didn't get what I was expecting. This beer somehow comes off as salty and sharply grainy. While it doesn't taste just like a pretzel, there is a distinct similarity in the flavors that is hard to account for though I assume the combination of caramel rye, golden naked oats, and the water chemicals added to the mash (1 g CaCl 3 g gypsum) all contributed. Not a terrible beer, nor a very good one, just something pretty different but drinkable enough.

#32 - Best Bitter Recipe and Tasting

This is a replacement post for one that disappeared while I was creating it and will probably be a little short on detail.

I brewed this Special/Best/Premium Bitter in the Fall when my desires turned to beers which were fairly light in alcohol but had both moderate malt and hop characteristics, as displayed by the previous brewed Altbier.

The base of this beer was primarily English Pale Malt.  I had originally planned to use Maris Otter but they were almost out at the LHBS so I augmented with equal parts Golden Promise and a non-specified Maltster's British Pale Ale malt.  Part of this recipe design came from tasting a wort sample made with Victory malt and the craving for a traditional pint of bitter as I experienced in London, leading me to use .5 lbs of crystal 60 malt.  Hops were entirely East Kent Goldings to have a very traditional flare and Bedford British yeast was used after being unable to find the intended strain and reading rave reviews on The Perfect Pint.  Below is a tasting now more than 3 months after bottling.

A- Slightly hazy copper.  Pours with a thick off-white head that recedes to a half finger layer and leaves good lacing.  It certainly looks the part of a bitter.

S- Malts predominate on the nose giving toffee, cookie and fresh bread with the EKG aroma having fallen to just a touch of woodiness if you really search for it.  Hop aroma was certainly better when fresh, but it never exactly leaped out of the glass.

T- While malts again dominate up front with a toffee and biscuit character, the EKG hops shine through much more here with the characteristic flavors of light citrus, savory herbs and wood.  There's also the slightest peppery character that I don't recall being there when fresh.

M- One of the biggest changes in this beer over time is that it has unfortunately grown increasingly carbonated.  I had envisioned this beer having a very low carbonation to mimic the traditional cask ale.  While the beer was great at this level after a few weeks it slowly rose beyond that point to upper levels of carbonation that would be more fitting for a Belgian style than British.  The mouthfeel in the end comes out a bit overly spritzy and dry instead of the full bodied but sessionable body expected for the style.

O- This beer came out alright but not phenomenal.  When I first tasted it I thought I might have a contest entry, but over time the aroma and taste went down and the carbonation went up, leaving this one just an ok beer and not a strong representation of the style.  That said, it is nice to have a nicely balanced beer that I can have a few of without feeling the effects and to that end, its a fairly good beer.