Experimenting with LoDo: Rolling Updates

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by honkey, Aug 6, 2020.

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  1. MrOH

    MrOH Grand Pooh-Bah (3,995) Jul 5, 2010 Virginia
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    That actually sounds awesome. I was expecting something along the lines of a gruit (using Equatorial African herbs and spices) with cassava or millet as a heavy adjunct. I guess I just equate sub-Saharan with Equatorial.

    Actually, what I just described sounded pretty awesome as well
     
    #61 MrOH, Aug 15, 2020
  2. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    And since you are a brewer you could make this beer. Maybe add a little bit of Wild Flower Honey as well?:thinking_face:

    Cheers!
     
    #62 JackHorzempa, Aug 15, 2020
  3. MrOH

    MrOH Grand Pooh-Bah (3,995) Jul 5, 2010 Virginia
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    I suppose I could grill the West African folks that work around here about the herbs/spices they use in their cooking outside of Grains of Paradise and whatever varieties of chilis they use. I'm figuring I'd also have to pick @skleice brain on how to use the starchy things that are used commonly grown in West Africa.

    I could probably pull a few strings and get some sort of African honey.

    Of course, gonna have to put this one down as a long term project. But it's on the radar.
     
    #63 MrOH, Aug 15, 2020
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  4. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Permit me to recommend you use some sorghum as part of your fermentables.

    "By any name, sorghum beer is the traditional beer of Africa."

    https://beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/izd8yFIQEc/

    Cheers!
     
    #64 JackHorzempa, Aug 15, 2020
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  5. MrOH

    MrOH Grand Pooh-Bah (3,995) Jul 5, 2010 Virginia
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    I agree, but all of this is something for another thread.

    Real quick though, going from what Charlie P stated in "Homebrewed Adventures" it seems like they're using the sorghum seeds and not the sorghum molasses (derived from the stems) I'm familiar with from growing up in the upper South.
     
    #65 MrOH, Aug 15, 2020
  6. honkey

    honkey Maven (1,350) Aug 28, 2010 Arizona
    Trader

    That was originally something I had mentioned when I brought up the idea of this beer, but to me it is more important that a beer tastes good than that it meets a specific marketing requirement and I personally don’t like sorghum beers.

    Here is the Italian Pils label.

    [​IMG]
     
    #66 honkey, Aug 15, 2020
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  7. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Weedy, I am with you here. I have a friend of Gary who has a son who is gluten intolerant and he asked me to help him brew a beer which was based on sorghum. The beer turned out OK but not something I would ever want to brew again.

    I enjoyed reading your Italian Pils beer label.

    Cheers to you!
     
    #67 JackHorzempa, Aug 16, 2020
  8. Brewday

    Brewday Zealot (721) Dec 25, 2015 New York

    Thanks for teasing us. If you ever ship let us know. :grin:
     
    #68 Brewday, Aug 16, 2020
  9. Witherby

    Witherby Crusader (498) Jan 5, 2011 Massachusetts

    But you did brew your Italian pils with the Italian Eraclea malt—you nailed the authenticity on a fake beer style. I wish I could get my hands on that to try it out. Now you need to brew an Italian Helles to let the malt really shine through!
     
    #69 Witherby, Aug 16, 2020
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  10. invertalon

    invertalon Pooh-Bah (2,249) Jan 27, 2009 Ohio
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Just a FYI... You have a typo in there... 4th line, "IT IS ADELICIOUS IDEA."

    I assume the "A" before delicious wasn't meant to be connected.
     
    #70 invertalon, Aug 17, 2020
  11. honkey

    honkey Maven (1,350) Aug 28, 2010 Arizona
    Trader

    Damn it... Since the labels were already printed, I'll pretend that was a joke too ;p
     
    #71 honkey, Aug 17, 2020
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  12. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Tell folks that this is an Italian expression.

    Tutti a tavola a mangiare!
     
    #72 JackHorzempa, Aug 17, 2020
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  13. honkey

    honkey Maven (1,350) Aug 28, 2010 Arizona
    Trader

    At this point, the "Italian" Pils is dry hopped, cold crashed, and I've dumped the hops. I'll be transferring to a lager tank tomorrow. Before dry hopping it, I took a sample and I hate to toot my own horn, but I thought "Damn... That's on track to be the best Pils I've ever brewed." Again, I hate to point this out as I realize it looks arrogant, but my Pils recipe at my last brewery was 2nd in a blind tasting by Paste Magazine a few years ago, we've had 2 German Pilsners in the untappd top 50 (one was as high as 17th, they've both subsequently dropped as the median rating for lagers is finally going up), and we currently have a Czech Pils sitting at number 20. This beer as I tasted it before dry hopping, in my opinion, was on track to blow all those away. Post-dry hop the beer is still tasting great, but now there's hop chunks floating in it, so I don't have great flavor descriptors for its current state... I keep straining hop particles with my lips when I sample it now. Should have a better idea in a week or two of how it will turn out.

    Before dry hopping, the things that I liked so much about it were a.) how soft the mouthfeel was b.) how "crisp" even the yeasty sample was, and c.) how "complete" and vibrant the Pils malt flavor was. It retained some of the honey-like Pils flavor without being sweet. The honey flavor and the degree to which the mouthfeel is soft is unlike any other beer I've brewed using "normal" techniques. Interestingly, the DDH IPA and TIPA are currently being reviewed with higher ratings than our other beers of the same style. I also felt like those beers are a little softer and "smoother" (I really hate that descriptor) than our other hazies. At this point, I'm a believer in LoDo being beneficial for our beers, but will continue to review as I sample the beer's progression. I don't know how the beer could change for the worse with lagering, but perhaps some of those more volatile and bright flavors that I'm enjoying so much will not linger through to packaging... I doubt that would happen, but we shall see!

    Edit to add: I harvested yeast from the Pils and brewed a Festbier and our Sub-Saharan West African Pils with it. Festbier is the same recipe that I've brewed for several years now and I've brewed a few thousand barrels of that beer. So although I'm not doing a side-by-side comparison with that one, it is a beer that I know very well and have as good of a flavor memory of as I could have... I'm not a big believer in flavor memories being entirely trustworthy, but this is the closest I'll get to the reliability of a side-by-side tasting.
     
    #73 honkey, Aug 18, 2020
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  14. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    I am of the same opinion here.

    But thanks for sharing your rolling updates.

    Cheers!
     
    #74 JackHorzempa, Aug 18, 2020
  15. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,647) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    My own experiences are similar to getting a new pair of glasses. Everything is crisp in definition, vibrant, details pop out.

    I could see before, this is better
     
    #75 hopfenunmaltz, Aug 19, 2020
  16. Buck89

    Buck89 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,782) Feb 7, 2015 Tennessee
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Great thread @honkey and I appreciate hearing your thoughts. A local brewery (Southern Grist) does an NEIPA with Barbe Rouge and I get an interesting strawberry and raspberry flavor from the hops. Hope to sample your Pils after hearing about it. We miss your beers from AL!
     
    #76 Buck89, Aug 28, 2020
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  17. The_Modern_Brewhouse

    The_Modern_Brewhouse Initiate (195) Sep 25, 2020 Minnesota

    #77 The_Modern_Brewhouse, Sep 25, 2020
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  18. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    #78 VikeMan, Sep 25, 2020
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  19. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,647) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    @honkey

    Reading through your progression from sceptic to seeing why it matters reminds me of my experiences.

    I liked your blog write up.
     
    #79 hopfenunmaltz, Sep 28, 2020
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  20. wasatchback

    wasatchback Pooh-Bah (1,574) Jan 12, 2014 Tajikistan
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    @honkey any update here.. Still believing in these practices?
     
    #80 wasatchback, Jul 30, 2021
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