Powder Hollow

I don't think it has anything to do with the fermenters...I and millions of other homebrewers ferment in plastic buckets and i've never had a smoky off-flavor. Has to be just some sort of flaw in the process like somehow burning some sugars during the boil...or just weird recipes inexplicably involving smoked malts?? Could be too much black patent malt if these were stouts your friends tried. Who knows!

I have to say, I didn't notice any smoky flavors but yeah...like I said in a previous post, just...not very good. All 7 beers were under-carbonated and lets just say, I entered the building with an empty growler...and left the building with the same empty growler after samples.

 

That was my question as well, what type of beer had they had. Both said IPAs. the fermenter question was more about the beer in general being bad not so much the taste. like I said, I don't brew nor no much at all about the brewing process, just assumed a metal/steel fermenter for a "professional" brewer would be more appropriate. nonetheless I do hope they can turn it around. said that all 7 you tried were that bad you didn't even get a growler fill. no matter the quality I always try to grab a growler when I go somewhere. sometimes if I didn't think the beer was all that great ill take a growler home and drink it in the comfort of my own home and really giving it a shot.

 

Visited yesterday afternoon. Nice tasting room with a very homey feel to it. The hard wood bar surface looked great and the interesting wooden tap handles made by the owner himself were creative and eye-catching. I also liked the large chaukboard with the 11 or so offerings posted in bold letters. I sampled the ESB, the porter, one of the two IPA's and the smoked porter. I thought they all were good but not stellar. They're only four weeks into being an operating brewery so I expect with more experience, they will improve. I left with a half growler of the smoked beer after enjoying the samples and a pint of the Robust Porter.

 

YES. Thank god its not just me. I got the same smokey/charcoal taste from every beer I've tried their so far (esb, slightly skewed, holiday, smoked, hoppy hollow), yet I know several who haven't noticed shit. Got a pint of the west coast today and left it there half-full. I looked up that plastic fermentors can cause off flavors, but I don't think it'd cause the smoked flavors.

I hope the guy is successful and its amazing he's doing this at 24 years old. But the beer has a good ways to go to even get at broad brook's level.

 

They definitely had a large amount of smoky beers. In general i hate smoky beers and avoid them, but even some of their generic styles like ipas ended up being smoky. Maybe this is intentional and part of the powder hollow gun theme?

Otherwise i liked them a lot. I was impressed by 12 beers on tap. The nonsmoky beers that i tried were excellent

 

Went a couple months back, forgettable.

 

I went a couple months ago. 9/12 beers on tap were very smoky tasting. Only 1 was a smoked beer. I would guess he either re pitched yeast from the smoked beer or has plastic fermenters or something. Was pretty bad. Also there was a beer that the name didn't say the style or anything, so I asked what kind of beer it was and she had no idea. She said something like "it's a toasted beer." The only beer that I thought was decent was the hoppy Irish Red.

 

I know when I stopped in I did see some plastic connicle fermenters in the back and was tagging that as the reason for all the beers tasting a little smokey

 

how would plastic make the beers smokey? I brew with plastic buckets and have never gotten that off flavor. Genuinely curious.

 

I frequent Whaler's Brewing in Wakefield, RI where they use plastic fermenters and they make some nice beers (no smokiness unless intended). IMO that would not be the only impetus for smokiness in this case.

 

A plastic fermenter isn't going to make your beer smokey. If some people can't taste it then it makes me think the beer is phenolic. Maybe from poor brewing techniques.

 

I always use plastic buckets as my primary fermenter and have found after using them for 5 plus years no matter how good they are cleaned, they begin to retain flavors and smells. If the brewer brewed a smoke beer, which he had done, and then brewed others, it is possible for the plastic to retain that flavor. I would hope someone wouldn't brew a smokey IPA on purpose. I feel his darker beers are really solid, but they too have a little smoke to them.

 

That's what I was thinking. The smoke flavor may have been carried over into the plastic. Also, I know aecht schlenkerla helles is made by repitching the yeast used from their other smoked beers. The yeast carries over the smoky flavors into the beer, even though no smoked malt is used.

 

That beer is also boiled in the same copper kettles which can retain a lot of that smoke flavor.

I dont want to imagine this guy is reusing his yeast across all the different beers. Has anyone met the brewer? Is he a bright fellow?

 

All I know about him is that he's only 24, so I do wonder how much brewing experience he has under his belt since he has only been able to legally drink for 3 years...who knows though, really hope they start making quality stuff.