What Homebrew Are You Drinking: May 2016

Good question. IMHO, this extract version has no flaws for the style. Whether it's better or not than commercial examples would be a subjective determination. However, my opinion is that there is nothing that this beer may potentially lack that makes brewing an all-grain version, especially if we're talking step-mashing or decoction, worth the effort.

YMMV

 

Looks tasty. The best Weizenbock I ever made was extract. It's got me thinkin'... maybe extract's the way to go for German hefes and weizens!

 

Several people in my homebrew club swear by extract hefeweizens as well.

 

La Chouffe IPA clone

 

Great "head retention". I might need to evaluate that beer for you.

 

Drinking my Habanero IPA (100% Brett). Kinda pissed this keg is almost gone.

 

Crystal clear Munich Dunkel.

I hear adding gelatin to a keg takes skill? Guess I'm skilled. Cool.

 

Apparently it's National Homebrew Day. Having the last of my Hibiscus Gose.

 

Started with sessions, followed by smoked magik finishing with the black Porter. Glad it's Saturday night

 

Cardamom Tangerine Saison - still needs more time.

 

From this weekend... NEIPA... Fresh from the keg. Tastes great but needs a little more gravy for appearance.

 

Drinking an IPA I brewed with nugget, mosaic, chinook, and galaxy hops two weeks after bottling. This beer is dedicated to my dog Scout who decided to get into the leftover trub that was dumped in the woods right past my property. He had to go to the emergency veterinary clinic where he was kept cool and got his stomach pumped. Luckily he made it through so I thought it was appropriate to make some labels! This beer turned out great, has a great aroma and mouth feel and tastes fruity with a hint of passion fruit. Cheers!

 

Speaking of German wheat beers made with extract, I tried the first bottle of this fantastic stovetop all extract kettle sour Gose.
Doesn't look like much, but it tastes fantastic. Very tart, bright citrus coriander, a touch of salt, with a lemon juice finish.

 

Had my latest house IPA after 1 week on the gas. Really liking how this is progressing. My last version did the best yet in a local comp and I think I like this one more. A little drier at 1.010 with good mouthfeel and huge hop flavor and aromas. Hops at every stage made a difference.

 

Two pours of my Double Sunshine clone (BYO recipe) and a cat. There is something wrong with this beer, but I don't know how to describe the problem properly. There's very little taste up-front, but it's followed by a strong aftertaste of something that is kind of unpleasant and very distracting. Can't quite put my finger on it; I want to say onion, but other people who have tasted the beer don't really get that from it. I had the exact same issue with my NE IPA, which was also a Citra beer with oats, but both the hops and oats were from different sources this time. For now I'm wondering if the culprit is some old siphon tubing that needs to be replaced - I definitely won't use it again, anyway. The bad taste is gradually fading (along with the overall flavor profile), so I think the beer won't be a total writeoff, but I'd love to figure out how to avoid this problem in the future. Any suggestions?

 

I often pick up onion in beers with high alpha hops. But I like the flavor so to me it's not a flaw but just a characteristic of the hops. The way you say it's fading also points to the hops IMO. Where did you source the hops? how old are they? have they been opened and then stored? and what does the cat think of it?

 

I get my hops from ontariobeerkegs.com, which usually sends me stuff from HopUnion. I...can't quite remember where the Citra for this batch came from, I bought a pound and vacuum sealed the leftovers (but this beer was made the day I opened the package). The hops smelled fine, although not particularly strongly. The cat was indifferent.

Maybe Citra is more of a sometimes hop for me? That said, I certainly didn't get this strong flavor when I tasted real Double Sunshine a while back.

 

Enjoying my Gose while I wait for the weather to cooperate enough that I can finally mow my out-of-control lawn.