I've brewed with Azacca 4 times. All were NEIPAs with Citra and sometimes another hop. I used Azacca in the 1-2 oz/gallon range along with equal and then eventually lesser amounts of Citra and other hops. Both 8oz batches of Azacca I ordered over the last 2 years came across as mild and it took...

To the already very good advice above I'd add this. After one's palate has adjusted to the frequent (or recent) consumption of highly hopped ales with exotic yeasts, a lot of things probably taste like passable "pseudo-lager". Not saying this to sound disparaging. It's a reality every judge and...

I had never thought to try Wilamette in an American wheat beer, mostly because I associate it with an English sense of beer styles. To be fair, I've also never brewed with more than 20% wheat more than a handful of times (usually with German ingredients but sometimes with Centennial or Cascade)...

I just love it that so many people are getting back into brewing these ESBs and other English styles. They've been pushed off the shelves of even specialty stores where I live and no one but me even seemed to notice ....

It sounds like your efficiency and OG were likely just fine and your ABV is in line with the recipe assuming you ended up with the expected volume in the fermenter. And it sounds like your FG is probably fine as well since an uncorrected 1.02 refractometer reading on a 5% ABV sample is inline...

That would explain the contaminated batches. Those dark nooks retain moisture and create an environment where microbes can flourish. Give everything a good cleaning, consider putting all of that through the dishwasher on sanitize as well. No need to sanitize the coil since it was at sterilizing...

Fermentis actually posts flavor profile test results for 34/70 and backs up its usage in that temperature range with clean results, which I find reassuring. I fully understand that dried yeast manufacturers have an incentive to broaden their market with claims about not needing aeration or not...

I use German Pilsner exclusively since a bag of Breiss Pilsner produced a lackluster flavor profile. I am particularly sensitive to flavors coming from grain. I believe for this style of beer getting the highest quality German or a Bohemian possible is essential. Weyermann or Cargill Salzgitter...

Congratulations! A true achievement.

I'm not surprised that you didn't get any peppery and lemony notes from WY3711 even at that temperature. I have used Lallemand Belle Sasion for my last several saisons but from my research I'd expect WY3711 to produce what's consider by today's palate to be a very mild flavor profile. I ferment...

Is your kettle thick stainless steel or aluminum? I’m not a fan of using the burner during my mash unless I’m trying to caramelize some of the wort or create a step-mash without decoctions. It just creates too many different hot spots and temperature currents to be predictable, and you really...

Dry sounds like tannins to me. Especially if your tap water tastes very good. Any chance you mash out and sparge? That can get the grain bed too hot. Alternately, do you stir your mash frequently? Squeeze every last drop out of your bag? Those are all traditionally considered to extract tannins...

I appreciate someone else publishing numbers on this. There are very old reviews-es from England where a “big beer” was made from the first runnings and a little beer from the second runnings. And the third runnnigs, well maybe not so great for making beer anymore.

Looks great! I think the label “blonde ale” is misleading but the labels don’t fit all of the new styles anyway. Id be more likely to try the first recipe than the second because I get the feeling this is not a classic blonde. Very sessionable which a lot of people are looking for. But bursting...

Good luck Konstantinos and let us know how it goes!

Great! Sounds like a solid starting point. Admittedly, I am struggling to find my zone with Fawcett Pale Chocolate malt which made my last two batches of English bitter taste like a chocolate-shop. The color calculator I referred to is just the SRM number in the recipe page. The idea of...

My personal opinion is that the amber ale you started with is still too much of an influence on the beer. I’d approach it from the other direction and start with a classic IPA foundation which I’d try to make redder and maltier within reason. I’d expect the tasters eyes to affect their...

Will, I wonder if the recipes you liked included Special B (raisin/toffee) instead of Crystal 120 and English brown malt (chocolate) as well. I also started to wonder if you inadvertently drove some additional attenuation which dried things out but that seems highly unlikely with the grains you...

I have not used that strain but let me just say English yeasts certainly make for a “confused” flavor profile before they drop, and they can take forever to drop. Sometimes they taste tinny sometimes they taste tangy, sometimes they cost your tongue and make everything a pasty wash from there on...

That’s heavy all right. Out of curiosity what is the batch size that you used to get those numbers?