- Joined
- Jan 19, 2016
- Messages
- 3,878
- Reaction score
- 3,325
- Points
- 113
A little update...
The Irish ale has been in the keg for a little over a week, having been held to day 14 before packaging. Attenuation with S-04 is always a little sketchy and I wanted to get as much as I could out of it. It went 78% down to 1.010 so I can't really complain about this one. At first it was very fruity and sweet but it's settling down a little as the yeast is fading. Overall it's a really nice beer but slightly too sweet and malty for style. Lots of caramel/toast with a rich buttery note that doesn't seem to be diacetyl but rather just heavy caramel malt flavor. I could have gone further with the late addition steeped dark roast for this portion of the batch but the color is pretty good. For style, it reads a little more Scottish than Irish Red and could stand a little more roast and hop bite. All in all, though, extremely quaffable.
The Belgian Pale just wouldn't attenuate and now has a slight film from some sort of slight infection. I suspect that it's just a light mold because the flavor is quite fine. I've had real trouble with some batches of S-33 yeast and trying to hold it at high temps late into fermentation to get some attenuation and a little spice hasn't yielded good results. It's still too sweet but it's not a bad beer, considering.
Just kegged the Marzen/Oktoberfest this afternoon and it's by far the best of the three. It fermented nice and cool for 2 weeks and raised in temp over the last week to low-mid 60s and even without a cold crash it racked clear and clean. It's got a very malty, slightly caramel flavor with a decent hint of hops on the nose and nice, just slightly lingering bitterness to compliment a rich but clean finish.
The Belgian will probably be a wash and may join a wild fig fermentation for a sour project. The Irish Red will be suitable for a club competition and may do just fine. The Oktoberfest is quite good enough for the Homebrew Festival competition in a couple of weeks and might do well enough for a medal and a People's Choice competition slot.
The Irish ale has been in the keg for a little over a week, having been held to day 14 before packaging. Attenuation with S-04 is always a little sketchy and I wanted to get as much as I could out of it. It went 78% down to 1.010 so I can't really complain about this one. At first it was very fruity and sweet but it's settling down a little as the yeast is fading. Overall it's a really nice beer but slightly too sweet and malty for style. Lots of caramel/toast with a rich buttery note that doesn't seem to be diacetyl but rather just heavy caramel malt flavor. I could have gone further with the late addition steeped dark roast for this portion of the batch but the color is pretty good. For style, it reads a little more Scottish than Irish Red and could stand a little more roast and hop bite. All in all, though, extremely quaffable.
The Belgian Pale just wouldn't attenuate and now has a slight film from some sort of slight infection. I suspect that it's just a light mold because the flavor is quite fine. I've had real trouble with some batches of S-33 yeast and trying to hold it at high temps late into fermentation to get some attenuation and a little spice hasn't yielded good results. It's still too sweet but it's not a bad beer, considering.
Just kegged the Marzen/Oktoberfest this afternoon and it's by far the best of the three. It fermented nice and cool for 2 weeks and raised in temp over the last week to low-mid 60s and even without a cold crash it racked clear and clean. It's got a very malty, slightly caramel flavor with a decent hint of hops on the nose and nice, just slightly lingering bitterness to compliment a rich but clean finish.
The Belgian will probably be a wash and may join a wild fig fermentation for a sour project. The Irish Red will be suitable for a club competition and may do just fine. The Oktoberfest is quite good enough for the Homebrew Festival competition in a couple of weeks and might do well enough for a medal and a People's Choice competition slot.
Last edited:
