What are you drinking ?

[jt]

Ok, so What Are You Brewing was a hotty, as topics go.

Now I'm 15 pints into a keg I only filled on Tuesday and wondering if anyone else has a favourite at the moment ?

It's my second brown with US-Oh05 and it's better than the forst, maybe Ikept the temps down a bit during the scorcher we had in januray

[Greig McGill]

US05, very well aerated. Never had this before, but never drunk one so young either. It was only a hint, so I'm hoping it's just something that will clean up with conditioning.

[Greig McGill]

Just an update. Tried it again last night as a friend was over. No hint of solvent now, so perhaps I just picked up some yeast from the bottom which had encapsulated some off flavours or something. Anyway, now it tastes great, even so young.

[Steve Baker]

I don't think my 2 hour boil did much for my Golden Promise/Cascade SMaSH either. The first runnings got a bit of a boil too. I just kegged it on Sunday, haven't tasted it proper yet.

[MrC]

That's interesting Greig. A couple of my beers in the NHC were noted as being solventy even though the fermentation temps were at the low end of the range and consistent (US-05 @ 17C in 21L). I always thought that the higher alcohols were due to high fermentation temps.

I did some research as a result and I reckon that it's an aeration issue for me. I now shake for 15min rather than 3min. Time will tell...

[Stu McKinlay]

Aeration shouldn't be an issue with a good dose of US05. Just make sure you throw enough in.

Give beer its time. Any beer close to 6% is going to be a little prickly in the first few weeks. Don't bother analysing it until you've given it three weeks (at least).

[Barry]

Amen to that. I'm at the end of a keg of ordinary - a beer I usually start drinking a day after kegging. This one used Nottingham, and I've been wondering the whole keg long whether I screwed it up, or if I'm just over the style!
Now that the keg is almost empty - 3 weeks on - it's tasting fabulous. FABULOUS. I've decided that nottingham especially needs a good dose of time for flavour development.
So glad I'm not merely bored of delicately balanced beers!

[Stu McKinlay]

I'm brewing an Ordinary on the 23rd. It's been far too long. MO, Crystal 90 and Amber... WLP002... I've not picked the hops yet. The low gravity Belgian Pales have had me wishing for a good ordinary. Should be perfect drinking as a post-Taupo quaffer come the end of November.

[jt]

I like that pale crystal Stu and I notice that it pops up in a few of your receipes. I used it a bit last year and I've just bought it again.
Seems to add to a beer without the (sometimes overly) distinctive flavour of the medium or dark crystals. How far would you go with the pale crystal in an ordinary ?

Cheers, jt

[Stu McKinlay]

I get up around the 10% mark, if I remember rightly. i'll look back on some recipes and give you some better stats later...

[jt]

Thanks, I haven't been up that far - your beefier base malt might be a better combo than mine - and the amber will be a nice balancing act too

Looking at an ale on the weekend, 93% ADM and 7% Pale Crystal - which is a barstadly conversion of the caramalt / medium crystal combo that I used last time.

I'm steering off the overt crystal flavour of medium at the moment, though I do like the caramalt and also like the dark crystal with a touch of choccy

cheers, jt

[Glynn Foster]

Great evening at http://www.anchorandhopesf.com/ - awesome place for food (scallops and oysters for me). The beer there was pretty excellent too.

Deschutes Black Butte Porter
Firestone Walker Pale 31
Green Flash La Freak
Firestone Union Jack IPA

and then it got very, very hazy when we started on the 10% ABV beers. Pick of the bunch was obviously Green Flash, though the Deschutes Porter went down great with the Oysters. Think I'll have to make a reccy somewhere tonight to get my first taste of Pliny and see what the fuss is all about.

[Reviled]

Yeah boi! Just scored me a lowenbrau 1.25 Litre stein for $4 at the hospice shop :o) Mean score!!