Archive for category Beer
Home Brew – Harpy New Year bottled
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Home Brewing on January 14, 2012
Bottled the English Bitter I made. 32 Pints, FG 1.018 (ABV – 3.5%), is beer.
Gravity is a bit higher then I wanted, but it is what it is. Next time I will mash a lower as I seem to have better luck.
Mead is still stuck. Woe is me and my First World problems.
Beer Review – Old Mephisto
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting on January 13, 2012
Name: Old Mephisto
Origin: Denmark
Style: Barley Wine (10.5%)
Apperance: A brown, murky coloured beer. Pours with a small, fizzy head.
Taste: The aroma is sweet, like raisins or figs. A very rich, malty flavour with notes of figs, apples and caramel. Finishes with a semi-sweet malty flavour and just a slight residual alcohol taste.
Mouth Feel: Heavy bodied, medium carbonation and very filling.
Final Thoughts: 4.0/5 – A great, richly flavoured barley wine.
Home Brew – Mead is stuck
Posted by bradinator in Home Brewing on January 9, 2012
Two days after adding my last nutrient addition and they gravity has not changed from 1.060. It is officially stuck.
I pitched another packet of EC-1118 in an attempt to bring it back to life, but I won’t know for a couple days. Also I have turned on a small heater to bring up the ambient temperature in the basement which can also assist in the fermentation.
Failing these I am going to need to try some more drastic measures to get the yeast going.
Update (10-Jan-12) —
Repitching the yeast and raising the temperature has had zero affect so far, but its only been less than 24 hours. I am going to start making a mead re-starter to be safe. It is going to be 1L of the mead must, 2.5g of Yeast Energizer and 2.5g of Nutrient, plus another packet of EC-1118. By tomorrow AM this should be ready to be pitched into the stuck mead and hopefully kick start it again.
Update (11-Jan-12) —
I pitched the re-starter last night right before bed. This morning their appeared to be new signs of fermentation, but without gravity readings I will have no real idea. I am just going to leave it alone until the weekend when I will check the gravity.
Home Brew – More mead updates
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Home Brewing on January 7, 2012
Another day, another vigorous stirring and nutrient addition. This is the third and potentially last nutrient addition for the mead (the first was 2.5g of nutrient and energizer, the 5g of energizer and today was 2.5g of nutrient and energizer). I took another gravity reading (1.060, 4.5%ABV, but still has a long way to drop) and stirred out the CO2 which was quite minimal today.
I need to keep taking readings for the next month or so because the yeast can stall easily and ruin the batch. If it does happen to stall or even slow a little I may pitch another packet of EC-1118 into the must.
Beer Review – Phillips Longboat Chocolate Flavoured Porter
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting, Photography, Travel on January 5, 2012
Name: Phillips Longboat Chocolate Flavoured Porter
Origin: BC, Canada
Style: Chocolate Porter (5.2%)
Apperance: Nice dark brown, nearly black porter. Big froathy head that shrinks away quickly leaving a tan cream coloured top for the duration of the drink.
Taste: The main aromas are cherries and chocolate. The flavour is very similar, starting with sweet cherries and raisins. It then a sweet chocolate which proceeds to a bitter chocolate and piney hop flavour. Clean finish with just a light aftertaste of chocolate
Mouth Feel: Creamy, very filling and surprisingly refreshing for a porter. Medium body.
Final Thoughts: 4.0/5 – Where most porters are heavy and rich, Longboat akes a different spin on it. It is lighter and very refreshing, but not so much to subdue its fine flavors. Cocoa is very detectable but I am unsure if they used lactose in this batch due to the lighter palette. Nice balance of bitter and sweet.
Donkeys. On a road.
Home Brew – Gravities of Mead and Bitter Ale
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Home Brewing, Photography, Travel on January 4, 2012
I did the first nutrient addition to the mead last night, plus stirred it wildly for about 5 minutes. I added about a 1/2 tablespoon of DAP and Yeast Energizer. This is a few days late, but I believe its better late then never. This morning I continued to stir the mead to remove the CO2 and took a gravity reading which is still showing signs of fermentation; 1.073. Its got a long way to go, but mead is not a rushed brew.
I also took a reading of the Harpy New Years! Bitter ale. Its sitting around 1.020 and appears to still be fermenting. It is probably pretty close to being finished fermenting, but I won’t be touching it until the end of the month.
Another photo my friend took. I believe this is somewhere in Nepal.
Beer Review – Alley Kat’s Blue Dragon Double IPA
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting on January 2, 2012
Name: Alley Kat’s Blue Dragon Double IPA
Origin: Edmonton, Canada
Style: IIPA (7.5%)
Apperance: Poured with a nice, foamy head. The beer is a light caramel colour and crystal clear.
Taste: Toffee and flowers dominate the aroma. The Blue Dragon starts with a slightly sweet, caramel like flavour that is overpowered by its high amount of hops. Floral and citrus bitterness almost completely drown out the sweet malty base, finishing with a very long lasting, citrus-like bitterness.
Mouth Feel: The bitterness is harsh and long lasting. Medium bodied and very filling.
Final Thoughts: 3.5/5 – This is a monstrously hoppy beer that even I found a bit abrasive. I had high hopes for this brew but it seemed to be missing something. With that said I still enjoyed this beer from first sip to last.
A very incredulous snowman.