Next brew: A light lager attempt

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

Haha thanks guys, I'll do the gravity measurement this afternoon :P

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

OK, gravity is at 1.009. That's pretty much done. It also puts me dead on 3% ABV, which is what I aimed for. I obviously tasted from the hydrometer tube, and, well, I drank the rest of it as well. It's definitely a little on the hoppy side, but it's not overwhelming. It's actually pretty nice, even uncarbonated and at 20°C. It tastes like a hoppier Windhoek Light. I love it. I think with some lagering and bottle conditioning the bitterness might fade a little bit, putting it more in balance, but it's definitely not as bad as I thought it might be after Harhm's post. I would drink this all day long, actually.

I also set the fridge to 1°C this morning so it can cold crash, hopefully get all the sediment out of solution quickly. It's very, very cloudy. Will rack this one into a cube and fine in there before bottling. I've now seen the difference between bottling a clear brew and a cloudy brew. Clear leaves you with a LOT more breathing space when it comes to pouring, and I like that.

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

Shme... you should have just live on the edge a little and not measured . Ayyyye peer pressure!

Did you add gelatine to this one?

I've now seen the difference between bottling a clear brew and a cloudy brew. Clear leaves you with a LOT more breathing space when it comes to pouring, and I like that.

What do you mean here?

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

I haven't fined this one yet, no. I'll fine it after cold crashing to see how clear that S189 drops on it's own. Apparently it is HIGHLY flocculant, so we'll see.

What I mean is that a clear brew leaves a lot less sediment in the bottle, which means you can pour quicker and easier, and more, without ending up with bits and bobs in your glass

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

without ending up with bits and bobs in your glass

Ahhhh. Gotcha.

[Harhm Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Harhm]

I think with some lagering and bottle conditioning the bitterness might fade a little bit, putting it more in balance, but it's definitely not as bad as I thought it might be after Harhm's post.

Lagering and bottle conditioning will not decrease the bitterness the isomerised IBU''s are there to stay, in addition the carbonation will increase the perceived bitterness so your unbalanced beer will become even more unbalanced.

Think of it this way, you bitterd it the same way as you would bitter a IPA. Even tough I don't like to use the IBU:OG ratio as a important indicator of "balanced bitterness" 1.0 BU:GU ratio in this case is just too far out of proportion regardless if you don't mind it not being to style

I am sorry to tell you but your beer is overly bitter and totally out of balance no matter how much you tell yourself or us how great it is.

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

Yeah I looked at that IBU:OG ratio after seeing some more info on it on YouTube, and saw I'm way off. As long as it's good for me, that's fine. I'm the one drinking it, for the most part.

[JIGSAW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JIGSAW]

So the father-in-law is getting the next batch then

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

Maaannn I should have kept my biscuit starch sauce brew. Would have blended well with yours to balance the bugu's

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

So the father-in-law is getting the next batch then

I actually think he'll like it. We'll see.

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

OK so the unbalanced monstrosity I just couldn't dump. So I figured it's a bit bitter, and what else is a bit bitter? An IPA. And since this was done with U1/108, the "Southern Tropical" as they're calling it now, I figured I'll just dry hop it.

So I did.

I dry hopped it with a small amount of the same U1/108 hops. Smaller than usual for an IPA because I don't have the grain bill to back it up. I don't remember the amount, but it was around 35g or something of that hops for the batch.

I then also lagered it for a month at 2°C. Bottled, and it's sat untouched for almost 2 months. I then chilled a few, and, well, it's really not bad. I'm kinda flying through these as they are light, hoppy and fresh, with a definite tropical flavour. Almost tastes like a fruit beer, made with passion fruit and guava. I honestly think it could have gone worse, and I'm so impressed with this that I think I'll make it again:

[JIGSAW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JIGSAW]

Looks Good

As long as you're happy with your own brews, I think that That is all that matters

[jakeslouw Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jakeslouw]

Looks Good

As long as you're happy with your own brews, I think that That is all that matters

yep, brew the stuff you like, bugger the rest

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

Yeah I like that approach. I'm finding more and more that the beers I want and like are overlapping between different styles anyway, so the rules aren't "for me". This beer is a perfect example. There's nothing I have found that does the same, yet it's tasty and pretty cheap to brew. I didn't have a ~300g hop bill for this brew, yet it tastes a lot like an IPA. And it's light, which I wanted.

[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

Fully agree, I brewed a bunch of ipa and apa, now i find them quite meh, my hop heavy hand has grown light. I absolutely love pilsners and english ales right now, but made a malt forward munich dunkel, had a sneaky taste after top cropping ( skare) and its magnificent.

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