And it’s not so hot. At least not right now. Granted it was put in the fridge early as a test run to see where things stood. The problems are making sense to me. First, I think it may be better to try putting sugar in the bottling bucket instead of each bottle individually. The test bottle was hardly carbonated at all even taking into consideration that it was an early pull. Second, there is a bit of a musky after taste. I think this is from the air leaking in during siphoning. It could also be from letting it age too long for the recipe. I’ll be pulling another bottle soon to check carbonation. Here’s hoping it carbs up and the musky after taste mellows out while aging!
Tag: Beer
Who Drinks Cream Ales?
This is a serious question. Here is how Beer Advocate describes the style:
Cream Ales, spawned from the American light lager style, are brewed as an ale though are sometimes finished with a lager yeast or lager beer mixed in. Adjuncts such as corn or rice are used to lighten the body. It is no uncommon for smaller craft brewers to brew all malt Cream Ales. Pale straw to pale gold color. Low hop bittering and some hop aroma though some micros have given the style more of a hop character. Well carbonated and well attenuated.
The description doesn’t do a whole lot for my tastes being that I don’t enjoy light lager. Still I’d expect to like craft takes on the brew. I’ve had two or three since I started sampling beers and have enjoyed zero of them. Zero.
I’ve found them to have little or no body, almost no flavor and lots moderate carbonation. The last one I sampled was Carolina Strawberry from Foothills which had a taste reminiscent of strawberry Clearly Canadian.
So, who actually goes for these cream ales? Is it really just there to help the bud light drinker feel like they enjoy beer? Have I not had a good example of the style? This is a serious question!
My First Beer Is Bottled
Final gravity of 1.010, ABV 5% and bottled on January 19, 2012. I have a feeling that it’s going to be super heavy banana and clove. We’ll see. But like the brewing before, bottling was not frustration free due to me learning how to use the tools as we bottled.
As a quick aside I was slightly worried fermentation wasn’t happening as it should because I saw hardly any bubbles at all in the primary airlock. Turns out the lid just isn’t tight enough to form a good seal.
The first hurdle was with Star San, or more so, it’s label. After making the diluted Star San mix and starting the sanitization process I noticed the front warnings which said all kinds of terrible things. I tend to take things at their word and started to get seriously frustrated that I was going to need to wash my hands for 20 minutes and call poison control due to touching the diluted mixture. After venting a while and speaking with seasoned home brewers I found that lots of people have no issue with the properly diluted mixture.
The next was in using the autosiphon. I followed the instructions exactly as it said to do but yet the siphoning didn’t continue after a few pumps. I tried over and over until I finally realized the tubing supplied was allowing a small amount of air in stopping the siphoning. Right away I was annoyed that air was flowing with the unfinished beer! Once I figured out that air was seeping in I pinched the siphon hard and manually pumped the beer from primary to bottling bucket. Next time I’m going to make sure the tubing in use is way too snug.
The last issue was in filling the bottles. While switching out bottles it wasn’t uncommon for there to be enough pressure in the line to cause beer to spray out of the line/spigot connection point. It wasn’t a ton but still caused issues and forced faster bottling to avoid losing beer. I’m not sure what I did wrong there but I’m sure it was me somehow.
Next batch should go a lot smoother. Both brewing and bottling attempts were huge learning experiences as well as failed experiments with frustration management. I’m looking forward to sampling the results and trying it all again. The waiting is killing me!
Making Beer: Update On First Brew
Yesterday I was able the to take the first reading and find where my hefeweizen’s gravity stands. It’s original gravity a week ago was 1.050. Yesterday’s reading shows it to be at 1.010. I’m thinking it’s at, or at least near, final gravity but am not totally sure just yet. I should know soon. What I can say is that the primary smelled amazing! I was tempted to try it as is but the yeast I saw while taking a sample for measurement convinced me otherwise. The ABV is currently coming to 4% which I’m happy with, especially if the beer tastes as good as it smells!
Making Beer: My First Homebrew
About six months back I got the itch to try my hand at home brewing. After realizing a bit over a year ago that beer can taste good and the trying some homebrew done by some friends and coworkers I wanted in. I headed up to the local brewing store and bought a brewing kit along with malt extract based hefeweizen to ingredient box as a starting point.
I should point out I was given some excellent advice from a fellow beer lover: Don’t make you’re own, just enjoy what other people make. As you guessed I didn’t listen.
With all my ingredients cleaned I started the process of making the wert in my brew pot. The problem came when I started to feel hunger kick in hard. The instead of watching the boiling wert like a hawk I ate food and watched It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia waiting for the 45 minute low boil to do its magic. Right at the end when I happened to be watching out of the corner of my eye it boiled over. So frustrating! I pulled the lid off and was able to save the wert but lost some amount in the boil over.
When it came time to ice the brew pot the sink refused to hold water wasting a lot of water and ice. Are you kidding me? Argh!
Then the instructions noted the need for sanitizer in the airlock. Sanitizer that we were finished with in step one of the process and dumped due to, well, being done with it.
After all this I felt like I’d not want to do this again due to all the mishaps making me want to give up and dump the wert. Even if this batch is drained I’ll likely try a few more times. The thought of having my own IPA or Belgian style ale adjusted to my taste is just too strong. In any case it’s all in the fermenter now and it’s time to wait. If your curious the starting gravity is at 1.050.
So far here is what I gather: The science and steps of making beer is really important. The foundation. And you can end it right at that and come out with a nice, but simple beer. The fun (and amazing differences) comes from the art that lives after the science.
Needless to say I’m not a good brewer. In fact I’m a pretty lousy one. Good news is I can only get better.
Cigar City Brewing
Hidden behind a Total Wine in Tampa, Florida lives a brewery and brewpub who is serious about about IPA and sports some other good styles. It’s called Cigar City Brewing and it’s not in Ybor.
Jai Alai
I tried this in November for the first time with a good friend in the Tampa area who was exploring craft and import beer styles. We both thought it was just ok. He isn’t much of a hop head and I thought it was too mild of an IPA. In fairness I may have gotten an older package or possibly a different version of the IPA. Upon second tasting over Christmas I changed my mind and put it in the upper tiers of IPA’s. Why? It’s plenty hoppy (seriously) with a semi sweet finish and it does this without having the massive citrus notes that are so common in West coast IPA’s (I’m looking at you Pliny). It’s no wonder this is one of their biggest year round brews!
Florida Cracker
My first beer love was Belgian and Belgian’s continue to be high on my favorites list. Wit’s are seriously hit or miss for my taste but Florida Cracker, a Belgian White style beer, is very well done. It’s a little sweeter than other versions but it works out well. It’s nose carries some fruity notes but the taste is what I like in my witbier: mild, well balanced and full of Belgian spices. If nothing else you have to love the name.
Maduro
Yeah, a brown ale. I don’t go for them. Stouts, yes. Black IPA’s, sure. Pale ales or wheats, of course. Brown ale, pass. Well, except this one. This ale reminded me of a more relaxed milk stout in flavor. Chocolate and toffee was present and had a mild nutty finish (which I believe is more common in brown ales). I bought a six pack just to get something different and I am glad I did. Those who are fans of brown ales should give this a run.
Where is it?
Sadly it doesn’t seem like Cigar City Brewing has good distribution. With the exception of Florida I’ve not seen it on a shelf for purchase. That’s unfortunate as I’m positive the IPA (if not more) would surely get good sales. Heck, even Beer Advocate rates it at a 100!
Durham World Beer Fest: Not Worth It
Such a huge let down I left at 2pm. The lines at the 12-4pm were atrocious. Think about a bunch of 8 year olds crowding around an ice cream truck and you are pretty much are spot on. You just need to add purposeful line cutting and lots of college shirts. On my first attempt at a pour I was already pushed out of the way, ignored and line cut.
You may be thinking this must have been another hipster beer thing. Not even close. If there is a tag line to this event it should be ‘WOOOOOOOOO!’ because that is a lot of what you will hear when not hearing frat talk or girls yapping about cute guys.
Learn Something New
I learned a few important things:
No one picks up the ‘for more information’ telephone line. The voice mail for the line will be full. It is useless.
Either beer festivals are not for me or people who like beer do not attend beer festivals. I’m not sure which. I wanted to try a number of drinks from many different breweries but the frustration of simply finding the end of the line is a mood killer. Mix that with the pushing and seriously stupid frat/sorority talk and it’s just no fun. And don’t try asking someone if they are in line because they probably can’t hear you.
Beer festivals are for cheap beer swillers looking for a cheap way to drink. For them this is a serious deal! They can drink and drink without paying any more than the cover charge. Their lack of self awareness allows them to enjoy pushing their way to the next drink. For someone looking to taste different beers and find some new favorites you’re likely just in between jerks and their drinks.
These events are over sold. Granted, they probably are in legal limits for the venue but it’s not comfortable. It’s not even ‘just a bit annoying’ . It’s down right frustrating every time you venture back into the hot, loud and busting at the seams tents to get two ounces and some shoves.
There must be a suspension of general friendliness at these festivals. Since it’s so crowded the etiquette seems to be it’s fine to walk into people as it’s their fault for not moving out of line for you. Also, it’s cool to block lines and talk in groups making tents even worse.
Nice Acts
One brewery filled my cup before two big guys who cut in front of me. It was a breath of fresh air.
A lady bumping into me while i stood outside the tents said ‘excuse me’. That was friendly of her.
Better Option
In this case I should have bought a few new beers and tried them with friends. I would have gotten more beer, paid a lot less money and avoided much frustration.
Thoughts
It has me wondering if maybe beer isn’t for me (assuming thisnis actually the beer crowd and people who enjoy beer are just an Internet thing).
Needless to say I will be stay away from these events for a while. But if you are thinking of going to a beer festival be very wary. Do research to make sure it’s your crowd. Make sure they say the max capacity of attendance. If they don’t say the audience limit they are probably hiding something. Do the math and make sure you will break even or come out ahead in the ticket price/drinks. Lastly, be prepared to push back.
Victory In Beer
Ever since I was introduced to craft beers (which is not all that long ago) I’ve been sampling many different styles from many different breweries. One night as opened up a Hop Devil I looked at my growing bottle cap selection and noticed one cap design more than any other: Victory!
As it turns out over the last few months I’ve been enjoying a decent amount of Victory beers compared to other breweries. Some of them have become high on my list while others are simply me giving another brewery+style a try. Here are the ones I’ve really enjoyed:
Moonglow Weizenbock
I really like this beer. It is decently high ABV and only available in the fall (seasonal) but it tastes great. Add on top of that it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg and it’s an easy winner. On BA it has ‘exceptional’ and ‘word-class’ review.
Donnybrook Stout
I do like stouts but tend to go more for milk, mocha and espresso stouts. Donnybrook is a great stout when you don’t want to get hit with the normal craft high ABV as it clocks in around 3.7%. It’s true it’s not the most memorable dry stout but it’s plentiful, light and enjoyable.
Prima Pils
Unlike a lot of my friends I don’t drink much lager but this is a US made pilsener I could enjoy! It seems slightly hoppier than other pilseners I’ve had without running away from the origin style. Again, BA gives it ‘exceptional’ and ‘world-class’.
Whirlwind Witbier
Probably the first Victory beer I tried. Very true to style and fits really well on hot summer days. The spiciness and banana flavors are what keep me coming back and it looks like I’m not the only fan.
There are two another things that they all have which makes me like Victory: price and availability. Not to say that good beer isn’t worth paying extra for but it is nice to not get sticker shock from beer. And it’s availability is pretty good. True, it won’t be hanging out at many general grocery stores but it seems common in bottle shops. I’ve even been able to buy them in singles (big plus as I like to get different styles in one pack).
There is one beer from Victory I don’t really seem to get.
HopDevil
It has glowing reviews all around yet for me it’s seems very mild. Listed as an IPA, yet called an APA sometimes, Hop Devil doesn’t have the hop bitterness I think of when IPA comes to mind. I think more in line with Sierra Nevada’s Torpedo or Dogfish Head’s 90 Minute IPA. HopDevil isn’t bad, I just don’t see why so many people like it specifically. But that’s OK, I don’t have to love everything.
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