Lemon Wit Update

The Lemon Wit is done. I let it ferment in the primary for seven days before moving it to the keg. I then force carbonated it for about 2-3 days. It turned out really well. It has a somewhat darker than normal amber color for a wheat-style beer, but everything else about it screams Belgian Wit. It has a great citrus aroma upfront followed by a nice smooth, crisp feel. It has a great lemon addition to the flavor, as well as just the right amount of spiciness. This is a great summer beer and is easily the best wheat beer I've ever made. I also really like the lemon flavor; it's something different as almost all wheat beers have an orange flavor accent. I'm very pleased.

OG: 1.043
FG: 1.013
ABV of approximately 4%

Until Next Time,
RHSC

Weekend Update

A lot happened this past weekend, so I'm just going to combine it all into one post. Sorry if it's kind of long.

Citrus Wheat Beer:
The wheat beer I posted about earlier is ready.  It's got a nice citrus aroma and the right amount of hops up front, but the finish is a little weak; there's something missing on the end. I like some of the changes I made from the first batch, but I think I may need to go revisit my first recipe and mix and match a little. Overall this is a nice beer, and is very refreshing. It's not too sweet or bitter. It really would be perfect if it had the right finish.

Beer Fest:
Some friends and I went to Beer Fest in Gastonia, NC at the Gastonia Grizzlies minor-league baseball park. Aside from some rain, it was a pretty fun event. There were over 100 beers, some wine, and cider from various breweries and wineries present. I stuck mostly with the beer, though I did try some of the other options available. I do not really remember all of the beers I tried, but several do stick out in my mind (good and bad).

• The Good
• Gallows Point Dead Man's Porter by Skull Coast Ale Company
• Jah*va Imperial Coffee Stout by Southern Tier Brewery
• Endless River by Mother Earth 
• Copper Ale by Old Mecklenburg Brewery
• Harpoon's Summer Seasonal
• Woodchuck Summer
• Shocktop and Shocktop Summer

The Gallows Point porter was my favorite followed closely by the Jah*va stout. The porter had a great flavor and wasn't overly bitter or thick as porters can be. It had great chocolate and macadamia nut flavors that I've just never tasted before in a beer. I immediately wanted to begin experimenting with this to create my own version. 

The Jah*va was also amazing. You could taste the coffee right up front, with some subtle chocolate and even raisin flavors in the back. This was very nice--almost like a novelty coffee drink. I also noticed some caramel flavors. However, at 11% ABV, this is something to sip, maybe as an after-dinner drink. 

Endless River, Copper Ale, Harpoon's Summer and Woodchuck Summer were all very nice, smooth beers (and one cider). They weren't the same type, but they are widely available so I won't go into much detail. Try them for yourself.

 I have actually begun to like Shocktop here lately. The seasonal was also good, which is saying a lot because it was a raspberry wheat beer, and I don't like raspberries. There's just something very refreshing about Shocktop--I really like that they have stayed true to the original style of wheat beers and have left it unfiltered. That's a nice touch not a lot of breweries do.

• The Bad
• Olde Hickory Brewery
• eBrew.com
• Foothills Brewery
• Blueberry Porter from Ass-Clown Brewery
• Bottle-Tree Blonde

I want to clarify that I am listing OHB on this list not necessarily because their beers were the worst I tried, but because of how disappointed I was. I love this brewery. They have a huge beer selection at their brew-pub in Hickory, yet they only brought two beers: a pilsner and an IPA that I honestly think might have been the same beer. They tasted so similar and overly hoppy that it was hard to tell them apart.

 EBrew.com is a distribution company that purchased home-brew beer and wine for this event. As a home-brewer, I was insulted at what they brought. I didn't like any of it, particularly this Black-Eye PA. It was basically a stout and an IPA combined and was rather horrid. 

The Foothills Brewery did not impress me. I had never tried any of their beers, but nothing really stood out. They were all incredibly hoppy; even their hefeweisen was very hoppy. 

The Blueberry Porter from Ass-Clown was probably the worst beer of them all. It just didn't taste right. The flavors were out of order. I think I would have rather had the bitter dark chocolate taste up-front with a smooth, sweet finish. Instead, you get a jolt of sweet blueberries right up front, which is off-setting because of the bitter aroma, followed by an extremely bitter chocolate after-taste. It just didn't sit right on the palate. 

The Bottle Tree Blonde is really only on this list because they served me a warm Carolina blonde ale, and did so knowingly. "Oops, this bottle's warm, but it'll be all right. Here you go!" Not okay. It probably would have been a very nice beer.

Overall, I really enjoyed this festival.  It was a nice atmosphere and a lot of fun. Some things that would have made it better: food vendors, and smaller samples. It would have been nice to get a snack in the middle of the tasting. As far as the sample sizes go, we were only given 6 oz tasting glasses, but so many of the people were filling them to the brim. This is a tasting. I'm not ordering a drink. What if I don't like it? Now, I have to drink the rest of it, or go out of view to dump it so as not to offend anyone. I was even dumping beers I liked because I wanted to be able to taste a lot of different beers. I can't do that if I'm drunk. Also, I will say that there were a lot of IPA's at this event. I am not an IPA fan, as you can probably tell. I just don't like the upfront bitter punch of hops. I don't mind bitter beers, but I like the flavor of malts and hops...not just hops. I like stouts because that dark malt flavor counteracts the   bitterness of the hops. However, there were still plenty of beers at the festival that were right up my alley.

Glass Carboy

Two of my friends, who went to Beer Fest with us, gave me a 6 gallon glass carboy for my birthday over the weekend. This is an awesome addition to my equipment, which I'm sure I will be able to use very soon!

Until Next Time,

RHSC

Citrus Wheat Beer (Round 2)

This is a revised version of a wheat beer I made last fall. You can find the post here on the blog entitled "Citrus Wheat Beer." I made a few changes, trying to play off the great flavor I got last time while trying to add more wheat flavors to make it more of an "authentic" wheat beer. I brewed this batch last Thursday. Hopefully it will turn out as successful as the first try.

Ingredients:
6.6 pounds Wheat Malt Extract
1 pound Wheat Grain (85 L)
1 pound Flaked Wheat (2 L)
1 ounce Liberty Hops
2 Oranges, Sliced
Zest of 1 Lemon
1 package (11 g) of American Ale Yeast (S-33)
3/4 cup of Corn Sugar (priming)

Instructions:

• Steep grains and wheat at 150 F for 30-60 minutes.
• Stir in malt extract. Bring to boil for 1 hour.
• Once wort begins to boil, add hops.
• Add oranges in last 10-15 minutes of boil.
• Add lemon zest in last 5-7 minutes of boil.
• Chill wort quickly and add to fermenter.
• Pitch yeast and seal fermenter.
• Ferment in primary for 7 days.
• Transfer to secondary fermenter. Let sit for 7 more days.
• Boil corn sugar in 2 cups water for priming solution.
• Pour priming solution into bottling bucket.
• Transfer wort from secondary to bottling bucket. Let sit for 2-5 minutes. Bottle.
• Let beer stand in bottles 10-14 days.

I will let you know how it turns out once I've tried it.

Until Next Time,
RHSC

Citrus Wheat Beer

This is a nice crisp beer. It is comparable to Blue Moon, but not quite as sweet. I was able to get a nice citrus after-taste. Over-all, I was very happy with this beer. This was my first "kit-free" recipe that I put together from a mix of recipes. This recipe makes a 5-gallon batch. It has an approximate ABV of 3%.

Ingredients:

• 6 pounds Wheat Malt Extract
• 1 pound Crystal Grain (60 L)
• 1 ounce German Wheat Hops
• 2 Oranges, sliced
• 1 package (11 g) American Ale Yeast
• 3/4 Cup Corn Sugar (for priming)

Instructions:

• Steep grains in 2-3 gallons of water at 150 F for 30 min to 1 hour
• Stir in malt extract. Bring to boil for 1 hour.
• Once wort begins to boil, add 1/2 ounce hops (bittering)
• Add 1/4 ounce hops at 30 minutes into boil (flavor)
• Add 1/4 ounce hops at 45 minutes into boil (aroma)
• Add oranges in last 10-15 minutes of boil
• Chill wort quickly and add to fermenter with remainder of water.
• Pitch yeast and seal fermenter
• Ferment for 10-14 days. *Note: I did not use a secondary. If you wish to secondary, you'll want to rack to a secondary after 4-5 days, and then leave it in the secondary for 7-10 days.
• Boil Corn Sugar in 2 cups of water for priming solution.
• Pour priming solution into the bottling bucket.
• Transfer the wort from the fermenter to the bottling bucket. Let sit for 2-5 minutes. Bottle.
• Let beer stand in bottles for 14 days.

Until Next Time,

RHSC