Monday, May 20, 2013
Cochise Stronghold Cider & Malt Review
| Cochise Stronghold Comparison | ||
| Cider Yeast | Wine Yeast | |
|---|---|---|
| Appearance | Almost no foam, deep brownish-red and extremely clear | Pours very foamy, but dies down quickly. Deep brownish-red and very clear |
| Aroma | Very bright apple flavor, other non-descript fruitiness, sweetish | Appley, but somewhat yeasty, caramel, and a hint of alcohol |
| Taste | Sweeter, with more apple flavor. Strong caramel finish, with an ever so slight warming sensation from the alcohol | Caramel, some oxidation notes, strong apple flavor, tiny bit of a metallic note, and finishes a bit yeasty and bready |
| Mouthfeel | Moderately carbonated, and a fuller feeling with a lighter body that the other version | Highly carbonated, thinnish body with a slick feeling |
| Drinkability | 1 - Far better of the two, less acidic, brighter apple flavor and perfect amount of malt/caramel | 3 - Decent apple flavor, but there is an acidic edge that's a bit rough, and the yeastiness/rough dough flavor is never something I like much in a cider |
Overall: I far prefer the cider version. It has a stronger apple flavor, is slightly sweeter, but with a lighter body. It also doesn't display the yeasty/bready flavors that I've often come to expect when using wine yeast in a "beer" (if you can call this a beer). Aside from the differences due to the yeast, this is definitely something I will make again, the apple flavor came across wonderfully!
| ||
Brewday - 1/19/2012 - Recipe & Notes
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Belma The Husky Blonde - Review
Unfortunately no picture this time, SWMBO drained the keg when I wasn't looking :)
Appearance - Dense two finger white head that lingers leaving lacing all down the glass as you drink, a slightly hazy bright golden yellow
Aroma - Breadiness from the pils followed by a strong oaty aroma, hops are subtle but nondescript
Taste - Very bitter with a slightly rough edge, malt is in the background and very subdued though the oatiness comes through in the finish. Hop aroma/flavor is almost non-existent, which is crazy because I added 4oz of dry hops!!
Mouthfeel - Nice and silky, all those oats really shine here, medium-low carbonation that suits the thick mouthfeel
Drinkability - Ok, a bit too bitter of a beer, and it really lacks hop flavor
Notes/Thoughts - I'm pretty disappointed in the flavor of the Belma hops, its almost not there at all. I will give them one more shot to see what they have but I'm not expecting much. The pils + oat combo is really good and I think I'll go with my original gut feeling and do this again with a very earth hop (EKG, fuggle, etc.)
Appearance - Dense two finger white head that lingers leaving lacing all down the glass as you drink, a slightly hazy bright golden yellow
Aroma - Breadiness from the pils followed by a strong oaty aroma, hops are subtle but nondescript
Taste - Very bitter with a slightly rough edge, malt is in the background and very subdued though the oatiness comes through in the finish. Hop aroma/flavor is almost non-existent, which is crazy because I added 4oz of dry hops!!
Mouthfeel - Nice and silky, all those oats really shine here, medium-low carbonation that suits the thick mouthfeel
Drinkability - Ok, a bit too bitter of a beer, and it really lacks hop flavor
Notes/Thoughts - I'm pretty disappointed in the flavor of the Belma hops, its almost not there at all. I will give them one more shot to see what they have but I'm not expecting much. The pils + oat combo is really good and I think I'll go with my original gut feeling and do this again with a very earth hop (EKG, fuggle, etc.)
Brewday - 1/9/2013 - Recipe & Notes
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Dunkelweizen
Around this time of year I'm always torn about what to brew, the weather is still a bit cool but warm days are creeping in now and then. The cool weather makes me want a rich hearty beer, but on the warm days I'm really craving something light and drinkable like a table beer. To top it off lately SWMBO has been making a huge dent into some of my favorite styles, especially my PA's. I originally brewed this beer up for SWMBO to keep her greedy hands off my other beers but I think its gonna be one of my favorites as well after tasting the sweet wort.
Hefeweizens are one of my wife's favorite styles, but I felt it was a bit early in the year for one, not to mention I'm not the biggest fan of the style. What really sounded good to me though was something with a big caramelly malt backbone to balance the esters of the hefe yeast, while still fairly light bodied for the time of year. A dunkelweizen seemed to fit the bill perfectly, and strangely this was one of the few styles I had yet to brew.
For the base of the beer I wanted to make sure I had a nice malty, bready base malt, so I went and picked up some Vienna, and rounded out the flavor with a bit of caramunich, a pinch of carafa, and of course wheat malt (pictured). The yeast though was one thing that I had to switch up last second as the LBHS didn't have what I was looking for. Instead of WLP380 I went with WY 3333. When I got home I got on the computer and searched for reviews of the yeast, and for whatever reason didn't find that many. According to Mr Malty WLP380 = WY3333, but in my experience with Belgian strains from both companies there tends to be quite a bit of difference so I'm very interested to see how things compare.
Dunkelweizen
| Malt Bill | ||
| Amt (lbs) | Type | |
|---|---|---|
| 5.0 | Vienna | |
| 5.0 | Wheat Malt | |
| 1.0 | Caramunich II | |
| 2.0 oz | Carafa II | |
| Hops | ||
| Amt (oz) | Type | Time |
| 1.0 | Crystal (5.6%) | 60 |
| Mash Schedule | ||
| Temp | Ratio | Time |
| 151F | 0.8qt/lb | 60 |
| 170F | 1.9qt/lb | 15min - vorlauf |
| Yeast | German Wheat WY3333 (500mL Starter) | |
| Stats | ||
| 6.0gal | OG | 1052 |
| 76% eff | IBU | 16 |
| 7gal Boil | FG | |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Popular Posts
Labels
- Reviews (65)
- Hybrid Beers (46)
- Wild/Sours (42)
- Belgian Beers (40)
- American Beers (30)
- English Beers (27)
- German Beers (24)
- Cider (19)
- Fruit Beers (13)
- Novel Ingredients (9)
- Weird Beers (9)
- Mead (8)
- Techniques (8)
- Pickling (7)
- No Hops (6)
- Braggot (4)
- High Alcohol (3)
- Soda (3)
- Bread (2)
- Melomel (2)
- Cheese (1)
- Fat Washing (1)
- Smoking (1)


