This has been a good couple of weeks for me in the brewing world. I was excited to have an article I wrote about organic homebrewing get published in the Great Lakes Brewing News paper.Additionally, I was humbled to have such nice reviews of my beers by Ted @ Tedbrews. His feedback is great to receive, and after tasting his outstanding beers, I have a new bar set for me to reach in my own brewing. He was impressed with my Burning Beard Belgian Ale, I was also very happy with the turn out, feeling that it was one of my more well-balanced beers. I think my strength in brewing is the ability to make accessible beers without overdoing any elements. That works well for me with brewing Belgians and some of my more experimental brews.
With that said...hoppy beers are not beers I feel that I have gotten down. Green Beard is my first attempt at a partial mash IPA. Earlier this summer I brewed Hopshot IPA, an extract IPA made with an experimental hop concoction I got from Northern Brewer. It turned out well, but not as well I wanted it to.
For Green Beard, I bought all organic hops (at a very good price) from Seven Bridges Co-Op. All of the ingredients in Green Beard are organic, and I'm fairly happy with the turn out, but still not where I want it. Despite using Admiral hops, at 14% alpha acids, it still doesn't quite hit on the bitter end, I think I should have gone with 2 ounces...but onto my review:
It pours a nice golden color with a foamy white head. There are some nice citrus aromas, especially the grapefruit you'd expect from Cascade hops. It has a nice soft, sweetness with some caramel hints and nice citrus/hoppiness throughout the beer. It finishes clean with a nice crispness and lingering citrus notes. Overall a good beer, but misses the mark a bit on some of the bitterness I was aiming for. I think I should have gone with more bittering hops, and probably more hops throughout the whole boil.
Here's the recipe:
2 lbs Org. 2-Row
.5 lbs Org. Crystal 60
.5lbs Org, Caramunich
* 1 hour mash @ 150
6lbs Light Org. LME
Hops: 1 oz Admiral @ 60
.35 oz Cascade 15
.15 oz Cascade 10
.15 oz Cascade 5
.35 oz Cascade 3
1 oz Cascade 1
1 oz Belgian Admiral Whole hops -Dry hop
1332 Northwest Wyeast
* One more note... I've been disappointed with the carbonation. Two people who I gave bottles to commented on the lack of carbonation. I used the tabs, since I kegged half. I naturally carbonate kegs since I have yet to buy a CO2 tank (I use the charger). The carbonation level wasn't as bad with the keg, but still not as good as I want it to be. Not sure quite what happened with the carb tabs, but a disappointment because it takes away from the beer. Overall, a good beer, but not as bitter as I had hoped and the carbonation problem is annoying. Regardless, I am happy with the basics and think the recipe could turn out great with some tweaks.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer
4 comments:
I've been having some carbonation problems with my beers as well. I usually use the normal 5 oz of priming sugar, but the last batch only gets a good head when I do a very aggresive pour, then is dissapears. I just bottled my Brown Ale and used a little more than 5 oz so we'll see if that works. Also, I have trouble during the winter keeping my bottles at a warm enough temp to effectively carbonate. I have then right next to the heating vent now, so hopefully that helps too.
Cheers
Just for the record, I too had problems with my Columbus IPA where I used Muntons carb tabs. Since using 4 gave pretty full carbonation, I went with 3 for a bit less. Plus, I've found that most IPA's, with normal carbonation, they always foam up a lot. In the Columbus IPA its lacking, but if you like very mild carbonation it's fine.
With these highly hopped American style IPA's, a little higher carbonation is required to help release the intense aromas. So next time, 4 tabs.
I too used only 1 ounce of a high alpha hop. Since we swapped these beers, lets try to compare their bitterness.
Hi, just a note to tell you I really enjoy reading your blog - thanks for taking the time to write it!
I'm very taken with your advocacy of brewing organic beer with ingredients grown in a sustainable manner. My local homebrew shop doesn't carry such ingredients, so thought for my next batch I would order from Seven Bridges Co-op - do you recommend them?
And I *love* your labels! Fantastic! If you want to take a look at a couple of our labels (and our recipes, etc.), I put up a little website for family and friends - http://www.singingboysbrewing.com
Again, thanks for a really enjoyable blog!
Jim
Thanks for the feedback guys. Jason and Ted...I've only used carbs sporatically over the years and have mixed results. They seem inconsistent. I usually would go with the typical 5oz as Jason mentioned, with tweaks here and there depending on the style. I hadn't thought much about the temps, I know it has an effect, but usually my bottles are kept in the basement during conditioning (around 60-65) and they seem to usually carb well. The problem I have run into is that I recently started kegging half of my beers in 2.5 gallon kegs. I bottle half to give awaay and keg half. My calculations on the kegging continue to be tweaked. Once I get a co2 tank, I will be able to fix that.
Ted- I'm eager to try your IPA, so we should get in contact soon about it. I'm curious to see if you have more success with the bittering/carbonation.
Jim- Thank you so much for the nice words. I like your site. I highly recommend Seven Bridges. Its one of the few all-organic places to order from. I order most of my stuff from them. I can get some things at my local homebrew shop, Northern Brewer. But for varieties hops, variety of grains,etc, I find that Seven Bridges has everything I need. The shipping and handling charges (for the midwest) is the only drawback.
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