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TerapinChef · 05-28-2010, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulthenurse

ps

Wal Mart

Lives

$9.99

A much better use of time than rereading this thread.

PTN

Hmmm....I'm wondering if there's something I need to go to WalMart for...

**Cape Brewing** · 10-21-2010, 03:20 PM

Hmmm... After this past weekend at Masstoberfest and sampling U1, I am pretty sure I'm gonna take the plunge and make this beer. It's too good to only get a sip here or there from PTN.

I just hope i can come close to painting this "Sistine Chapel" with my "crayons" for brewing ability.

Yeager... lemme know if you wanna swing through and take a share. I would invite Paul but he has too many problems with his rig.

yeager1977 · 10-21-2010, 03:38 PM

Yeah I think we are going to brew it again in January, but with the agreed understanding that PTN takes his portion home with him that night.

I agree this was a great batch. I like it better than U2, though U2 is damn good and a year younger and the one we tried was not oaked.

I am willing to give this a go again, and I think I want to go back to the original recipe scaled up by about 2-3 gallons. If you want in we can do a bigger batch.

**the_bird** · 10-21-2010, 03:44 PM

I'm still amazed at how good that beer was. The newer one seemed to be coming along as well, unfortunately I was too preoccupied with my brewing to REALLY pay close enough attention to it but it seemed to be very much in the same vein but with a bit more bitterness (which may just be because of its youth). Tasted like it wanted to mellow out for a while still.

**Cape Brewing** · 10-21-2010, 04:26 PM

U2 was great but U1 was fantastic (and we talked about this at Masstoberfest).

I don't disagree with the theory behind upping the IBUs in U2 but I didn't care for the end result as much as the first one. Yeah, I hear ya that they'll probably mellow but i don't see them mellowing out THAT much more. The hops were fairly pronounced. I was looking at the recipes and U1 had calced IBUs of 43 vs 59 in U2... I would almost say you don't wanna go higher than like 47.. somewhere in the middle but I would much rather err on the light side.

I also don't think the malt is a problem in U1 so I'm not sure how much it really needs to be offset.

Maybe the oak will make the U2 even better but like I was saying, I just don't see the maltiness of U1 as being a problem that needs to be fixed.

I dunno... not sure I wanna hop in and be a third in your little love-fest. I might fly solo on this one. I've brewed with Paul before and have learned my lesson.

I gotta figure out what kinda weight I can toss in my tun. I THINK I top out around 75-80 lbs... not that I would do a full 13 gallon batch of this any way. Boil down is no prob at all... just worried about how much weight I can fit the tun.

I wonder how a little Marris Otter would play with this instead of some of the 2-row.

**the_bird** · 10-21-2010, 04:30 PM

There was definitely a lot of hop character in U2 that was not in U1... but cripes, when did you guys brew that? Wasn't it this spring? First thought that came to mind when I drank it was "this is going to be very good in maybe a year's time." It certainly was more beer-like than either U1 or the "real" Utopias. Wasn't as true to the original, but again, I bet that beer is damn, damn good in a year or two.

**Cape Brewing** · 10-21-2010, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the_bird

when did you guys brew that? .

don't look at me... I haven't brewed any part of either. I have only showed up to take on my making-fun-of-Paul responsibilities... but I've never been part of the actual brewing.

yeah, I hear on U2 but like I keep saying... I don't think U1 was broken. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If anything I would just experiment with very small adjustments to the grain bill or maybe up the IBUs like I was saying... just a hair.

**the_bird** · 10-21-2010, 04:49 PM

My responsibilities were just to ensure some kettle caramelization from large boilovers.

**paulthenurse** · 10-21-2010, 05:15 PM

In a really weird and awkward way talking about these two beers is almost like comparing your children. They are two different beers. One is 21 months old, the other is 9. We expressly made the U2 with a higher hop bill because we felt, at the time, that the U1 needed a bit more hop bitterness to offset some perceived 'syrupy' characteristic. In the meantime the U1 has smoothed out tremendously and the syrupy-ness has gone totally away. As you said, it is a damned fine brew just as is. I think the U2 will get there. We're tasting it at an awfully young stage. It this stage in the U1's growth it wasn't terribly good either. It had a boatload of potential. I remember bringing a bottle of it to the Capes pig roast last year. That was the first time Alice (who has the best palette of anyone I know) got to sample it. She described it as a collection of really good parts that were in no way bound together, and that description nailed it. I've got high hopes for the U2. I think that time will do the same magic for this as it's done for it's bigger brother. I think the barrel aging will help tremendously. I had a taste of the fake whiskey that Yeager was making in the third barrel and the taste of the vanilla and the caramel we fantastic. They are going to add a great complexity to the brew. Remember, the bottle we sampled the other day was just stored in glass.

(BTW, Chris, why don't you take out an equal amount from both barrels and replace it with the stuff in the glass?)

PTN

**Cape Brewing** · 10-21-2010, 05:29 PM

yeah... don't get me wrong... I am not saying U2 is BAD in any way. It's really nice.... and sure, maybe I'm putting a little too much of an opinion into a beer that isn't really close to being done yet.

I just think U1 is really amazing right now and that's where I would focus efforts.