jimmystewart
Well-Known Member
I'm still a rookie brewer. I've done about 6 batches of beer and 4 of wine over the last 8 months or so, and I'm pretty happy with my results for the most part. I have one clunker here that I'm not happy with the outcome, and I'm interested in hearing what someone else would have done differently. I've probably spent over 100 hours reading threads on these forums dating back to 2007 or earlier, and it has given me a great start. I really wasn't aiming at any particular style here. This batch is a single malt, single hop (SMASH) brew and I am still planning on doing a few similar projects to help me get acquainted with what the different malts and more specifically different hops taste like. So, without further ado:
5 gallons spring water
6 pounds amber DME
60 minute boil
1/2 oz amarillo pellets at 60 min
1/2 oz amarillo pellets at 10 min
1 pack Nottingham after cooling
starting sg = 1.050
finishing sg = 1.014
Bottled in the end of April with 5oz dextrose mixed with 2 cups boiled distilled water, and let it set 4 weeks in the mid to high 70s before trying any. I know I made a mistake by not mixing the priming sugar evenly, so carbonation is very inconsistent with this batch, but no bottle bombs as of yet.
The beer isn't intolerable, but I just don't really like the final product. It's not a dumper, but will probably wind up being a "tax beer" for people who want to dig into my homebrews after I start getting better at this... I think the thing I dislike the most is just the flavor of amarillo hops. I decided to give them a try because the AA% was only a little bit higher than the hallertau that I had experimented with before. (So far, of the couple of different hops I've tried hallertau is my favorite. I have plans to try EKG, fuggle, cascade & cluster and a few of the other noble varieties in the future.) I forget exactly and didn't write it down, but I think the amarillo was about 4.5%AA.
So, let 'er rip. I'm not going to cry. Was it just a lousy recipe, or would moving around some of the hop additions to different times have worked better? Another thing is that I may have actually covered the pot during the boil (I honestly can't remember) and I've read recently that can prevent certain things from boiling off that one would actually want to boil off to improve the end product.
I'm not a hop head, so maybe it's just my own tastes and the next guy might think this beer is awesome? Oh, and I'll warn you, your feedback might result in more questions from me...
5 gallons spring water
6 pounds amber DME
60 minute boil
1/2 oz amarillo pellets at 60 min
1/2 oz amarillo pellets at 10 min
1 pack Nottingham after cooling
starting sg = 1.050
finishing sg = 1.014
Bottled in the end of April with 5oz dextrose mixed with 2 cups boiled distilled water, and let it set 4 weeks in the mid to high 70s before trying any. I know I made a mistake by not mixing the priming sugar evenly, so carbonation is very inconsistent with this batch, but no bottle bombs as of yet.
The beer isn't intolerable, but I just don't really like the final product. It's not a dumper, but will probably wind up being a "tax beer" for people who want to dig into my homebrews after I start getting better at this... I think the thing I dislike the most is just the flavor of amarillo hops. I decided to give them a try because the AA% was only a little bit higher than the hallertau that I had experimented with before. (So far, of the couple of different hops I've tried hallertau is my favorite. I have plans to try EKG, fuggle, cascade & cluster and a few of the other noble varieties in the future.) I forget exactly and didn't write it down, but I think the amarillo was about 4.5%AA.
So, let 'er rip. I'm not going to cry. Was it just a lousy recipe, or would moving around some of the hop additions to different times have worked better? Another thing is that I may have actually covered the pot during the boil (I honestly can't remember) and I've read recently that can prevent certain things from boiling off that one would actually want to boil off to improve the end product.
I'm not a hop head, so maybe it's just my own tastes and the next guy might think this beer is awesome? Oh, and I'll warn you, your feedback might result in more questions from me...