Beer Swap! Mrk305's beers

By now everyone should have recieved beers. They were shipped out Nov. 19th.

I preface my comments a summary of Mrk305's comments from his sheet sent with the beer. He admits to not being the best note taker (been there myself on my first 3 or 4 beers) and he is unsure of the ingredients. It sounds like he has some favorite ingredients that provide flavors he likes and puts them in a beer together regardless if the beers fits near a specific BJCP style. Let's call them experimental.

Bottle labelled PM (first partial mash):

Extremely small headspace, perhaps 3/4 inch in a 22 ounce bottle. I was concerned about carbonation level, especially after there was very little hiss when I popped it, but it had great carbonation. Very clear with a medium to dark red color.

No aroma comments: sorry, still shaking a cold.

Plenty of caramel sweetness from what I assume was some steeped crystal, and also a wheat flavor. Also picking up an alcohol flavor. A hop grassiness detracts from the flavor - it is a bit puckering. This beer would seem to be some type of Amber Wheat Ale but it is on the sweet side (a bit low on bittering hops). I can't tell whether the grassy flavor came from the hopped extract or a late hop addition. You were in a tough place on this recipe using the can of hopped extract (I looked it up from your description and it is an Edme Red Ale kit). Since you added some 2 row in a PM, it is hard to say how much bittering you get from the kit can and how much more you need for the added grain from the PM. So I would say not bad with the malt flavor considering a kit can was used, but the hop balance needs improvement.

What you really need is some brewing software to help you out with record keeping and recipe formulation. You can use beertools.com for free and other packages are $25 or less and worth it - beers that I made from my own recipe jumped immeasurably in quality after I did. From your notes, I see that you have started doing AG. If you like to experiment with your beers, you will definitely see the benefits of using software. You can make sure that even if you mix and match ingredients, they stay within a good range of balance.

I found the thread on HBT where I made this beer. The owners of the LHBS where on vacation and the store was out of extract, so I was forced to do my first PM. http://websearch.cs.com/cs/boomfram...est=1&remove_url=http://www.homebrewtalk.com/

Do you remember the yeast you used? Looks like I was mistaken on the wheat in there, but maybe I was picking up a flavor I normally taste in wheat beers that came from the fermentation.

Simcoe and Cascade is a great combo. I think if you used them exclusively, you would have been really good. You also got the hops in there from the hopped extract can. Instead of a can of hopped extract, did you consider plain extract and using more of the Simcoe and Cascade?

You got me thinking on a new recipe now based off of yours - Imperial Amber Ale with Simcoe, Cascade and Amarillo.

Instead of a can of hopped extract, did you consider plain extract and using more of the Simcoe and Cascade?


The owners of my LHBS were on vacation and the store was completely out of both dry and liquid extract. I was going to brew that night, but had never done a partial mash before. All they had was canned extract so I made up a recipe on the spot.

I drove home thinking I bought a bunch of crap and I was going to be brewing a crap beer. I went straight to the computer and got on HBT. I guess you read that thread. After that I got on tastybrews calculator and it looked like it might be pretty good. I used nottingham dry yeast, or pithed over a yeast cake of nottingham. I have never used wheat. I didn't take notes because I was never planning on making it again, but it turned out pretty good.

I sent that one out for the beer swap because it was like a creation. It was my first beer using more grains than extract and the recipe was completely made up on the spot instead of using someones elses recipe.

I'm drinking the Partial Mash beer now, so these comments are going to be a bit stream of consciousness. [I've purposely not read the first comments].

My first thought is that the beer is a lot darker than I was expecting off of your description. It's a very dark amber, maybe from carmelizing the extract?

Aroma-wise, it smells like it's going to be quite sweet, with a lot of caramel and toffee notes. I'm not getting a lot of a hops aroma.

On first taste, I was wrong, it's hoppier than I thought, but not overwhelmingly so. There's almost something spicy there too, maybe some rye? Either that or it's a yeast flavor. Either way, I don't think it quite fits in with the rest of the beer and is throwing the balance off a little bit. It's still quite a drinkable beer and I'm really enjoying it.

All that said, I'll add that I'm certainly no beer judge (though interested in becoming one).

Who's your LHBS? I usually go up to Beer Necessities in Alpharetta and I think those guys are really on top of their game (and one of the girls that works there is really attractive). Maybe I'll run into you up there one day.

I always go to Home Brew Supply on Indian Trail Rd. in Lilburn. Look at post 3 on this thread where I found my notes. I sent that one out because... I guess just read the thread link.

BTW brewed 4 all grain batches now. Edworts Haus is damn good, and I posted a recipe for a blonde that I just tried tonight. AG#3 was bottled today and AG#4 was brewed Saturday.