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z987k

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I'd love to hear some feedback. I sent beers to: Deathbrewer, brett and LostDakota
Beers sent were Double Chocolate Stout, Honey Hefeweizen, Light Ale, and someone also got my last bottle of Citrus IPA. The Hefe was bottle conditioned, the rest are from the keg.
 
I'm enjoying the honey hefeweizen right now.

not a lot of bubbles on the pour...it's pretty lightly carbonated for a weizen. leaves a small amount of lace on the glass.

definite honey nose. very sweet smell.

not really fruity (surprising with the wheat yeast), but has a nice spiciness to it that i really like. i think it could use a little malt background, a small amount of munich or vienna maybe.

I'd think 2 lbs of honey malt would be too much but it came through nicely. lots of honey flavor but not overpowering.

i can taste something a little...hot, maybe?...can't put my finger on it and the bottle is almost gone. i see that it is supposed to be over 8% but you weren't sure on the OG. looks more like 6.5% max even at 80% eff. for a 5 gallon batch.

very good beer...better than any of my honey brews, but not really a style i like anyway. went down fast! :D i may have to try the rest of them out tonight...

btw, i don't know which beers are which. this is the only one that was clearly marked. the rest all look the same and don't really coincide with your descriptions...i guess i'll just have to drink them to see what they are! ;)
 
Yeah I wasn't sure on the OG on that beer because I added the honey after primary fermentation started, so there was no way to get a real OG except take my OG before fermentation and then add the honey in software.
 
since honey ferments out almost completely, that method should work fine.

but oops...i didn't factor the honey in...it is up there! hides that alcohol well, maybe that was the bit of hotness i tasted. still great beer.

:mug:
 
Honey Hefe

Dark gold in appearance; nearly copper. Very cloudy. A bit undercarbed. Smallish head.

Very nice and pleasant clove aroma. Sweet, malty, and bubble-gummy. Not too much banana detected. Very fruity overall in the nose.

The taste was a bit tart. Very fruity, and almost sour in a twisted way. Strong flavor: cloves are noticeable, as is the bubblegum, but they are not as powerful as they are in the nose. Honey malt is definitely there. Very strong honey flavor. A bit too much honey flavor, as it starts to get a wee bit cloying halfway through the glass. The bitterness is a little harsh and you can feel the harshness a bit in the aftertaste.

This brew has a nice medium body and I can feel the carbonation.

Overall, this is a strong wheat ale that I felt was a bit too strong for a wheat ale (for my tastes) :eek: The high alcohol content could mean that it maybe just needed to age a bit longer. If I could make any suggestions, it would be to experiment with the amount of honey malt, the variety of hops, and perhaps an OG adjustment. But good, don't get me wrong!
 
Light Ale

This bottle was absolutely filled to the brim! No headspace in the bottle at all, so maybe that was the reason for the very low carbonation. It is a very light straw color, and is crystal clear.

Strong corn aroma, with some grape notes.

The taste is crazy crazy corn taste, but with a nice malt background. No hoppiness, but bitterness is well-balanced. Aftertaste on this one is not very enjoyable though (sorry), but I'm getting some astringency. Could be from the corn maybe?

Dry and light mouthfeel.

Have you considered using kolsh yeast in this one? It could really work well. I would also consider lowering the percentage of corn in the grain bill, but that's just my take. Also, I noticed that you use simcoe hops in this one. I would be very interested in seeing how this one would turn out with an American noble hop variety, such as Liberty, or perhaps something else like Willamette...

I'm always intrigued by these types of brews, just because I can respect the level of difficulty it takes to nail them. Thanks!
 
the light ale was bottled from the keg, I figured if I left no headspace, it couldn't let any co2 into the headspace removing carbonation from the liquid. Maybe I'm wrong, don't know. I've really never dealt much with bottling from the keg,
 
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