GrizlyGarou
Well-Known Member
I decided I'd redo an APA that I made a few rounds back. Armed with my ingredient list, I went to my LHBS. I told the nice man what I was looking for, and he told me he didn't have that LME, but had DME would work. He didn't have the right yeast, either. Something about a guy that buys all his brewing supplies for the whole year in one visit that didn't call him ahead of time this year was the reason. So, instead of wyeast 1272 dry yeast I got the smack-pack equivalent (I have it written down in my brew notebook which isn't close to me right now...), and instead of the 5.5# of muntons light LME and a pound of wheat LME, I got 6# of muntons light DME. By some act of god, he had the right hops and grains to steep...
That's where the changes begin. I brewed it all up, put it in primary, and a week later, I realized I didn't have any empty fermenters to put it into. So, I just dry-hopped it in the primary, with the intention of bottling it a week later (yes, I know the 1-2-3 rule, but that's what the recipe was originally, so I figured I'd try to do something the same as the first round...)
A week passes, and I don't have the time to bottle it. It sat for 13 days dry-hopping as opposed to 7 on the first batch. When I bottled it, I checked the gravity, and it was where it should have been. But, when I drank the sample, it tasted a whole lot better than the original's sample tasted prior to bottling. The first round tasted kind of like christmas tree broth, and this batch is much more pleasant and sweet, but not overly sweet. I'd even go so far as to call it delicious, for flat and green anyway.
So, my question is, which of the changes made the biggest contribution to my uncarbonated, unconditioned beer tasting much better than the last time, or is it too many changes to pin it down? I want to learn as much about making delicious beer as possible, and it's much easier and faster to ask questions than it is to mess around with gallons of beer that could have been better if I just asked my questions instead of throwing on the Mad Scientist Goggles...
That's where the changes begin. I brewed it all up, put it in primary, and a week later, I realized I didn't have any empty fermenters to put it into. So, I just dry-hopped it in the primary, with the intention of bottling it a week later (yes, I know the 1-2-3 rule, but that's what the recipe was originally, so I figured I'd try to do something the same as the first round...)
A week passes, and I don't have the time to bottle it. It sat for 13 days dry-hopping as opposed to 7 on the first batch. When I bottled it, I checked the gravity, and it was where it should have been. But, when I drank the sample, it tasted a whole lot better than the original's sample tasted prior to bottling. The first round tasted kind of like christmas tree broth, and this batch is much more pleasant and sweet, but not overly sweet. I'd even go so far as to call it delicious, for flat and green anyway.
So, my question is, which of the changes made the biggest contribution to my uncarbonated, unconditioned beer tasting much better than the last time, or is it too many changes to pin it down? I want to learn as much about making delicious beer as possible, and it's much easier and faster to ask questions than it is to mess around with gallons of beer that could have been better if I just asked my questions instead of throwing on the Mad Scientist Goggles...