A friendly place for friends who drink

[drainbamage]

QOTD: Gavin Untaggable - Man of Science, or an ageless wizard moving backward through time?

I'm on the fence.

Why not both?

Another QOTD: what was the first (if any) style where you started drinking commercial examples and finding that you liked your HB efforts better?

 

[hunter_le five]

Why not both?

Oooh. Good answer. I hadn't considered that possibility.

Another QOTD: what was the first (if any) style where you started drinking commercial examples and finding that you liked your HB efforts better?

English-style Pale Ales / ESBs. There's a lot of mediocre ones out there (especially American made attempts), and some that I've made turned out amazeballs.

 

[m00ps]

Hey @iijakii

How did your IPA brew day go? Did it come out as a DEM by accident ?

 

[m00ps]

Why not both?

Another QOTD: what was the first (if any) style where you started drinking commercial examples and finding that you liked your HB efforts better?

Wasn't until I learned how to treat Belgian yeast properly but I get let down more and more by commercial saisons. By now, as long as they don't have a gross sweet finish I'll drink it. But I've had more $12 drainpours than I'd like to admit

Also commercial double ipas. Same issue, except so many also lack hop character. I only buy stuff that's less than 3 months from packaging. No idea how the hops are so little by then

 

[blizzard]

Wasn't until I learned how to treat Belgian yeast properly but I get let down more and more by commercial saisons. By now, as long as they don't have a gross sweet finish I'll drink it. But I've had more $12 drainpours than I'd like to admit



Also commercial double ipas. Same issue, except so many also lack hop character. I only buy stuff that's less than 3 months from packaging. No idea how the hops are so little by then

Most IIPAs are either too sweet or too bitter for me. I love hop flavor/aroma, but can do without all the bitterness and I prefer them to be dry. I was never a huge fan of IPAs until east coast style IPAs became a thing.

 

[iijakii]

Hey @iijakii

How did your IPA brew day go? Did it come out as a DEM by accident ?

Went well cause of these bad boys.

 

[TobyG]

I leave Thursday AM. Too bad man

Bummer. I get back Thursday afternoon. There's a chance you can find fresh Ghost in the Machine. New batch landed in a few spots already. It goes fast.

 

[joshesmusica]

Have you thought about mashing in your kettle, collecting the runoff in your bucket and then transferring to the kettle to boil?

Heat + plastic makes me worried, especially if you're talking about adding a boiling liquid.

I have thought about it. I do BIAB in the bucket, with a batch sparge. If I do that, I won't have the ability to heat up the sparge water. Even with adding the boiling liquid, it shouldn't be raising the temperature of the entire mash anymore than planned. The bucket is rated to be able to hold 80C temps over a long period of time.

My only concern was how much to actually decoct off. Guess this first run will just have to be trial and error. I'll probably go with double the amount like Q suggested.

 

[joshesmusica]

Most IIPAs are either too sweet or too bitter for me. I love hop flavor/aroma, but can do without all the bitterness and I prefer them to be dry. I was never a huge fan of IPAs until east coast style IPAs became a thing.

I'm with you. Most commercial IPAs are way too bitter, or way too sweet. I don't do IIPAs at all. I've never really had an east coast style, but I believe the most recent one I had was very similar to that one, and a lot like I make my own IPAs. Because I reduce the bitterness to fairly low compared to OG (yet still technically in the style), then I've just been calling them Imperial Pale Ales. But mine are definitely not super cloudy like those commercial east coast IPAs.

So I would have to go with IPAs. Or possibly ESBs too. I haven't found a commercial ESB that I've liked, but they've either been the most available commercial examples, or crappy norwegian brewery examples. I like the malt to be fairly complex with a balancing bitterness and fairly strong floral aroma from the English hops. Haven't found one example like that yet.

I think I will be able to make a Black IPA better than commercial ones. I almost hit it on my last one, but I got way better efficiency than planned, and ended up at 9.6%. But then the FG was also too high, so it was too sweet. After some tweaks I think I'll have that one down.

 

[iijakii]

Man, I love dry and bitter as possible. Sours similarly need to be quite puckering.

IM JUST EXTREME, YA

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Most IIPAs are either too sweet or too bitter for me. I love hop flavor/aroma, but can do without all the bitterness and I prefer them to be dry. I was never a huge fan of IPAs until east coast style IPAs became a thing.

DIPAs are primarily what got me into brewing, but as I've gotten older, not diggen the straight up bitter bombs anymore. Having a harder time distinguishing flavors from the bitter. Had a Dales PA last night..twas perfect!

 

[joshesmusica]

Wasn't until I learned how to treat Belgian yeast properly but I get let down more and more by commercial saisons. By now, as long as they don't have a gross sweet finish I'll drink it. But I've had more $12 drainpours than I'd like to admit

Also commercial double ipas. Same issue, except so many also lack hop character. I only buy stuff that's less than 3 months from packaging. No idea how the hops are so little by then

so what are your tricks to the belgian yeast?

 

[1977Brewer]

so what are your tricks to the belgian yeast?

Blends. The crazy floccer sent me like 12 different Saisons.

 

[BrewinBromanite]

Why not both?

Another QOTD: what was the first (if any) style where you started drinking commercial examples and finding that you liked your HB efforts better?

IPA's and hoppy pale ale's, hands down. Never truly understood what a "fresh" ipa was until drinking HB IPA's 2 weeks after bottling. Case in point - was being lazy a couple weeks ago and picked up a Sierra Nevada 12 pack IPA sampler. **** was bottled in January (realized after the fact). Enough said. Thin, bitter beers with next to no fresh hoppy goodness.

 

[BrewinBromanite]

IPA's and hoppy pale ale's, hands down. Never truly understood what a "fresh" ipa was until drinking HB IPA's 2 weeks after bottling. Case in point - was being lazy a couple weeks ago and picked up a Sierra Nevada 12 pack IPA sampler. **** was bottled in January (realized after the fact). Enough said. Thin, bitter beers with next to no fresh hoppy goodness.

Edit:

Last beer for the night. A SN Ruthless Rye. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1460521388.988217.jpg.

Generally very unimpressed with any SN hoppy beer that's not < 2 months old. This pack had torpedo, which I do enjoy when fresh, experimental 5 hop, and hop hunter. None in this pack at ~ 3.5 months old are anything to brag about. The last of the bunch - the ruthless rye, is the sole exception. Still tastes solid. Which made me remember why I bought this pack to begin with, since it's the only place I've seen it this year, and haven't seen it as a stand-alone pack. Rant over. Old SN beer bad, Ruthless RyePA still decent. Goodnight...

 

[iijakii]

I can't recall ever being impressed by a single SN beer. Maybe I'll try one if I see a fresh date to check if that was the issue.

 

[BrewinBromanite]

I liked SN pale and torpedo a lot in my "very" early days of getting into hoppy beers. Then, my first good HB IPA attempt made me think I was a brew-God, in comparison to that stuff. If you get it really fresh, it's very ordinary/decent...by a few months old, all tastes like the same crap to me. In addition to their sampler ipa pack, I bought some of their tropical ipa, also not real fresh - all tastes the same to me. For whatever reason, I still like their Ruthless Rye, even after several months old. Not as one dimensional as a lot of theirs.

 

[Helly]

Morning friends. Coffee at work. My son and wife were feeling well enough to be left at home so that's good. I hope they're back to full strength later this week. No beers last night. Beers are in the forecast for tonight.

 

[BrewinBromanite]

Good morning. Coffee while taking dog out. Begs to go out. Proceeds to meander about the yard sniffing aimlessly for 10 mins. Goes back into the house with a full bladder. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1460550841.017625.jpg

 

[smurfjuice]

Got one just like it ...

 

[Gavin C]

Good morning. Coffee while taking dog out. Begs to go out. Proceeds to meander about the yard sniffing aimlessly for 10 mins. Goes back into the house with a full bladder. View attachment 350237

Dog doesn't seem to give a hoot.

 

[sompls]

Dog doesn't seem to give a hoot.

I see what you did there, good one
morning all, coffee

 

[BrewinBromanite]

Dog doesn't seem to give a hoot.

Ha!

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

This thread hasn't been closed yet?

 

[hunter_le five]

QOTD: This thread hasn't been closed yet?

FTFY
(caps)

 

[bob1852]

Hi.

 

[1977Brewer]

Hi.

 

[hunter_le five]

Hi!

 

[fuzzy2133]

This thread hasn't been closed yet?

Are you jealous? Not only are we still open we also have not been moved to a members only zone! We all win for every one!

 

[hunter_le five]

You have my undivided attention.