After warm and flat, you'll never go back!

[tennesseean_87]

My most recent brew is in bottles (about a week), and S04 seems to have cleared it up in about two days. Anyway, since the basement is at about 58* F, I decided to pop one without any fridge time. It's a special bitter that I primed to 1.5 volumes, bottled conditioned, and now served at cellar temps. Man, it was good! Am I drinking real ale?

 

[ncbrewer]

It seems that tastes vary. I tried carbing to style (about 2 volumes for a brown ale), and my wife hated it. Went back to carbing everything at about 2.7 volumes.

 

[Varmintman]

I have a brown ale that after carbonation I cellar at about 50 F. I like more bubbles in my beer but semi warm changes the flavor profile and really at least with this beer tastes better. Not to mention sitting in the cellar for a month or two really cleans the beer up nicely

 

[JKaranka]

If you've not killed the yeast you should be drinking real ale. I don't like highly carbonated stuff, I lose a lot of the flavour, it is like the beer is sort of popping away from your taste buds!

 

[tennesseean_87]

I'm not a yeast killer. I do my best to preserve the little guys after they've worked so hard for me. That's why the fridge is getting fuller and fuller of mason jars.

2.7 Vol seems really high. I'd say 2.0 is pretty average, 1.75 is a tilt toward British Cask style but still normalish, but 2.7 is too much.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Am I drinking real ale?

Clearly, no. I'm not sure why, but I'm sure CAMRA will find some way to define your beer as not being real ale...

 

[harrymanback92]

From what I understand bottle conditioned beers are classified as real ale.

 

[JKaranka]

Yeah, it's not considered different from what happens in a cask, only that a cask has quite a lot more than empty and drink going for it.

 

[AnchorBock]

Yep, real ale:

Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) in 1973 for a type of beer defined as "beer brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide".[2][3] The heart of the definition is the maturation requirements. If the beer is unfiltered, unpasteurised and still active on the yeast, it is a real beer; it is irrelevant whether the container is a cask or a bottle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_ale#Real_ale

 

[tennesseean_87]

The internet sucks. I know it's considered real ale since i met the criteria. I was going for a rhetorical question, but that's hard to convey online. I'm just pleased with my beer and wanted to share, and I really don't care what CAMRA thinks, so long as I like it!

 

[gizmodog51]

i kinda go with the europeans, they traditionally serve their beers room temp.

i prefer the styles i drink not cooler than 50'.

i have no idea how room temp is defined in europe.

i do feel that american mass produced beer drinkers desire their beer ice cold because it taste bettergoes down easier that way.....just my observation....my neighbor and his buddies won't touch their mass produced beer unless it is well iced in even in winter......

GD

 

[Varmintman]

I think it depends on the style of beer. I like light lagers real cold and then browns a little warmer.

I spent some time though in Germany trying to drink it dry....I failed but enjoyed myself trying

 

[Dr. Francois]

i kinda go with the europeans, they traditionally serve their beers room temp.

i prefer the styles i drink not cooler than 50'.

i have no idea how room temp is defined in europe.

i do feel that american mass produced beer drinkers desire their beer ice cold because it taste bettergoes down easier that way.....just my observation....my neighbor and his buddies won't touch their mass produced beer unless it is well iced in even in winter......

GD

I think "room temp" is often a misunderstanding of "cellar temp." Few countries would serve beer or red wine at 72, but somewhere between the high 50s and mid 60s is a solid plan for flavor expression.

 

[gizmodog51]

I think "room temp" is often a misunderstanding of "cellar temp." Few countries would serve beer or red wine at 72, but somewhere between the high 50s and mid 60s is a solid plan for flavor expression.

spot on !:rockin: and that is why the 50' mark is pretty universal for most beers...

GD

 

[JKaranka]

Yeah, 50 fahrenheit is quite much cellar temperature. I mean, I live in the UK, and cellars will be about 12-16C in summer and 4-10C in winter. That is cool, but not chilled. Most proper drinkers will complain if a beer is served too cold as they will have to wait to taste it, and it that time it will lose carbonation. Usually different temperatures will match the style, with barleywines happily tucked on the wine rack at room temperature, very pale ales in the fridge, and other beers coming out of the fridge to warm up for 30-60 minutes depending on the style.

I'd like to see a proper study of how temperature affects perceived IBU... not the same thing to drink a 100 IBU IPA at 1C than 15C!

 

[pelipen]

I can fall asleep drinking a stout, and finish it off in the morning.

I'm a slow drinker, and most of mine hit room temp by the time I finish. That's about the only reason I don't like BMC/PBR type light lagers, it's passable cold, but is terrible at room temp.

 

[patto1ro]

Clearly, no. I'm not sure why, but I'm sure CAMRA will find some way to define your beer as not being real ale...

That's not true at all. Bottle-conditioned = real ale.

Some people have a weird idea about what CAMRA is about.