goodolarchie
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2018
- Messages
- 213
- Reaction score
- 138
Bottling is what kept me from wanting to homebrew for years, living in an apartment. So when I finally had the space in my home to start the hobby I went straight to kegging and used a small keezer to do it.
To that end, I've always done pressurized, co2 transfers of most beers including IPAs, into purged kegs, then force carbonating. The only reason I tend to bottle is for competitions, or for beers that I want to age and naturally recondition/carbonate (and even then, I usually bottle half and let the other half re-ferment in a smaller keg).
This year, I brewed my annual 6.8% fresh hop IPA with 2-row/pale NW malt, a bit of crystal, and US-05 from my own hops (Lots of cascade, and a handful of Centennial, Chinook, Columbus as a big whirlpool addition), it came out great. I crashed the beer, dumped the trub/yeast, and kegged my usual 5 gallons, then I noticed I had at least a gallon left. Hmm... this beer was good, not to be wasted, so I'll try bottling some, why not? Mind you, I did not move to a bottling bucket and add sugar/yeast, instead I this right off the sanitized conical fermenter sample valve using a length of 3/8 ID tubing. I used 3 carb conditioning tables (pure dextrose) for 12oz, and 5 tabs for 22oz bombers. That was two weeks ago to the day. What's more, I did NOT pitch fresh yeast, as I normally would for bottling.
So... today I chilled a bottle down and tried the two side by side. Left is bottled, right is draft force carb. I accidentally didn't keep the first photo, apologies for that, what you see is about 5 minutes after pouring, including the murky bottom of the bottle. My first impression: I bottled this in a Westy bottle? Oh, I mean, color is spot-on identical... so it's not horribly oxidized! It's hard to make out in the photo as I had already drank them down quite a bit. So here's the sensory...
Appearance:
As I said above, the color was identical between the two, which is a good sign. I did, however, use a bit of gelatin in the keg prior to purging and filling, so the draft beer came out with a bit more clarity. It's hard to tell with the glass condensation in that photo. Both beers produced a nice fluffy, long-lasting head thanks to the crystal malts, and good lacing. Carbonation appeared to be a bit too high in the draft beer, likely around 2.8vols where the bottle looks to be spot on at 2.2vols. (This is just based on rough calc of 1.5g dextrose in the bottle, and 15psi @ 40F).
Aroma:
Both beers throw a ripe pink grapefruit juice / zest and a bit of pine, but the draft-and-gelatin beer smelled a bit fruitier. No difference in minimal esters from the residual US-05 (which, after dumping yeast/trub and not adding any fresh, was surprising). The C30 / C60 gave a candy-like hard candy-like note to sweeten that hop aroma, but the draft beer was slightly more fruity. If you triangle tested me, I could have easily guessed the wrong one, so it wasn't pronounced.
Flavor:
This is where the two diverge. The bottled beer had a slightly more perceptible and to-style bitterness that lasted through the finish, less of a candied-pink-grapefruit note, more balanced in its piney/resinous notes. That flavor is expected having used crystal malts and a large amount of fresh cascade/chinook. I chilled the bottle in the fridge and then the freezer, and carefully poured just the first 10oz, as a result, I didn't pick up any yeast character in either beer. Considering the kegged beer had been cold for over a week, and was gelatin fined, the bottled beer was surprisingly just as clean in its presentation of malt and hops.
Mouthfeel:
Probably the biggest divergence, the bottled beer had more perceptible bitterness, and was far more crisp finishing, a pleasant and welcome attribute for a west-coast style IPA. Between the bitterness and the natural carbonation, it was a bit spritzier / tingly to the soft palate, something I like about a naturally well-carbonated belgian pale. Not that the kegged beer isn't bitter, but it came in a little too "juicy/candylike" for my aim. After all, this isn't a hazy/juicy IPA, it's more like a fresh hop version of Maine Beer Co's Lunch.
Overall Impression:
Both beers came out great, and the draft version had the advantage of being available the last two weeks. Which, for a fresh hop beer, is important! However, I am impressed with how much hop character was retained by naturally refermenting in the bottle without any additional fresh yeast and a lackadaisical approach to packaging - i.e. cold beer and BSG carb tabs. It was a YOLO trial with nothing to lose, but I wouldn't hesitate to bottle a hop-forward beer that's going to be consumed within a few weeks.
I set a reminder to do another side by side test on October 3rd. If there are any bottles left, I expect to see the ill effects of any oxidation starting rear their ugly head. I won't make any predictions, but I will update the thread!
To that end, I've always done pressurized, co2 transfers of most beers including IPAs, into purged kegs, then force carbonating. The only reason I tend to bottle is for competitions, or for beers that I want to age and naturally recondition/carbonate (and even then, I usually bottle half and let the other half re-ferment in a smaller keg).
This year, I brewed my annual 6.8% fresh hop IPA with 2-row/pale NW malt, a bit of crystal, and US-05 from my own hops (Lots of cascade, and a handful of Centennial, Chinook, Columbus as a big whirlpool addition), it came out great. I crashed the beer, dumped the trub/yeast, and kegged my usual 5 gallons, then I noticed I had at least a gallon left. Hmm... this beer was good, not to be wasted, so I'll try bottling some, why not? Mind you, I did not move to a bottling bucket and add sugar/yeast, instead I this right off the sanitized conical fermenter sample valve using a length of 3/8 ID tubing. I used 3 carb conditioning tables (pure dextrose) for 12oz, and 5 tabs for 22oz bombers. That was two weeks ago to the day. What's more, I did NOT pitch fresh yeast, as I normally would for bottling.
So... today I chilled a bottle down and tried the two side by side. Left is bottled, right is draft force carb. I accidentally didn't keep the first photo, apologies for that, what you see is about 5 minutes after pouring, including the murky bottom of the bottle. My first impression: I bottled this in a Westy bottle? Oh, I mean, color is spot-on identical... so it's not horribly oxidized! It's hard to make out in the photo as I had already drank them down quite a bit. So here's the sensory...
Appearance:
As I said above, the color was identical between the two, which is a good sign. I did, however, use a bit of gelatin in the keg prior to purging and filling, so the draft beer came out with a bit more clarity. It's hard to tell with the glass condensation in that photo. Both beers produced a nice fluffy, long-lasting head thanks to the crystal malts, and good lacing. Carbonation appeared to be a bit too high in the draft beer, likely around 2.8vols where the bottle looks to be spot on at 2.2vols. (This is just based on rough calc of 1.5g dextrose in the bottle, and 15psi @ 40F).
Aroma:
Both beers throw a ripe pink grapefruit juice / zest and a bit of pine, but the draft-and-gelatin beer smelled a bit fruitier. No difference in minimal esters from the residual US-05 (which, after dumping yeast/trub and not adding any fresh, was surprising). The C30 / C60 gave a candy-like hard candy-like note to sweeten that hop aroma, but the draft beer was slightly more fruity. If you triangle tested me, I could have easily guessed the wrong one, so it wasn't pronounced.
Flavor:
This is where the two diverge. The bottled beer had a slightly more perceptible and to-style bitterness that lasted through the finish, less of a candied-pink-grapefruit note, more balanced in its piney/resinous notes. That flavor is expected having used crystal malts and a large amount of fresh cascade/chinook. I chilled the bottle in the fridge and then the freezer, and carefully poured just the first 10oz, as a result, I didn't pick up any yeast character in either beer. Considering the kegged beer had been cold for over a week, and was gelatin fined, the bottled beer was surprisingly just as clean in its presentation of malt and hops.
Mouthfeel:
Probably the biggest divergence, the bottled beer had more perceptible bitterness, and was far more crisp finishing, a pleasant and welcome attribute for a west-coast style IPA. Between the bitterness and the natural carbonation, it was a bit spritzier / tingly to the soft palate, something I like about a naturally well-carbonated belgian pale. Not that the kegged beer isn't bitter, but it came in a little too "juicy/candylike" for my aim. After all, this isn't a hazy/juicy IPA, it's more like a fresh hop version of Maine Beer Co's Lunch.
Overall Impression:
Both beers came out great, and the draft version had the advantage of being available the last two weeks. Which, for a fresh hop beer, is important! However, I am impressed with how much hop character was retained by naturally refermenting in the bottle without any additional fresh yeast and a lackadaisical approach to packaging - i.e. cold beer and BSG carb tabs. It was a YOLO trial with nothing to lose, but I wouldn't hesitate to bottle a hop-forward beer that's going to be consumed within a few weeks.
I set a reminder to do another side by side test on October 3rd. If there are any bottles left, I expect to see the ill effects of any oxidation starting rear their ugly head. I won't make any predictions, but I will update the thread!
