TasunkaWitko
Well-Known Member
Agreed - I'll modify my post where that is concerned, and I also included OG and FG, as well.
Kentucky Common Ale..
- Thread starter Turbo26
- Start date
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TasunkaWitko
Well-Known Member
@MonkeyBot and @Turbo26 ; I finally brewed this beer!
The thread and running discussion (along with a LOT of ADD moments while I sort out the ingredients and hops) can be found here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=583757
To summarise, I went with what seemed to me to be a good, solid representation of the original, trying to strike the best balance between historical accuracy and my current equipment and skills. I did, in the end, elect to use the flaked corn, rather than do a cereal mash, but I think I can be forgiven for that.
I brewed this last night, and I think it's going to be a good one ~ here's a report on the brew itself:
The brew went off with no significant hitches that I can recall; my #2 son, Mike (known here as @mtbrewer403 ) gave me a hand, and we had a pretty good time, I think. He's an IPA guy, so he was pretty amused by my modest use of hops, but it's all good. He showed me a couple of things that he does when he's brewing, and they looked like pretty good tips to me, so I will be using them in the future.
Mash - I was able to keep the temperatures fairly close to where I wanted them - and it smelled great! The flaked corn added a nice touch, I think.
Sparge - No sticking issues, no spills - everything went fine.
Boil - I went with the slightly-modified hop schedule (below) for lower IBUs as the maltiness (bordering on sweetness) was mentioned prominently in the research; everything went fine and on schedule. The Cluster hops smelled really good with this, and the Hallertau Mittelfrüh added a nice touch, as well. I was actually tempted to add a little more hops at all stages, but for this first one, I left things alone.
Chill-down - once again, no hitches. I have never used Irish moss before, but I definitely plan to use it more often, after this experience; it really pulls the crud down, it seems.
Transfer to fermenter and pitching the yeast - no troubles at all; I only had to top off with a very small amount of water - I'd say less than a quarter-cup.
The only irregularity of note was that the wort/beer was slightly darker than expected, in spite of the very, very small amount of black malt and C60. Where these dark malts are concerned, it doesn't take much! The darker colour could also have something to do with my water; I've noticed that all my brews, no matter what style and no matter what conditions, are always just a bit darker than I expect them to be. No big deal, as they all taste great.
I checked in on my beer this morning, and the S05 is definitely doing it's thing; slow and steady, which matches my experience with it so far. There is a nice cap of krausen developing, and I am sure that by the time I get home from work, it will be churning up for a good, solid fermentation and the blow-off tube will be getting busy. The ambient temperatures are just a few degrees higher than I would prefer, but we still seem to be well within the tolerance of this yeast. The next few days will be cooler, and this will help. Considering that we have been consistently above 90 since the end of June and are finally seeing some relief, I am not going to complain.
Here is the final recipe that was actually brewed; if anyone is following my brain-storming, ADD-infested, rambling development, please disregard all others, for now:
That's what I have for now; I will post more as it happens, on the thread linked above....
Ron
The thread and running discussion (along with a LOT of ADD moments while I sort out the ingredients and hops) can be found here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=583757
To summarise, I went with what seemed to me to be a good, solid representation of the original, trying to strike the best balance between historical accuracy and my current equipment and skills. I did, in the end, elect to use the flaked corn, rather than do a cereal mash, but I think I can be forgiven for that.
I brewed this last night, and I think it's going to be a good one ~ here's a report on the brew itself:
The brew went off with no significant hitches that I can recall; my #2 son, Mike (known here as @mtbrewer403 ) gave me a hand, and we had a pretty good time, I think. He's an IPA guy, so he was pretty amused by my modest use of hops, but it's all good. He showed me a couple of things that he does when he's brewing, and they looked like pretty good tips to me, so I will be using them in the future.
Mash - I was able to keep the temperatures fairly close to where I wanted them - and it smelled great! The flaked corn added a nice touch, I think.
Sparge - No sticking issues, no spills - everything went fine.
Boil - I went with the slightly-modified hop schedule (below) for lower IBUs as the maltiness (bordering on sweetness) was mentioned prominently in the research; everything went fine and on schedule. The Cluster hops smelled really good with this, and the Hallertau Mittelfrüh added a nice touch, as well. I was actually tempted to add a little more hops at all stages, but for this first one, I left things alone.
Chill-down - once again, no hitches. I have never used Irish moss before, but I definitely plan to use it more often, after this experience; it really pulls the crud down, it seems.
Transfer to fermenter and pitching the yeast - no troubles at all; I only had to top off with a very small amount of water - I'd say less than a quarter-cup.
The only irregularity of note was that the wort/beer was slightly darker than expected, in spite of the very, very small amount of black malt and C60. Where these dark malts are concerned, it doesn't take much! The darker colour could also have something to do with my water; I've noticed that all my brews, no matter what style and no matter what conditions, are always just a bit darker than I expect them to be. No big deal, as they all taste great.
I checked in on my beer this morning, and the S05 is definitely doing it's thing; slow and steady, which matches my experience with it so far. There is a nice cap of krausen developing, and I am sure that by the time I get home from work, it will be churning up for a good, solid fermentation and the blow-off tube will be getting busy. The ambient temperatures are just a few degrees higher than I would prefer, but we still seem to be well within the tolerance of this yeast. The next few days will be cooler, and this will help. Considering that we have been consistently above 90 since the end of June and are finally seeing some relief, I am not going to complain.
Here is the final recipe that was actually brewed; if anyone is following my brain-storming, ADD-infested, rambling development, please disregard all others, for now:
Also, here is the label that I came up with for this beer:
That's what I have for now; I will post more as it happens, on the thread linked above....
Ron
MonkeyBot
Well-Known Member
I am excited to see how this turns out. I've also been preoccupied this summer and gotten almost no brewing done. This makes me want to brew a Kentucky Common. I'll see if I can manage to do so this weekend. Probably not, but that's my goal!
TasunkaWitko
Well-Known Member
@MonkeyBot and @Turbo26 -
I was finally able to sample this on Friday, and it was excellent - simply excellent! I am calling this research project and recipe experiment a complete success. Granted, given the available information, it wasn't too difficult, but my primary goal was to stick as closely to the original as I was able to, and I believe I did do that.
As is usually the case with my first sampling of a beer, I was too busy enjoying it and evaluating it to give any meaningful "tasting notes." It also was the first of several different beers and half a bottle of mead, so there is an added layer of faulty memory involved; however, here are some (very) preliminary impressions:
Appearance: I had jostled the bottles around the night before, putting on labels, so there was just a little bit of haze there. Before putting on the labels, the beer appeared very, very clear in the bottle. The colour was a beautiful amber/copper, just as I was hoping. The head was just a tiny bit off-white and had a very nice texture to it. I couldn't have asked for much better.
Aroma: I remember enjoying it very much, but not any specifics. I do remember getting the over-all vibe that it smelled like good, fresh beer, with a nice balance to it. I don't remember anything specific in regards to the aroma of the malts, but the Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops provided a very typical and expected ambience.
Taste: I remember that I liked it, very much! It had a good, maltiness to it and had a little something extra that was really nice...I don't know the best term, but maybe "graininess" covers it, from other descriptions I have heard. There was just a bit of sweetness in there that was surprisingly well balanced by the bitterness from the cluster hops, which provided a strong counter that had its own character. The finish as I remember it was clean and refreshing, leaving me wanting more. The bottle didn't last too long!
Those are the main things that I remember about it: fresh, refreshing, drinkable and addictive. I can see how this became so popular in Louisville! My father also enjoyed it very much, as did my #2 son, Mike, so I figure that I've done well with this.
Considering that this recipe was a success, and that it is, as far as I know, true to the original with no added distractions, embellishments or historical errors (such as sour mash), I submitted this to the recipe section of the forum:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=638251
If you try it, let me know what yu think, and enjoy!
Ron
I was finally able to sample this on Friday, and it was excellent - simply excellent! I am calling this research project and recipe experiment a complete success. Granted, given the available information, it wasn't too difficult, but my primary goal was to stick as closely to the original as I was able to, and I believe I did do that.
As is usually the case with my first sampling of a beer, I was too busy enjoying it and evaluating it to give any meaningful "tasting notes." It also was the first of several different beers and half a bottle of mead, so there is an added layer of faulty memory involved; however, here are some (very) preliminary impressions:
Appearance: I had jostled the bottles around the night before, putting on labels, so there was just a little bit of haze there. Before putting on the labels, the beer appeared very, very clear in the bottle. The colour was a beautiful amber/copper, just as I was hoping. The head was just a tiny bit off-white and had a very nice texture to it. I couldn't have asked for much better.
Aroma: I remember enjoying it very much, but not any specifics. I do remember getting the over-all vibe that it smelled like good, fresh beer, with a nice balance to it. I don't remember anything specific in regards to the aroma of the malts, but the Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops provided a very typical and expected ambience.
Taste: I remember that I liked it, very much! It had a good, maltiness to it and had a little something extra that was really nice...I don't know the best term, but maybe "graininess" covers it, from other descriptions I have heard. There was just a bit of sweetness in there that was surprisingly well balanced by the bitterness from the cluster hops, which provided a strong counter that had its own character. The finish as I remember it was clean and refreshing, leaving me wanting more. The bottle didn't last too long!
Those are the main things that I remember about it: fresh, refreshing, drinkable and addictive. I can see how this became so popular in Louisville! My father also enjoyed it very much, as did my #2 son, Mike, so I figure that I've done well with this.
Considering that this recipe was a success, and that it is, as far as I know, true to the original with no added distractions, embellishments or historical errors (such as sour mash), I submitted this to the recipe section of the forum:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=638251
If you try it, let me know what yu think, and enjoy!
Ron
