Apt23Brewery
Active Member
So two years ago, I started brewing and had great success. However as time went by I started to lose confidence in my brews as I came accross off tastes, films, and the final straw, mold during a heat wave. I was sure that i needed to stop for a while and regroup.
We now almost a year after my last batch I'm ready to start again, and I'm starting out doing duplicates of the first two batches I ever made.
An American Cream Ale, and A dry Irish Red Ale.
I've picked up all my ingredients and am on my way to getting everything sanatized and cleaned to my expectations.
My questions are.
1) For the cream ale, would anyone suggest adding lactose to this? I felt my first beer, a cream ale, was good, just lacking a touch of body. What would you add to give a cream ale a smooth, but full taste.
2) Has anyone added vanilla to a red ale before? If so, would you go with an extract or using vanilla sticks from the home brew store? if so when and how would you add these during the process? I think a red with a hint of vanilla sounds good? What do you think?
Let me know all your thoughts.
We now almost a year after my last batch I'm ready to start again, and I'm starting out doing duplicates of the first two batches I ever made.
An American Cream Ale, and A dry Irish Red Ale.
I've picked up all my ingredients and am on my way to getting everything sanatized and cleaned to my expectations.
My questions are.
1) For the cream ale, would anyone suggest adding lactose to this? I felt my first beer, a cream ale, was good, just lacking a touch of body. What would you add to give a cream ale a smooth, but full taste.
2) Has anyone added vanilla to a red ale before? If so, would you go with an extract or using vanilla sticks from the home brew store? if so when and how would you add these during the process? I think a red with a hint of vanilla sounds good? What do you think?
Let me know all your thoughts.