Whats your white whale?

[Miraculix]

Ditto your notion of A09 being the London Pride yeast. Downed me a few pints of Pride in Olde London Towne over the years, and it was a perennial favorite. A09 will definitely give you the marmalade. I recently did a Jai Alai knockoff using A09, and the orange & marmalade were quite prominent. It's a very nice yeast.

I 2nd that!

Everything of that

Except the jai alai... Whatever that might be?

 

[Broothru]

I 2nd that!

Everything of that

Except the jai alai... Whatever that might be?

Yeah, the Jai Alai was for a beach house week family gathering for my son and son-in-law, both who like Jai Alai quite a lot. So I took a keg with me, only to have those two yahoo ingrates each show up with 12-packs of Jai Alai.

Side by side, mine was slightly darker and a lower ABV. They "told" me mine was better. Whether truth or contrition, I'll never know for sure. But it was a very good beer, even if it's not totally my jam.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

A09 will definitely give you the marmalade. I recently did a Jai Alai knockoff using A09, and the orange & marmalade were quite prominent. It's a very nice yeast.

So glad to hear. The white whale is in my sights

 

[NickTheGreat]

I simply want to try to lager. I bought a small fridge that a carboy will fit into, but there we filled it up with crap during the pandemic.

I think I may empty it soon and then can install my controller and achieve my lager.

 

[Miraculix]

Yeah, the Jai Alai was for a beach house week family gathering for my son and son-in-law, both who like Jai Alai quite a lot. So I took a keg with me, only to have those two yahoo ingrates each show up with 12-packs of Jai Alai.

Side by side, mine was slightly darker and a lower ABV. They "told" me mine was better. Whether truth or contrition, I'll never know for sure. But it was a very good beer, even if it's not totally my jam.

Just googled jai alai, literally didn't know what it is

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Yeah, the Jai Alai was for a beach house week family gathering for my son and son-in-law, both who like Jai Alai quite a lot. So I took a keg with me, only to have those two yahoo ingrates each show up with 12-packs of Jai Alai.

Ordered it several times before realizing it is not pronounced "Jay Ah-La". It is a nice IPA and similar to what I look for in that style.

 

[Broothru]

Ordered it several times before realizing it is not pronounced "Jay Ah-La". It is a nice IPA and similar to what I look for in that style.

"HI, Ally."

It hard enough to say, but even harder to classify. Is it an American IPA? Maybe a DIPA at 7.5%? It's not NEIPA, nor WCIPA with a strange mix of six hops. Hoppy International Amber? Fruit beer?

It's hoppy, light amber, orange fruit undertones, higher ABV, a lot of English influence with Maris Otter and Fuller's strain yeast. Hard for me to nail down. I know Cigar City calls it an IPA, but that seems to pigeon hole it too strictly.

Whatever it is, it's one of CC's better sellers, and they brew (and collaborate) on some awfully good beers. They do a pretty nice brewery tour in Tampa as well.

 

[day_trippr]

"High Lie". The "A" is silent...

https://askinglot.com/how-do-you-pronounce-jai-alai-cigar-city
Cheers!

 

[Immocles]

"High Lie". The "A" is silent...

https://askinglot.com/how-do-you-pronounce-jai-alai-cigar-city
Cheers!

It’s a very dangerous game, amigo.

 

[Broothru]

It’s a very dangerous game, amigo.
View attachment 734640

Claro, Caballero!

Something like squash, but using a croquet ball and flung at high speed with a sling-shot curved mallet.

Or: human pinball with betting.

 

[Sunfire96]

"HI, Ally."

It hard enough to say, but even harder to classify. Is it an American IPA? Maybe a DIPA at 7.5%? It's not NEIPA, nor WCIPA with a strange mix of six hops. Hoppy International Amber? Fruit beer?

It's hoppy, light amber, orange fruit undertones, higher ABV, a lot of English influence with Maris Otter and Fuller's strain yeast. Hard for me to nail down. I know Cigar City calls it an IPA, but that seems to pigeon hole it too strictly.

Whatever it is, it's one of CC's better sellers, and they brew (and collaborate) on some awfully good beers. They do a pretty nice brewery tour in Tampa as well.

Why do you say it's not a West Coast IPA?

 

[JAReeves]

Why do you say it's not a West Coast IPA?

I don't know their perspective, but I find Jai Alai to be a very sweet IPA-too much pineapple and coconut. Could just be me, tho.

 

[InspectorJon]

Why do you say it's not a West Coast IPA?

Because it's made in Florida.......

 

[Broothru]

Because it's made in Florida.......

. But it IS the West Coast of Florida.

 

[JimRausch]

A Tropical Stout as good as Lion Stout.
I make a pretty good one, but it's missing something........

 

[mashpaddled]

I've yet to brew a hefeweizen I thought nailed my preferences. I like a lot of banana but it still needs balance with clove. I either end up with too much banana or too much clove. I haven't found the right fermentation temperature profile for what I consider the perfect character but I also haven't brewed enough to give myself the opportunity.

 

[Sunfire96]

Because it's made in Florida.......

Ahh okay, so what do you call a NEIPA made in California?

 

[JAReeves]

Ahh okay, so what do you call a NEIPA made in California?

Vegas.

 

[InspectorJon]

Well, I live in California and they are more often than not referred to as hazy IPA or just hazy here in the Sacramento area. The label may say NEIPA but people just say hazy.

 

[cmac62]

Ahh okay, so what do you call a NEIPA made in California?

Abomination?

 

[deuc224]

Erdinger dunkel clone. Just cant nail it.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Kulmbacher Monchshof Kellerbier. Seriously my favorite beer in the whole world. I would love to clone it but can't get hold of any and their website doesn't say much about grain bill or hops. I've tried other kellerbiers, zwickels, etc. and none of them even come close to the creamy, malty character. I love this beer and would give anything to be able to duplicate it in my home brewery. I would sip on a bottle while eating a döner kebap and walking around Esslingen's Altstadt after work, just after sunset, all by myself just marveling at the architecture and pondering the city's medieval history. Very happy times.

My other white whale is authentic Schwäbisch Döner. I've tried to make it a few times but so far I haven't been able to recreate the experience.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I am not sure I would call it a White Whale yet, because I have never tried to brew it, but St. Bernardus Abt 12 is a target and motivator of mine. Several years ago I was able to sample some next to Westvleteren 12 ("best beer in the world") and I preferred the St. Bernardus a bit more (nice that I can get a 750ml bottle for $12 at the local Total Wine!).

Instead of jumping right into trying to brew a clone of St. Bernardus, I have instead been focusing on getting a better understanding of brewing Belgian beers. I have brewed a number of beers using the Westmalle strain (which should be similar to what St. Bernardus uses...my understanding is they are using a relative of the original Westvleteren strain and Westvleteren switched to getting yeast from Westmalle when they took the brewing back). Along the way I have learned how much I like Dubbels!

 

[Monmouth00]

I haven't even tried a lager yet. I'm not set up for temperature controlled fermentation.

I'll consider myself a good homebrewer when I am set up, and can consistently crank out clean, clear, crisp, repeatable light lagers.

My holy grail.

 

[user 263363]

Mine would be a dank, sticky, clear but dark double IPA. Something along the lines of G'knight from Oskar Blues. I haven't even attempted one yet as my hoppy beers still need some work.

 

[JAReeves]

Mine would be a dank, sticky, clear but dark double IPA. Something along the lines of G'knight from Oskar Blues. I haven't even attempted one yet as my hoppy beers still need some work.

Something that changed my last IPA radically was dip-hopping instead of whirlpool/hop-stand. Here it is:

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/736484/st-augustine-of-hoppi-dipa
The hop stand is actually the dip-hop. I put hops in the fermenter while the wort is coming up to a boil. When wort hits 170F, I put 1 1/2 quarts of hot wort in the fermenter and sealed it up. The cat pee aroma coming out of the airlock was intense! But the cat pee aroma in the beer was almost non-existent, and the pine-citrus aroma and flavor were fantastic. Several of my beer tasters felt it was the best iteration of this beer that I have made since I started making it four years ago. Anyway, after the boil, I ran the chilled beer straight to the fermenter on top of the dip hop, finished the chill to 65F and pitched the yeast. After a week, moved it to the keg for the dry hop.

The dry hop is done by having them in a CO2-purged keg, then closed transfer beer, and immediate chill in the keezer to 36F, after 2 days I put it on gas and force carbed at 30PSI overnight, then turned it down to 12PSI for a week.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Clones for two of my favorite beers...

1. Fuller's London Pride - followed the recipe exactly per the "Can You Brew It" podcast but the marmalade element of the bottled version never appears. Gonna try A09 Pub Ale yeast next as somewhere I read that while 002/1968 is a Fuller's strain, it is not what they use for ESB/Pride/Chiswick and A09 is.​

​

All we know for certain about 002 and 1968 is that genetically they are part of the Whitbread family - and that they taste nothing like Fuller's yeast. If it's not got that orangey marmalade, then it's not Fuller's. And Fuller's went down to a single strain when they converted to conicals in the late 70s, so you can't make a "it's part of a multistrain" argument. I don't know what the story is, whether they came from Fuller's originaly but mutated and lost the orange somewhere on the way to WL/Wyeast's freezers, or they just never came from Fuller's in the first place - but 002 and 1968 are nothing like the real Fuller's yeast.

Here in the UK it's easy, as 1856 is readily available from supermarkets and is bottle-conditioned with the production yeast, but reportedly A09 is close.

If you've not seen this thread, it has actual Fuller's production records and down-thread there is an ESB close that is reportedly close, based on the original brewsheets.

For me, its a Belgian Quad (Strong Dark Ale). I've tried to brew one 5 times now and each time it's been, well, unsatisfactory. Too thin. Too bland. Too sweet. Too hot. For some reason, I can't figure that puppy out.

I am not sure I would call it a White Whale yet, because I have never tried to brew it, but St. Bernardus Abt 12 is a target and motivator of mine. Several years ago I was able to sample some next to Westvleteren 12 ("best beer in the world") and I preferred the St. Bernardus a bit more (nice that I can get a 750ml bottle for $12 at the local Total Wine!).

Having tasted the Big 3 side-by-side on more than one occasion, personally I prefer Rochefort 10... But if that's your thing then you'll enjoy the Pursuit of Abbeyness blog which includes iterations of a beer inspired by Rochefort 10, and this AHA thread based on a brewsheet from Rochefort :
https://pursuitofabbeyness.com/2018/02/12/brew-day-pursuit-of-abbeyness-xii/https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=30994.0

 

[user 263363]

Something that changed my last IPA radically was dip-hopping instead of whirlpool/hop-stand. Here it is:

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/736484/st-augustine-of-hoppi-dipa
The hop stand is actually the dip-hop. I put hops in the fermenter while the wort is coming up to a boil. When wort hits 170F, I put 1 1/2 quarts of hot wort in the fermenter and sealed it up. The cat pee aroma coming out of the airlock was intense! But the cat pee aroma in the beer was almost non-existent, and the pine-citrus aroma and flavor were fantastic. Several of my beer tasters felt it was the best iteration of this beer that I have made since I started making it four years ago. Anyway, after the boil, I ran the chilled beer straight to the fermenter on top of the dip hop, finished the chill to 65F and pitched the yeast. After a week, moved it to the keg for the dry hop.

The dry hop is done by having them in a CO2-purged keg, then closed transfer beer, and immediate chill in the keezer to 36F, after 2 days I put it on gas and force carbed at 30PSI overnight, then turned it down to 12PSI for a week.

That is a very interesting technique and I can see where it would definitely get me where I want to go. Thanks for the information!

 

[bwible]

I've yet to brew a hefeweizen I thought nailed my preferences. I like a lot of banana but it still needs balance with clove. I either end up with too much banana or too much clove. I haven't found the right fermentation temperature profile for what I consider the perfect character but I also haven't brewed enough to give myself the opportunity.

Weast 3068 produces more banana at higher temps and more clove at lower temps. I also like more banana than clove. Sometimes I get these and all I taste is clove - those are the ones I don’t like. I still say the best hefe I ever made was during my first year or two of brewing. 100% wheat dme, hallertauer hops, fermented in July back in a time and place where I didn’t have air conditioning. It was probably 90 degrees or more.

 

[bwible]

I haven't even tried a lager yet. I'm not set up for temperature controlled fermentation.

I'll consider myself a good homebrewer when I am set up, and can consistently crank out clean, clear, crisp, repeatable light lagers.

My holy grail.

Lagers are certainly not a standard to judge somebody’s ability by. I know plenty of brewers who do not make lagers and are excellent brewers. I know people who only make English Ales. I know people who only make Belgian beers. I know people who only make pale ales and IPAs.
I agree, I would also like to get set up and be able to make lagers. Right now I am running a commercial glass front fridge for bottles and a 2 tap kegerator in addition to our house fridge. So we’re running 3 fridges. I don’t know if I can justify buying a 4th fridge to make lager. And if I did, my wife would probably commandeer it and start putting food in it. So I don’t consider anybody not a good brewer because they don’t have equipment or facilities to lager.
I’m researching these experiments and threads about fermenting lagers with 34/70 warm. People claim to be getting great results. And I’ve been reading all about cream ales, which was the American brewers response to lager beer.