Well, it's finally ready! That's right, the Smoked Porter that I talked about a few weeks ago is finally ready for a tasting, so that's exactly what I did!
When I made this beer, I was looking for something with just a bit of smokiness to help take the chill out of those cold winter days,. I had debated on a stout, but finally settled on this beer; I am glad I did.
The beer poured pitch black with a thick, brown head. Even before I smelled or tasted the beer I knew this was going to warm me up. The smell was of a bit of chocolate with just a hint of the smokiness I was looking for. I am not sure how to describe this, but I also seemed to be able to smell the creaminess of this beer before I tasted it. That said, there was a nice creaminess to the taste. It definitely had chocolate and a nice smoked flavor to it.I greatly enjoyed this beer!
Pictures to follow.
I feel that my friends and I's homebrew skills continue to evolve. We are making very tasty brews and continue to work on perfecting our skills. Next time out, we are going to start changing parts of the recipe so that we can truly have our own beer. Bourbon Brown Ale or Chocolate Chipolte Stout anyone?
Showing posts with label homebrew. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homebrew. Show all posts
Nov 20, 2010
Nov 8, 2010
Tooting my own horn
I have decided to toot my own horn today. I won't normally do this, but I decided to this time.
Now, with that out of the way, here's why: I just got some notes back from someone regarding two homebrews that I either made or helped beersupporterJT make. As a homebrewer, I make beer that I want to drink and my friends will want to drink. However, it's always nice to get feedback from someone who sells beer for a living.
Here's the scoop: I brought a couple of bottles of my homebrew down to the World BeerFest earlier this year. I shared these bottles with a distributor to get their opinion. (Ok, I'll admit, my brother works for this distributor, so the view may be skewed, but I feel he was very honest in his assessment.) I asked them to review my beer and let me know what they think. Below is the assessment of a cream ale and a pale ale:
CREAM ALE
Creamy nose
Light carbonation
Little head
Top of mouth, no tongue
True to style
Little bit of citrus feel
Overall B+
Pale Ale
Good carbonation
Great head
Carbonation in nose
Excellent mouth feel and body
Bitter but not to hoppy
Good color
Overall A-
So, there you have it. I was happy that I made beer that not only I liked and my friends liked, but that folks who drink a lot of different beers also liked.
Now, back to your regular blogs.
Now, with that out of the way, here's why: I just got some notes back from someone regarding two homebrews that I either made or helped beersupporterJT make. As a homebrewer, I make beer that I want to drink and my friends will want to drink. However, it's always nice to get feedback from someone who sells beer for a living.
Here's the scoop: I brought a couple of bottles of my homebrew down to the World BeerFest earlier this year. I shared these bottles with a distributor to get their opinion. (Ok, I'll admit, my brother works for this distributor, so the view may be skewed, but I feel he was very honest in his assessment.) I asked them to review my beer and let me know what they think. Below is the assessment of a cream ale and a pale ale:
CREAM ALE
Creamy nose
Light carbonation
Little head
Top of mouth, no tongue
True to style
Little bit of citrus feel
Overall B+
Pale Ale
Good carbonation
Great head
Carbonation in nose
Excellent mouth feel and body
Bitter but not to hoppy
Good color
Overall A-
So, there you have it. I was happy that I made beer that not only I liked and my friends liked, but that folks who drink a lot of different beers also liked.
Now, back to your regular blogs.
Nov 1, 2010
Homebrew - Smoked Porter
In a previous post, I mentioned I loved to homebrew. I am still a "rookie" when it comes to brewing and I am only able to brew on occasion. That being said, my buddy and I like to try and brew as often as we can, which usually equates to about once a month. When we brew, we use kits, for now, but we hope to move up to all-grain brewing in the near future.
The most recent brewing excursion came a couple of weeks ago when we decided it was time to start thinking about a nice beer to help warm the blood in the cold winter months. After travelling to our local homebrew shop, we decided that a nice smoked porter would do the trick. So, we grabbed some supplies, headed home, and began to brew.
The brewing process itself is a little tedious for my liking. Don't get me wrong, I know the importance of the process and I have surely tasted it's results, but there is a lot of work to be done just so you can sit and wait and wait and wait for a finished product. In the case of the smoked porter, we had to be even more diligent in watching the pot as it boiled since it was very likely to boil over (which it almost did several times, even in oversized brewing pot). However, the smell was delicious as we waited for the hour to be over so we can put the beer into a fermenter. This was going to be an awesome beer.
Once brewing was complete, we quickly dropped the temperature of the wort and pitched the yeast and moved the smoked porter into a primary fermenter. There the beer sat not even a full 24 hours before it fermented so much that it had seeped through the air lock and onto the fermentation bucket. Thankfully, none of it seemed to have ruined and we were able to save the beer.
After a few weeks, we moved the beer into secondary to let it mellow out a bit more. After a few more weeks, we were finally ready to bottle. We prepared the bottles and the beer and boy did it smell great! Just knowing that in a few weeks I will be able to try another home made beer made me smile.
I will keep you posted on the results of my smoked porter. In the meantime, if you have any advice for someone trying to do an all grain batch, please share. I love the process of brewing and would love to be able to fully create a truly unique beer for myself and for my friends.
The most recent brewing excursion came a couple of weeks ago when we decided it was time to start thinking about a nice beer to help warm the blood in the cold winter months. After travelling to our local homebrew shop, we decided that a nice smoked porter would do the trick. So, we grabbed some supplies, headed home, and began to brew.
The brewing process itself is a little tedious for my liking. Don't get me wrong, I know the importance of the process and I have surely tasted it's results, but there is a lot of work to be done just so you can sit and wait and wait and wait for a finished product. In the case of the smoked porter, we had to be even more diligent in watching the pot as it boiled since it was very likely to boil over (which it almost did several times, even in oversized brewing pot). However, the smell was delicious as we waited for the hour to be over so we can put the beer into a fermenter. This was going to be an awesome beer.
Once brewing was complete, we quickly dropped the temperature of the wort and pitched the yeast and moved the smoked porter into a primary fermenter. There the beer sat not even a full 24 hours before it fermented so much that it had seeped through the air lock and onto the fermentation bucket. Thankfully, none of it seemed to have ruined and we were able to save the beer.
After a few weeks, we moved the beer into secondary to let it mellow out a bit more. After a few more weeks, we were finally ready to bottle. We prepared the bottles and the beer and boy did it smell great! Just knowing that in a few weeks I will be able to try another home made beer made me smile.
I will keep you posted on the results of my smoked porter. In the meantime, if you have any advice for someone trying to do an all grain batch, please share. I love the process of brewing and would love to be able to fully create a truly unique beer for myself and for my friends.
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