beer tour of tastes!

Reactions to and impressions of commercial and home made beers and beverages. Travelling and experiencing beers from around the world.

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mule
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 34
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:43 am
Location: Lakewood, CO

beer tour of tastes!

Post by mule »

So here is the deal. I have always liked micro brews and some bigger ones. I have hated the mega beers as I always thought they were crappy water. BUT, I am in the dark when it comes to all of the flavor variations, hops tastes ect.

I need everyone's help!

The next beer fest around here -that I can find- is in September. Trial and error is great with my own brews, but that takes a month or so to taste.... I need some help now.
I think I'll talk to the LHBS and see if they could hook me up with some people in my area. Any other ideas?
Thanks
Greg
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Suthrncomfrt1884
Double IPA
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Location: Rockford, Illinois

Post by Suthrncomfrt1884 »

I've always liked making small batches with a specific type of hop if I want to know how it tastes.

If you don't have the time or patience for that though, check out this link...

http://www.shop.tasteyourbeer.com/produ ... tegoryId=1
Primary - Belgian Dubbel, Belgian IPA
Secondary - Cherry Lambic
Bottled - Bourbon Barrel Coffee Porter, Double Chocolate Raspberry Stout, Imperial Nut Brown, Apfelwein, American Amber Ale w/Homegrown Hops, Breakfast Stout
Kegged - Bass Clone, ESB
mule
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 34
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:43 am
Location: Lakewood, CO

Post by mule »

Both are good ideas. I have seen the wine tasting kits like this, a friend had one. Kind of handy. Thanks

I like the idea of small batches too. Since I'm still a neophyte I have to figure out how to scale down recipes. It would be more fun to brew 3 or 4 small 2.5 gallon batches..... :mrgreen:
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Suthrncomfrt1884
Double IPA
Double IPA
Posts: 223
Joined: Sun Oct 26, 2008 12:39 am
Location: Rockford, Illinois

Post by Suthrncomfrt1884 »

I was thinking more along the lines of 6-pack batches. You can buy a few 1 gallon carboys and use them as fermentors. If you make a 5 gallon batch of pale ale, just split it up among carboys and dry hop them. I will give you an idea of what each hop gives to the aroma and taste of the beer. It's a little different though if you actually boil them, so you may want to split it before the boil.
Primary - Belgian Dubbel, Belgian IPA
Secondary - Cherry Lambic
Bottled - Bourbon Barrel Coffee Porter, Double Chocolate Raspberry Stout, Imperial Nut Brown, Apfelwein, American Amber Ale w/Homegrown Hops, Breakfast Stout
Kegged - Bass Clone, ESB
mule
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 34
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:43 am
Location: Lakewood, CO

Post by mule »

Wow, awesome. That is a much better idea, sounds pretty fun too.

After doing a bunch more research, I decided to boil each one in 1 gallon batches using 1/2 oz of the bittering hops at 30-45 minutes on the first trial and then taste the next round.
I'm using 1.25 # of LME - lite or wheat, haven't decided. Probably lite.
No secondary, just primary for 7-10 days, then carbonate in the 1 gal bottles....
Simple and easy. On the hops for taste, I'll pick the bittering hop I like and add the taste hops at 15 minutes. I was playing with the formulas on the program and was trying to get the IBU numbers to be close to an IPA range or at least under 100.... Bad thinking? What do you think.
Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost.
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