Brew Day: Summer Wheat Ale

I brewed a wheat ale some time back, the Honey Orange Wheat, but added orange peels and honey to it and ended up with a very flavourful wheat beer with overwhelming orange (kinnow) notes.

Its been a while but of late I had the urge to brew another wheat beer for some time now and I waited around for some of my grains to come in. There’s nothing interesting or specific about this wheat beer that would make it stand out other than the fact that it was not intended to be fermented with a wheat yeast. I planned to use S-04 from some of the harvested yeast from my previous beer. Which meant that it would be an American Wheat ale. Simple, unpretentious and a good drink on a summer’s day when you want to have a wheat beer.

I stuck to the basics: Pale Ale malt and Wheat, two simple ingredients and nothing else. If this fermented out completely I would end up with 5% ABV or slightly higher. I wanted the wheat to stand out and kept the IBUs close to the early 20s with a single bittering addition of Columbus.

Overall, my intention was to make an American Wheat ale that’s perfect for the summer.

Summer Wheat Ale (Tasting notes here)

Specifics

Batch size (litres): 8 litres
Type: All Grain

IBU: 21

SRM: 5

OG: 1.055

Grains and Sugars

1 kg Pale Ale malt

850 grams Wheat malt

Hops

6 grams Columbus @ 45

Yeast

Fermentis S-04 Ale Yeast

Schedules

Mash at 66°C for 60 minutes.

Batch sparged at 80°C.

Boiled for 45 minutes.

Notes
Because this is a light bodied, simple wheat beer, it gives a chance to lay around with  secondary to see if I can infuse flavours into it with some of the available fruit.

Brew Day: Super Simple Cream Ale

Over many months of brewing, I have developed a certain liking for simple beers. Recipes that don’t involve a lot of ingredients and don’t use complex methods are what I am comfortable with. Of course, I brew a stout or a barley wine in between but there is a certain joy to brewing a simple beer, with low gravity and less bitterness. 

And a beer that fits this bill perfectly is a lawn mover beer that would be light in body, less hoppy and more importantly cold, refreshing and definitely thirst-quenching. Subsequently, the grain bill will be simple, a small amount of hops would be used for low bitterness and the carbonation would be moderate. A lot of beers fit into this category like a Kolsch, Cream Ale or even a Hefeweizen.

With the grains I had at home, I worked out a recipe so I could hit 1.040 OG and then ferment it out completely so I could hit an ABV of 4% or higher but less than 5%. I also added some flaked rice to the mash which would provide starches for conversion and add a light color to the final beer. Northern Brewer was added for a full 45 minute boil with no further hop additions.

Super Simple Cream Ale (Tasting notes here)

Specifics

Batch size (litres): 8 litres
Type: All Grain

IBU: 19

SRM: 3.5

OG: 1.040

Grains and Sugars

1.2 kg Pilsner

200 grams Flaked Rice

Hops

6 grams Northern Brewer @ 45

Yeast

Fermentis S-04 Ale Yeast

Schedules

Mash at 66°C for 60 minutes.

Batch sparged at 80°C.

Boiled for 45 minutes.

Tasting Day: Foreign Extra Stout

Recipe and Brewday here.

I give my beers more than enough time to carbonate and sometimes even more after I've bottled them. I sometimes do this when I know I've made a high gravity beer and therefore give it some time to mellow out.

The Foreign Extra Stout is one such beer. Its been six weeks since I bottled it and I decided to have a tasting.

The slow hiss as I opened the bottled indicated a well carbonated beer. As I poured the stout, a big thick, strong, tan head formed and I had to stop pouring to allow it to settle down. After a few minutes, the head receded slightly and I continued pouring slowly till I had a full glass.

I took a sniff of the beer before placing it to take a snap and it immediately gave away dark, burnt notes. I waited for a few minutes and then took in a more deeper breath and this time it was better. The dark notes still floated around, but it gave way to some caramel (probably from the Crystal 120 and Crystal 80) and then some of those chocolate and coffee aromas. The chocolate and coffee aromas were late on the nose but it was very much there.

Around the mouth of the glass, there were faint shades of dark rubies and this was the only color I could make out other than the strong pitch black that ran through the beer.

Later, I sipped some of the stout. My first thoughts were that this beer was satisfying. It didnt have a creamy head like a stout on nitro, but the beer was strong, slightly boozy, with bitterness that stood out almost at par with the other characteristics of the beer.

While brewing, just before the hot break, I leaned into the boil kettle and took a whiff and that was the same aroma that filled my nose each time I took a sip. The malt backbone existed but it was toned down and not as strong as I wanted for a beer of this nature.

Subsequent sips brought all the flavours together and I must say that the stout turned out to be a beer I finished quickly.

Tasting Day: Mild Pale Ale

Recipe and Brewday here.

After a long, hard day, I settled down in the evening with a bottle of Mild Pale Ale. I think this beer was ready after 4 weeks of carbonation.

A quick pour and I had a finger and a half thick head which persisted for a while but still stuck around even after I finished the bottle. On the nose, a slight citrus, lemony note played around but the aroma wasn't as strong as say, even a session IPA.

My first sip was very revealing: sour beer. Yes, I tasted sour beer. I'm not sure if this is because of the Cascade or the use of S-33, but it was definitely sour.

Would I call the beer spoilt? I would like to instantly nod in the affirmative but in the further sips I could taste a wee bit of the bitterness. It is a fairly drinkable beer because of the unexpected sourness.

The beer left patches of lacing all over the glass as I emptied it and left a wee bit of head even after I finished the beer.

I tried another bottle a few days after I tried the first one and it seems that the sourness does not exist in the second bottle. It may have either mellowed out (but does sourness mellow out?) or it may have been just the first bottle.

Tasting Day: Palest Pale Ale #2 (Half-Hearted Midas Touch Clone)

Recipe and Brewday here.

This is the second beer from the Palest Pale Ale recipe. You can read the tasting notes of the first beer here. 

I spilt the Palest Pale Ale into two, and added the must of red grapes to the second batch. This was an attempt to clone Midas Touch from DogFish Head.

Before you jump at my throat via the comments below, this is a half-hearted attempt at cloning Midas Touch. Midas Touch, from DogFish, contains saffron and honey, neither of which was added to my beer. Only grape must was added. So this could qualify as a fruit beer too.

The slight hiss as I opened the bottle told me this was a well carbonated beer. It poured a golden yellow beer which was much, much darker than the original Palest Pale Ale. It was clear and that’s down to the 4 weeks of carbonation. A thick white head formed quickly and stayed awhile before dying down altogether, which made me wonder how well carbonated it was.

On the nose, I could smell a lot of acidic notes, something which reminded me of the grapes. I kept the hop additions to a minimum and therefore I couldn’t smell any hops.

I took a fairly long sip and the full force of an acidic liquid hit me. I will state that it wasn’t a strong acidic taste (not to the extent that I could call it metallic) but it was a feel good acidic note. Bitterness arrived very, very late and only ever so slightly. It had a fairly thin body and low malt profile. Despite this being an acidic beer, it wasn’t sour. And as I kept drinking, the acidic notes mellowed out. 

The effort that went into making this beer is worthy enough to warrant another similar beer, but I will stick to a small batch next time. This was my first taste of an acidic beer and it was an eye opener for me. It is a beer I enjoyed very much, but it is not an everyday beer.

Tasting Day: Citra SMaSH Dark Ale

Recipe and Brewday here.

After 4 weeks of bottling and conditioning, I opened a bottle of the Citra SMaSH Dark Ale.

Maybe it is because this is the first time that I brewed a SMaSH with Citra but this ale really surprised me. As the cap was pried open, the slight hiss gave off strong lemon and orange notes.

A firm, stubborn head formed as I poured and the head refused to die down even after 15 minutes. I brought the glass to my nose and the Citra hop aroma was overwhelming, but in a good way. And I just dry hopped for 3 days.

I took a long sip of this beer and inhaled some of that glorious hop aroma too. At the cost of sounding repetitive, it had a very strong citrus nose, it was moderately bitter and it was very, very drinkable. A strong malt flavor held up well enough and rounded off a good beer.

I cannot say for sure but there was a bit of a tangy after taste to the beer. I will confirm that once I have another bottle of this beer.

This beer makes for a very enjoyable slow sipper that can be served around a board game with friends.

It was decided that the Cascade Pale Ale would be my house ale, but now this Citra Dark Ale will have to compete with that.