[HoosierBrew]

Sounds great. Eric, I assume that's the saison with Gewurstraminer must ?  Still need to make mine with muscat must.

and nelson sauvin?

That's my plan. I need to do that soon.

[erockrph]

Sounds great. Eric, I assume that's the saison with Gewurstraminer must ?  Still need to make mine with muscat must.

Indeed it is! It had much more hop presence initially, but it turned out a lot hotter than I had planned initially. I was shooting for 7% so I started at 1.069. Of course, this is 3711 so the beer ended up at 1.003 and ended up a lot stronger than planned. I let it age at cellar temp in the keg for a few months and all the heat went away. Unfortunately, the hops went with it.

Jim, I'm glad you liked it. It has really mellowed into a nice beer.

I still have half a bag of must in my keezer. I'll have to rebrew this over the winter so the next batch hits its prime for the summer.

[klickitat jim]

Yes, rebrew. I bet it would be amazing at about 7% and oaked just a little.

[klickitat jim]

Eric's Hoppy Amber Lager, 5.1% Red X with Mandarina Bavaria and Apollo, Wyeast Czech Pils 2278

Head was minimal and fell quickly. Beer is brilliant clear and light amber color. I really dig this beer. Was it 100% Red X? Because I'm getting a very slight sweet carmely note. If it was a judging sheet I'd probably not say diacetyl because im really sensitive to it, and if it is diacetyl its super minimal, and whatever it is, its nice. The beer is just really well made, everything is in balance and subtle. Super drinkable. Well done! I'd love to have the recipe and water profile on this one.

Reminds me a lot of Icicle Brewing Dirty Face Amber, but not as harsh.

Edit: now that the glass is empty and warm, im wondering if Eric is messing with me. It came in an Anchor Steam bottle and warm and empty it sending quite the subliminal message. Funny how that works.

[erockrph]

I used about 10% Pils malt because I wanted the beer to dry out, but then I ended up undershooting my FG by quite a bit and needed to add DME to boost the FG a bit. I think it was Light DME rather than Extra Light and that's where the caramel note is likely coming from.

Hops were 33 IBU of Mandarina at 60 minutes, and 2.5 oz Mandarina and 1.5 oz of Apollo whirlpooled at 170F for 30 minutes. I didn't dry hop, and I do think the hop character dropped out quite a bit during lagering.

For a 3 gallon batch I added 3g gypsum, and 0.5g each of CaCl2 and Kosher Salt to my well water, targeting 70ppm Calcium, 25ppm Sodium, 40ppm Chloride and 100ppm Sulfate. Also added Lactic acid to target 5.3 mash pH. Mashed at 149F for 80 minutes.

I brewed this for tailgating with some coworkers, so I didn't push the hops as much as I typically would if I was brewing for myself. I was still very happy with the balance with this one. I wanted to make sure it finished plenty dry and crisp, but not sharply bitter. I don't know how much the 2278 contributed to the dryness, but I was quite happy with my results using it.

[klickitat jim]

Awesome!  I may play around with that. It turned out really nice, a crowd pleaser for sure.

[mchrispen]

My package from Pete_B has landed. We were concerned the truck floated away in our floods over the weekend! Looking forward to the meads and the East Coast Bitter! Really appreciate the Spencer, haven't had a chance to try it. All this just in time for my birthday!

Cheers!

[blatz]

I need to plan my brew schedule better to have my best stuff on tap for next October, or better said, not have errors in my brewing like I did this year.

Shipped out Petebs package today -

Cigar City:
Tocobaga Red
Cafe Americano Double Stout
Slow as Molasses Old Ale

Blatz Brauerei:
Dortmunder
Not my Best Fest
Red DIPA
Mojito Mead
Raspberry Mead

[pete b]

My package from Pete_B has landed. We were concerned the truck floated away in our floods over the weekend! Looking forward to the meads and the East Coast Bitter! Really appreciate the Spencer, haven't had a chance to try it. All this just in time for my birthday!

Cheers!

Glad to hear it arrived safely after getting the email from UPS that the delivery was delayed due to emergency conditions!

[AmandaK]

Amanda, in keeping with your post here, I hope the 2 reviews I have done on your beer so far were not too far off the mark.

It seems that I had missed those two reviews. I am pleased you enjoyed them! I did lose touch with this thread for a bit since it went down a hockey/Pliny tangent for a bit. Tag me in the next one (@AmandaK) and I won't miss it. 

[Footballandhops]

I just wanted to chime in and let my swap buddy know that I will be shipping my package tomorrow. This swap led to the purchase of my first Blichmann Beer Gun. I have been bottling directly from my keezer faucet in the past with slight oxidation issues. Well the inner perfectionist in me didn't want my first homebrew swap to go half ass....hence the beer gun

[morticaixavier]

I just wanted to chime in and let my swap buddy know that I will be shipping my package tomorrow. This swap led to the purchase of my first Blichmann Beer Gun. I have been bottling directly from my keezer faucet in the past with slight oxidation issues. Well the inner perfectionist in me didn't want my first homebrew swap to go half ass....hence the beer gun

looking forward to it.

[mchrispen]

Review: Pete B's Blueberry Mead 2012



I was really excited to hear that Pete B was sending me some mead. I am still waiting to hear on my mead endorsement from BJCP, and my little journey into mead making is pretty nascent. So, while I was hoping to have a great meal to pair this with, we are having left overs.

This mead pours a really deep burgundy, with a beautiful meniscus shining with purple and red hues. The mead is still, as expected, with incredibly slow legs. The aroma of honey is distinct and rich, and while Pete has his own honey, I expect this is orange blossom. There is not a single fermentation flaw that I can detect. Surprisingly little fruit in the nose. No alcohol notes, just a warm and complex honey aroma. Of course, the treat is in the tasting. Complex blueberry flavors, a bit of woodiness, tannin, and a very mild acidity roll out, finishing dry without any astringency and no boozy burn. This is a well-aged mature mead, reminiscent of a fine country wine. Really nice.

I think if I could ask for anything else in this is a bit more acidity to brighten up the fruit... but that is a brash nitpick from a mead making novice. Well done! Will enjoy the remaining half of the bottle this evening.

Edited for grammah...

[jeffy]

I just opened another beer from Ynotbrusum, this one marked Flanders Red (bretted).  It presents with a small foam stand, but the head is persistent and leaves nice legs in the glass.  Beautiful burgundy color; very clear.  Aroma has some cherry esters and a little farmhouse funk.  Malt is subdued, but kind of reminds me of saltine crackers.  Flavor is sour cherries, with some Munich malt thrown in - thinking of salt water taffy for some reason.  Body and mouthfeel is a bit on the thin side, but has a tongue coating sourness that lingers into the finish.

Nice Flanders.  I would like a little more body, but I know how hard it is to accomplish that with this style.  I can probably assume that this was fuller and more carbonated on tap before bottling.

Thanks!  I am enjoying this exchange.

[pete b]

Review: Pete B's Blueberry Mead 2012



I was really excited to hear that Pete B was sending me some mead. I am still waiting to hear on my mead endorsement from BJCP, and my little journey into mead making is pretty nascent. So, while I was hoping to have a great meal to pair this with, we are having left overs.

This mead pours a really deep burgundy, with a beautiful meniscus shining with purple and red hues. The mead is still, as expected, with incredibly slow legs. The aroma of honey is distinct and rich, and while Pete has his own honey, I expect this is orange blossom. There is not a single fermentation flaw that I can detect. Surprisingly little fruit in the nose. No alcohol notes, just a warm and complex honey aroma. Of course, the treat is in the tasting. Complex blueberry flavors, a bit of woodiness, tannin, and a very mild acidity roll out, finishing dry without any astringency and no boozy burn. This is a well-aged mature mead, reminiscent of a fine country wine. Really nice.

I think if I could ask for anything else in this is a bit more acidity to brighten up the fruit... but that is a brash nitpick from a mead making novice. Well done! Will enjoy the remaining half of the bottle this evening.

Edited for grammah...

I'm glad you are enjoying it Matt. Actually its not orange blossom honey, all the honey we use is from a local beekeeper we know or our own. I would classify it as "wildflower" If it was spring/summer honey, which is likely since we would have been harvesting the blueberries in july or August, it would have some apple blossom, dandelion, and clover as some of the forage. If it was fall honey the main forage would have been goldenrod, asters, and clover. The jar of honey I sent you is from what I harvested this July. I would be interested what your thoughts are about that honey as I am no conniseur and rarely even taste honey that doesn't come from within 10 miles of here.
I think you have a good point about a touch more acidity bringing out the fruit. I plan on experimenting with blending it with our cranberry and wild grape meads which are pretty tart. I would imagine only a 5:1 blend of this mead to an acidic one will be nice.
The tannins are strictly from using the whole fruit, no added tannin.