Secret Santa 2013

[The Ostrich]

Hi there, Sorry for the late reply.

Last night as a new years tream I settled down to enjoy Ryansheltons effort (sorry, no record of the number).

I have had it in the fridge for 2 weeks and when opened had a very nice pssst and pored well with lots of of bubbles rising up the glass.
http://i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx11 ... 0fafd5.jpg
http://i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx11 ... f41bcc.jpg

No real head to speak of, but this maybe because I was poring too gently, when supped it is has very nice liveliness to it and good mouthfeel. It was clear (condensation seen in the photo) and very clean tasting, certainly no off flavours.

I have only brewed kits, and this is my first taste of anothers brew. I was impressed! A similar style to mine, but without the sweetness that I have been trying to get rid of.

I would say this is not a heavily hopped effort, flavour is dominated by the malts and I cant suggest what hops they are... still a mystery (as you say the hops were an un-named pressie from malt miller). I would say that they might be a traditional hop rather than the more 'zingy' style??? (I am clearly no expert).

I have to say that I really enjoyed it, I think this would make a really good session beer.... I certainly wanted another!. I will be moving to BIAB very soon and will be delighted to brew something like this!

Thank you very much for a great beer and happy new year.
http://i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx11 ... 52cbc4.jpg

Doug

 

[markpeace]

Time to sample ST3...

Pours with a lovely fizz and a head of tight tiny bubbles, which didn't persist but pushed up some enticing wafts of liquorice and toffee. On the tongue, a nice prickle and smooth body, and characterised by dark malts, and that same liquorice hit. I like it for this, it's a change from the usual coffee and chocolates. If I would change one thing, I'd dial back the sweetness a touch, I wonder if the treacle and a lactose addition are both contributing to this? Or maybe I'm just a hussy for a dry stout. All in all, though, tasty - thanks to the brewer.

 

[RokDok]

Happy New Year Everyone.

My beer didn't have a code on it, but it was a Weissbeer brewed by Brian from Newcastle.

Appropriately it was in a Newcastle Brown bottle and nicely labelled.

Easy pouring with a good head and a crystal clear pale straw colour.

Zingy mouthfeel, like a myriad of stiletto clad nymphs dancing on my tongue.

Aroma was predominantly cloves and vanilla with a little cinnamon- so for me anyway really quite spicy which then morphed into soft

biscuit finish.

This was a really nice beer, I've had very few wheat beers in the past and this was something of a revelation. Thanks for the Beersmith

recipe- I will definitely be brewing some of this for the summer.

Many Thanks Brian,

Cheers,

RokDok

 

[ryanshelton]

Hi there, Sorry for the late reply.

Last night as a new years tream I settled down to enjoy Ryansheltons effort (sorry, no record of the number).

I have had it in the fridge for 2 weeks and when opened had a very nice pssst and pored well with lots of of bubbles rising up the glass.
http://i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx11 ... 0fafd5.jpg
http://i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx11 ... f41bcc.jpg

No real head to speak of, but this maybe because I was poring too gently, when supped it is has very nice liveliness to it and good mouthfeel. It was clear (condensation seen in the photo) and very clean tasting, certainly no off flavours.

I have only brewed kits, and this is my first taste of anothers brew. I was impressed! A similar style to mine, but without the sweetness that I have been trying to get rid of.

I would say this is not a heavily hopped effort, flavour is dominated by the malts and I cant suggest what hops they are... still a mystery (as you say the hops were an un-named pressie from malt miller). I would say that they might be a traditional hop rather than the more 'zingy' style??? (I am clearly no expert).

I have to say that I really enjoyed it, I think this would make a really good session beer.... I certainly wanted another!. I will be moving to BIAB very soon and will be delighted to brew something like this!

Thank you very much for a great beer and happy new year.
http://i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx11 ... 52cbc4.jpg

Doug

Thanks for the feedback, I feel that was one of my worse brews so it's always good to hear someone else enjoys it. I may be tempted to get the mini keg of this out the shed now or do I save it for TST14? Mmmm. I'm glad it turned out ok especially as I didn't have a clue what hops I used!

Happy New year

Ryan

 

[ryanshelton]

I've finally got round to opening X3 after suffering the dreaded man flu for a while. Doug has said it's only it's 4th kit but wow it's certainly worthy of a place in any bar! Your right, there is no hint of the dry hopped fuggles but that may be down to the quantity used.
It's as clear as a bell with little head but lovely mouthfeel for a kit.

The only thing I would say is I would use less priming sugar next time this one is quite gassy.

Here's to the new year and thanks for a lovely pint!

 

[knthrak1982]

Goon Brenn was mine. Thanks Steve and Calum for the reviews. Yeah the lack of head was a bit disappointing; perhaps a bit under primed. I bottled six and kegged the rest. The kegged ones poured much better. Good point about the yeast too. US-05 was probably not the best for this style but it was all I had hand on the day.

Glad you enjoyed it overall.
:

 

[StevieDS]

Goon Brenn was mine. Thanks Steve and Calum for the reviews. Yeah the lack of head was a bit disappointing; perhaps a bit under primed. I bottled six and kegged the rest. The kegged ones poured much better. Good point about the yeast too. US-05 was probably not the best for this style but it was all I had hand on the day.

Glad you enjoyed it overall.
:

I wasn't disappointed with the head retention and the carbonation was perfect for my taste. It really was a lovely beer, I'll be more than happy if my next beer is as good :thumb:

 

[calumscott]

Goon Brenn was mine. Thanks Steve and Calum for the reviews. Yeah the lack of head was a bit disappointing; perhaps a bit under primed. I bottled six and kegged the rest. The kegged ones poured much better. Good point about the yeast too. US-05 was probably not the best for this style but it was all I had hand on the day.

Glad you enjoyed it overall.
:

I wasn't disappointed with the head retention and the carbonation was perfect for my taste. It really was a lovely beer, I'll be more than happy if my next beer is as good :thumb:

The carbonation was right IMO. Just as an English ale should be. I wasn't particularly aggressive with the pour and when I tasted it the carbonation was right so I didn't want to give it the pocket beer engine treatment for fear of flattening it...

For me the priorities with beer are:

1) Flavour and aroma
2) Carbonation level
3) Clarity
4) Colour
5) Head retention

It's nice when it works the way you want but the rest are more important. You got the important stuff right! :thumb:

 

[dan125]

This was a very enjoyable ale, with no off tastes and I could have supped this happily all day. Even more yeast funk and carbonation would have suited my own taste in the style. The envelope revealed it to be Brewlab's Belgian Lager strain, which I've never tried and perhaps explains the clean profile, though it sounds like this was fermented warm, from the enclosed details. (?)

Thanks for your kind review of this brew, I was quite happy with it and there's only a bottle or two left. You are right that it was fermented warm, after assurances from the ever helpful Alison at Brewlab that this would be OK.

My reviews to follow shortly

 

[dan125]

Review of CH2 Satur-ale-air 6.2%
It was a lovely tasting beer, with a smooth taste and a nice bitter aftertaste.
There was very slight hoppy aroma but a very hoppy and malty finish to the beer. After reading the notes I was surprised it was not hoppier ( if that is a word).
The beer lacked head but that could have been down to my glasses.
Overall an enjoyable beer which was most defiantly rich and complex. Thank you

Thanks Msdean for being so kind. I was aiming for a bitterness akin to Bishops Finger with a lot of flavour but overdid it with the high alpha hops I fear, I still have half a keg of this to polish off and it's proving quite hard work. It is mellowing with age though (or maybe I'm just getting used to it). Think I'll stick to tradtional hops for next year's Xmas brew.

 

[dan125]

review Of Alice Ale - Belgian Tripel (sorry didn't make a note of the number)

Please excuse the inappropriate glass, but it was all that was left in the cupboard after the clan's Xmas morning drinkies.
At over 10% this was definately a special occassion brew. It poured pale and clear with good carbonation & a head which was retained as I supped.
There was an intense but pleasant fruity smell and flavour from the yeast, with a little malt coming through. The strength gave it a nice warming feel.
This was a great way to start the beer drinking beteen morning champers and afternoon wine, but I don't think I could drink too many.
Thanks Santa!

 

[rpt]

Here's my review of morethanwort's Two Frogs Tripel. My second bottle of beer never turned up so Graham was kind enough to send me one of his brews. So, not very secret but very welcome.

This had OG 1.075 and FG 1.009. Heavy priming gave this an ABV of 9.5% It contains Bohemian Pilsner malt, torrefied wheat and Belgian Candy sugar. I don't know about the hops or yeast.

I know nothing about Belgian beers so it's very difficult for me to give as good a review as I would like. I normally drink British styles of beer so this 9.5% beer is twice my normal strength. Although it came in a 330ml bottles I poured it into a pint glass knowing it would be very heavily carbonated. It had an enormous head that kept going. The aroma was very fruity - cidery in fact. That can be a bad point about a beer but I don't think that's the case here. It certainly tastes like a strong beer and is quite sweet and fruity. But it definitely tastes like beer and is not cider or wine. I don't really know quite what to make of it - I may have tried a Belgian beer in the past but I have no real reference point. But I have to say I do like it. I can't decide whether I would like to brew a beer like this - perhaps I need to buy a few bottles of Belgian ale to see what they are all like. The more I drink this the more I realise it isn't really sweet but is very well balanced. One of the conundrums of brewing is that adding sugar makes the beer drier.

So many thanks to Graham for sending me this and opening my eyes to another part of the beer world. Can you let me have the recipe?

The glass is now empty and I must make it clear that it is a very nice beer. I would definitely like to try more (but maybe not tonight!) and clearly need to expand my beer repertoire.

 

[morethanworts]

Thanks dan125 and rpt for those kind reports, which were on two separate brews (my first and second all grains). I did a Brewday thread, which ended up covering both brews here (click), which covers the recipes and everything I did. Both are still a little young, I suppose, although the Alice Ale was 10 weeks at Christmas. From what I've heard, I expect them to continue to change, perhaps dryng out futher in the bottles. I've got more grains in ready to attempt a clone of some rare tripel that someone is bringing me (from the sediment), but when I get round to a third batch like these, I may shoot for something between the two, possibly with a few late Saaz or Styrian Goldings, just to see what it does.

The yeast was Wyeast 3787 in both, reputed to be the Westmalle strain, though whatever it is it's a great yeast to work with. Massive top cropper and terrific smell during fermentation! rpt - If you were to sample a Westmalle Tripel then you'd see the sort of thing I was shooting at, though neither was a clone attempt as such. I got the recipe for the first one from Asalpaws, who has just done a side-by-side of my Alice Ale with a Westmalle Tripel here.

I love doing the Belgians and have enjoyed sampling the Secret Santa bottles very much. So thanks again to all involved.

:thumb:

 

[rpt]

I take it my beer (Two Frogs Tripel) was the second brew. Your label you sent me mentions just candy sugar but the brewday post also mentions corn sugar. Did you add any of that in the end? Is corn sugar just ordinary white granulated sucrose?

 

[dan125]

Review of CH4 - Wreck The Halls (no photos of this one sorry)

The letter that came with the bottle explained it was an extract kit from brewuk, with seasonal spices.
I've tried a few of these kits and found them very good, so was looking forward to trying it.

The beer was dark and well carbonated when poured. There were no of flavours and the beer had a nice malty taste with balanced bitterness.
the Xmas spices were noticable, but subtle enough not to be overpowering.

I really enjoyed this and found it a very drinkable tasty beer which I could of supped a few of quite happily. :thumb:

thanks Santa, and to all his elves for organising the swap. I'll defo keep my eyes peeled for the next one. Any idea when it will be anyone?

 

[morethanworts]

I take it my beer (Two Frogs Tripel) was the second brew. Your label you sent me mentions just candy sugar but the brewday post also mentions corn sugar. Did you add any of that in the end? Is corn sugar just ordinary white granulated sucrose?

Corn sugar is what BrewR calls dextrose. A mainly American term I think.

As a fine tweak, I would probably cut the candi sugar to 250g and use 750g dextrose (corn sugar) next time, for the same batch size and still to be 1.075. By all accounts, candi sugar leaves some residual sweetness, where dextrose and cane sugar do not.

 

[JonnyD]

LW1 Review

Let this baby settle for 3 weeks in the cold before bringing it into the kitchen to open. I left the notes stuck to the bottom so i could look at them after. So I turn my back for one minute, and the other half picks up the PET bottle, turns it upside down to look what was on the bottom. So i hit the roof and had the first argument of the new year. Heyho. So i had to let it settle an hour before I pour, It was very lively and cloudy, i can only assume it would have been crystal clear?? I was a lovely taste, refreshing with subtle hops. Couldn't put my finger on which. Thick head that went very thin quickly but stayed the whole time.
Great pint and i would buy it in the pub, i would have it again. The hops later turned out to be Saaz. Would love the recipe if someone is willing to share?

JD

 

[Cononthebarber]

Sorry no pictures, will post later...

I got ticket Z6 which was an IPA it also included a brucey bonus beer of a "2Bee" stout.

The IPA first...

Aroma: Smells great, lovely citrussy note heavy grapefruit and floral...just what I look for in an IPA. I'd say Galaxy hops?

Taste: Massive hop flavour citrus and grapefruit follows through to a great long lasting bitterness. Its hops all the way with this, very little malty flavours just what I wanted :)

Look: Lovely clear pint with a long lasting head which lasted till the end of the glass. Was carbonated to just the right level with good lacing and bubbly tight head.

All in all - An awesome IPA exactly to style and well made, no off flavours - can't get any better than that really. Well done to the brewer! :thumb:

And the stout...

Aroma: Very neutral aroma, no hop, slight chocolate maybe?

Taste: Has coffee, dark chocolate and has a lingering bitterness which is really nice.

Look: Very dark with a good initial head however it dissipated quickly but still left a nice layer on the top which again lasted to the end of the glass.

All in all - A great stout nice and dark in colour and the malty goodness you should expect. Well done again!

Both beers are awesome and I'd be proud to brew them myself, many thanks to the brewer and santa...now to open the secret envelope :)

These were mine. Thanks for the brilliant review, sorry they were both kits, but next years will be all grain, promise!!

I honestly wouldn't have known they were kits and was pleasantly surprised when I opened your note, you have done a good job with them and that Razorback IPA in particular was really great :thumb:

 

[Dizzle]

LW1 Review

Let this baby settle for 3 weeks in the cold before bringing it into the kitchen to open. I left the notes stuck to the bottom so i could look at them after. So I turn my back for one minute, and the other half picks up the PET bottle, turns it upside down to look what was on the bottom. So i hit the roof and had the first argument of the new year. Heyho. So i had to let it settle an hour before I pour, It was very lively and cloudy, i can only assume it would have been crystal clear?? I was a lovely taste, refreshing with subtle hops. Couldn't put my finger on which. Thick head that went very thin quickly but stayed the whole time.
Great pint and i would buy it in the pub, i would have it again. The hops later turned out to be Saaz. Would love the recipe if someone is willing to share?

JD

LW1 was mine. It was a John Bull lager kit which I fermented with S-23 yeast in the garage taking advantage of the cold weather. As the temps outside dropped it was perfect to leave it in the secondary to lager for a month or so, while it was lagering in the secondary I chucked in an ounce of Saaz to dry hop for around 10 days. I also boiled up some Saaz for 30 mins at the beginning and made a hop tea to chuck in the FV. I can only assume that it would have been clearer had it not been turned upside down :lol: as all mine pour crystal, the sediment can be loose if not ice cold (possibly should have lagered for longer). :thumb: Thanks for the great review and happy it was received so well considering it was a kit brew, in the next month I'll be taking the plunge to AG as I managed to get my hands on 3 10gal stainless steel kegs to convert and get set up with! :

 

[alanywiseman.]

I got ST8 labeled BMS.

It was a lovely dark stout. I found the carbonation a little light for my taste but it was a lovely pint. aroma of coffe and bitter chocolate with hints of treacle. The taste took me a bit by surprise at first. first was a rich malty backbone with slight astringent bitterness I assume due to the dark malts. this was the wiped away by a stong coffee and chocolate flavour and finishing with a hint of sweetness. I then opened the letter to dicover it was a kit to :clap: :clap: :clap: to the brewer. What an excellent tipple :thumb: