CS11 - Number 55

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tilt on July 12, 2014 at 10:16pm

First beer out of the box for me and a good start it is after a day in the rain beating the garden into shape.  Nicely carbed it leaves a decent 2 finger head that slowly recedes to a thin layer.  Murky tan/brown in colour the aroma is what hits me as most significant...juicy fruit with a hint of pinocleen (I mean that in a good way - crisp,fresh).

Biggish malt flavour first up and fruit, with more of the crisp pineyness to finish cleanly.  A medium length finish and a grapefruit like bitterness on the side of the tongue.   

Nice one GS, no chill definitely hasn't harmed this beer.  Query though, do you BIAB?  If so, do you adjust pH?   I'm about to do a stint with the pillow case as I'm moving house and will need to pack up the 3V for a bit.  I'm keen to know a bit more about pH adjustment in BIAB and what it does for clarity in beers.

Permalink Reply by G S on July 14, 2014 at 2:20pm

Hi Tilt,

Yes, is BIAB, with a dunk sparge in a seperate vessel (chilli bin). Its a sort of  3V biab process, which saves me time on conventional mash out &  lauter, but leaves plenty to clean up. 

Didn't play with any water chemistry on this one, is Auckland's North shore, which I believe is mostly Waitakere's reservoirs, so pretty soft. Its certainly come out on the murky side, I think I was out of Koppafloc at the time.

Any feedback / hints on improving clarity (beyond using Koppafloc!) would be appreciated. 

Permalink Reply by Tilt on July 15, 2014 at 9:47pm

Hey GS, I looked into the clarity / BIAB info and it seems acidifying the liquor to hit a mash pH around 5.3 is even more important when the large amount of water resists change (greater buffering) more than a usual mash.  I reckon we can learn something from Michael H's BIAB bitter in this swap - clear as a bell!  Braukaiser also has a bit to say about beer pH.  A great chart of temp and pH ranges for optimal enzyme activity too. 

Permalink Reply by Peter Smith on July 13, 2014 at 1:09pm

I decanted the beer into a jug and got a nice layer of head with moderate retention, I drank from an IPA glass which kept the hops popping.   Beer poured slightly cloudy (maybe this yeast or the no chill?).    The beer was food matched with a spicy chicken wraps.

Subtle fruit, citrus and orange aroma.

Very clean malt taste with a decent burst of fruit on the tongue.  Light to medium body with good carbonation for style. This beer is well balanced, with just the right amount of initial bitterness to balance the malt bill, and a lingering clean bitterness right to the end of a sip.  I would not have known it was no chill unless you had said, as the beer seemed clean with no obvious off flavours.

I came to the end of this beer too quickly, in fact before I had finished the chicken wraps.  I was left with an overall impression of well balanced easy drinking US IPA.

Thanks for a great beer.

Permalink Reply by Duncan Emo on July 14, 2014 at 5:41pm

Second beer out of the case swap for me.

Appearance - Quite cloudy tan/brown with an off-whiteish head that lingered. Maybe the mixed up yeast affected the appearance in my sample.

Aroma - Great fruity aroma from those US hops - marmalade, grapefruit

Taste - Quite malty with a great hop bitterness at the end of the mouthful

Mouthfeel - Nice mouth that matches the style.

A good beer that highlights those wonderful hops! 

Permalink Reply by Richard Jack on July 19, 2014 at 11:11pm

Pours very very murky with a thin but persistent head. I've had clarity problems with Denny's before, for what it's worth.

Subtle citrus, lemon/grapefruit and aroma, more piney as it warms. Not quite as big an aroma as I'd expect from a US IPA. Body is light but ok with a lingering bitterness.

Overall, it's nice and clean (certainly doesn't taste 6.something!) but for an IPA it's lacking a bit in the hop aroma and flavour department - no dry hop?

Permalink Reply by Crusader-Rob on July 30, 2014 at 6:31pm

Poured this into my wine glass as normal Nice beer considering no chill

Appearance: Cloudy from BIAB I presume? along with what might be chill haze? Hop Haze as well? nice enough colour

Aroma: plenty of hops considering no chill, I was always under the impression no chill beers lose alot of aromatics and flavour. nice hoppy Fruity smell.

Flavour: nice flavour nitterness is high. flavour is good, plenty of hop flavour, i think it is slightly muted I think because of the no chill. if this was chilled as per normal i reckon the flavour would be out of this world. malt is low not sweet at all considering the 1.020 finish I'm pretty surprised and impressed by then.

mouthfeel, good about what i thought for an IPa. nice big beer.

Overall: Very surpsied by no chill beers, and I'm impressed. well done, like I said if it wasn't no chill the flavour would have been massive, its still pretty big. than ks for sharing.

Permalink Reply by G S on August 3, 2014 at 4:12am

Thank you. Apologies my lack of feedback for the other beers, I've had to rush back to uk at short notice, so have been separated from my beer fridge for a while. There are some good beers to be had here though so all not lost.

Re richard's comment lack of aroma, there were plenty of dry hops, at least 3g per litre. I have had some experiences with dry hop aroma not lasting well, and have but it down to secondary fermenting in the bottle stripping it out but this would at least be consistent. Any suggestions welcome as it's my current area of focus.