DuganA

[Beer-lord]

I'm drinking it now and still get some alcohol on the end.
I must be to freakin picky. It's got alot going for it though. This long in the keg it's crystal clear, got a great head and aroma. Lots of hop bite up front still. And, it will give you a buzz pretty fast too!

I'm glad you guys liked this. I was do a decent beer after a few sucky ones.

[BlackDuck]

Holy Homebrew Batman. This is one seriously good homebrew. I will even say, that it just might be the best home brewed beer I have ever had. And I mean that. Like you all have said, it pours crystal clear. The aroma is out of this world. And the flavor is just awesome. I get absolutely no alcohol on the end Paul. IMHO, if you're getting alocohol, then you are freakin picky. You should just sit back and enjoy the hell out of this and stop criticizing yourself. There is no need to do that.

If I would have poured this without knowing that it was homebrewed, I would have said that it was brewed by a professional, commercial brewery. IT'S THAT GOOD!!!! You sir...nailed this one!!!! And I thank you for sending one to me!!!

[Beer-lord]

Whoa, that's some high praise and I have to wonder if the bottled version is better than the kegged version. I think I have one stashed away so I'll have to do a side by side. While I'm really enjoying it, I'm not thinking its anything special so I guess I have a problem.
Thanks much for the compliments. This just means I'm due for 3 crappy ones in a row.

[BlackDuck]

After looking back at the recipe, I have a questions. The recipe show a steep/whirlpool, but you had later posted that it was supposed to be the 10 minute and 5 minute additions. I am assuming you did the 10 and 5 minute additions and NO steep/whirlpool, is that correct?

Second question...in your OP, you mentioned possibly adding gypsum, did you do that or did you just leave your water alone for this one?

And final question....did you end up using Magnum for the bittering or did you change that?

[Beer-lord]

I didn't steep as I realized later that I had input the recipe wrong by choosing steep instead of boil.....just rushing and not checking my recipe which I did before I brewed it.

As for as water treatments, I was still playing around with that during this recipe and added just a small amount of gypsum and an even smaller amount of epsom salt. I plan on asking my water board for updated water info in the spring and will continue to play with this depending on what I brew. I'm really very ignorant about all of that.

I did use Magnum did my normal adjusting based on the alpha of the hops I had compared to the original recipe. And I only dry hopped for 5 days as I've gone away for longer dry hopping in lieu of 5 day and sometimes a 3 day as well. I find at 68-70 degrees the perfect dry hopping temperature so that's long enough. If I get below 66, I'll go 5-7 days.

I still think that even though it didn't come out as per the recipe, the Maharaja was better. Avery sure does some good brewing.

[Kealia]

Does it really take 9oz of hops in a 5G batch to get that type of aroma?
I've heard numbers in the past about 1oz/gallon....but what is your experience?

I have a pale ale I'm fermenting right now, but wondering if it is really going to take 5oz in this 3G batch to get it to pop like this did.

[Beer-lord]

I think for sure it takes a good amount (check out Stone for some of their beers) but it's also the types of hops used and when they are added. Dry hopping is the key but I've gotten great aroma with as little as 4 oz dry hopped in a lighter beer. I also think keeping the malt bill simple plays a role too.

[Kealia]

Yeah, I've had good results with hop-stands, too - but nothing like this one. I could smell this beer from damn near 6 feet away. Maybe in this case it was the combination of the type and amount. What I'm taking away from this is that I'm going to amp up the amount of Amarillo I throw in my pale ale when it's ready to dry hop. I'm thinking 1oz/gallon is a good benchmark to shoot for and see how that works for me.

[Beer-lord]

Just tried the only bottle I had left of this to see if I'm getting the nose everyone is and sadly, I'm not. It's very different from the keg and I actually like it much more in the bottle than the keg. Surprisingly I'm not getting any of the slight alcohol I am getting in the keg, and its a bit more malty. I don't pat myself on the back but by the taste of this bottle, I will admit that this was a good bottle beer. It really tastes like a true craft product to me. I'm sure this bottle version had much more aroma when it was fresher.