Kealia/Foothiller RCE

[Kealia]

How is it coming along? I applied labels to my few bottles over the weekend. I'll post a pic later

[Foothiller]

With that heat wave (only in winter can 70 F be called a "heat wave"), mine reached FG = 1.008 (85% attenuation) in 3 days: higher attenuation than expected for this yeast (Wyeast California Lager). The stick-on thermometer says 61 today, after being 62 for the past several days. It still has some suspended yeast, and acetaldehyde and traces of other early fermentation products after 10 days, and I will leave it in the fermenter for a full 3 weeks to let the yeast work on these traces. But it doesn't seem to have fusels from fermenting faster than planned.

After some bottle conditioning after these 3 weeks in the fermenter, it will be interesting to compare our results.

[Kealia]

The 6-pack I bottled will be two weeks in the bottle tomorrow. They are sitting at about 65/67 in my closet to carb/condition.

The keg is sitting at about 62 on gas but outside of my kegerator since it's currently full. I have a family Christmas party tomorrow and I expect one of the kegs to kick at that point so this will move in soon. It will have at least 2 weeks at 62 post-kegging before it gets chilled down, though.

[Foothiller]

I got my brew bottled on Saturday, so now it will condition in the bottles for a few weeks. My work room has been staying around 62 to 63. The refractometer sample tasted promising for a good beer.

[Foothiller]

I should add: From OG = 1.054, at bottling mine has FG = 1.009, ABV = 6.0%, and attenuation = 83%. I'm looking forward to seeing the final result after conditioning.

[Kealia]

Nice. They will definitely be different. Mine was 1.055 --> 1.014 for an ABV of ~5.3%.

Drop me your address so I can package 1 or 2 up and send your way.

[Foothiller]

Thanks for sending your sample! The hoppy sour (commercial beer) looks interesting too. It will be after Christmas before I try them, so my own might be ready for a comparison, then I'm looking forward to doing so.

[Kealia]

I've had two pints of this on different nights now and I'm not "wowed".
The first seemed really mild, almost kolsch-like. I thought that the under attenuation may have left too much residual malt sweetness and muted the hops.

The second definitely had more hop presence, but it seemed that the Simcoe and Northern Brewer maybe weren't a good match. I dunno. I'll try another tonight and see what I think but this is definitely not a great beer right now. I'm looking forward to trying another and Foothiller's version as well as getting input from those I sent one off to.

Meh.

[mashani]

I would have thunk those hops would go together well.

<BeerLord>Maybe you just didn't use enough?!</BeerLord>

[Beer-lord]

Ron, is this one you sent to me? I plan on partaking of it in the next few days and let you know. It's been in the fridge since I've opened the box.

mashani, it's not quantity, it's quality (that's what she said).
I've only used NB twice that I can remember though I think it was more popular when I started my first brewing adventures in the last century. Simcoe seems to go well with many other hops, even the real earthy ones but maybe time will help a bit.

[Foothiller]

When I bottle, I put the first pour into a plastic bottle since some trub can accumulate in the spigot, then I drank that bottle before Christmas as a preview. I thought the hops fit together OK as a Cal Common presence, but could be strong compared to the softer wheat. But I know that after just a week of conditioning, it needed more time for the flavors to develop and blend. So, I'm looking forward to trying mine again in a few days.

[Beer-lord]

Ron, maybe 'wow' isn't it but it's sure a damn greatly brewed beer!
Maybe it's just that after the heavier, sour and much different beers I enjoyed and tasted last night, but this was a nice surprise. First, it was carbed PERFECTLY! I definitely get the aroma of the yeast but not at all in a bad way. I do get a semi-kolsch prescence but what's wrong with that?
It's uber clean and tasty and I don't think there's a clash of hops but the hops definitely take a back seat. I don't detect either hop in this so they must have blended together.
It does feel odd drinking this type of beer in winter but WTF, it's a great brewed beer. I'm not sure why anyone would have any problem at all with this.
And the label icing on this delicious cake!
Nice job and a big thanks for sharing.

[Kealia]

Glad you liked it! I'm going to re-approach this in a few days when my cold is gone. I'm always hard on my own beers and I may have been coming down with something when I tried this. The night I knew I had a cold the session IPA I loved a few days before didn't taste very good either.

In any case I am glad you enjoyed drinking it.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Beer-lord]

I can say it was much more enjoyable colder than warm. When warm it did seem to muddy up the flavors.

[Kealia]

I'm just not sold on this beer. I think it was brewed just fine (no off flavors) but I'm not convinced that the Simcoe and NB play together well. I've had a few pints now and I'm just not digging this. When I taste Foothiller's version it will be telling, for sure.

I think I may be taking growlers of this one to work to get rid of because it doesn't suit my taste. It will stay in the kegerator until I need the room and I'll keep trying but I'm just not "feeling it".