Kealia/Foothiller RCE

[Beer-lord]

Maybe keg hop the rest? Or, send it to me!

[Kealia]

That's not a bad idea. I just need to figure out what to keg hop it with. I don't want to add anymore Simcoe or NB since I think it's that combo that I'm not digging.

[Beer-lord]

Mosaic, Nelson Sauvin?

[Foothiller]

It's time to give mine a serious tasting during the next few days!

[Kealia]

I tossed in some leftover Crystal & Columbus. We'll see what that does.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Foothiller]

Ron, I had waited until mine had enough conditioning so I could compare our brews, and got that opportunity last weekend -- and then have had a busy week. I did like both of our brews. I am working on getting mine to you, and will be in touch by email. In my observations, the biggest difference could be in the smoothness of the hops. It has been my habit to add my bittering hops while the wort is heating toward the boil, adding them by the time the wort is about 170 F, similar to how one would do first wort hopping. First wort hopping supposedly produces smooth bittering along with flavor and aroma despite being followed by the hop boil. I have not known whether doing this when my mash has used BIAB would help, but I have not seen anything to suggest it would hurt, so I have gone ahead and done it. I see what you mean that your hops may be conflicting, but mine do seem smoother.

Another difference that I noted is that you have more appropriate carbonation and longer-lasting head, while mine is under-carbonated. This is something I will be able to deal with in future batches, now that I have this starting point to improve from. One thing I think I would do is to reduce the percentage of wheat, and then I might have a very interesting Cal Common. I also compared my Cal Common that won in Amber Ales in a competition last summer, to Anchor Steam Beer, and my Cal Common had more caramel and was not quite as drinkable. This wheat version of Cal Common seemed lighter than Anchor, so this can be promising to work from.

Also, thanks for sharing the Almanac "Hoppy Sour Mandarina" -- it was very good, with notable citrus. Mraz Brewing didn't have its sours in stock in bottles, but I will try to send a bottle of Mraz's "Window of Opportunity" Belgian Tripel, which won Gold at the 2014 California State Fair.

[Kealia]

Jim,

I drank this last night and it was much different than mine was. Yours was much smoother and the hops seemed to blend together much better. Mine had something in the aroma that I never really did like and yours did not have that.

I have to say that I'm either losing my taste for MB hops or the combo of them plus Simcoe isn't my favorite.

Your beer was clear, crisp and well brewed, sir. Thanks again for collaboration, I enjoyed working with you and getting to know you a bit.

[Foothiller]

I wonder if having the hops in the wort as it heated toward boiling helped with the smooth finish. At any rate, I'll keep doing that.

I entered mine in a competition that was judged on Saturday, which awards medals based on merit instead of just first, second, and third place in each flight. Mine won a Silver medal. The overall best-of-show came from the same panel, and this entry of mine had a score only 4 points below the best-of-show's first round score. I'm looking forward to a thoughtful reading of my score sheets while sipping this entry of mine.

Maybe I'll also do my other bragging here: my mead entry in that competition won Gold, and had the third highest first round score. It was a pyment: mead with grapes.

[Foothiller]

I was too hasty in hitting "submit". I have also enjoyed our collaboration, particularly trading bottles when we were done. I'm looking forward to our sharing thoughts through other topics here in Beerborg.