BeerBorg

Ibasterd, congrats on a great beer. I have made some good extract beer (and still might go that route now and again) but I personally love doing all grain and not just for the taste and quality. I enjoy the hands on from beginning to end.
And, your labels are always AWESOME!

NICE IB, I know exactly what you mean about the first AG! I did mine as a SMaSH also with Maris Otter and Liberty. Mine went grain to glass from the keg in 3.5 weeks and your right that first taste is holy crap I made this! Then go to a function ( was at the Browns Draft ) and paid for one blah bud light just about what it cost to brew 5 gallons of great beer!

This a tasty first pour of a batch of Columbus Pale Ale, Columbus whole leaf hops in all the additions, kegged on 5/26; 6.5% ABV.

My Grodziskie (Grätzer)...

Pic is not lit well but here it is...



Bottled on 5/23 I think... About 2.3-2.5 volumes CO2, 3.7% ABV.

07/02/2014
First Pout of Lawn Mower Pilsner


Came out darker and stronger than expected but good beer

First pour of my ¿Smoked? Sour(ish). My first attempt at a smoked beer, having had only one commercial example (that I didn't even like). I think I overdid it on the smoked malt. Too smokey for my palate although a couple of friends thought it was "very interesting" and "drinkable". Other than the excessive smoked malt everything else was good. Good mouth-feel, nice smokey aroma, nice head retention and lacing. Not sure if I'll revisit smoked malts anytime soon but I definitely made note of what is too much for my personal taste. May try to blend it with some commercial craft beers to cut it down to palatable, luckily I only have about 6 or 7 bottles left.

My latest Belgian Blond...

Looks great BigPapaG!

SomeGuyBrewing wrote:

I think I overdid it on the smoked malt. Too smokey for my palate although a couple of friends thought it was "very interesting" and "drinkable". ... Not sure if I'll revisit smoked malts anytime soon but I definitely made note of what is too much for my personal taste.

SGB - out of curiosity, how much smoked malt did you use (as percentage)?

Crazy Climber - I actually used a fairly small amount - 11.1% - Cherrywood Smoked Malt

I guess its just not my thing. Opinions on it vary widely. In researching i read 5-10% is subtle (thus I thought I'd be good), but I also read people say anything 12% and up would turn into a smoke-bomb, and I read people using anywhere from 50-100% and being very happy with results. Hell the people I tasted with kind of liked it and they even took some home with them so it couldn't have been all that bad.

Thanks for the info, SomeGuy. I am looking at adding smoked malt to an upcoming recipe. I tried a smoked rye beer from a local brewery a couple of years ago and liked what the smoke brought to the flavor. I just bought a bottle of a smoked marzen to get another reference point (haven't tried it yet).
I'm thinking about a smoked IPA. The recipe I've been kicking around has about 6% smoked malt. Just looking to dip my toes in the shallow end, the first time.

Rebel_B wrote:This a tasty first pour of a batch of Columbus Pale Ale, Columbus whole leaf hops in all the additions, kegged on 5/26; 6.5% ABV.

image.jpg

Now that looks like something I could enjoy just about anytime. Nice.

It's time to get my good camera back out and stop relying on my phone for these photos....they just don't do the beer justice.

Anyway, GumballHead clone:

And tonight......it's Levitation's turn.

I always love the deep amber color of this beer!



I think the first pour is going to be followed quickly by pours #2, 3, 4 .......

The only change to this recipe I made was to add a bit of Citra to the dry hop.

Uber nice!
I never did redo this after my epic fail of this beer so maybe I need to move it in place of my next planned session beer. It is a session beer, right?