BeerBorg

Oh, my bad. Like Mashani, when I think Lemon Grass I think fresh like Jody uses while cooking. Never mind what I say about 4oz and carry on.

I finally got to brewing this one today. And what a day it was. First, I missed my mash temps. Should have been 150 and it came in at 145. So I heated 1/2 gallon of water and added it to the mash and it brought it up to 147.5. I didn't want to add more and thin out the mash, so it stayed there. Next, I started heating the sparge water too late, I usually start with about 20 minutes left, today it was more like 10 minutes left, so it mashed longer than normal. Between 85 and 90 minutes, instead of the usual 75 minutes. Maybe the longer mash will compensate for the lower temp, probably not, but maybe. Then as I was cooling it, I kept waiting for the break material, but it never happened. It was cloudy as hell, then I realized I completely forgot to add the whirlfloc. Damn, what a day.

But all was not lost to those errors. Today was the first day using my Cereal Killer grain mill and the refractometer. The boil volume should have been 1.048 and I hit 1.047. The OG should have been 1.063 and I hit 1.062. I call that a huge success.

Today is dry hop day. FG is at 1.010...I finally hit all my numbers, woohoo!!

The taste test was pretty good. Very different than most of my other IPA's. The aroma was quite citrusy, but definately not orange or even grapefruit. I can't say that it screams lemon at this point, but it might after the 2 ounces of LemonDrop and the 2 ounces of Sorachi Ace have at it. The flavor was also good at this point, although it's tough for me to say what the final product will be like. For me, tasting it now, I can compare to how past beers have tasted at this point. It has a light lemon character to it, and I think this will turn out to be quite a refreshing beer to drink in the end. It just has something there that makes me want to drink more of it. Fingers crossed and high hopes for a good one here.

Let me add a dancing banana to your crossed fingers

Nice! Soon your answer will be "Yes" when the assistant brewer asks if you are drinking lemon IPA.