BeerBorg

"Ladies and gentlemen, tonight's prize fight faces brewer against brewer. In one corner we have Levitation by Beer-lord. In the other corner, we have Levitation by Inkleg. Let's get ready to rum....b....l...........e!"



It won't actually be a competition because I'm not looking for a "winner". The recipes are slightly different IIRC so it won't be apples-to-apples. I will however compare and contrast them just to see the differences in the take on this beer.

Besides, that would be like asking who I liked better: Beer-lord or Inkleg.

And the answer is: Fedora Dave.

I've not tried Ink's yet but it's gotta be better than mine but, if I tried it with the keg hopped version.....now that might be close. It's cheating though since I don't think Jeff keg hopped his but I could be wrong. But, the bottle I sent was pre keg hopping so it's a big blahhhhhh!

Kealia wrote:Besides, that would be like asking who I liked better: Beer-lord or Inkleg.

And the answer is: Fedora Dave.

I dropped Paul's in the fridge yesterday, so I'll do the same soon myself. I've had his beers before and I know they're good.

Here are the two beers side-by-side from a few different views:




The beer on the right if Inkleg's and the one of the left is Beer-lord's.

As you can see, Inkleg's has a more ruby red color that is clear while Beer-lord's is more opaque and has a brownish color.

Beer-lord's glass isn't as full because the bottle was a gusher when I opened it. After popping the bottle it started overflowing immediately so I poured as much as I could into the glass. If this was bottled conditioned it likely churned up the trub into the pour and would have affected the clarity a bit.

You can see the difference in the head. That fluffy head was sustained throughout the drinking and provided some great lacing, too.



Aroma-wise, Beer-lord's had much more aroma. It smelled of Levitation to me, but much more subtle with hints of yeast coming through (again, if it was bottled conditioned this could be because of the churning from the gushing). Inkleg's didn't have much aroma at all - much like a lager.

Both tasted good but neither had that definitive Levitation taste where you get some of the caramel malts + the hop flavor + a hint of bitterness on the finish. When I drink Levitation I get full flavor from start to finish. These were more like cleaner lagers where you get some flavor then a clean finish.

Both were good beers in their own right, but if I'm being 100% honest I would have had a hard time identifying these as Levitation clones without knowing ahead of time what they were.

I've had some stellar beers from you guys that I would drink over mine on most days, but I actually think I like my own version the best. I say that very cautiously as I don't want anybody feeling like I'm full of myself. Maybe it's a water difference but the hops in mine seemed to "pop" more. IT could also be simply the recipe since they did vary a bit IIRC. I know the recipe I use is from CYBI, and I think Paul's was from BYO. Jeff, where did yours come from?

Now, I will say that both of these were very well brewed, meaning there were no obvious flaws that I could taste (fusels, diacytel, etc.) and both were very easy drinking beers that I would gladly down a few of on any given day.

Boys, if you want to get closer to Levitation then I suggest you re-brew and send me more to sample!

As always, I appreciate getting the chance to taste both of these and I did enjoy drinking both of them.

It's never a bad night when you can sit and drink a beer from your brother from another mother - or two.

I definitely agree mine is in no way close to Levitation......not by a long shot. As for aroma, my bottle had none at all and that's why I keg hopped it after bottling and while still not near Levitation, it made it closer.
Not sure why it was a gusher though it was bottle conditioned and I went light on the sugar.
And, I remember yours and it was extremely close to the real deal. I just had the real deal last week and I'm so far off, I'm not sure what I did but I think my recipe was pretty close to yours.

Thanks for a good review. You actually make mine sound better than it really is in my taste opinion. And, I've since stopped the water treatments in my last 2 brews until I can figure out what's what.

Had I known I was going to end up with a bottle of the real deal 48 hours later, I would have waited and done a side-by-side-by-side with it, too.

It was interesting, because yours had much more aroma than Jeff's and I was expecting it to be the other way around based on your comments about really needing a keg-hop. But I know that unless the hops are dialed up to 11 then you can't even perceive them anymore.

In terms of the gusher, who knows? I know one other one you sent before was a gusher as well but you said you thought you over-carbed them using carb drops. There was nothing off-tasting about this in terms of possible infection so it must be some weird combination of Nawlins to Cali. Maybe it's the change in elevation. I live way up at 300 feet above sea level.

There are places that are above sea level? Hmmmm, my ears pop when I get to sea level!

Besides the gushing, did it taste/feel overcarbed? The Mosaic I sent to someone gushed a bit and they said it was undercarbed. I had 2 identical bottles that I kept for tasting later and I opened one last week and it was perfectly carbed and didn't gush. That other person lives in Cali too so I guess what you mentioned is in the realm of possibility.

It was a bit overcarbed, but nothing crazy like soda or anything like that. I think it's just VooDoo.

Is this the recipe you brewed? http://mainebrews.wordpress.com/clone-r ... ne-recipe/
Other than having a wee bit more black malt, I think mine was pretty much the same. I did use 007 this time and 04 the last time (the fusel time). I actually think I needed more black malt but maybe that's taking away from the hops.
I don't get the 56 IBU's in my bottled version either and that's why I keg hopped. It truly saved this beer from the drain!

Without doing some of the conversions from 10ths of pounds to ounces, it sure looks like it. With minor adjustments for the AAUs, the hop schedule is right on, too.

I've brewed this at least 5 times already and have always gotten the same color that Jeff did - ruby red. How does yours look from the keg? Wondering if the churning from the gushing mucked up the color on the one you sent me?

I think that wee bit of black could make the difference in color. There's so little in this recipe (for 6 gallons) that any addition could easily make it darker (I would think).

My kegged version looks like Jeff's so I think it is just a case of 'travel funk'.

As always Thank You for a great write up Ron.
Your right on the aroma on mine, it faded fast. And this batch did turn out different from the others I've done. Now that I think about it, I wouldn't doubt that it's still the same grain that was purchased originally for all the times I've brewed it. And I know for a fact that I don't match up AAs, just how much by weight of said hops. I know I used 007 fermented at a steady 65*, I'll have to check which recipe I followed.

Here's my take on both Jeff and my Levitation. The pour is identical and I mean spot on exact. Both are as clear as can be. When you hold them into the light, Jeff's takes on a very, very slight lighter hue Carb on both are perfect.
Here are the differences.....likely due to the keg hopping, mine has more aroma but Jeff's actually smells more like Levitation. Jeff's has a slightly sweet taste compared to mine and mine definitely picks up the keg hopping. Both don't taste like the real thing but I feel are excellent beer and very hard to tell that they are even homebrewed.
My wife likes Jeff's better and I like mine a tad more but of course, that's due to the added hops.
I would gladly have a keg of this in the keezer all the time and be proud to serve either to my guests.
Thanks again for sharing Jeff!
Jeff's is on the left----mine is.....duh!

And here I am, not tasting either

My Halloween tonite will consist of: Lagunitas Lil sumpin sumpin, a bomber of our Speed Racer (Racer 5 clone) and a Brooklyn Chocolate Stout (sorry Ron, someone's got to do it)

LOL, how did that Racer turn out for you?