emma's ale pt 2, re-using yeast

i decided to use the 1275 cake from the last batch of emma's ale on this one. i did a half-assed job of washing the yeast and put it into 2 quart mason jars in the fridge (2 weeks). warmed them up yesterday and did a 650ml starter. not much bubbly activity, but it's cloudy (both jars, minus the jar beer). still a bit of trub.

for this boild, i did the pseudo sparge with the grain bag. in the middle of doin it now, in fact.

the original emma's ale was bottled 2 weeks-ish ago and is tasting fine. a bit drier and maybe more bitter and malty, but nice. used big bottles for most of it, saving a 6 of 12-oz bottles for the dregs. have been taste-testing over the last week with the 12ies and it has matured nicely, though maybe a little champaigny despite doing only 4 oz of brown sugar for bottling. maybe take that down another 1/2 oz for this next one.

edit -- og was maybe 1.054?

hop head!

doesn't play well with others. the hop head is at its peak, i think. floral fruity nose with a citrusy, grapefruit bitter aftertaste. definitely lived up to expectations and is slightly surpassing them. mmmmmm.

barleywine told me it was ready to rack, taste of hop head

the barleywine has mellowed out quite a bit, still super sweet, but hopefully some time and carbonation will take care of that. she's ready for the 5 month carboy journey. i might just have really sweet not-so-high-alcohol beer, but i've got plenty of other more important shit to whine about. i can blend it with another beer or something, or make some nice bread if it ain't there in 5 months.

trying out a bottle of the hop head. still tastes a bit green. i'd give this a couple more weeks to a month to condition properly. carbonation not quite there, but i did plan on about 2.3 vols. ok, after a wine glass of the barleywine and about half a hop head, i can tell that one or both has quite a bit of abv. doesn't hurt

bottled hop head double ipa

i bottled the hop head double, which has been dry-hopping for a little over a week and weighed in at 1.020. i'm starting to think that gravity readings for extract ales are only useful to determine when fermentation is stopped, and there's no way to get a good sense of the attenuation. at least i hope so (see barleywine below)...

inki's brown was bottled around the 16th and tastes pretty good, though she likes to let it rest for about 4 weeks in the bottle. probably sensitive to the sulfur that needs to condition out.

i've started in to the english bitter which isn't the most exciting of beers, but it tastes ok. it has a sour taste that it didn't have when it was green. very quick finish, low alcohol like a session beer.

barleywine was giving me fits as it seems to be mostly done bubbling, but was only 1.035 on saturday and sunday. it's down to 1.032-ish as of this post. looked it up in the bjcp style guide and searched around for how to un-stick a fermentation. i have a feeling it's done and that the high 1.020's might not be bad. it tastes good and seems really alcoholic though it only got ~56% attenuated if you believe the gravity readings. still a bit of yeasty-pasty krausen floating on the top, so the yeast may be goofin' on me. i've put it into the downstairs bathroom with a heater on low and have had it around 70° for the last 3 days, swirling occasionally. gonna rack when i get 3 days of stable readings and/or the krausen falls. thought i might have seen some mold on the top, but it could just have been some grain husks or hop dust.

racking/gravity for hop head ipa and inki's brown

i racked inki's brown and hop head double ipa to secondary last week sometime. both measured 1.020 today, which is a little disturbing, since the brown should be from 1.010-12 and the hop head should final at 1.016-18. not going to worry too much, i guess. i had an ill-advised tasting of the english bitter. it made the satisfying whoosh sound when uncapped, but was not super-carbonated and still had the green taste. not too bad for less than a week in the bottle. just need another week or two for the co2 to go into solution and the beer to condition.

BCHX and inki's brown: tasting notes

i think the BCHX could have stood to bottle condition a little longer. the last bottle was very sour with a kind of mettalic aftertaste. maybe too yeasty, maybe a bad side effect of using the wheat malt. i noticed a wheat malty flavor, though the sourness and carbonation kind of overpower everything else. didn't get to drink the last one out of a glass. perhaps degassing would have helped cut the tongue-assault of the carbonation. don't think i'm going to try wheat malt again any time soon. next beer should be heavy with lots of aroma hops, maybe cut the bittering to 45 minutes.

inki's brown has been in the bottle for a while and has the malty sweet flavor as expected, but i'm noticing the same kind of sour taste as BCHX, although it doesn't wrap up in the metallic aftertaste. this batch is decent, but not as good as i recall the last couple. perhaps i'm having higher expectations or maybe the collapsing ceiling in the kitchen unleashed some wild yeast or bacteria into the mix. it would have to be airborne, because i haven't changed my sanitation. of course this is a taste of the bottom of the bucket bottles, which might have some of the heavy stuff in them. they are pretty clear so far, so i'm not sure. more to come on the 'higher' bottles.

BCHX still green

had my first bottle bomb. a bottle of the BCHX blew up in the basement, leaving shards of glass and a puddle. two bottles that i put in the freezer opened with just a wisp of carbon dioxide. thin film of head, and not too many bubbles. can't believe it, but these probably need another week in the bottle. not much hop aroma, but plenty bitter with that green, not carbonated enough taste. i'd try this again without the wheat extract.

BCHX second taste

after leaving a bottle in the fridge a couple of days, tried the BCHX again: neverending carbonation! i released it slowly with the bottle sitting in a measuring cup to catch all the foam. after about 5 minutes of constant foaming over (about 1/2 the beer escaped as foam), i had stable beer; amber, cloudy, and with a bitter wheat aftertaste. i'm thinking that the bavarian wheat lme might have been a bad idea. i didn't like the taste of it raw as much as the regular lme's. it might mellow out in a bit. not noticing any good hop aroma, sadly. i have a feeling that this needs another week before it settles down, but i'm curious to see if the hop aroma will win out after more conditioning.

BCHX, first taste

made the mistake of opening a bottle of BCHX. probably needs a week or two more, bottle barfed all over the place. mostly head, and tastes like bottling sugar.