Sunday 8 May 2011

Early May update - Maturing Milds and Well Tasty Wheats

Back from another week of the Lakes - up hill, down dale, and, regrettably only Ped for company of an evening, supplemented with the odd pint of Cumberland.

Still, back from field work I return to find that J has raided my wheat beer collection. Having tasted it now, all I can say is...bloody hell. It tastes like proper wheat beer. Sure there are a few tweaks I need to add (been looking at all kinds of techniques like decoction and Hochkurz Mashing, which are brewing rather than medical terms!). But colour - pale golden. Check. Carbonation - high, great frothy top. Check. Aroma - slightly banana, spice. Check. Taste - Weißbier. CHECK. Think this brew in a bag thing is great.

Just to convince myself, I've just had a half of the defunct-porter-that-became-mild. With a month in the barrel, it has matured very nicely. A bit of haze from the oats, but that 'thin' taste I got early on has gone - perhaps that's just a maturity thing? Tasting rather good now; slightly sweet, bit of coffee/chocolate. Very light mild at just under 3%. Still, it was my first attempt at all-grain, so cannot complain.

Yet to try the rather strong dry-hopped IPA experiment. Maybe next week. Time to start thinking of a new brew, if Julie is going to start giving all my beer away...I was rather taken by a pint of beer that Langers had, made with Amarillo hops. Might give something a go with those....it is summer, after all.