Stu, a well-known All-grain homebrewer in Wellington has been really good to me – donating some Maris Otter grain toward my upcoming partial-mash brew and lending me a keg while I go through the process of buying my own.
I left some of my beer for him as thanks for all his help and he was kind enough to write some very detailed tasting notes for it (my 2nd brew)
“Nice pale golden colour, slight yeast haze but that is ok for a bottle conditioned beer. Disappearing head, which is unsurprising for a kit-based beer.
A little orange hop note on the nose at first, followed by a combination of malt and fruity esters that remind me of clover honey. Fairly clean, just a touch of “kit yeast” aroma.
Quite estery in the mouth, a little malt sweetness and very little bitterness. Hop flavour very low. A mild to moderate yeast bite on the palate and fruity notes linger. Relatively clean again.
Slightly watery and undercarbonated but neither detract from what is a pretty well made beer.
I think this is a well made beer, you’ve obviously been very careful going about your business. It’s certainly well off an American IPA or APA, as it’s lacking in hop flavour, too estery and too low in carbonation, but it’s a bloody good modified kit effort … You may not have left it for long enough after primary fermentation completed. I’d leave it for at least an extra week, after fermentation finishes, before you bottle/kegging.
Head and body will improve out of sight with all grain, or bigger partial mashes. You’ll have more proteins and dextrins in the beer to take care of that.
If I had made this as my second beer I would have been pretty impressed with myself. Good work.”
Cheers Stu! Hope you’re enjoying it enough to keep you over the dry week til your next brew is ready.
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