Bottled three batches yesterday: the remnants of my batch of Oatmeal
Stout (half of which I spilled down the bathtub in a mishap <now I'm
crying again>), my Pumpkin Ale, and my experiment using "Red" hops.
Pumpkin Ale: I followed the advice of many brewers and decided to skip
the actual pumpkin and just use the spices; a little over two weeks ago
I began to soak some pumpkin spices in some vodka in a mason jar while a
regular pale ale fermented. My intention was to ... before bottling ...
set up a series of measured amounts of my pale air (though not yet
carbonated) and use different graduations of the pumpkin-spice tincture
that I had made. Got all set up to do it and decided that to make it
easier to measure different amounts, I'd transfer the tincture to a
smaller and shorter glass that would be easier to use to reach into with
a dropper or small measuring spoons. Well, for some reason that I can't
explain, a large ****tion of the tincture had turned into this thick mass
that, once started, just kept drawing on itself like a wet noodle, and
it looked like most of the spices were trapped in this 'goo'. I messed
around with it a bit before finally getting frustrated and just deciding
to put the whole thing into my bottling bucket and take my chances. I
was afraid that the goo would clog my bottling wand, but it worked out
okay. Also, as much as I hated to do it, I did have to stir my beer
much more than usual before bottling to try to mix the goo up in order
to get as much spice flavor into the beer as possible. Hopefully, any
oxygen that I introduced will be consumed by the yeast during
conditioning, or if not, maybe the spice flavor will cover any
off-flavors from oxidation. I don't know how quickly oxidized flavors
develope, but between me, my family, and friends, the beer probably
won't last more than a month anyway. Comments???
"Red" hops: I still haven't been able to identify the hops I received
from the Raven's Nest (an online herb shop) which she identified only as
"Red" hops. I made a pale ale using them; she was supposed to send me
two ounces as a sample, but upon weighing, I found she sent only about
1.5 ounces, so I evenly divided them and used .75 ounces each for flavor
and aroma. I used 1 oz. of Northern Brewer (6.5 AA%) for bittering
since I want to be able to taste as much of this new hops as possible,
and also because I didn't know what the AA% in them was. I tasted the
beer before bottling, and it is pretty good, but it has a strong
'herbal' flavor to it that I can't identify. Very different from any
other hops I've used. Once again, I'm wondering if they come from some
sort of a decorative variety, or are maybe something like Japanese Hops,
or something like that. At any rate, it is not an unpleasant flavor --
very different and a bit surprising -- and if it turns out good after
conditioning, I'll probably brew with it again. I just wish I could
tell for sure what it is in case I ever need to find another source or
decide to send one off to a comp or something.
Cheers.
Bill Velek - PERSONAL sites = www.velek.com & www.2plus2is4.com
750+ homebrewer group just for Equipment: www.tinyurl.com/axuol
390+ just for Growing Hops/Herbs/Grains: www.tinyurl.com/3au2uv
NEW group just for Homebrewing Supplies: www.tinyurl.com/2wnang
Join 'Homebrewers' to Help Cure Disease: www.tinyurl.com/yjlnyv
|
