Beg for Myrcene

I completely forgot to update you guys on the New England IPA, Beg for Myrcene!

It exceeded expectations!!! I’m quite impressed by this beer and honestly think it’s the best thing I’ve brewed. Pours a hazy straw with thin white head. Aromas of grapefruit, pineapple, mango and melon. Intensely so. Clean bitterness with tons of grapefruit zest and ripe tropical fruits on the palate. Crisp finish, with lingering citrus. The Citra hops really pop from the water profile. This beer is unlike anything I’ve ever made. So drinkable, despite the high(ish) alcohol content.

This was my review when it was first ready. That night, I pulled a small sample, and before I knew it, had finished four pints. Such a wonderful beer. 

Would I change anything? Yes. It needs more of that soft body that I love with the style, as well as a touch more sweetness. So maybe I’d add more oats and get rid of the first addition for bittering. But all in all, I’m happy with the beer.

The Ol’ Cockney Badger is near it’s terminal gravity and looks to be another fantastic beer. I checked on the gravity Monday and it smells amazing. Tons of like plum and dark fruit aromas, with just a hint of bready notes. Without even tasting the beer, I know I want to remake it with some Victory malt to add a nice biscuity note to this. But we’ll see how it turns out first!

I have a TON of beer ideas. A Simcoe/Citra Pale Ale is next, followed by a quadruple dry-hopped pale ale, then a Belgian Tripel IPA, and the list goes on. I can’t wait to share them with you! If you’re interested in keeping up with the brewery, as well as seeing product reviews and a bounty of beer tastings, check out my new Instagram page @angrycajunbrewer!

Ol’ Cockney Badger Brew Day

 Well, I decided to go ahead and brew. Threw together a great looking recipe for a Strong Bitter, or ESB. This is an English Ale, that though is more moderately hopped than other Bitters, is still more about balance.
   The recipe I put together is with all English ingredients, including Maris Otter, a fantastic base malt with tons of toast and bready character. With that, I’m using Brambling Cross hops, known to impart a character of black currant, with tons of spice. Should do well in this style. 

   The color, as you can see, is amazing. Dark, rich copper. The wort is malty and bready on the nose with nice hop character. Can’t wait to see what it’s like!!

   Finished off the last of the Citra Dry-Hopped Grapefruit Noobinweizen today as well, so I’m using the kegerator to cold crash the Beg for Myrcene, which has exceeded expectations so far. This could potentially be the best beer I have ever brewed.

Where We Are 8/22

Sorry guys, I meant to post sooner! All is going REALLY well in the brewery. The Azacca Pale ale is gone, with the Noobinweizen almost gone as well. I think the Weizen was better as it aged. More malt and a hint of floral hops. Very easy drinker.

The NEIPA finally has a name. Beg for Myrcene. Myrcene is the chemical compound in hops that contributes the citrusy and fruity flavors to beer. This beer is also doing very well. Final dry hop addition was today, and in a couple days we’ll start the cold crash! It smells amazing so far. Intensely fruity, like mango and pineapple, and even some hints of peach from the yeast. In fact, one person who doesn’t know the style well said “I know it’s supposed to smell like hops, but it just smells like fruit to me.” So that’s a good sign! Can’t wait to drink it.

In other news, I may be selling my More Beer Tippy Dump beer structure. It’s a beautiful piece of equipment, but it’s only collecting dust right now. So, I want to sell it, buy great new equipment with the money, and give the rest to my brother. I think he’ll appreciate the extra funds, and since he bought the rig and I’m using the money from it for equipment, he’ll still be supporting the hobby!

I’m tossing around the idea of brewing tomorrow. I don’t know yet, though. If I DO, it’ll probably be an English Ale, like an ESB or something. I’ll be sure to post it for you guys. Pay attention for updates this week!

Fermenting : Beg for Myrcene

On Tap: Citra Dry-Hopped Grapefruit Noobinweizen

Up Next: ESB, Simtra Pale Ale, 4XDH

Noobinweizen Review and Ghost in the Machine

   Well, the Citra Dry-Hopped Grapefruit Noobinweizen is complete! Despite my many setbacks on the brew day, I think it’s great.

   Poured a hazy straw color with thick, lasting head. Aromas of clove, bright hops and subtle fruit are backed by a great bready note on the end. Very similar flavor. More hops than expected at only 12 IBUs, which add this great floral and mildly citrusy note. Lasting finish with notes of spice and toasted bread. A really delightful and easy drinking beer. Despite how light it is, I really like how flavorful it is and the great finish it has.

   After that brew, I drank a pint of Ghost in the Machine from Gnarly Barley that my friend brought with him. Man, is this a good beer.

   Pours a hazy orange tone. Aroma is absolutely fantastic. Tons of dank, juicy hops with notes of pineapple and mango. Just as intense and juicy on the palate, with a nice firm bitterness to back the sweet malts. Just a wonderful beer. Appearance: 8/10, Aroma 9/10, Flavor 9/10, and Overall 5/5. So a final score of 31/35. I can’t bring myself to give a perfect 10 on aroma and flavor, but boy was this close!

Kegged Weizen, New Brew

   As the title says, I kegged the Noobinweizen Sunday. I planned to do so Saturday, but things were a little crazy. Man, this brew smells great! Fruity, with hints of toasted malt and clove. 

   I pulled a sample to taste, and it may be a pretty nice beer. Very light, but flavorful. Citrus on the palate, with a nice soft grainy character and spicy notes from the yeast. 

   I’ll let you know how it is when it’s carbed, of course, but I’m thinking it’ll be pretty light, and easy to drink. That’s the goal with a beer at 4% ABV though, I guess.

   Also, Friday night a grabbed a growler of something so fantastic, that when I was told they just released a limited canned batch at my grocery store, I immediately ran out to buy a sixer. This one is sort of homework for me, as it’s a hazy, juicy IPA, much like the one we’ll be brewing soon.

   This is a fantastic, super hoppy but not bitter IPA. Tons of juicy fruit aromas, and a complex hop profile with great mouthfeel. Exactly what we’re aiming for with the new IPA. Appearance is an 8. Though it looks exactly as it is supposed to, I’d like to see a bit more head/head retention. Aroma is almost perfect, just an odd note at the end, so a 9. Flavor is fantastic. A little too much of an orange juice impression, which some may love, as did my friends. I gave it about an 8 in that department. Overall, I was quite impressed with the beer, scoring a 5/5. Total score is 30/35! 

   So, I may not brew my IPA until I know I’ll have a free keg for it when it’s ready, but it’ll still happen soon. I’ll keep you guys up to date on the kegged beers and future plans.

Fermenting : Nada

On Tap: Azacca SMaSH Pale Ale, Citra Dry Hopped Grapefruit Noobinweizen

Up Next: ACB New England IPA, Something British, …..Belgian Triple?

Azacca Hops

   So the Azacca hopped pale ale is complete! Fermentation ended, and I decided to pick up another ounce to dry hop with. Cold crashed, and carbed it up. Come out surprisingly good!

   This was the first brew that I controlled the fermentation temperature with, and I don’t think I’ll ever do back. The fermentation seemed a bit milder but in the end, the beer was MUCH cleaner. For the first time in such a simple malt bill, I can actually TASTE the grain. Normally it’s only a subtle sweetness. No character. But this batch is so crisp and clean that the character of the grain actually stands out.

   Onto the star though. Azacca hops. So far, I’m impressed with them. I get kind of a peach, apricot, melon flavor from them with a nice clean bitterness. Great hops for an IPA or American Pale ale. But I think they need a little something to make them stand out better. Perhaps some more complexity in the malt bill, and a stronger dry hop? Or pairing them with something like Cascade. All in all though, the beer came out better than anticipated.

   Pours a bright straw with thin, bright white head. Aromas of melon and peach with a touch of floral notes paired well with the subtle grainy malts. Easy drinking, but by no means bland, the bitterness of the hops is accented well by the dry finish. Good base beer, perhaps I’ll build a better pale ale from it.

   I have all the ingredients now for the New England IPA. Just need to pick up my RO or distilled water. I’ll probably forgo brewing for a couple weeks, to make sure I have room in the kegerator to put the finished product. This beer would be best drank young, so I don’t want to have to slow it down. It’ll be fermented and transferred to the keg in 14 days!

   So I’m thinking my next beer will be something that I can really test my ability to brew a clean beer with. I’m thinking either an English Mild or Bitter. Lower gravity and not highly hopped beers, these will really show if I don’t brew well and ferment well. So I’m jumping back and forth between the two choices now. I’m sure I’ll figure one out…

Fermenting: Citra Dry-Hopped Grapefruit Noobinweizen

Kegged: Azacca SMASH Pale Ale

Up Next: Angry NEIPA (Looking for a name), English Ale

New Variables and Ingredient Haul

I picked up my ingredients for the New England IPA yesterday. Man, that’s a lot of hops! This is my hop haul and I still need four ounces of Galaxy to come in, as my LHBS was out:

This beer should be so amazing. I’m really looking forward to creating a new style and trying a couple new, though simple, techniques.

I’m doing something else new, as well. Building my water. Water being what makes up majority of beer, it’s obviously important. Sometimes simply having clean, chlorine-free water isn’t enough. In this style of beer, there’s a body and softness to it that can only be had with certain salts in it.

So for this brew session, I’ll start with distilled water and add varying amounts of salts to get the right alkalinity and ions in the solution. This will help with the body, as well as make the hops just pop. As the guy at the store helped point out, why spend all that money of hops, only to hide them with bad water?

So I’m waiting for the last of the recipe and we’ll he ready to build water, brew a beer and dive further down the rabbit hole of hombrewing!

Fermenting: Azacca Pale Ale, Citra Dry-Hopped Grapefruit Noobinweizen

Kegged: Nada

Up Next: Angry NEIPA (Looking for a name)

Worst Brew Day Ever

   Brewed up the Noobinweizen yesterday from about 3-11:30! It did NOT go well. I consistently missed my temps, which made me have to add more and more water to raise the temps, EVEN THOUGH I did my decoction properly.

   It started off bad. I aimed for 125, but undershot that temp, even though I followed my calculator that ALWAYS works properly. So to increase the temps, I added an extra quart of boiling water, a little at a time. Overshot the temp by 14 degrees! Stirred forever to cool to 126, and let it ride.

   Then came the decoction. Pulled 1/3 of the thick mash (which is mostly grain) and boiled for 30 minutes. It smelled so good. Sweet and grainy. Added 3/4 of that back to the mash, but it didn’t raise the temps more than 3 degrees. Which doesn’t make sense. Added ALL of the decoction. No change. I needed it at 150. So, I pulled some of the wort to heat, stuck sparge. NOTHING came out. Stirred, did all I could, no response. So I had to pour it into a separate bucket, and unclog the screen. Back to the mash tun, pulled a quart, boiled it, only up 2 degrees. 19 to go! So, we boiled a gallon of water, added it to the mash, got to 149. I’ll take that. From there all went normal, and drove me insane.

   …But it’s done. 4.75 gallons are in the fermentation chamber set at 62. Let’s see what it’s like in 3 weeks! I’m hoping for a dry, citrusy beer with small hints of clove. 

   I also cracked open a couple old homebrews. Like this year old Cascade Pale Ale:

   The hops have faded a bit, but it was actually still pretty good. Mildly floral, nice malts, good bitterness. Reminded me of an English IPA. Good to see it held up so well!

   Also tried a Pliny clone! It too is over a year old:

   This one was also good, though the bitterness wasn’t close and there was a subtle must quality to it. But very drinkable and held up pretty well.

   So here we are, two days after the brew and the fermentation chamber smells of nothing but grapefruit. So we’re on track. Hopefully the beer turns out great. If not, I figure I’ll add some grapefruit juice and make a shandy! Wednesday I start rounding up everything for the NEIPA. Still gotta name it though.

   In closing, enjoy this pic of my brewing assistants. They too thought the brew wasn’t going well. 

Fermenting: Azacca Pale Ale, Citra Dry-Hopped Grapefruit            Noobinweizen

Kegged: Nada

Up Next: Angry NEIPA (Looking for a name)

Newest IPA

Brew day for the Citra Dry-Hopped Grapefruit Noobinweizen is tomorrow. So named because it’ll be the first decoction mashed beer I’ve made!

I’m excited to try this old technique used by many German breweries to bring about better malt flavors in their beer. It involves essentially boiling the grains in a separate vessel for a period of time before returning them to raise mash temperatures. This should produce a more “traditional” flavor profile in the beer.

I’ll also officially be using the fermentation chamber, as I’ll be heading over this evening to pick up the needed freezer. So precise control will be possible for my fermentation process, resulting in cleaner, better beer!

After the Noobinweizen, I’m planning on making a New England IPA, brewed with Citra, Mosaic, and Galaxy hops!

(This pic from BYO depicts what I’m hoping my brew will look like!)

NEIPAs are often hazy, very hop forward, but not overly bittered ales. Tons of juicy fruit aromas and flavors from almost strictly late hop additions. Fantastic ales, in my opinion. Mine should be fantastic. Gonna add a little flaked oats for body, though many say the soft mouth-feel is created from water chemistry and brewing salts. I’ll also add a touch of white wheat for head retention while remaining light, and to enhance that haze factor. Then, about a pound of hops. Most will be added during the whirlpool, with a HUGE dose for dry-hopping, split up in three rounds. Yes, triple dry hopped. I’ll be starting with the hops about four days into fermentation to enhance that juiciness and haze even further. All in all, it should be a FANTASTIC beer.

Man, it’s great to be brewing and trying new things again. Can’t wait to post these updates. The pale is still going strong, though I haven’t really checked on it recently. I’ll be sure to let you know when I do!

Fermenting: Azacca Pale Ale

Kegged: Nada

Up Next: Citra Dry-Hopped Grapefruit Noobinweizen, Angry NEIPA (Looking for a name)

Busy, but Brewing

So, what have I been up to? Brewing!! I’ve consistently brewed since about January now. Things like this gorgeous saison, that was peppery with hints of citrus:

Or this double dry-hopped pale ale with tons of juicy tangerine:

Or this red ale, with lots of malt balanced by some spicy, earthy hops:

Suffice it to say, I’ve been busy. But not just brewing. Upgrading equipment. Improving my process. I set up a kegerator:

To be honest, I think that’s WHY I’m brewing so much. Bottling is a pain. Kegging, not so much. And by kegging, the beer is ready sooner and just tastes better to me. 

I’ve also started setting up a fermentation chamber. No more damp towels wrapped around buckets in my kitchen. Actual, percise control to help clean up my beers even more. 

I also have a new experimental pale ale to try some new hops, Azacca. They smelled amazing! Citrusy, piney and kinda spicy. I have high hopes for them. I will be brewing a Citra dry-hopped grapefruit weizen soon, as well. Then, who knows? All I know is I’m having fun!

Onto a tasting. I realized that I started skipping ALL beers that weren’t traditional. That meant no gimmicky, no fruit laden, no odd ingredient beers. But I can’t do that. Not as a lover of craft beer and the brewing process. So I picked up a few “odd” beers. Boy am I glad I did! One was Omnipollo’s Shploing Mango S’mores IPA. That’s right, an IPA brewed with mango, marshmallow, graham crackers, salt, vanilla, and lactose. Certainly sounds odd. But man, it’s easily one of the best beers I’ve had!! They used all those ingredients to build something extremely reminiscent of a New England IPA. Juicy, hazey, and hoppy, without being too bitter. The mangoes gave the impression of fresh, tropical noted hops, and tons of them. The marshmallow, vanilla and crackers gave this pleasant, subtle sweetness to pair with the bitterness and play it down a bit, and the lactose that nice body you find in NEIPAs. So so good! Looks: 4. Aroma: 9. Taste: 9. Overall: 9. This beer scored a 31/35 and is in my top 5 now! Seriously, try it! 

I’m using the app now, which is so much easier to post on, so expect to hear from me more often!

Fermenting: Azacca Pale Ale

Kegged: Nada

Up Next: Citra Dry-Hopped Grapefruit Weizen