Brewday 03/08/09 - Garth's SNPA

[DarloDave]

I've been away from my house which has meant no brewing for over a month,and wont be going back for another month and a bit(ish), but when I get back I willl have about 30 bottles of the recipe Garth posted ready for drinking

[mysterio]

Nice one Borodave, I think I used your yeast in this batch

Crash chilling this down to 0C now to get rid of that thick mat of yeast before I keg this sucker up.

Colour looks close, i'll post a side by side comparison in two or three weeks.

What's your opinion on maturation of this one, Garth ? Do you drink em quickly or would you leave your snpa clone for a month or so ?

[Garth]

It's difficult to say Mysty, as all of mine had the evil Perle in it and it definately needed a month to smooth and calm down a bit, thing is, after a month all that lovely Cascade will have subdued quite a lot, which is a shame.

It is quite a strong brew so maybe give it a few weeks and have a 'sample'....

[delboy]

me too.......

Myself and Delboy did a good few clones of this off the trot to try and hit it on the chin, I got fairly close to colour and taste with my last one, Del was pleased with his as well.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's the only beer I would love to clone 'perfectly', why? I don't know, oh, that and Young's Special London....love that brew.................

As soon as i cut way way back/ditched the perle i was happy with my SNPA attempts, on my last one i added perle don't know what i was thinking TBH. As garth says i'll have to leave it ages to mellow (either that or dump it) but it'll also lose a lot of that great cascade taste.

[mysterio]

Drinking a few samples of this now, really tastes quite rough. I think its hop tannins. I suspect it is just a bit green - I know it will probably be quite good drinking in a couple of weeks but the hop character will probably have faded. Even the aroma is pretty muted now.

Hoppy beers just don't turn out right in my system for some reason

[Garth]

Mysty, why not dry hop for a week or so before cracking the keg for guzzling?

You're not the only one, my method seems to capture the aroma for a couple of weeks, then it's gone and you're left with a mediocre beer.

[delboy]

Im actually supping some of mine (with perle) at the moment, its still a bit harsh but its lost most of the battery acid taste of the perle, of course the cascade aroma has practically gone as well.

I've found the perfect use for it though, about 50-100 mls of it turns alcohol free cobra beer from being totally undrinkable to something approximating beer. The remaining harsh bitterness of the perle does a fantastic job of counteracting the sickly sweetness of the cobra (tastes like unfermented wort). Its no longer alcohol free but it can't be much over 0.5 % i would have thought.

[Garth]

that's one way of dealing with it, and you can probably drink 20 pints and not even get tiddly......

[simple one]

Are all the SNPA clones losing there hop aroma due to corny kegging?

[alabaster cheeks]

this is an interesting read tooo ....with advice from snpa brewer
http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtop ... =4&t=15532

[mysterio]

Well i'm drinking this now, it tastes great, but the hop character is pretty much faded to nowt.

I can't get my head around brewing hoppy beers. It had great hop character immediately after kegging, but it had a kind of tongue coating, resinous astringency. Then it spent the next 3 weeks just tasting like harsh, hop tannins, like a kind-of mouth filling bitterness rather than a pleasing bitterness at the end of the palette. Now it tastes as smooth as anything, but more like an ESB than a bright, hoppy APA.

I WILL CRACK THIS ONE DAY!

Almost certain my problem is boil pH because of the soft water up here, I think i'm extracting tannins from the hops.

[delboy]

Well i'm drinking this now, it tastes great, but the hop character is pretty much faded to nowt.

I can't get my head around brewing hoppy beers. It had great hop character immediately after kegging, but it had a kind of tongue coating, resinous astringency. Then it spent the next 3 weeks just tasting like harsh, hop tannins, like a kind-of mouth filling bitterness rather than a pleasing bitterness at the end of the palette. Now it tastes as smooth as anything, but more like an ESB than a bright, hoppy APA.

I WILL CRACK THIS ONE DAY!

Almost certain my problem is boil pH because of the soft water up here, I think i'm extracting tannins from the hops.

Did your clone have perle in it mysterio (sorry to keep banging on about it) thats the culprit for the resinous astringency, as for the loss of hop aroma etc, its a pain in the arse but bottling is the way to go for aroma retention i find.

[mysterio]

Delboy, nah I didn't use the perle. This is not a one off for me, whenever I make a hoppy beer it tastes like sh!t for a month then it just tastes like malt. From our descriptions though it sounds like we're tasting more or less the same thing, a rough unpleasant bitterness. Maybe perle have a high tannin content? Or maybe its not tannin i'm tasting and something else?

Chris, yeah I know what you mean. I am convinced that the problem is exacerbated by the water up here though. I'm sure commercial breweries don't age hoppy beers for a month. Thats a great suggestion about the Morrisons water, thanks, i'll definately try that. Time to get one of those Salifert water testing kits I think. £10 for a water testing kit argh

[garwatts]

Time to get one of those Salifert water testing kits I think. £10 for a water testing kit argh

Actually £7.68 including p&p from STM-Shop

http://www.stm-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Onli ... its_4.html

[Swoonara]

Actually £7.68 including p&p from STM-Shop

£4.99 inc. postage from http://www.aquaticsexpress.co.uk/product.php/4029/0/