AG#1 - Essex Pale Ale 16/03/13

[orlando]

Are they all in clear glass? If so are you aware of lightstruck beer?

[Monkeybrew]

Are they all in clear glass? If so are you aware of lightstruck beer?

No they're not matey, and they will only see the light of day just before the contents goes down the hatch

[orlando]

Ah, didn't think you would screw up at this stage. Handy for watching how the beer clears though.

[Monkeybrew]

10 days in the bottle and I think that we have a success on our hands



MB

[orlando]

Take a bow that man.

So what does it taste like?

[Monkeybrew]

Take a bow that man.

So what does it taste like?

The simple answer is like real ale

For a brew that was 5.1% before bottling, it's really quite easy to drink and seems quite well balanced.

The most notable thing for me, is that nice background grainy malt flavour that just isn't present in kit brews and wasn't really there in my small scale BIAB brews either.

Certainly an easy drinker (even Mrs MB had a bottle) and the Celeia are there but will hopefully come through a bit more with time.

It's nice to get an understanding of how the bitterness works with the malt, as I am planning the recipe for AG#2 that will get brewed in May.

I think that I will mash a couple of degrees higher on the next brew to try and control the FG a bit. I suppose 66C on my glass thermometer could 62 or 64 in reality, so I will go for 68C and see what happens.

Cheers again.

MB

[orlando]

Take a bow that man.

So what does it taste like?

I am planning the recipe for AG#2 that will get brewed in May.

I think that I will mash a couple of degrees higher on the next brew to try and control the FG a bit. I suppose 66C on my glass thermometer could 62 or 64 in reality, so I will go for 68C and see what happens.

May? What's wrong with now!?

Get a grip on measurement, it is so important. A decent thermometer should be high on your list. Admittedly extremely tight control on mash temp is not easy at our level, despite what you might be told. Never the less I'm an advocate of trying to get as close to possible, to that end a thermapen is available for £28.

[Monkeybrew]

May? What's wrong with now!?

Never the less I'm an advocate of trying to get as close to possible, to that end a thermapen is available for £28.

It's all about balancing a young family with work and brewing

All is not list for April as I'm off to visit the Sole Bay Brewery on Saturday week!

I will google the thermapen as it sounds like an essential bit of kit.

MB

[orlando]

All is not list for April as I'm off to visit the Sole Bay Brewery on Saturday week!

I was there in February. Not the most inspiring tour as the brewery is ultra modern and scarily efficient, you will be lucky to see any one. Recommend trying the Ghost Ship from cask and then for fun from a tin, trust me it's an interesting comparison. Recommend the shop a little further back down the High St. They do a distillery tour as well, which I didn't do and now wished I had.

[Monkeybrew]

Not overly happy tonight, as I've tried a couple more bottles of this brew and something weird is going on. It's lost some clarity, the malt flavour is gone to leave a tart, dry bitterness and not much else

I've never had an infected brew, is this the start of disaster?

MB

[Monkeybrew]

This brew is nearly all gone now, and thankfully wasn't infected

If think that it was just going through a weird stage of conditioning or something.

MB